LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Graphic Literature interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:50:32 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://wplbookclub.blogspot.com/2016/04/louis-riel-comic-strip-biography-by.html In 1869, the Red River Settlement area, home to the French-speaking Metis, is sold to the Canadian government. Louis Riel, the de facto leader of the Red River Settlement, demands that they be granted the right to govern themselves. Not suprisingly, the government refuses this. This story relates Riel's resistance to the Canadian government's mistreatment of the Metis community.Louis Riel - Wikipediahttps://owa.fibrehost.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_RielLouis Riel - rethinking Riel (CBC Archives)Louis Riel - Trivial Pursuit (CBC Archives) Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here. (Source: WPLBOOKCLUB) Wed, 20 Apr 2016 04:00:00 +0100 377637 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/03/11/organization-of-books-will-be-key-to-ipad-bookstore-barnes-noble-will-offer-a-reader-app-for-the-ipad/ From a Forbes Article: Note: AppSlice is a new site (closed beta at the moment) that helps users “discover more apps” for there iPad, iPhone, and iPod. The information about the bookstore was “uncovered” by Busted Loop, a San Francisco company that’s the parent of AppSlice. AppSlice’s findings point to a highly organized approach to bookselling. Apple has designated about 20 “top-level” categories for books, including “Fiction & Literature”, “Reference,” “Romance,” “Cookbooks” and “Comics & Graphic Novels.” Below those categories lie more than 150 sub-categories, including some very specific genres, such as “Manga” under “Comics & Graphic Novels,” “Special Ingredients” under “Cookbooks,” and “Etiquette” under “Reference.” Some sub-categories, such as “Fantasy” and “Science Fiction & Literature,” even have sub-sub-categories (”Historical” and “Paranormal,” for example.) There are also two sections for “Erotica” books; one under “Fiction & Literature” and one under “Romance.” The system represents much more “detailed categorization” than Apple’s App Store, says []Kastelein. The App Store contains about 20 top-level categories such as “Entertainment,” “Sports” and “Photography,” but only has sub-genres for its game section, he notes. ... Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:05:12 +0100 825617 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/DggRFapYFww/the-kreutzer-sonata-review Danny Huston stars in another intelligent film transposing Tolstoy to LA. By Peter BradshawBritish-born director Bernard Rose, known as a horror specialist for his 1992 shocker Candyman, is showing some stunning form with his modern adaptations of Tolstoy. After a conventional account of Anna Karenina, Rose brought off a brilliant version of The Death Of Ivan Ilych in 2000; set in modern Hollywood, and entitled Ivansxtc, it starred Danny Huston as Ivan, the agent and Tinseltown power-player, confronting the awful truth about his approaching death. Now Rose has adapted Tolstoy's novella The Kreutzer Sonata, again starring Huston, again set in contemporary Los Angeles. The result is bold, brilliant and exhilarating: an intimately horrible, sexually explicit and black-comic portrait of a toxic marriage that is closer to the spirit of the original than any number of costume dramas. It is not merely a study of jealousy and obsession, but a profoundly pessimistic and nihilistic rejection of romantic love and sex itself – which, in a world without God, is the ultimate blasphemy.Huston plays Edgar, a very rich man in early middle age, whose worldly charm and sensuality attract a woman he meets at a party: this is Abby (Elizabeth Röhm), a beautiful and talented classical pianist, who is already in a relationship. Their passionate, clandestine affair leads years later to marriage, but Abby is discontented, having now given up music for children. To appease her, Edgar induces his private charitable foundation to host a benefit concert, so his wife will play Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata to a moneyed private audience, but she must therefore practise long hours with a handsome violinist: Aiden (Matthew Yang King). ... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:50:00 +0100 825531 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/bK4n1CxtnAw/ Gizmodo has a great article by Matt Buchanan laying out the “Tower of E-Babel” problem: different readers have their own different, restricted file format ecosystems. There is not a lot new to long-time TeleRead readers, but it would be great to show anyone just getting into e-books, or thinking about it. The article starts with a Steve Jobs quote about Apple using the EPUB format because of its “openness,” and proceeds to fill in what he is not saying: “open” or not, DRM-locked iBooks books will not be readable on other DRM’d EPUB capable readers, nor vice versa. And don’t expect that DRM to be going away any time soon: You may be thinking that it’s just a matter of time before ebook stores all go DRM free. That would be wishful thinking at best. While ebooks might seem a lot like digital music circa 2005, you can’t rip a book, so the only way to get a bestseller on your reader is to buy it legally, or to steal it. It’s pretty much that simple. There will be free books, there will be unencrypted books, and the torrents will rage with bestsellers (as they already do). Still, DRM’s gonna be a hard fact of life with every major bookstore, since they’re going to at leasttry to keep you from stealing it. You don’t see Hollywood giving up DRM, do you? It also explains why every device except the Kindle reads EPUB, and the way the Kindle’s Mobipocket-based formats and Barnes & Noble’s eReader-based format hark back to PDA legacy formats. I found it particularly interesting that the article complained about the chance of getting an eReader-format book when you want an EPUB-format one, given that we carried a story about someone in exactly the opposite situation. The article concludes with the suggestion that creating custom apps to contain books might be the way to go. (I’m not entirely sure whether it’s talking about appbooks, or just individual apps from specific publishers. ... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:15:00 +0100 825443 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Amazon-com_Removes_Buy_Buttons_from_All_of_Diamonds_Publishers In what is apparently an effort to correct the glitch that caused the wild discounting of graphic novels on Amazon.com, the online retailer has been (Source: pligg - all) Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:06 +0100 825485 http://lisnews.org/amazoncom_removes_buy_buttons_all_diamond039s_publishers In what is apparently an effort to correct the glitch that caused the wild discounting of graphic novels on Amazon.com, the online retailer has been forced to remove the buy buttons from all comics publishers distributed by Diamond Comics Distributors. Right now, graphic novels from Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, Archaia, Image Comics, Top Shelf and others—comics publishers distributed by Diamond—cannot be purchased on Amazon.com except through resellers. While neither Amazon nor Diamond has commented officially on the situation, there has been speculation that the glitch was caused by Diamond. The current development seems to confirm it. Full story at Publisher's Weekly (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:51:06 +0100 825426 http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/03/10/dilbert-libraries/ I’m a little behind in linking to my SLA Information Outlook columns so I’ll catch that up today. Information Outlook, Dec. 2009 Issue Dilbert and Libraries by Stephen Abram “I find that the Dilbert series of comic strips and books continue to be this era’s greatest satirical commentary on modern life. Scott Adams, one of our SLA keynote speakers in Denver, holds our organizational lives and ourselves up to a mirror that is both critical and humorous. His cast of characters is at once caricatures of the people we meet in corporate life, while also being so endearingly individual and fallible in such human ways. Who doesn’t know someone (or even feel like) characters such as Dilbert, Alice, Ratbert, Wally, or the Boss?” Enjoy. Stephen (Source: Stephen) Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:21:39 +0100 825190 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/2zahoQuMW6c/david-foster-wallace-archive Manuscripts, annotated books and juvenilia to be made available following the acquisition of the late David Foster Wallace's archive by the University of Texas's Harry Ransom CentreLook at a selection of items from the archive hereThe archive of the late David Foster Wallace - which includes everything from draft manuscripts to childhood poems - has been acquired by the Harry Ransom Centre at the University of Texas in Austin. Scholars and fans will soon be able to explore the painstaking reading and writing that went into works including his vast novel of entertainment-addled America, Infinite Jest.Wallace, whose reputation as one of contemporary America's most significant writers continues to grow, took his own life in 2008, aged 46.As well as manuscripts for Wallace's books, stories and essays (with his meticulous edits marked in different coloured inks), the archive includes research materials, his own often heavily annotated library, and early work stretching back through his college and graduate school writings to a poem he wrote as a young child. This last, "Viking Poem", was composed at around the age of six, and shows Wallace experimenting with his signature as well as revealing early signs of the acute comic sensibility that would mark his later work. ("If you were to see a viking today" the poem advises, "It's best you should go some other way / because they'd kill you very well / and all your gold they'd certainly sell / For all these reasons stay away".)A further curiosity of the archive are the lists - sometimes jotted in the endpapers of books, sometimes typed - of unusual "VOCAB" (as Wallace heads one such sheet). ... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:58:00 +0100 825230 http://lisnews.org/amazon_supersale_comic_hardcovers_aftermath On Sunday, March 7, U.S. customers woke up to discover that a huge number of normally expensive hardcover comics were available from Amazon.com for $14.99 apiece. Later in the day, some were discounted even further, to $8.24. Since these books included the Marvel Omnibus line, which normally is cover-priced at $100, lots of people jumped on the bandwagon and ordered wildly. Other affected publishers were IDW, Dark Horse, and Image, both preorders and current releases. As Bully points out, all of the publishers whose works were included were distributed by Diamond Book Distributors, which suggests a massive automated data glitch of some kind. Full blog entry here. (Source: LISNews.org) Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:06:12 +0100 824914 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/03/rather-bad-day.html Nothing earth-shattering, really, and the first one I've had in a good long while. It was mostly a string of annoyances and frustrations, and I think my tolerance for such was low today. First of all, I was late to work because I overslept, despite getting home at 11 pm last night and falling to sleep in the comfy chair within about a half-hour, then moving to the bed a little after 2 am. Also, my shoulder, neck, and back are hurting from moving comic boxes from one closet to another for a friend yesterday. I know that will probably resolve on its own, but I'm stiff and not feeling so great as a result. The next was my fault. Yesterday I called in a problem with our colour copier where it wasn't stapling correctly. The tech thought it was the paper (a popular thing to blame, I've noticed) but was still working on it when I left. My boss called me while I was at Kroger and asked me where the toner was for that machine, since the tech had said it was empty. The machine had not indicated it was low before I called for service, so that was a surprise. But regardless, I had forgotten to order toner after I put the last one in and so they had to put an order in. Unlike our last contract, when we got toner and other supplies within a day, it will take 3-5 days for this to arrive. So that was my bad, and as a result, the copier is down for awhile. There's another copier in the library, but it is black and white. Then there was a patron who asked where an article was and it turned out I'd put the fax on his desk but he apparently lost it or otherwise didn't see it. So I had to order it again. Fortunately I got it today. I've received quite a few donations lately and I'm running out of room. My boss is wanting me to find somewhere to store some boxes that are in the library because it looks cluttered. I'll probably have to throw some things out; there's just so little storage room since they took my closet away and made it into an office. ... Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 825079 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/LE7w5uPm_qU/sir-kenneth-dover-obituary Distinguished classical scholar and academic who broke new ground with his book Greek HomosexualitySir Kenneth Dover, who has died aged 89, was a towering figure in the study of ancient Greek language, literature and thought. Very few could approach the range and quality of his scholarship, especially his synthesis of philological, historical and cultural acumen. His name became known to a wider public partly for his groundbreaking 1978 book, Greek Homosexuality, and partly for the publication of his controversial autobiography, Marginal Comment, in 1994.Greek Homosexuality treated the topic with unprecedented openness and nuanced definition. The work drew together the evidence of literature (not least a prosecution speech in a sensational Athenian court case); visual art (Dover inspected hundreds of sexually explicit vase-paintings, often in the basements of museums); and history, mythology and philosophy. The result was a compelling picture of the complex web of sexual and social practices that constituted the phenomena now grouped together under the label of Greek homosexuality.The book proved a turning-point in the modern study of ancient sexual cultures, leading to the growth of this field in the 1980s (and not just among specialists – Michel Foucault was among those influenced by it). Later in life, Dover was sometimes impatient that the subject had become an academic industry and that Greek Homosexuality had become the best known of his works, partly occluding what he felt to be his own central achievement as a historian of the Greek language. But the book is deservedly admired for harnessing scholarly sophistication to a shrewd and broad-minded historical imagination. If parts of Dover's argument have been challenged in relation to the kind of weight given to different sorts of evidence, the book remains an indispensable resource.Dover was born in London and educated at St Paul's school and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read classics. ... Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:45:54 +0100 824701 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Comic_About_Trying_to_Download_Audiobook_from_Library Ouch! Web designer and cartoonist Brad Colbow calls this strip Why DRM Doesn't Work--but the subtitle reads "How to Download an Audiobook from the Cl (Source: pligg - all) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:00:08 +0100 824443 http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/library/blog/2010/03/library-of-future.html Writer and journalist Daniel Sinker has brought back to life one of those great "life in the future" creations, a book called 2010: Living in the Future, written in 1972 by Geoffrey Hoyle. Here's a description of the library:There are no books. The floor is shaped into tables and benches. Built into these tables are hundreds of vision phones. The books, films, and newspapers are all stored in the library computer.First you dial the library index. This file contains all the books that have ever been written. It does not matter whether they were first written in Chinese or French. They will be here, translated into English. There is also an index of films and newspapers. You could spend all day watching comics, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.And some instruction on use of the library:To select the book you wish to read, you dial the book’s number. The first page appears on your screen. You can turn the pages backward or forward by using buttons on the vision phone.If you are halfway through a book and you have to leave, there is no reason why you can’t finish it when you get home. You can dial the library and the book number from home and go on with your reading.I have to say -- with the exception of everything ever written being available in the library computer (and in English translation no less) -- these descriptions are way more on the mark than I would have expected.It is good to catch up on the feeds every once in awhile. Thanks, Stephen! (Source: Gargoyles loose in the library) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824749 /2010-3-8/Emerald_City_Comic_Con by Bill ( link (Source: Unshelved) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824703 http://www.tangognat.com/2010/03/07/crazy-amazon-sale/ There’s something going on at Amazon, because the prices for many huge hardcover omnibus volumes have been slashed to $14 or $8. If you head over to Bully, he’s put together a page that links to all the great deals. It’ll be interesting to see if amazon honors the prices or cancels the orders if this [...] (Source: TangognaT) Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:20:20 +0100 824417 http://lisnews.org/comic_about_trying_download_audiobook_library Ouch! Web designer and cartoonist Brad Colbow calls this strip Why DRM Doesn't Work--but the subtitle reads "How to Download an Audiobook from the Cleveland Public Library." Colbow's not taking a shot at Cleveland Public, but at the frustrating (for him--and, I admit, for me, too, as a patron) experience of trying to use Overdrive...one that ends with the strip's protagonist choosing to "give up on [the] stupid library" and head for BitTorrent. (Source: LISNews.org) Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:28:10 +0100 824375 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/GhiFur-3RQc/ian-mcewan-solar The novelist explains to Nicholas Wroe why he's chosen to grapple with climate change in his new book, SolarJust inside the front door of Ian McEwan's London home, the one in the shadow of the BT Tower made famous in his novel Saturday, is the obligatory recycling box full of paper, plastic and glass. "Of course we recycle," he laughs. "Who doesn't? And I'm all in favour of cutting 10% off our carbon. And of domestic solar panels. Anything that slows our consumption is useful. But ultimately I don't really think the bottle bank is going to get us out of this. And being virtuous is not going to get us out of it either. Civilisation is going to need another energy source."McEwan's own view – having been persuaded by thinkers such as Stewart Brand, and despite his own long-held suspicions of the industry – is that nuclear energy is probably our best bet in the medium term. Michael Beard, Nobel prize-winning physicist, glutton and the protagonist of McEwan's latest novel, Solar, has an even more technologically complex solution. His work in the field of artificial photosynthesis as a way of harnessing the sun's power has made him rich and famous. Beard got his Nobel for "modifying Einstein's photovoltaics", and McEwan enthusiastically explains that the bleeding-edge science in the book is real, if some way from practical application. "If you go to America the amount of ingenuity being deployed, and the private capital – until this present recession – being invested in nanotechnology and solar energy is astonishing."For McEwan science is the road not taken, and he talks slightly enviously about his geneticist son's work and training. At the age of 16 he "agonised" at school over the arts or science route. "My maths was actually pretty mediocre, but I did love science and eventually even 'got' calculus, although I always felt if I so much as sneezed I would probably lose it again. ... Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:08:11 +0100 823792 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/oorfhJoFeB0/everything-is-illuminated-safran-foer Week one: John Mullan on the author as characterDescribe the construction of Everything Is Illuminated and you risk making the novel sound like an exercise in narrative ingenuity fit only for the seminar room. It is split into three strands. In one, Alex, a linguistically inept translator, describes his journey across Ukraine with an American called Jonathan Safran Foer to find the shtetl of Trachimbrod, where, half a century earlier, Jonathan's grandfather escaped a Nazi massacre. In the second, episodes in the lives of the Jews of Trachimbrod since the 18th century are imagined in a novel that Jonathan is writing. In the third, Alex writes letters to Jonathan, who has now returned to America, commenting on the portions of this novel that he has been receiving, and asking for advice about the writing of his own account.It is, literally speaking, the author-as-character who holds this all together. Though he never directly addresses the reader, he alone is there in every section. Yet he is the opposite of a godlike figure of narrative authority. "It is a mammoth honour for me to write for a writer," says Alex in his first letter, "especially when he is an American writer, like Ernest Hemingway or you." Crucial to the comic effect of these letters is the fact that we do not have Foer's letters to Alex, in which, we infer, he has gravely dispensed advice. In Alex's replies, you can hear the soi-disant wisdom of the tyro novelist. "I also attempted to be not obvious, or unduly subtle, as you demonstrated".So it may be a nerve to feature yourself as a character in your first novel, but the effect is disarmingly self-mocking. Just as well, for readers are by now well used to the device. Ever since some readers of Martin Amis's Money were irritated by the meetings between the magnificently grotesque narrator John Self and a writer called Martin Amis, there have been protests against its use by literary novelists. ... Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:06:48 +0100 823797 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/vFBriwVFK0s/hanif-kureishi-collected-stories-tayler A sense of urgency makes up for a lack of range in Hanif Kureishi's stories, says Christopher TaylerDuring the 1980s and early 90s, Hanif Kureishi's screenplays, novels and plays made him not only a famous writer but a talismanic figure to young Asian Britons and metropolitan liberals of anti-Thatcherite stamp. Like Philip Roth, with whom he was friendly, he served as a glamorously provocative pin-up to second and third-generation immigrants brought up to be unassuming and well behaved. In his screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and his novel The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), pop music, sex and cultural self-invention were lined up against Tory England and suburban self-denial, with little doubt about which side Kureishi favoured.His novel The Black Album (1995) and the story "My Son the Fanatic", which he adapted into a movie, also tackled the confluence of Islam and identity politics. By the late 90s, though, ageing, divorce and disillusionment were increasingly becoming his stock in trade. Patrice Chéreau's film Intimacy (2001), adapted from Kureishi's writings, distils some of the key ingredients of the later, sadder work: forlorn drug-taking, affectless extra-marital sex, grimy London locations.The pieces gathered in Kureishi's enormous Collected Stories date exclusively from the later part of his career. The book reprints the collections Love in a Blue Time (1997), Midnight All Day (1999) and The Body (2002), adding only a slim volume's worth of new material. In consequence, it has a hung-over feel; in spite of the sexual charge to many of the stories, Kureishi's past as a greedy celebrant of urban transgression is mostly a rueful memory.Again and again, the characters look back on their 70s radicalism and 80s prosperity with a mixture of nostalgia, bewilderment and regret. ... Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:06:45 +0100 823798 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/jP_zlcl9htc/ Editor’s Note: I’m a big comics fan. I have a complete collection of Pogo, Peanuts and many others. Pearls Before Swine is right up in that category. Imagine my glee when its author, Stephan Pastis, personally, replied to my request to reprint this. I’ll never wash my monitor again. His blog is always worth reading. PB I bought three William Faulkner books and forced myself to read them all. One of them had a family trying to move their dead mom all over town. One of them had somebody looking for the father of her kid. And one of them was called The Sound and the Fury. If you ever want to be so confused that your brain starts to ooze out your ears, read The Sound and the Fury. I defy you to make one bit of sense out of that monstrosity. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character, one of whom is mentally retarded (or, in the parlance of today, an “individual with an intellectual disability.”) You could pour words out of a bucket and end up with a more comprehensible book than that. So thanks to William Faulkner, I am now done reading fiction. Now I have moved on to watching movies by famous directors. One of those directors whose films I am now watching is Howard Hawks. One of his movies is The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Yesterday I watched The Big Sleep. I followed the plot for about ten minutes. Then the thing exploded into the most ridiculously complicated storyline I have ever seen, involving twenty-five different characters, all of whom are lying and killing and lying about the killing. By the end, I didn’t care who killed whom. I just wanted them all to die so that the film would end. Mercifully, after what seemed like the better part of three days, it did. So at the end of the movie, I checked the credits. ... Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:44:34 +0100 823868 http://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2010/03/vintage-ads-covers.html Allez, comme je ne publie pas grand chose en ce moment ... deux petits liens du week-end pour le prix d'un ... Il paraît que le vintage revient à la mode ... Voici en tout cas un site qui ravira - s'ils ne le connaissent pas déjà - tous les amateurs de culture visuelle. Il s'agit d'un navigateur de publicités vintages : http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/ Parmi quelques-unes des merveilles de site : la ferme sous la mer l'envoi de courrier par ... missile papa téléphone veillant sur bébé télévision la première télécommande "miraculeuse" capable non seulement d'allumer et d'éteindre le poste mais aussi de changer de chaîne !! le rêve américain de la télé au lit la rubrique "propaganda and posters" qui ravira les amateurs de plaques émaillées Frère jumeau du précédent, le site http://www.coverbrowser.com/ est un navigateur de couvertures : comics en tous genres,  tintin mais aussi livres vintage, "vieux livres", également accessibles pour certains avec une entrée auteur ou éditeur on peut aussi y retrouver certains magazines en intégralité, "encapsulés" depuis GoogleBooks. Là encore, c'est une mine et un émerveillement constant :-) A noter que la section "labs" offre quelques options amusantes ou quelques services très "parlants" comme cette "timeline" retraçant l'évolution graphique de certains (super)héros (les évolutions les plus spectaculaires concernant Wonder-Woman ou - dans un autre genre, Wolverine) C'est un particulier qui est à l'origine de ces 2 petites merveilles : Phillip Lenssen (le même que ce Phillip Lenssen là ?)Vous n'avez plus qu'à vous régaler :-) (Source: affordance.info) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824980 http://www.takomapark.info/library/books/archives/002159.html Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughn Grady Ex Machina takes the classic superhero story in an inventive new direction. The serie's protagonist, Mitchell Hundred, is a former superhero turned Mayor of New York City. In the first book of the series, he is faced with a blizzard as well as a murderer killing snow plowmen, shutting down the city's school system and a controversial painting stirring political opinions of him. The story moves between past and present, revealing Hundred's power to control machinery and his conflict with his police commissioner. Hundred is shown as a flawed, complex person, as any superhero should be portrayed as. As a mayor he is plagued with problems that are too big for a superhero and the contrast of this is made in the alternation between past and present. I thought that it was an interesting comparison drawn between the rolls of superhero and mayor as both are responsible for entire cities and both are held to the criticism of the public. The story shows that an absence of snow plowmen could do as much damage to a city as any super villain. Ex Machina also criticizes American youth, showing the evolution of a young artist through her works as she degenerates and a young boy who kills people to get back at bullies who picked on him. Vaughn paints an honest picture of New York that pulls the reader in. I recommend Ex Machina as a nice alternative to the usual crime fighting superhero comic. (Source: Book Comments) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824504 http://hplbookhunt.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-patrons-are-traveling-world-of.html Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queenby Susan Gregg GilmoreThrough the ups, downs and everything in between, the only constant in Catherine Grace's life has been the Saturday afternoons spent at the Dairy Queen eating Dilly Bars. After endless hours of daydreaming about leaving her little southern hometown, she heads out for the big city life in Atlanta; but is it everything that she ever wanted?- Suzie M.Pride and Prejudiceby Jane AustenI found this book not an easy read as the language I guess, is old English, a bit stiff and formal.The story takes place in England, not far from London. The family consists of the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and five daughters. Jane and Elizabeth are the eldest. Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth’s close friend living next door. The purpose of parents of comfortable and well to do families is to marry off their daughters. The property near the Bennet’s is bought by young Mr. Bingsley. He arrives with his sisters, a brother in law and friend Mr. Darcy. Dances are held by different families so that the young people can socialize, leading to marriage. Mr. Bingsley is attracted to Jane and Mr. Darcy seems to be stiff and self absorbed. Mr. Collins, a young clergy man, a bore and long winded speaker, a cousin of Mr. Bennet and who will inherit Bennet’s estate as estate’s go to male relatives and not to daughters. He comes to visit the Bennet’s and proposes to Elizabeth. She refuses and he then turns to Charlotte who accepts. Mr. Collins’ benefactress in his vicarage is Mr. Darcy’s Aunt Catherine, a strong domineering woman with a sickly daughter who she wishes to see married to Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy starts to fall for Elizabeth and Bingsley’s sister is jealous as she adores Darcy, Elizabeth tells Darcy off as he told Bingsley he thought Jane didn’t care for him. Meanwhile, the third sister, Lydia runs away with Darcy’s soldier cousin. Darcy and Elizabeth’s uncle find them and get them married. ... Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 823695 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/luaCaE4a7M8/alice-in-wonderland-review Tim Burton's gothic treatment of Alice is all-too conventionalIn Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the heroine notices that there are only three guests at the Mad Hatter's famous tea party (with herself the fourth) but the table has many more pristine, unnecessary place-settings. The Hatter explains, "It's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.' 'Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice. 'Exactly so,' said the Hatter, 'as the things get used up.' 'But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask. 'Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted." Mischievously, maddeningly, Lewis Carroll withholds for ever the secret of what happens when the tea-party guests use up the dishes – the story's action exists in the eternal present of a riddle.Tim Burton has revealed 145 years later what happens when all the tea-things are soiled. His new movie imagines Alice returning as a 19-year-old to this strange land, to find that it is plunged in gloom. The tea party is still going, but all the dishes are wrecked, the cups have sprung leaks and the event itself is sited in some wasteland, like a depiction of the Somme. It is difficult to tell if this is an intentional answer to Carroll's original joke or just part of the inevitable goth darkness that Burton conjures up. Even Alice, played by Australian newcomer Mia Wasikowska, has dark shadows around her eyes.Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter, with weird gingery hair, enlarged, psychedelically coloured pupils, and an accent which lurches wildly from lispy BBC English to broad Shrek Scots. Wonderland, or rather, as it is known, "underland", is held under the awful tyranny of the Red Queen, well played by Helena Bonham Carter, as a hydrocephalic nightmare by Charles M Schulz. She has a tiny body and gigantic head, with a lollipop-heart shaped hairdo, a motif reproduced in a horrid little lipstick pout. ... Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:00:02 +0100 823395 http://marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_marincountyfreelibrary_archive.html#2101955036399396761 In honor of our 2010 One Book One Marin book selection, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the Civic Center Library is presenting a workshop on how to draw comics. Michael Scagliotti, an instructor at the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco,will be offering this free two hour workshop just for TEENS (ages 12-18).Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010Time: 6 pm to 8 pmWhere: Civic Center Center LibraryFor more information call the Library Reference Desk at 415-499-6058 (Source: Marin County Free Library Blog) Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824805 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Davidrothmannet/~3/txDaVQx9gmo/ I love these solely based on my experience as a patron of a public library, trying (and failing) to enjoy the ebooks and audiobooks they offer. I’m sure the good folks at the Cleveland Public Library have seen this by now: Click for full-size _______________ Feed-only Footer: A few books I think are essential. What else should I add to this list? What are the books that no medlib geek should be without? (Source: davidrothman.net) Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:03:05 +0100 823269 http://www.tangognat.com/2010/03/03/over-on-manga-views-3/ I continue my march through the Manga Views review database, adding new review links! Take a look at the recent reviews for Karakuri Odette and Ikagami the Ultimate Limit. Also, there’s a new blogger profile up for Dave “Manga Monday” Ferraro of Comics and More. Check it out! (Source: TangognaT) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:02:47 +0100 823240 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/VACfN7ju5uA/ This is a great comic entitled Why DRM Doesn’t Work or How to Download an Audio Book from the Cleveland Public Library. Unfortunately, the way is presented doesn’t let me reproduce it, copyright permitting, here. It is simply too big and if I made it smaller it would be unreadable. Be sure to go over and take a look. Thanks to Adam McDiarmid for the heads up. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:10:06 +0100 823136 http://www.lisnews.org/audiobook_drm_versus_patrons_cleveland_library BoingBoing Pointed the way to this funny because it's true comic: Audiobook DRM versus the patrons of the Cleveland Library. "This installment of the Brads webcomic shows the 22 steps a reader has to take in order to borrow a DRM-crippled audiobook from the public library. A compelling argument for libraries to boycott this stuff." (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:05:20 +0100 823784 http://lisnews.org/audiobook_drm_versus_patrons_cleveland_library BoingBoing Pointed the way to this funny because it's true comic: Audiobook DRM versus the patrons of the Cleveland Library. "This installment of the Brads webcomic shows the 22 steps a reader has to take in order to borrow a DRM-crippled audiobook from the public library. A compelling argument for libraries to boycott this stuff." (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:05:20 +0100 823110 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/bxe4_Bf8djU/canadian-library-association-announces.html The Young Adult Services Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2010 Young Adult Book Award. This award recognizes an author of an outstanding English-language Canadian work of fiction (novel, collection of short stories or graphic novel), published in 2009, that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18. The winner of the award, and the Honour Books, will be announced prior to the Canadian Library Association National Conference and Trade Show. The award will be presented at the conference in Edmonton, Alberta on June 3, 2010. The finalists for the 2010 CLA Young Adult Book Award, in alphabetical order by author, are:* Poster Boy by Dede Crane (Groundwood)* Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant (Alfred A. Knopf)* Not Suitable for Family Viewing by Vicki Grant (HarperCollins)* Haunted by Barbara Haworth-Attard (HarperCollins)* Girl on the Other Side by Deborah Kerbel (Dundurn)* Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston (HarperCollins)* The Gryphon Project by Carrie Mac (Puffin)* Dragon Seer by Janet McNaughton (HarperCollins)* Vanishing Girl by Shane Peacock (Tundra)* The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade (HarperCollins) (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:36:39 +0100 823075 http://creativelibrarian.com/878/why-drm-doesn%e2%80%99t-work/ via The Brads – a comic about web design » The Brads – Why DRM Doesn’t Work. Why file-sharing is still so popular. (Source: Creative Librarian) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:37:22 +0100 824252 http://libeducation.blogspot.com/2010/03/great-comic-showing-what-our.html A great comic showing what our patrons/customers can experience when trying to access any resources with DRM:The Brads-Why DRM Doesn't Work, or How to Download an Audio Book from the Cleveland Libraryhttp://www.bradcolbow.com/archive.php/?p=205I know that we as librarians must limit access to resources by non-authorized users, but some of the access-granting hoops our authorized users face are unacceptable. Our jobs are to reduce barriers to information resources. Really. (Source: User Education Resources for Librarians) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824176 http://library.pjc.edu/blog/2010/03/mississippi-author-barry-hannah-dead-at.html Mississippi Author Barry Hannah dead at 67Barry Hannah, a writer who found wide acclaim with wild, darkly comic short stories and novels set in a phantasmagoric South moving at warp speed, died on Monday at his home in Oxford, Miss. He was 67.Read recent article about Hannah in Garden and Gun magazine.Read Water Liars a short story by Barry Hannah. (Source: Pensacola Junior College Library Blog) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 823565 http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html#49576776083521840 The District A race has officially crossed over into stupid-land. At the Gambit blog, Kevin Allman reports on last night's final candidate forum of the 2010 election. And while neither Batt nor Guidry deviated from their well-worn positions on the campaign trail, one topic was much discussed by both candidates: ACORN, the advocacy organization for low-income families that’s been so much in the news lately. Given the voting habits in Lakeview and the makeup of the crowd (solidly Caucasian), it was safe to assume both Batt and Guidry wanted an ACORN endorsement about as much as they wanted one from Ray Nagin. And yet both candidates claimed the other had ACORN’s seal of approval.I've been saying for a while now that the 2010 election has been a mostly conservative return-to-pre-K normalcy event. And, yes, I include the Mayoral result in that thinking for reasons I'll explain as we go along. But the fact that a District A debate can end up being about something as silly as ACORN endorsements is perhaps the strongest indicator yet that the new Golden Age is, in fact, what I think it is. I don't want to give away too much of that Gambit post before you go read it. Allman has some fun pointing out Jay Batt's comic hypocrisy on the matter. I would have liked to see the post include the important background fact that the infamous James O'Keefe "pimp" videos (the reason this whole issue is a controversy in the first place) have been exposed as a major hoax. It's important context for anyone reading an article about what District A candidates think is worth talking about. Also of note here is Susan Guidry's apparent discomfort with the fact of her SEIU endorsement. During one of her trips to the podium, Guidry waved a flyer not produced by her camp, which claimed she had the endorsement of both ACORN and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which would like to unionize New Orleans restaurant workers. ... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 823344 http://lisnews.org/shelf_check_library_comic_back_and_better_ever After what felt like forever Emily Lloyd is back to writing Shelf Check finally! If you haven't checked out Shelf Check, be sure to have a look. (Source: LISNews.org) Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:19:01 +0100 822435 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/es44lS3I_vw/schools-test-interactive-graphic-novel-macbeth Classical Comics is set to launch a multimedia version of the play for children and teenagers, featuring the voices of Juliet Stevenson and Derek JacobiThe latest attempt to get an audience of multimedia-savvy schoolchildren and teens engaged with Shakespeare is an interactive graphic novel version of the play, complete with voiceovers by Derek Jacobi and Juliet Stevenson.Classical Comics has done well with a series of graphic novels of famous titles (including Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol and Frankenstein) which it launched two years ago, but the publisher decided that the next step in its quest to make classic stories accessible would be to bring the text alive. Its new version of Macbeth, which it will preview to schools this week before launching in June, takes the artwork of comicbook artist Jon Haward from its original graphic novel and animates it, adding audio from Jacobi and Stevenson."That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold: what hath quenched them hath given me fire," proclaims Stevenson as Lady Macbeth, descending a stone staircase framed by gargoyles as two dogs growl over a piece of meat. And later, "I have done the deed," gasps Jacobi as the Thane of Cawdor, gripping two bloody daggers. "Didst thou not hear a noise?""It's been in the planning for a while," said Classical Comics managing director Clive Bryant of the Macbeth project. "We thought of it at the beginning of last year and it's taken this long to get it together. Having Derek Jacobi and Juliet Stevenson involved was incredible – we were recording it in a small studio in north London, which had a large contact list, which was how we managed to secure them. It just adds that extra dimension to it: hearing Macbeth with Derek Jacobi in the classroom – you can't get much better than that. ... Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:02:40 +0100 822395 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/uXIHzrg4rJc/best-contemporary-japanese-novel-manga The ingeniously satirical Legend of Koizumi tells you far more about the country, far more entertainingly than any novel of recent yearsShortly after the first episode of The Legend of Koizumi anime is broadcast in Japan on 26 February, UK readers – whether fans of the manga genre or baffled by its appeal – shall have cause to rejoice. Not only does the TV series promise to be entertainingly ridiculous (never has "Let's delegate!" sounded so imperiously badass), but the added attention will likely spur a proper English translation of the parody manga on which it's based. And it's one of the most brilliant ever written.The manga stars former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, may his mane ever ripple. Portrayed by author Hideki Owada as Japan's last action hero, Koizumi settles matters of international diplomacy with slavering, corrupt world leaders from Kim Jong-Il to "Papa Bush" over histrionic, blood-spattered sessions of the ancient game of mahjong – often while bleeding himself, and occasionally stopping to singlehandedly shoot down nuclear missiles over the Japan Sea. Poised to become a legend in its own right, this serialised comic published by Takeshobo has been a wild success with Japanese readers. But it also appeals to a foreign audience in a way few other manga can. The reason for this is that you can learn more about contemporary Japan's psyche in 15 minutes spent reading The Legend of Koizumi than you could in 15 hours with recent Japanese novels. In this respect, it's a great example of how the highly visual manga format can integrate cultural threads seamlessly with a speed a novel would struggle to match. Consider what you can learn from just the first three chapters.  Within pages, it's clear the manga is simultaneously channelling and mocking the widely held Japanese idea that politics is a game played out between warring egos on a scale that dwarfs the common man. ... Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:49:36 +0100 822401 http://mcpldteens.blogspot.com/2010/03/graphic-novel-club.html Join us this Friday, March 5th at 4pm for the Teen Graphic Novel Club. The guest host will be a member of the Mesa County Libraries staff. Sheila has a special interest in manga, especially the Korean form called Manhwa. Come learn about Manhwa and share your own GN interests!~ShannaTeen Librarian (Source: Teen Stuff @ Mesa County Libraries) Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 823530 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/v8DaNyzKKVo/jonathan-safran-foer-the-explosion When he was just nine years old an explosion in the science lab at summer camp seriously injured him and almost killed his best friend. Jonathan Safran Foer returns to that terrible day in 1985 to examine the scars the blast left – and explain why the wounds are more than skin deepIt was the first day of Summer Discovery Camp, held at Murch Elementary, at which I had finished second grade only a few weeks before. I didn't want to go to camp. I wanted to spend my summer at home doing nothing, as I'd done every previous summer. I'd never been to sleep-away camp, and only a few times to a day camp. My mother used to say she didn't want us away.I remember sitting on the floor of my parents' bedroom that morning. My father was standing in front of a steamed-over mirror, pulling the skin of his neck taut. My mother was kneeling before an open drawer. I used to love watching my parents do adult things – write cheques, sort mail, empty the dishwasher – because it reminded me of the distance between us, which was what made them my parents, which was what made me safe.My mother drove us there that day, even though we lived less than half a mile away. I remember clinging to my brother as children filtered in that morning. We were divided into groups, and my brother was separated from me. My group began the day in a science class. The instructor was a graduate student at American University. I remember him being short and somewhat muscular. His hair was brown, I think, and curly.One of my responses to the explosion was to lose the ability to express, and perhaps even to feel, anger. I never fought with my parents or siblings, and still don't, and don't fight with strangers, friends or my wife. Since I was nine years old, I have not raised my voice to anyone. But thinking about the instructor, now, brings something ugly to my skin. I hope that one of his friends, with whom he's never shared the story, is reading this and will bring it to his attention. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:10:02 +0100 821969 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/g3NFQXjJT_A/walking-the-dog-book-review A man's strolls with his pooch prompt all manner of engaging reflections in this innovative bookThe award-winning illustrator David Hughes has always said that he has a strong aversion to roughing out his work. Not for him the practice run; he would rather raise his game and draw in "the moment". In his extraordinary new book, Hughes appears to take this ethos one step further. On the outside, Walking the Dog looks like the kind of hardback a certain kind of man leaves on his coffee table so everyone can see how eclectic he is: expensive, colourful, mildly quirky. Open it up, however, and anarchy reigns. It's a sketchbook on speed: spidery pencil lines; furious crossings out; sprawling handwriting. Even the ISBN number on the first page has been drawn in his inimitable hand. The first time I read it, I'd had a couple of drinks. The second time, I was stone-cold sober. Drunk, I found it sad. Sober, I found it funny. And both times, I found it utterly perturbing, as if it were a diary I'd plucked illicitly from someone's underwear drawer.There's no story. I'm not sure, even, that it's worth trying to read the whole thing at a single sitting. Better to treat it as a series of episodes, one at a time. But there is a theme, and I suppose that it's death. Hughes, who is in his 50s, is told by his doctor that he's drinking too much, and that he must take more exercise. So he gets a dog, a wire-haired fox terrier called Dexter. Their walks together form the spine of the book, and comprise its best comedy: the circular conversations with other dog walkers – usually westie owners – who are unsure of Dexter's breed ("What sort is it? Is it an airedale? Is it a schnauzer?"); the carrying of Dexter's turds in a knotted plastic bag. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:07:44 +0100 821974 http://lisnews.org/reaching_frosties By Molly Skeen Some people use and support the public library, no matter what. They visit the library regularly, borrow books, take the kids to story time, join the Friends, and visit new libraries on vacation. Let's call them the Fans. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who never use the library, no matter what. They have their reasons. We could call these the Frosties. Between the two extremes, there's a broad range of library use patterns. Here are some numbers taken from a 2006 study titled Long Overdue: A Fresh Look at Public and Leadership Attitudes About Libraries in the 21st Century. When asked how many times they visited a library in the previous year, survey respondents replied with these frequencies: Not at all - 27% 1-5 times - 15% 6-10 times - 11% 11-25 times - 16% How can we convert library Frosties to Fans? And how can we engage the people who use the library once a year to use it more often? I'm convinced that a great many of the Frosties have needs and interests that could be met at the library, but they are simply unaware of specific services that could help them. Take Joe Frosty – a busy guy who works full time, takes the family camping, and likes to tinker with his car. He never uses the library, but maybe he would if he knew that his library provides access to EBSCO's Auto Repair Reference Center on its web site. Joe's son Jason is in middle school. He loves comics, but can only afford to buy one or two a month with his allowance. Jason doesn't know about the library's extensive manga collection. And there's Grandma Frosty, recently diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease. She'd like to spend more time reading, but watches daytime tv instead. Granny doesn't know about the large print and audio books she could be borrowing from her library. Most libraries do an excellent job of outreach and publicity for special programs. ... Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:44:03 +0100 821984 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/jQWzI-hpWjs/ The human mind is a remarkable device. Present it with a challenge and in no time a host of solutions are returned for consideration. Take, for example, an idea by Michael Hart. 1971 and enter Michael Hart. Mr. Hart was handed the gift of gifts – $100,000.00 worth of computer time with a mainframe computer. He decided that the greatest value created by computers would not be computing, but the storage, retrieval, and searching of what was stored in our libraries. The first “e-book” was born—a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Since 1971 e-books have morphed into electronic reading in every imaginable format for every imaginable genre. Doctors carry the complete Pharmacopeia in their PDA, businessmen carry slide shows and presentations, and comic books – yes comic books, are now being read on a hand-held device. Among the free offerings during Read an E-Book Week, March 7 – 13, you will find comic books, sports fitness books, children’s homeschool materials, poetry, and books in a variety of languages from Apache to Russian. Mr. Hart went on to create Project Gutenberg, the first free on-line library. He stated in an interview with Andrea Kobeskzo: “The goal of Project Gutenberg has always been to create An Information Age not as something on the order of “The Digital Divide,” but something greater in terms of bringing literacy and education to the masses free of all charge and in a way the vast majority can access instantly.” Free e-books in Apache, Ukrainian, Polish… I think Mr. Hart’s dreams is coming to fruition. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:30:58 +0100 821908 http://aidlibrary.blogspot.com/2010/02/library-news-2272010.html Another Saturday creeps to a close.  I heard there was sunshine today, I've been here since 8:30 and won't be leaving until 6 so I'm probably not at risk for sunburn.  I've been ordering new materials and fighting jams in the copier.  There seems to be lots of buzz about an animation production for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, they are doing it in claymation.  I am sure that patience really is a virtue in a production like that.  It's great to see how excited people are about it, even students with other majors are helping out when they can.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project.  Since even animation students who work in the library don't know about the Texture disks, I thought I should write about them here.  They are listed on the library web page under Media.  We have these:CDR CA 001 People n motion: business attire, v. 1 CDR CA 002 People n motion: business attire, v. 2 CDR CA 003 People n motion: casual attire, v. 1 CDR CA 004 People n motion: casual attire, v. 2 CDR CA 011 Dosch designs: human eyes CDR CA 011 Dosch designs: human eyes CDR CA 012 Dosch designs: animal & creature eyes CDR CA 013 Dosch designs: 3D comics, vol. 1 CDR CA 014 Dosch designs: 3D comics, vol. 2 CDR CA 020 Seamless textures you can really use CDR CA 021 Seamless textures 2 : rustic exterior surfaces CDR CA 022 Seamless textures 3 : ultimate interior surfaces CDR CA 023 Seamless textures 4 : classic stonework CDR CA 024 Seamless textures 5 : downtown surfaces & signs CDR CA 025 Seamless textures 6 : classic architectural ornament CDR CA 026 Seamless textures 7 : great textures of Europe, vol. 1 CDR CA 027 Seamless textures 7 : great textures of Europe, vol. 2 CDR CA 028 Seamless textures 8 : absolute metal surfaces CDR MM 046 Total textures, v. 1 : general CDR MM 047 Total textures, v. 2 : aged & stressed CDR MM 048 Total textures, v. ... Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 822031 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/9adIdMyfadg/comics-usa Batman has knocked out Superman as a 1939 Batman comic fetches more than $1m at an auction, beating the record set earlier this week by a Superman comic. But who is your favourite superhero? (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:15:58 +0100 821715 http://www.tangognat.com/2010/02/26/happy-10th-neilalien/ Happy Anniversary to the first comics blogger, Neilalien. He discloses some Secret Origins of his blog today. (Source: TangognaT) Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:52:59 +0100 821836 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/qYlP8ybicqA/ This interview was conducted via email in  Summer, 2009 just  after Jack Matthews’ 84th birthday.  Throughout  the process, Matthews had  a lot of fun with it:  answers were sometimes full of deliberate misspellings and archaic contractions.  After I assembled his answers into a  rough draft (where I replaced  ampersands in his answers  with the spelled out word  “and”),  Matthews protested;  punctuation was for him a religious matter; I later learned he had once published  an essay “Philosophy of the Comma” to explore (among other things) the question of whether the “frequency of semi-colons in a prose text is a clear and accurate measure of the author’s intelligence.”  Sometimes I would be disconcerted by the superficiality  of an  answer   (only to   learn later that he had already  written an essay about the same topic or devoted a chapter to the subject  in his  unpublished 1994 A WORKER’S WRITEBOOK).  This is Part 1 of a 3 part interview. See also: Jack Matthews: An Introduction. The Author and his craft How long does it take a serious writer to learn brevity? Mastery of form? The ability to produce a deep aesthetic enjoyment? This is an interesting question — like the others, indeed, but not as answerable as they. I think one strives to generate meaning as energy; it’s like a demonstration in classical mechanics in physics: we say we are “moved” by a story, for example. So if there is a quantum of meaning expressible in 20 words and you express it in 10, you’ve doubled the power of the sentence. (This quantification is very crude, of course, and doesn’t do justice to the beautiful complexity of a good sentence). You once said, “most stories fail through under-invention. ... Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:52:00 +0100 821798 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/oxr5VzRF4Oo/batman-comic-sold-record-amount Detective Comics No 27 sells for more than $1m, beating record set by book featuring rival superheroThe 70-year-old comic book in which Batman made his debut has sold at auction for more than $1m (£655,000), breaking a record set earlier this week by a Superman comic.The rare copy of Detective Comics No 27, which cost 10 cents when it was first sold in 1939, fetched $1,075,500 from an anonymous buyer on Thursday, according to Heritage Auction Galleries."It pretty much blew away all our expectations and now it's the highest price ever raised for a comic book," said Barry Sandoval, director of operations of Heritage's comics division.A copy of the first comic book featuring Superman, a 1938 edition of Action Comics No 1, sold on Monday for $1m in a deal between a private seller and private buyer. The transaction was conducted by the New York City auction site ComicConnect.com."We can really say that Batman has nosed out Superman, at least for now," Sandoval said.He said the seller had bought the Batman comic in the late 1960s for $100. With a bright yellow background, it features Batman swinging on a rope above city rooftops."That cover is one of the most famous of all comic book covers," Sandoval said.JC Vaughn, associate publisher of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, said most people had predicted it would be the comics with the first appearance of Superman and Batman that broke the $1m barrier. Both comics that sold this week were in great condition, scoring an 8.0 on a scale that goes to 10, he said.George Pantela, owner of GP Analysis, based in Melbourne, Australia, which tracks sales of certified comics from more than 20 auction houses and dealers, said the previous record was about $317,000, paid a year ago for a lesser-grade Action Comics No 1 than the one sold this week.Vincent Zurzolo, chief operating officer of Comicconnect. ... Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:57:17 +0100 821714 http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/index.php/2010/02/25/sexy-charm/ He: Liz? She: Hmm? He: Will you snuggle with me? She: If you stop farting. He: Nevermind. Now, if you don’t see the humor is that little exchange, then Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed? a collection of comic strips by Liz Prince may not be for you. The comics focus on Liz and Kevin, a co-habitating young couple who are saying and doing the sorts of things that only the young and in love will say and do. And it does have a goofy sort of charm, even if an occasional comic may be a little risque for some readers. That’s not to say there aren’t problems with the book. The art comes off as pretty crude, and seems practically unfinished with parts that appear to be rough drafts rather than completed art. That picture of the cover art is as good as it gets. That may or may not explain why the book was printed on such tiny pages. And at 71 pages, it’s not really a book that’s likely to be lingered over (although there were some comics I kept flipping back to). Like I said, it has goofy charm. So, even though Valentine’s Day has already passed, this may give you a few ideas about keeping the fun in your relationship (or let you know what you could be missing).  Rest assured, there’s more snuggling than sex, more kissing than crudity, more badinage than bare-naked and more fun than anything. It probably won’t change your world (or save a bad relationship) but it just might give you a smile or two. And for you foodies out there, may I suggest starting out with the corn on the cob kiss? What’s that? Sorry, you’ll have to read the book. (Source: MADreads) Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:21:12 +0100 821570 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/ElL2_rtBkwk/tony-williams-poetry-workshop-commodity Tony Williams is intrigued and impressed by the submissions to his workshop on 'commodity', and offers tips on how to improve them furtherCelebrity by CJ AllenThey step out of their limousineslike Kewpie dolls, glisteningtoys in over-bright store-light.Your crummy day-to-day, they seemto say, how can you stand it whenyou see us?  We are little gods. And all the time, the carefullyorchestrated pushing, squeezing,yelling, pleading buoys them up.Would you like some?  Would you likea slice, a teensy-weensy sliceof this?  Of course you would.  Why not?With lots of easy ways to pay,to be part of that strapless dress,that velvet charm and sexiness.She pivots on a shiny heeland swings around as if she werealmost real, almost there.The men in mirrored shades keep watchand twist their shaven heads like owls and mumble into their lapels.Lights hang in the glossy airlike jewellery, the night engravesitself with stars.  He smiles and waves. What I find striking in "Celebrity" is the change in the poem's attitude from the beginning to the end. It starts off looking externally at the celebrities, who are presented as tawdry in a way which it's hard to disagree with, but which isn't, perhaps, terribly surprising. But then somehow the focus moves inward, so that we're looking at the celebrities from within (the pivotal moment comes, appropriately enough, on the line, "She pivots on a shiny heel"). The poem's close shows them as something glorious, and demonstrates how it is possible to be seduced by something which from the outside looks cheap ("Lights hang in the glossy air/like jewellery"). This is the poem's originality, and I think it needs to be made more central by cutting one or two of the earlier stanzas, since the tawdriness is so familiar as not to need dwelling on. ... Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:56:54 +0100 821340 http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/2010/02/freedom-to-read-week.html In Canada, we are in the middle of Freedom to Read Week. Find out more on the Freedom to Read website. Let us know what you have been doing to recognize this week in the comments. The Freedom to Read kit is available for free download. It features an in-depth history of the censorship of comic books and many other interesting articles. Don't forget to sign up for the Banned Book Challenge, running from now until June 30. (Source: Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books) Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 822755 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/24/taiwans-national-central-library-opens-new-section-devoted-to-comic-books/ From the Article: The National Central Library opened a new reading section for comic books (also known as manga), a landmark measure justifying manga’s status in the publishing sector and its value for readers in Taiwan. Over 10,000 volumes form the collection, but only people over the age of 18 are allowed to enter the section. The comic books cannot be checked out. The following are excerpts of local newspaper coverage of the issue: United Daily News: The section not only features popular comics circulating at manga stores, but also old comics from China, collections of works by famous French artist Jean Giraud — known for his pseudonym Moebius — and “Mafalda” by illustrator Joaquin Salvador Lavado (pen name Quino) from Argentina. The national library should be the place that stores the most comic books in Taiwan, in line with regulations requiring publishers to offer copies of their new books for the library to keep. However, under the old restriction barring the national library from putting comic books on open shelves, the library gave away the comics it collected to local libraries until recent years. Source: Taiwan News See Also: National Central Library Home Page (English Language) (Source: ResourceShelf) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:55:51 +0100 820955 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=In_Defense_of_the_Graphic_Novel In Defense of The (Graphic) NovelMany conversations I've had have spurred the idea for this discourse in my mind, but as I think on the topic n (Source: pligg - all) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:00:08 +0100 820996 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/23/first-superman-comic-sold-million (Source: Library Link of the Day) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0100 820972 http://www.readersclub.org/reviews/tresults.asp?id=6862 by Pierson, DCDarren is your typical high school nerd. He draws, gets beat up a lot, and is ignored by all the girls. He mostly tries to keep his head down to stay off the radar. That is, until he meets fellow outcast Eric Lederer. Together they bond over their shared love of science fiction and create an epic comic book/movie trilogy to end all sci-fi trilogies. But when Eric reveals that he never sleeps, things get more strange and amazing than any of their intergalactic imaginings. This is a deeply funny book that will appeal to anyone who remembers the awkwardness of high school, the amazing friendships formed in your youth, and the idea that anything is possible. - reviewed by Laura, Sugar Creek, PLCMC (Source: Reader's Club's Latest) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:35:02 +0100 820881 http://lisnews.org/defense_graphic_novel In Defense of The (Graphic) Novel Many conversations I've had have spurred the idea for this discourse in my mind, but as I think on the topic now, two really stick out. The first was between my boyfriend and me. Me: "I'm reading this Graphic Novel for my GLBTQ YA Lit class and - " Boyfriend: "Wait... Graphic Novel? You mean comic?" Me: "No, I mean Graphic Novel." Boyfriend: "Comic." Me: "Graphic Novel." Boyfriend: "Comic! Comics - books with frames and pictures and not many words! Comics!" Me: "..." And the second, between a young patron in the public library where I worked at the time and me. Young patron: "Where can I find the Bone books please?" Me: "Sure, they're over in the Graphic Novels section in the Teen Area." Young patron: "Oh, they're not that graphic..." What went wrong in these interactions? Where is the disconnect between the item we're describing when we say "Graphic Novel" and the term we chose, and what's the difference between this and the "comics" we grew up with? Perhaps the issue truly lies with the terminology rather then the concept. In my mind, the term Graphic Novel allows for the fact that, yes, these titles are not the traditional "book." The tell their story through both pictures and words, and often rely more on the visual aspects then the text. But to me they're more then that. Many classic titles have been re-imagined into the Graphic Novel format, and this makes them more readily accessible to readers that may not have ever been exposed to these books before. From the mindset of a book lover and someone who'd love to impart that love on all the patrons I meet, I'm thrilled by the response Graphic Novels have received and their wide readership. ... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:18:01 +0100 820913 http://blog.booklistonline.com/2010/02/23/la-times-announces-2009-book-prize-finalists/ And the finalists are: Biography The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience, by Kirstin Downey    Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, by Linda Gordon   Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth Century Skeptic, by Michael Scammell   Louis D. Brandeis: A Life, by Melvin Urofsky   The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst, by Kenneth Whyte Current Interest Columbine, by Dave Cullen   Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers   The Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder  Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn   The Healing of America: The Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Healthcare, by T.R. Reid Fiction Heroic Measures, by Jill Ciment   The Man in the Wooden Hat, by Jane Gardam   Blame, by Michelle Huneven    A Short History of Women, by Kate Walbert   A Happy Marriage, by Rafael Yglesias Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction An Elegy for Easterly, by Petina Gappah    Tinkers, by Paul Harding   American Rust, by Philipp Meyer   In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin   Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, by Wells Tower Graphic Novel Luba, by Gilbert Hernandez   GoGo Monster, by Taiyo Matsumoto   Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli   Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe, by Bryan Lee O’Malley   Footnotes in Gaza, by Joe Sacco History Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, by Richard Holmes   Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line, by Martha A.Sandweiss  Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance 1950 – 1963, by Kevin Starr   Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940, by Amy Louise Wood   Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic 1789 – 1815, by Gordon S. ... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:44:59 +0100 821498 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/7XWk2AJDUfQ/ There’s lots of talk about where we are headed these days.  What is our future?  Will we go the way of the dinosaur and suburban mall?  Seth Godin seems to think that we’re doomed while Toby Greenwalt and an army of librarians seem to think otherwise.  I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that the future of the public library is right in front of us.  And boy, does it look wonderful. Teens at the Graphic Novel and Manga Club, Cape May County Library We need to look no further than to the teens that are using the public library to see the future.   The library of the 21st Century has been characterized as being less of a library and more of a community center.  This practice is already in full effect when it comes to teen librarianship.  A great deal of a teen librarian’s focus is programming and getting teens into the library to create lifelong users. Programming brings teens into the library and gives them community.  Teens get a chance to interact with each other and share an experience.  One element that cannot be taken away no matter how much technology grows is human interaction.  Think of the modern supermarket.  Sure, the self checkout is great in a pinch, but don’t you just always find yourself going to a regular checkout for the interaction?  People working and collaborating with other people will drive the public library into the future.  Creating a third space where people share ideas and media will keep the public library relevant in the 21st century.  The development of the teen space in the public library can be seen as a microcosm of this idea.  Teen spaces are designed for use by a specific age range (usually 12-18 years old) and include many forms of media and technology all packaged together nicely into one area. The next step is to expand.  In order to accomplish this, we must embrace our sense of  adventure and open our minds. ... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:17 +0100 820792 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/mkDvi3ykGCo/first-superman-comic-sold-million 1938 edition of Action Comics No1 with cover showing superhero lifting car sets record for comic book saleA rare copy of the first comic book to feature Superman sold for $1m (£640,000) yesterday, smashing the previous record for a comic.The 1938 edition of Action Comics No1 was sold by a private seller to a private buyer. Neither released their name.The issue, which has a cover featuring Superman lifting a car, originally cost 10 cents.The transaction was conducted through the auction site ComicConnect.com. Stephen Fishler, the co-owner of the site and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles, orchestrated the sale.Fishler said the seller was a "well-known individual" in New York with a pedigree collection and the buyer had previously bought an Action Comics No1 of lesser importance."It [Action Comics No1] is considered by most people as the most important book," said John Dolmayan, the comic book enthusiast and dealer best known as the drummer in the rock band System of a Down. "It kind of ushered in the age of the superheroes."Dolmayan, who owns Torpedo Comics, paid $317,000 for an Action Comics No1 issue on behalf of a client last year.That purchase is considered the "official public record" for a comic book sale, Mark Zaid, the marketing director for the Comic Book Collecting Association, said.Zaid added that there had been other private sales in the $300,000 to $450,000 range.The copy sold yesterday fetched a much higher price because it was in better condition, rated as an 8.0 grade out of 10."The fact that this book is completely unrestored and still has an 8.0 grade, it's kind of like a diamond or a precious stone," Dolmayan said. "It's very rare."Only around 100 copies of Action Comics No1 are believed to remain in existence, and only a handful have ever been rated so highly. It is more unusual still for such copies to be made available for sale. ... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:44:00 +0100 820708 http://www.readersclub.org/reviews/tresults.asp?id=6857 by Pierson, DCDarren is your typical high school nerd. He draws, gets beat up a lot, and is ignored by all the girls. He mostly tries to keep his head down to stay off the radar. That is, until he meets fellow outcast Eric Lederer. Together they bond over their shared love of science fiction and create an epic comic book/movie trilogy to end all sci-fi trilogies. But when Eric reveals that he never sleeps, things get more strange and amazing than any of their intergalactic imaginings. This is a deeply funny book that will appeal to anyone who remembers the awkwardness of high school, the amazing friendships formed in your youth, and the idea that anything is possible. - reviewed by Laura, Sugar Creek, PLCMC (Source: Reader's Club's Latest) Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:35:17 +0100 820561 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/i7cgc6wkTx0/the-lovely-bones-peter-jackson Peter Jackson fell prey to the entrenched but questionable belief that cinema must always be cinematicThe book on which The Lovely Bones is based presented "the ultimate puzzle for screenwriters", according to the film's director, Peter Jackson. Apparently he asked himself: "How do you take Alice Sebold's very intricate, poetic book which doesn't in any way scream 'I'm a movie' and structure it as a film?"By common consent, he got the answer wrong. Yet the clue to the puzzle was no further away than the title. Towards the end of the novel, the eponymous bones are defined as "the connections - sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent" that took shape among the bereaved after the murder of its young narrator, Susie. In spite of its otherworldly accoutrements, this is a story about life, not death.Sebold's take on the grieving process didn't impress everyone. Nonetheless, the circumstances she evoked offered plenty of scope for a compelling adaptation. The twists and turns of the survivors' personal journeys could surely have enthralled. Susie might have been allowed to provide an off-screen commentary on their progress. Nonetheless, this should have been a thoroughly earthbound film.Instead, all we get of the dynamics of bereavement is crude caricature. Susie's father is a boring paragon of worthiness. Her mother leaves home, then she comes back. We're given little idea of what exactly she's going through. In the book, she has an affair with the detective on the case. The film doesn't seem to have room for this; it has other preoccupations.Sebold leaves Susie's temporary spiritual abode largely to the imagination. This is just as well, since neither its character nor its function invites scrutiny. In the film, on the other hand, it's the In-Between that dominates the proceedings. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:25:19 +0100 820388 http://noggs.typepad.com/the_reading_experience/2010/02/it-is-not-really-surprising-that-crime-fiction-would-be-a-genre-appealing-to-otherwise-serious-novelists-attempting-to-work-w.html It is not really surprising that crime fiction would be a genre appealing to otherwise "serious" novelists attempting to work with the conventions of a popular form adapted to the purposes of their own ostensibly non-genre work. Crime fiction portrays a world perpetually in extremis, and in the detective novel variant it emphasizes a process of discovery and revelation that in some ways models the very structure of narrative itself. (Although perhaps the detective is more like the literary critic, looking for the clues that will provide meaning, filling in the gaps and making the speculative leaps that will add up to a coherent interpretation of things.) It acts as a kind of palimpsest over which the literary writer might inscribe his/her own variations on "criminal" behavior and its sources in unruly human impulses. Within the last year, both Denis Johnson and Thomas Pynchon, each certifiably qualified to be regarded as serious novelists, have published novels that imitate or burlesque crime fiction, Johnson's Nobody Move and Pynchon's Inherent Vice. Although Johnson's book seems the most thoroughly to be an "imitation" of the genre, if not an outright attempt to produce a plausible crime novel, the inanity of the title suggests we might want to take it instead as burlesque, while Inherent Vice might ultimately be regarded as an affectionate homage to the detective novel, even though it is marked by Pynchon's signature brand of wacky humor and seems to be having fun with the detective novel's propensity to spiral off into episodic pieces that don't always coherently join back up with the narrative whole. Ultimately Pynchon's idiosyncratic appropriation of the "novel of detection" is much more satisfying than Johnson's straight-faced mimicry of the "noir" crime story. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 820540 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/LSPg4g5Tm3M/ The focus over the last couple of weeks –rightfully so- has been cast on the battle between Amazon and Macmillan. It appears that as the dust settles, the collateral damage is more widespread than initially thought. Barnes and Nobles has recently begun raising its e-book prices leaving many of its loyal Nookers exasperated. Their sense of betrayal is a theme becoming more and more common in the e-book world as customers are feeling like victims of the classic “bait and switch” tactic: the bait being the purported savings to be found in e-books and the switch being the DRM-laden, increasingly over-priced books they are getting. Take for instance Denise PW who writes: Shame on B&N for this outrageous price increase! This is totally unacceptable! You finally got your ereader product in some semblance of working order, & this is how you reward your customers? You jack up the prices so beyond the realm of reason? If this is the result of publisher pressure, then B&N should tell us. Otherwise, I will lay the blame at B&N & their greed. Which reminds me why I really stopped going to B&N & preferred Borders… Many of these Nook users are raising the same concerns Kindle users have already raised regarding the feasibility of charging more than 9.99 per e-book. Their objections center around the DRM that Barnes and Nobles insists on using as well as their pricing practices which result in e-books that sell for more than even the hardcover. Reading Bum captures the growing sense of frustration that Nook users are feeling as he states: “Think about it. We don’t even own these books. We’re only licensing them. But yet we’re still being charged more than a paper back and in some cases a hardcover. That’s ridiculous and far from fair. ... Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:00:09 +0100 819965 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/-nwikT_yurY/ Fix regression that broke catalog generation from the Graphical User Interface in 0.6.41 Fix right edge of comics like Dilbert and xkcd getting cut off on the SONY reader. More generally, take page margins into account when rescaling images to fit in the selected output profile. Info here. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:24:27 +0100 819967 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/20/penn-libraries-receives-4-25-million-gift-to-build-special-collections-center/ From the Announcement: The Penn Libraries have received $4.25 million for the renovation of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) and the creation of a Special Collections Center. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a member of the Libraries’ Board of Overseers. This is the largest gift to the Libraries from a living donor. The gift will support the first phase of a $15 million expansion project whereby the collection, study, and curatorial facilities on the sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center will be transformed into a new Special Collections Center. The redesigned Center will play to the strengths of the rare book library’s teaching and digitization program. The Rare Book Library’s existing spaces, including its Furness Shakespeare Library are to be remodeled and improved. And the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image will have an entirely new home, one that enables humanities researchers to create—and experiment with—a wide range of digital content. The centerpiece of the Special Collections Center will be Penn’s more than 250,000 rare books, representing subjects as diverse as Aristotle, the history of chemistry, Shakespearean and Renaissance literature, the 18th Century, the Spanish Inquisition, comic books and cookbooks, and the Gotham Book Mart Collection. In addition to 800 medieval manuscripts, notable manuscript collections include those of Theodore Dreiser, Lewis Mumford, Marian Anderson, Alma Mahler Werfel, Howard Fast, and, most recently, Chaim Potok, as well as the Lenkin Family Collection of Photography, which comprises nearly 4,000 historical photographs of the Holy Land taken between 1850 and 1947. Source: Penn Libraries (Source: ResourceShelf) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:36:53 +0100 819833 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/z7MmLG9Vge4/lionel-jeffries-obituary Prolific actor and director who made the much-loved film The Railway ChildrenAs an actor Lionel Jeffries, who has died aged 83, was a master of comic unease. This was perhaps fuelled by the personal unease he felt in a sex-and-violence era which overtook the gentler sensibilities he sometimes brought to his acting. But he was able to bring these sensibilities fully to bear in his scriptwriting and film directing, particularly in his much-loved adaptation of the classic children's novel The Railway Children. With the latter, he left an indelible mark on the British film industry and generations of teary-eyed viewers.The son of two devoted workers for the Salvation Army, Jeffries disliked personal publicity and was a zealot when preparing a role (he ran two miles every morning before appearing in the musical Hello Dolly! after an absence from the London stage of 26 years). He deplored permissivism, and was not frightened of being quoted to that effect; he was a member of the British Catholic Stage Guild, and served as its vice-president for some time. In a profession sometimes characterised by the loucheness of its morals, he had only one wife, the former actor Eileen Walsh, with whom he had one son and two daughters.With his hard-boiled egg of a head, barking voice, interrogator's nose, demented moustache and apprehensive eyes, he was the British film industry's archetypal officious policeman or half-unhinged bungling crook. For Hollywood, which he called "Shepherd's Bush wrapped in cellophane", and the domestic industry he adapted the act in more than 100 films to roles such as the Roundhead colonel in the British civil-war epic The Scarlet Blade (1963), the perfidious Inspector Fred "Nosey" Parker in The Wrong Arm of the Law (1962), and as Stanley Farquhar, the spy who was as inefficient as the dog in The Spy With a Cold Nose (1966).Such broad comedy roles obscured his more thoughtful and intelligent side. ... Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:39:24 +0100 819660 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Library_Hosts_Comic_Book_Camp_for_Early_Elementary_School_Kids_--- The Keene Public Library is hosting a Comics 101 camp for students, grades 1-3, during winter vacation week. The camp will take place at Heberton Hal (Source: pligg - all) Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:30 +0100 819548 http://lisnews.org/library_rules By Jessica Horvath One thing I've learned during my time in the library world is that libraries treat their policies and procedures manuals like security blankets. Rules make the introverted librarian feel safe and sometimes rules even make the library safe. While rules can be dandy, I think there's a line that libraries cross all the time. A point in which the rules stop making sense, and the limitations for the patron are terribly unwelcoming. If libraries will ever be universally known as the "third place," we better make the visitors feel, at the very least, welcome. Let me illustrate my point: Imagine going to a friend's house to play your favorite game, let's pretend it's Yahtzee. You walk up to her front door, which has a laminated sign, in that dreadful comic sans, asking, "*PLEASE* Turn your cell phones OFF or put on VIBRATE before you enter." "Well," you shrug, "guess she doesn't like noise." You ring the door bell and enter, politely overlooking the tangerine vinyl furniture. "How's it going?" you ask. "You need to keep your voice down," she says. You whisper, "Where are we playing Yahtzee?" "Over by that table, under the sign that says 'Yahtzee Table.'" Guess this friend likes signage too. When you sit down at the designated Yahtzee table, you notice that a dull golf pencil is tethered down with twine and an old piece of scotch tape. "Why did you tether this pencil?" "So someone doesn't steal it," she asserts. "By the way," this "friend" warns, "you only have 15 minutes left to play Yahtzee, and then the next person needs to come over and take a turn." Disappointed, you say, "But, I just got here!" "Not my fault," she says, "that's the policy. ... Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:39:00 +0100 819647 http://www.lisnews.org/library_rules By Jessica Horvath One thing I've learned during my time in the library world is that libraries treat their policies and procedures manuals like security blankets. Rules make the introverted librarian feel safe and sometimes rules even make the library safe. While rules can be dandy, I think there's a line that libraries cross all the time. A point in which the rules stop making sense, and the limitations for the patron are terribly unwelcoming. If libraries will ever be universally known as the "third place," we better make the visitors feel, at the very least, welcome. Let me illustrate my point: Imagine going to a friend's house to play your favorite game, let's pretend it's Yahtzee. You walk up to her front door, which has a laminated sign, in that dreadful comic sans, asking, "*PLEASE* Turn your cell phones OFF or put on VIBRATE before you enter." "Well," you shrug, "guess she doesn't like noise." You ring the door bell and enter, politely overlooking the tangerine vinyl furniture. "How's it going?" you ask. "You need to keep your voice down," she says. You whisper, "Where are we playing Yahtzee?" "Over by that table, under the sign that says 'Yahtzee Table.'" Guess this friend likes signage too. When you sit down at the designated Yahtzee table, you notice that a dull golf pencil is tethered down with twine and an old piece of scotch tape. "Why did you tether this pencil?" "So someone doesn't steal it," she asserts. "By the way," this "friend" warns, "you only have 15 minutes left to play Yahtzee, and then the next person needs to come over and take a turn." Disappointed, you say, "But, I just got here!" "Not my fault," she says, "that's the policy. ... Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:39:00 +0100 819622 http://www.sla.org.uk/blg-graphicology.php The SLA is making available a special offprint of the article "Graphicology" by Chris Brown from The School Librarian, Volume 57 Number 4, Winter 2009. At a time when graphic novels are receiving increasing amounts of attention, school librarians who extend their stock by incorporating graphic material may well find they are challenged to justify such expenditure. The article is designed to make the case for the value of graphic novels, to address some of the concerns that librarians often have about introducing them, and to help you engage staff and pupils. Including a roundup of web resources, this special four-page offprint is a free PDF download. (Source: SLA Weblog) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:26:40 +0100 820149 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Books_As_Useful_Objects Lots of ridiculous & or useful stuff you can do with a book...shown as a book trailer for Cyanide & Happiness Comics. (Source: pligg - all) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:00:07 +0100 819262 http://marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_marincountyfreelibrary_archive.html#3075160166383841676 Michael Scagilotti, an instructor at the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco, will be offering a two hour workshop just for TEENS, ages 12-18 years old. Learn how to draw a comic strip in this fun hands-on workshop.Where: South Novato LibraryWhen: Thursday Feb 25, 5:30 - 7:30pmFor more information, call (415) 506-3168. (Source: Marin County Free Library Blog) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819612 http://stephenslighthouse.com/?p=3181 Check out this small project that reviews a 1972 book’s view of what libraries would be like in 2010. There are photos of several pages about libraries from Geoffrey Hoyle’s 1972 book “2010: Living in the Future”. http://tinyurl.com/yjv78xs “The halls and rooms on the upper floors are for hobbies. Here people make pottery, draw and paint pictures, build model airplanes, or play musical instruments. There are teachers to help you with every hobby. A very popular room is the library. There are no books. The floor is shaped into tables and benches. Built into these tables are hundreds of vision phones. The books, films, and newspapers are all stored in the library computer. First you dial the library index. This file contains all the books that have ever been written. It does not matter whether they were first written in Chinese or French. They will be here, translated into English. There is also an index of films and newspapers. You could spend all day watching comics, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.” http://tinyurl.com/ykb4w4m “To select the book you wish to read, you dial the book’s number. The first page appears on your screen. You can turn the pages backward or forward by using buttons on the vision phone. If you are halfway through a book and you have to leave, there is no reason why you can’t finish it when you get home. You can dial the library and the book number from home and go on with your reading. While you are in the library, you might look at some travel film, to help you decide where to go for your summer vacation. How about Australia? It seems a long way away, but it doesn’t take so long by airplane. You will find sandy beaches, blue skies, and endless sunshine along the Great Barrier Reef. There are glass-bottomed boats through which you could watch the tropical fish. ... Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:01:11 +0100 819157 http://www.lisnews.org/books_useful_objects Lots of ridiculous & or useful stuff you can do with a book...shown as a book trailer for Cyanide & Happiness Comics. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:52:03 +0100 819630 http://lisnews.org/books_useful_objects Lots of ridiculous & or useful stuff you can do with a book...shown as a book trailer for Cyanide & Happiness Comics. (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:52:03 +0100 819170 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/JmMWYJ9qK0w/fantastic-authenticity-calvin-and-hobbes Bill Watterson's work remains hilarious, and wildly inventive – but it also manages to be authentic in a way that very few cartoons ever areIt's been more than a decade since any new Calvin and Hobbes comic strips have appeared, but the fearless and philosophical duo still delight millions of readers. Some are rereading their well-worn collections for the nth time, while others are just discovering the incorrigible twosome. No matter where readers are coming from, the pair's adventures and conversations seem just as genuine today as they did when they were first committed to paper. Yes, the strip's creator, Bill Watterson, was a phenomenal artist (his Martian landscapes, seasonal backdrops and depiction of a T.rex flying a F-14 are all classics) and yes, he was a great writer, but it is the strip's ring of truthfulness that may have been its most attractive quality. Calvin and Hobbes follows the adventures of the mischievous boy Calvin and his best friend Hobbes, a tiger who may or may not actually exist. Their relationship is by turns playful, combative, thoughtful and fantastical; they act and sound like real best friends. But they do things that most kids can only dream of – they time travel, dig for dinosaur bones in the backyard and build legions of abominable snowmen. Sometimes Watterson sketched out memorable parables that drove their point home with a chuckle (often at Calvin's unwitting expense) and at other times he gave readers straight-up gags, explored family dynamics or sent his intrepid duo hurtling through time and space and over cliffs. No matter what magic Watterson concocted, there was rarely a moment when the strip felt forced or, worse yet, meaningless.It's pretty mind-blowing to experience something that you expect to be nothing more than ordinary, only to find that it is changing the way you look at the world. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:20:17 +0100 819012 http://stephenslighthouse.com/?p=3204 This is a must read article. I loved it. Don’t Touch That Dial! A history of media technology scares, from the printing press to Facebook. by Vaughan Bell at Slashdot It’s amazing how many postings and articles I’ve read over the years that posit that this technology or that technology is making us stupid, wrecking our attention span, or runing our children. Thanks to Teleread for pointing to this from here: Do we not read as much anymore because the Internet has sapped our attention spans? Internet may not be affecting attention spans after all Some libraries have participated in similar venedetta against romance fiction, comic books, graphic novels, videogames, the Hardy Boys. Nancy Drew series, etc. All have been proven wrongheaded over time. Too bad fear is often the opposite of the facts. Stephen (Source: Stephen) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:09:08 +0100 819165 http://www.lisnews.org/happy_birthday_unshelved Eight Years! It's hard to believe it's been eight years since Gene and I started a comic strip called Overdue, quickly renamed Unshelved. In that time we've each gained a daughter and a house, and each lost quite a bit of hair, not to mention our day jobs. Yes, in case you didn't get the memo the first time around, this little web comic strip now provides incomes for both of us, thanks in large part to the support of fans like you. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:57:40 +0100 819638 http://lisnews.org/happy_birthday_unshelved Eight Years! It's hard to believe it's been eight years since Gene and I started a comic strip called Overdue, quickly renamed Unshelved. In that time we've each gained a daughter and a house, and each lost quite a bit of hair, not to mention our day jobs. Yes, in case you didn't get the memo the first time around, this little web comic strip now provides incomes for both of us, thanks in large part to the support of fans like you. (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:57:40 +0100 819050 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/happy-birthday.html It's been eight years since the inception of the 'Unshelved' web comic. I'm glad it's still going strong and I wish Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum much goodness to come. I wouldn't syndicate it here if it weren't wonderful. :) (Source: The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819853 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-reason-to-get-normal-amount-of.html Insomnia may shrink your brain, scans show: Chronic lack of sleep linked to lower gray matter density I rarely have insomnia (although it does happen on occasion), but I generally don't get enough sleep, although I've been doing much better now that I get home at a reasonable time at night. Still, for years I operated on about five to six hours' sleep, and it wasn't enough. I hope I haven't shrunk any grey matter--I need all the brainpower I can get, since I'm ageing and I'm not sure my brain's ever really been wired right anyway, especially with the ADD. Speaking of ageing, cognition, and memory, and comic strips, for that matter, a co-worker showed me a great comic by Regan today and I laughed mightily: Have a good night. I'm off tomorrow afternoon so I plan to pick up some items at the library (a CD and the next two Dresden Files books), but also do some cleaning and work on the game notes. I'll probably blog, too, though. :) (Source: The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819852 http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/2010/02/17/smile-2/ Smile by Raina Telgemeier Based on personal experiences, this graphic novel will speak to those of us who are teenagers and those who have survived that age.  Raina just wants to be a normal kid.  But one evening, she falls when running, tripping and damaging her front teeth.  This sets her on a journey of braces, dental surgery, and headgear.  On top of her dental issues, Raina also deals with the normal teen issues of friends, bullies, and crushes on boys.  Readers get to watch Raina grow up from a sixth grader to a high school student as she learns about acceptance, self-esteem, and the importance of good dentists. Written with lots of humor, this book has a feel for what makes being a teenager both funny and painful.  Telgemeier’s writing is refreshing and fast paced.  Her art is friendly and silly.  With her art and writing combined, she has created a book with a fresh feel that has universal appeal.  While speaking of her own issues with teeth, she speaks to all of our strange teen situations and what each of us dealt with or is dealing with.  A fresh, funny look at being a teen, this book will easily find a readership and be eagerly passed from person to person.  Appropriate for ages 11-14. Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) where most of the illustrations were not yet in color. (Source: Kids Lit) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819385 http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/library/blog/2010/02/ah-agora-days.html It's that time again. And all sorts of interesting classes land in the library. This morning we had Beginner Knitting and Read Mr. Bild's Comic Collection (from the description: "Journey through the evidence of my misspent youth"). I hear we'll have a card game this afternoon.Vivian instructs the massesSydney sets Chris straightComic absorption (Source: Gargoyles loose in the library) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819227 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/yzAjOmwDwPw/booker-old-devils-kingsley-amis Kingsley Amis's 1986 Booker winner shows an unexpectedly sweet side of a writer often accused of misogyny and bitternessViewed through the reverse telescope of history, Kingsley Amis's success at the 1986 Booker prize seems like the natural culmination of a long and distinguished writing career. One of the finest comic writers of his generation – century even – had done the natural thing and written a bloody brilliant book that easily scooped the country's top literary award. At the time, however, it came as something of a surprise. There are notable similarities between the way Amis Snr was regarded then and his son Martin is now. Kingsley was widely seen as past his best before The Old Devils came out and more column inches were devoted to denunciations of what commentators imagined he thought than to the words he wrote. Unlike Martin, he also had the disadvantage of being a well-known drunk and (to paraphrase Christopher Hitchens) the booze was beginning to get to him and rob him of his wit and charm. Few expected the Old Devils to be as good as it was – but that just makes it all the sweeter. "Sweet" is in fact the operative word here. Another surprise from a man so frequently accused of misogyny and bitterness is just how tender this book is – and how in love with love. The Old Devils of the title are old friends from Wales. Because they are mainly retired, their day starts winding down shortly after breakfast and so they start drinking. The men imbibe dangerous amounts in various unpleasant pubs, the women in various unpleasant kitchens. They bitch and moan and say outrageously rude things about anything and everybody, but – crucially – they all tolerate each other. They even put up with a chronic alcoholic called Dorothy. They just desperately try to keep talking whenever she's around so she isn't able to cut in with one of her interminable monologues about New Zealand tribal customs. ... Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:00:01 +0100 818639 http://lorelibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/interesting-things-of-the-week-70/ Batman & Robin comic generator (via The Generator Blog) 52 Weeks of UX (Found via Enquiring Minds Want to Know) Fakepress – Realtime Emotions on the Internet Fat Slice – game via the How-To Geek 4 Free Video Editors Do E-Readers cause eye-strain? Tagged: links (Source: Lore Librarian) Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:15:24 +0100 820220 http://bibliotecarioanarquista.blogspot.com/2010/02/promocao-da-leitura-de-novelas-graficas.html Depois de «Graphic Novels Now» a American Library Association (ALA) acaba de publicar um novo guia sobre novelas gráficas para os profissionais de bibliotecas, desta feita com abordagens que recomendam técnicas de sugestão de leitura de romances gráficos a (1) leitores tradicionais, (2) leitores de banda desenhada e (3) a não leitores. O preço é que se afigura ligeiramente desproporcionado. 40$ por 130 páginas?… Hum? Bem-aventurados (ou remunerados) sejam os bibliotecários norte-americanos.GOLDSMITH, Francisca – The readers’ advisory guide to graphic novels. Chicago: ALA, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1008-5 (Source: O bibliotecario anarquista) Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 818938 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/Pq-Vn9geix8/dick-francis-obituary Champion jockey who became a bestselling thriller writerDick Francis, who has died aged 89, was a unique figure, a champion steeplechase jockey who, without any previous apparent literary bent, became an international bestselling writer, the author of 42 crime novels, selling more than 60m copies in 35 languages. Right from the start, with Dead Cert in 1962, the Dick Francis thriller showed a mastery of lean, witty genre prose reminiscent – sometimes to the point of comic parody – of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. It was an American style that many clever people in England had attempted to reproduce without much success, and it was a wonder how a barely educated former jump jockey was able to do the trick with such effortless ease. People said his highly educated wife wrote the books for him. It was a mystery that was never satisfactorily solved.The most dramatic incident in his racing career was also a mystery. In the Grand National at Aintree in 1956, his mount Devon Loch, the Queen Mother's horse trained by Peter Cazalet, had jumped all the fences and, well ahead, only 50 yards from the finish, without another horse near him, suddenly collapsed and was unable to continue.Some said the horse had attempted to jump an imaginary fence; another theory, put up years later by Bill Braddon, Cazalet's head lad, was that the girth was too tight and the horse suddenly let loose an enormous fart. Braddon said he had tightened the girth just before the off, "one notch up and another for luck", without realising that Cazalet had already done it in the saddling enclosure.There was no question of Francis, like a crooked jockey out of one of his own books, having pulled the horse. It had been his great dream since he was a lad of eight in 1928 and listened to the Grand National on the radio as Tipperary Tim won at 100-1, to be a steeplechase jockey and win that ultimate prize. ... Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:53:43 +0100 818193 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/PjB_fWZmb4c/verbal-valentines-books-perfect-couples Certain books have an almost romantic affinity with each other. Today seems like a good day to put them together"I think I'll arrange a marriage. Come over often, Nick, and I'll sort of – oh – fling you together. You know – lock you up accidentally in linen closets and push you out to sea in a boat, and all that sort of thing – "F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great GatsbySome books are meant to be together. Oh, they may come across all coy, or act as if they can't stand the sight of each other – but deep in their heart of hearts they know that it's only a matter of time before they're pressed up against each other on some heaving bookshelf, shamelessly comparing marginalia. What is the attraction between these books? To the casual observer they may well appear the most unlikely of couples, but there's something that gets these books circling each other warily before giving a cautious sniff. Maybe it's a shared style or technique (such as the use of diaries to change narrative perspective halfway through the twin tales of obsessive love of John Fowles's The Collector and Graham Greene's The End of the Affair). Or it could be common themes or settings (for example, The Great Gatsby and Breakfast at Tiffany's depictions of New York-based dreamers intent on reinventing themselves and transcending their humble beginnings).Whatever it is, the chemistry does its work: the sparks fly, the sap rises, and books get together, to give a richer reading experience by bringing out the best in each other. Seeing them as a couple, they can help remind us of the inexhaustibility of literature; that no book is an island. They call into question the idea that a single work can ever be deemed the Definitive Text on any given subject, that there are always going to be new ways of seeing and interpreting the world. ... Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0100 818049 http://www.teleread.org/2010/02/13/calibre-0-6-39-and-0-6-40-released/ Here’s the latest changelog: New Features * Ability to perform exact match and regular expression based searches. * Autodetect if a zip/rar file is actually a comic and if so, import it as CBZ/CBR * Add plugin to automatically extract an ebook during import if it is in a zip/rar archive * Linux source install: Install a calibre environment module to ease the integration of calibre into other python projects * Add ability to control how author sort strings are automatically generated from author strings, via the config file tweaks.py * Handle broken EPUB files from Project Gutenberg that have invalid OCF containers Bug fixes * Fix regression in 0.6.39 that broke the LRF viewer * ZIP/EPUB files: Try to detect file name encoding instead of assuming the name is encoded in UTF-8. Also correctly encode the extracted file name in the local filesystem encoding. * HTML Input: Handle HTML fragments more gracefully * Zip files: Workaround invalid zip files that contain end-of-file comments but set comment size to zero * Restore the recipe for the Wired daily feed. * MOBI metadata: Preserve original EXTH records when not overwrriten by calibre metadata. * Catalog generation: Improved series sorting. All books not in a series are now grouped together * Fix occasional threading related crash when using the ChooseFormatDialog * Catalog generation: Various fixes for handling invalid data * Fix regression in 0.6.38 that broke setting bookmarks in the viewer * HTML Input: Ignore filenames that are encoded incorrectly. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:39:02 +0100 818098 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/wDwpO2t1qzY/ Here’s the latest changelog: New Features * Ability to perform exact match and regular expression based searches. * Autodetect if a zip/rar file is actually a comic and if so, import it as CBZ/CBR * Add plugin to automatically extract an ebook during import if it is in a zip/rar archive * Linux source install: Install a calibre environment module to ease the integration of calibre into other python projects * Add ability to control how author sort strings are automatically generated from author strings, via the config file tweaks.py * Handle broken EPUB files from Project Gutenberg that have invalid OCF containers Bug fixes * Fix regression in 0.6.39 that broke the LRF viewer * ZIP/EPUB files: Try to detect file name encoding instead of assuming the name is encoded in UTF-8. Also correctly encode the extracted file name in the local filesystem encoding. * HTML Input: Handle HTML fragments more gracefully * Zip files: Workaround invalid zip files that contain end-of-file comments but set comment size to zero * Restore the recipe for the Wired daily feed. * MOBI metadata: Preserve original EXTH records when not overwrriten by calibre metadata. * Catalog generation: Improved series sorting. All books not in a series are now grouped together * Fix occasional threading related crash when using the ChooseFormatDialog * Catalog generation: Various fixes for handling invalid data * Fix regression in 0.6.38 that broke setting bookmarks in the viewer * HTML Input: Ignore filenames that are encoded incorrectly. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:39:02 +0100 817984 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/17NpkWJ5yLY/emily-dickinson-lyndall-gordon Beneath the still surface of the poet's life lay a fiercely passionate nature and a closely guarded secret, argues her lastest biographerEmily Dickinson was a great poet whose life has remained a mystery. The time has come to dispel the myth of a quaint and helpless creature, disappointed in love, who gave up on life. I think she was unafraid of her own passions and talent; that her brother's sexual betrayal and subsequent family feud had a profound effect on the Dickinson legend that has come down to us; and perhaps most significantly, I believe that Emily had an illness – a secret that explains much.It was Emily herself who helped to devise the blueprint for her legend, starting at the age of 23 when she declined an invitation from a friend: "I'm so old-fashioned, Darling, that all your friends would stare." In place of the tart young woman she was, she adopted this retiring posture. Born in 1830 into the leading family of Amherst, a college town in Massachusetts, she never left what she always called "my father's house". Townsfolk spoke of her as "the Myth".On the face of it, the life of this New England poet seems uneventful and largely invisible, but there's a forceful, even overwhelming character belied by her still surface. She called it a "still – Volcano – Life", and that volcano rumbles beneath the domestic surface of her poetry and a thousand letters. Stillness was not a retreat from life (as legend would have it) but her form of control. Far from the helplessness she played up at times, she was uncompromising; until the explosion in her family, she lived on her own terms.Her widely spaced eyes were too keen for the passivity admired in women of her time. It's the sensitive face of a person who (as her brother put it) "saw things directly and just as they were". ... Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:05:36 +0100 817805 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/hb39YKMq2kU/donizetti-elixir-of-love-digested A rollicking tale that pits passion against a love potion is boiled down by John CraceAct 1: A small villageGiannetta: Love makes you very hot / And act just like a clot / If you want to be cool / Don't play the fool.Nemorino: (To himself) To hold my sweet Adina / I would commit a misdemeanor / But I don't know how to woo her / For I'm such a pathetic loser.Adina: (Ignoring him and singing to peasants) When Tristan was ignored by Isolde / He took an elixir to make him bolder.Nemorino: It's a feeble plot line / But I'm making it mine / So where around here / Can I get an elixir?Sergeant Belcore: (Appearing) I arrive with a thud / I'm one helluva stud / I'm up for some snogging / Even plenty of dogging.Adina: He is a bit of a god / With an impressive wad.Sergeant Belcore: That's enough talk / Pray, do not balk / Let's get hitched / And you'll be my bitch.Adina: In a week we'll be wed / And rolling in bed.Nemorino: He makes me feel sick / But the dimwitted chick / Has mistaken his smarm / For passion and charm.Adina: Don't look so glum / I'm not quite that dumb.Doctor Dulcamara: (The quack, arriving) Well, hello there, young dude / We've come to the comic interlude / So come on, you dork / Get on with it and talk.Nemorino: I want a magic potion / To make her show me some emotion.Doctor Dulcamara: Where do I begin it? / There's one born every minute / I'll sell the berk some wine / And tell him: "She'll be thine."Nemorino: You can hear from the tune / That I'm quite the buffoon / I'm as pissed as a fart / In the name of high art.Adina: Not to be pedanto / It's actually bel canto / And you seem to be cruising / For a bit of a bruising.Nemorino: I'm not really bothered / You're being so horrid / This time tomorrow / I'll have no more sorrow.Adina: Nemmy's gone a whole lot colder / Giving me the coldest shoulder / I'm now quite annoyed / That he's not overjoyed / Or finds it amusing / When I start to abuse him. ... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:47:02 +0100 817638 http://ricklibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/help-by-kathryn-stockett.html If our area library group The Big Read had not chosen The Help by Kathryn Stockett as its community book, I might never have listened to this audiobook about the lives of black maids in Mississippi in the 1960s. I rarely read fiction and usually avoid anything on the fiction best seller lists other than books by Alexander McCall Smith or J.R.R. Tolkien. But they did, and I did, and I'm pleased with how it all worked out. The Help is a fascinating book with interesting characters and a generous serving of history.Being a baby boomer, I knew a lot of what Stockett writes about The Help - the Civil Rights Movement, the Jim Crow laws, the KKK, ladies bridge clubs, etc. I grew up in West Texas, which was a bit removed from the Deep South, but we still had segregated schools and neighborhoods for the few blacks in our small town. The concern of the Jackson, Mississippi ladies for segregated toilets in their homes was a revelation to me. My grandparents were the only people I knew in Big Lake with a toilet in the garage, but they never hired maids. My grandfather liked to run the Hoover himself when he came in from the ranch.While I enjoyed the characters of Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny, I think Hilly Holbrook may the name to remember years from now. Early in the book I wondered if Hilly would just be a pathetic comic target, such as Frank Burns in M.A.S.H., but her evil expands as the narrative progresses. I hope to never cross anyone of her kind but to have courage of my convictions if I do. I also enjoyed the comic touches in The Help. Stockett changes moods very effectively throughout the book.I listened to The Help on an audiobook featuring four readers, one each for the three main characters of Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter and another reader for the chapter about the Junior League benefit for children in Africa. ... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 817783 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/cDikcnpsVtw/some-conclusions-about-endings Having been disappointed by Anna Karenina's close, I wonder whether there isn't something intrinsically problematic with the very idea of finishing storiesThe responses to my recent piece on Anna Karenina's denouement made me think: why are endings often a letdown? If they're "wrap-up jobs", as Degrus asked, is there "a good chance we'll find them hasty, intrusive, fake, vulgar?" Or if they're open-ended, are we "left adrift, denied something, conned"?To consider this, I'm hijacking Frank Kermode's seminal 1967 work, The Sense Of An Ending, as a guide. While it remains controversial and is often dismissed it's a useful starting point here. And rather than a survey of the canon, I've opted instead for an arbitrary glance at the last six books I have read: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi, Attachment by Isabel Fonsecca, To Heaven By Water by Justin Cartwright, Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving, Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier, and Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer.Endings, suggests Kermode (incidentally, a fan of Karenina's final part) should come "as expected, but not in the manner expected". They may be either "concord-fictions", in which there is "an appearance of concord", or, as with much modern literary fiction, a "denial of it in the interests of clerkly scepticism". Central to this is what he terms the "falsification of one's expectation of the end": if a story were to proceed to its "obviously predestined end" it would of course be unsatisfactory, so the successful ending falsifies those expectations whilst complying with our wish to "reach the discovery or recognition by an unexpected route". In the light of this, let's start with Buddha. ... Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:00:01 +0100 817235 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/R2LSCKtnsy8/theatre-science-fiction Contemporary playwrights tend to give science fiction a wide berth. Are they afraid of looking silly?In his volume of essays, Strong Opinions, Vladimir Nabokov said that one could make the case for categorising Shakespeare's The Tempest as science fiction. Of course there was an element of mischief in his words, but it does lead you to think about the relationship between theatre and the space age. The Tempest was the source for the cult 1950s musical Return to the Forbidden Planet. Musical comedy does seem comfortable with incorporating sci-fi elements: think Little Shop of Horrors or even – if you must – We Will Rock You. Literary dystopias, too, provide rich ground for page-to-stage adaptations. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale was turned into an opera by the Danish composer Poul Ruders and, as last year marked the 60th anniversary of its publication, George Orwell's 1984 has proved particularly popular of late. Blind Summit staged their take on the novel at BAC just before Christmas, and later this month there'll be another version at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Where new dramatic writing is concerned, however, science fiction is far thinner on the ground. A recurring joke in the sitcom Friends concerned Joey's occasional appearances in various awful off-Broadway productions; in one episode (The One With the Screamer), he concludes an emotionally wrought scene by climbing a ladder to a waiting mothership "to search for alternative fuels". Which is a roundabout way of saying that credibility may be more of an issue on stage than in other media. The fear of appearing silly is a real one. Playwrights who choose to stray into sci-fi territory often do so almost apologetically – creating plausible near-futures, recognisable worlds that differ from ours only in minor details. ... Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:14:00 +0100 817236 http://newpagesblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/ultimate-graphic-novel.html In six panels. (Source: NewPages Blog) Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 818021 http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/2010/02/since-i-am-creator-of-banned-book-lists.html Since I am the creator of banned book lists each year, yesterday and today's "Unshelved" comic strip seemed to be perfect posts. Check out Unshelved archives for more or subscribe to one of the comic strips to receive it daily. Their blog includes many book reviews and other topics of interest to book lovers.Take the Banned Book Challenge. Set your own goal between February and June. Use the online form or email me your first name, country, and number of banned or challenged books you will read. Check the sidebar for my lists of banned books. (Source: Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books) Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 817749 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/vvh_pT_cWWw/literature-mind-blowing-drugs Forget what the shady character down the pub is offering you, the most extreme psychedelic experiences come in book formNews of a documentary about the life of William Burroughs sent me scurrying – giant bug-style – back to his most celebrated work, Naked Lunch. Actually, it was more of a tentative crawl, because this was and remains the most difficult book I've ever encountered. Maybe I'm about to commit hara kiri on my intellectual/literary credibility – such as it is – but I must confess: I find Naked Lunch pretty much unreadable. And not in the Dan Brown/misery lit/sleb memoir sense: I could read those if I had to, I just wouldn't enjoy it. But Naked Lunch, my God … It's like someone swallowed the diaries of a hallucinating lunatic and vomited the resultant mess into your ears, stomach bile and all. While I can admit Burroughs was an important and seminal (pun probably not intended) writer, I can't read Naked Lunch without feeling queasy. And I can't finish it. Lord knows I've tried. I wrestled with it again just this week. But once more this slim volume defeated me, forcing me to pound the mat and yell, "No more!" I felt as exhausted and brain-fried as someone coming out the far end of a two-week bender, but without any of the pleasurable memories.Each time I get about halfway through, battling each disconnected sentence, all that disturbing weirdness, trying to mentally force some kind of shape onto these brilliant, demented ramblings, and then … I don't know. I run out of energy, maybe. Or interest. Or time. Or willingness to engage with the most grotesque and unsettling imagery this side of a prog rock album covers compendium. ... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:45:34 +0100 816886 http://marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_marincountyfreelibrary_archive.html#8520740291321467549 The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines by Mike Madrid is "a cultural history of comic book heroines" that traces the evolution of female superheroes from the 1930s to the present day. Madrid will discuss the correlation between the stories of these Supergirls with the values of American women in the "real world."When: Friday, March 5, 2010 from 12 noon to 1pmWhere: Civic Center LibraryFor more information, call the Civic Center Library Reference Desk at 415-499-6058.This free event is part of the 2010 One Book One Marin program. Check out all of the One Book One Marin events, including this Supergirls event at other branches throughout the spring. (Source: Marin County Free Library Blog) Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 817921 http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/pogo.html Pogo is the title and central character of a long-running (1948-1975) daily comic strip created by Walt Kelly and distributed by the Post-Hall Syndicate. Set in the Okefenokee Swamp of the southeastern United States, the strip often engages in social and political satire through the adventures of its anthropomorphic funny animal characters.Pogo combined both sophisticated wit and slapstick physical comedy in a heady mix of allegory, Irish poetry, literary whimsy, puns and wordplay, lushly detailed artwork, irresistible characters and broad burlesque humor. The same series of strips can be enjoyed on different levels both by young children and by savvy adults. The strip earned Kelly a Reuben Award in 1951.Here is a fascinating collection of original Pogo drawings. There is also much more comic art available for viewing or purchase at the site. Be warned: There is also a bit of erotica. (Source: The Centered Librarian) Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 817202