Michael Doherty wants to stay in touch on LinkedIn

2011-01-20T08:31:00.001-06:00

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Michael Doherty

Michael Doherty
Librarian I at Chicago Public Library
Greater Chicago Area

You have been invited to join 5ft Shelf

2010-03-29T16:18:00.001-05:00

Hi,

One of your contacts Michael Doherty (mdoherty83@gmail.com) thought you might like http://www.5ftshelf.com 5ft Shelf is a social utility for recording your favorite books, albums and movies, sharing them with others and discovering new ones through personalised recommendations. Your contact added the message:

"I thought you might like this site It seems pretty cool and Id like to see what everyone decides to put on their shelf"

You can see your contacts shelf here: http://www.5ftshelf.com/users/mdoherty83 and you can register and create your own shelf at: 5ft Shelf at http://www.5ftshelf.com/signup

Thanks,

The 5ftshelf Team
---
http://www.5ftshelf.com
THIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT MONITORED
For help visit http://www.5ftshelf.com/meta/support

Let the top ten lists begin!

2008-12-10T10:15:00.005-06:00

As many people are want to do at the close of a calander year I am going to reflect on the many things that have happened over the past year and offer up my opinion on them to the best of my ability. I thought I would start with the one that will probably be the easiest to write. My Top Ten Movies of 2008. Note:This is personal I am not a critic and I KNOW there are a lot of films I didnt see this year but debate all you want..It'll be fun.
10. Cloverfield: Now you probably wont see this on many other top ten lists. Admittedly this film has a lot of flaws, one of them that it made many moviegoers motion sick. The reason I liked this film however is because of the tension it did manage to create despite its flaws. Also, the short scene on the street that evoked images of the aftermath of 9/11 while undoubtedly exploitative still manage to strike an emotional chord with me.

9. In Bruges: A highly underrated film starring Colin Farrell but then again I have a thing for quirky hitman movies (see: The Matador)

8. Son of Rambow: I loved this little British comedy about a young boy making a film after being inspired by seeing Rambo. It's a terstament to how great kids can be if you give them the room to be creative.

7. Synedoche, NY What can I say yet ANOTHER amazing performance by Phillip Setymour Hoffman and yet ANOTHER beautifully written script by Charlie Kauffman.

6.Run,Fatboy,Run Simon Pegg, Dylan Moran... need I say more? Well, while this is a little bit of a departure for Simon from things like Spaced or Shaun of the Dead, he still does a top notch job, ogh and Dylan Moran is still his same self loathing pith self we all love from Black Books. So low on the list for Simon Pegg but still worth checking out. Also, can't wait to see Pegg in Star Trek!

5. Iron Man: Good popcorn fare, definitely helped wash the bad taste out of peoples mouths concerning most of the previous superhero movies of late. The chemistry between Paltrow and Downey was great (Paltrow was hott as Pepper Potts!) A nice appetizer before the sumptuous feast that was The Dark Knight.

4. Man on Wire I never thought a documentary would be able to create the same tension as a well written thriller. This film however manages to do that. The story of what Philippe Petit did to accomplish his dangerous (and not to mention illegal) stunt is amazing.

3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls: I don't care what people say. I KNOW the film was a little shy of the quality on expects from the franchise. I KNOW the ending was weak cause it was sooo far out. But DAMN-IT-ALL I went and saw this movie at a midnight opening wearing my fedora and y'know what? It made me really feel like a KID again, and overall that's what I think a movie like this should do. NOT that it means I'm going to cut the newer Star Wars movies any slack...those just went TOO far. I'll leave it at that however b/c I could write pages on my reasoning for cutting one slack and not the other....I'll get back to you on that someday.

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
It looks really well done, I'm a big fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and frankly because I am disappointed yet again by the release of The Time Travelers Wife being pushed back, this is the closest I will be able to get this year to a romantic time traveling story.

1. The Dark Knight See my previous review to find out how much I LOVED this film.

Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (shuffle)

2008-11-13T01:46:00.002-06:00

I. Put your iTunes/Ruckus/Napster/etc on shuffle.
II. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
III. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
IV. Tag 5 friends who might enjoy doing this. Whoever wants to can do it.

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Float-Flogging Molly (Drank the rest of today away...wonder what my liver would say)

2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
I'm Afraid of Americans-David Bowie (Noone needs anyone they dont even just pretend)

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Minnie the Moocher- Cab Calloway (She was a real hot hoochie coocher...)

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Give it Up-LCD Soundsystem (Money it'll make you feel real good....I'm always takin more than I should)

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Black and White- Bellevue (I come home every day after school and watch old RKO cartoons)

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
I will Survive- Cake (As long as I know how to love I know I'll be alive)

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Shame of the Nation- New Order (I'm all alone behind a wall of stone)

8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
The Sunscreen Song- Baz Luhrmann (Get to know your parents...you never know when they'll be gone for good)

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
I Wonder-Kanye West (And I wonder if you know what it means...what it means to find your dreams)

10. WHAT IS 2+2?
Microphone Chakrastones- Pheonix Orion (Pause the Apocalypse and stop the Automated Armageddon)

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
The Village Green Preservation Society- The Kinks (We are the best prepared preservation society, God save strawberry jam in all it different varieties)

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Time after Time-Miles Davis (If your lost you can look and you will find me time after time, If you fall I will catch you..I will be waiting time after time)

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
A Giant Alien Force More Violent and Sick than Anything You Can Imagine- Venetian Snares

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
The World's Most Amazing Father- Patton Oswalt (When I have kids the most recent album I'll own: Phil Collin-No Jacket Required..You like rocknroll? This is rockin good stuff!)

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Lord Raise Me Up-Matisyahu (You make my heart want to serve you and I'm bound to erupt)

16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Prince Paul's Bubble Party-The Wakikis, Prince Paul (How could you two posssibly make all this noise just BLOWING BUBBLES?!)

17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Disarm-Smashing Pumpkins (My love send this smile over to you...)

18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The South Side Irish- The Irish Choir (And when it comes to baseball we have to favorite clubs : the Go Go White Sox and whoever plays the Cubs!)

19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Batman Theme- Neal Hefti (Nana nana nana Batman!)

20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Fett's Vette- MC Chris (I bounty hunt for Jabba the Hutt to finance my Vette)

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Caugh, Can I Get A Witness- Public Enemy (If ya'll really like to rock the funky beats someone in the house say Hell Yeah)

22. WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Shootdown- The Prodigy (Your Time is Running...Your Time is Running Out)

23. HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Boxing Fats Domino- DJ BC

24. DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Billie Jean, My Love- ComaR (People always told me be careful what you do, don't go around breakin girls hearts)

25. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Jump- Kriss Kross (Inside out its wigggity wiggity WHACK!)

26. WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
See Her Pee- NOFX(What I wouldn't give to see her pee between to parked cars on a well lit street...fifth and main)

27. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Flight of the Cosmic Hippo- Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

The Season of the Empty Wallet

2008-11-05T10:39:00.004-06:00

So earlier this month began the "Season of the Empty Wallet" for myself and my fellow video game enthusiasts. It all started with the release of Dead Space which is cool and scary and if not for being one of the best games EA has released in a while would be a somewhat un-noteworthy. The however came the real drainers. First was Little Big Planet (cutest game EVAR)

Then Fallout 3 and then Resistance 2 followed one after the other after that.
That's one new game for every Tuesday in Oct. Now with 60 bucks for a new game (80 for collectors editions of Fallout and Resistance) I am TAPPED OUT, and I still have a list that i would like to get.
On my list that comes out this holiday season that i have yet to purchase or has yet to be released:
PS3
Bioshock
Rock band 2
GH:World Tour (maybe)
Mirrors Edge (maybe)
Valkyria Chronicles
Rise of the Argonauts
Heist (maybe)
Wii
De Blob
Sam and Max Season One
Animal Crossing (maybe)
Mushroom Men
Dead Rising "Chop till you drop"

So, as you can see its an expensive time to be hardcore into games. I mean this doesn't even include downloadables and whatnot. I mean I know its the holiday season and all but I'm not made out of money! Give a guy a break and spread it out a little you'll still get my entertainment dollars... Don't get me even started on not having enough time to play everything!
Anything you out there are looking forward to as far as video game entertainment is concerned?

IMUR Submission

2008-11-03T14:29:00.003-06:00

So I've been meaning to put this up for a while I wrote a piece for my friends 'zine IMUR it should be out in a month or so I believe anyway here's what I wrote:

Fear and Collapse
By: Michael Doherty

I’m scared. There I said it, I finally got it out, and I’m not ashamed to admit it, although I find it disheartening that it is there to be admitted at all.

Now, I’ve always been a little worried about the future and whatnot as many people are wont to do. It starts with where am I going to go to college, what am I going to do for a job after I get my degree, will I ever meet that special someone? All of these of course are valid questions and legitimate and somewhat adult things to be pondering over. Lately, however I have had many more questions creeping into my already anxious mind. Things that I had neglected to even consider before now.

Before I continue, I think a little back story is in order. On Oct. 5th at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon I was taking the red line el train home as I have done many a time before. This time however I struck up a bit of a conversation with some guys on the train. Now, having just participated in a fun group event out in Lincoln Park I was in a good happy and trusting mindset. These guys unfortunately were not, and as we got closer and closer to their el stop they began getting pushier about seeing my IPod and when I refused when so far as threatening me saying that they had a gun. All in all they got away with my debit card, my cell phone and my IPod. I at least thank God that I wasn’t harmed in any way. As a result, though, my worldview is spinning.

After the attack there are so many more things that I am worried and anxious about now that I never even considered before. I used to think that the world was a heck of a lot safer than it actually is. I sort of had blinders on, and even when I saw bad stuff happen I never considered that it would happen to me or to people that I knew. That being said I’ve been through my fair share of hardship with family illnesses and other issues, but never anything so violent and immediate. Even the three block walk from my job to the Metra train is scary as hell now. I know a lot of people would agree that it is understandable that I would be worried about my personal safety after an attack like that but it feels like my fears and worries go much deeper than that.

Before the attack I was looking into getting a place of my own and I was just looking for someplace cheap and accessible. Concerns for safety have now made that process much more laborious and frankly have made the idea of living alone look quite terrifying. In addition to this I have started examining other areas of my life as a result. Everything from my health to my style to my ideals has come sharply into focus and is being questioned. Getting attacked by three thugs on the EL seems to have launched me into an existential crisis. I keep wondering what I am doing and what my purpose truly is in such a scary and terrible world. I also wonder if I am doing what I truly should be as an adult at this stage in my life or if my previous worldview has left me stunted in some way. Can I function on my own safely and wisely or am I fooling myself?

The real scary part though is that while this has happened to me the rest of the world seems to have fallen into the same type of downward spiral. I look around and I see crime on the rise because people are losing their jobs left and right. The stock market keeps plummeting because of greedy stupid bankers and stock traders, and the government as a whole is in a crisis economically. The part that scares me personally is that throughout all of this is that our government leaders have been blundering, useless, and backwards. At first I felt ok with them because they weren’t hurting me. I mean I have yet to put any money into the stock market at my young age and I see now that it would be somewhat foolish to do so any time soon. I also have yet to buy my first home, which others have told me will prove to be a good thing in the near future. This was until the problems began hitting home. Unfortunately, I’ve always had reason to have at least minor problems with our government ever since I bothered to get educated and involved in our country’s democracy. I mean let’s face it, back in 2000 when I was just turning 18 I watched our current “elected leader” cheat his way into office and steal the presidency from the man who actually won the popular vote. So, right of the bat wouldn’t that make you at least a little suspicious of the man? Fortunately, he was just another idiot and I figured by the time 2004 rolls around we’ll vote him out of office and we’ll just look back on him as a 4 year mistake and all will be right with the world. Then one Tuesday morning during my freshman year of college I was on my way to class when I was stopped in the hall by a group of people that were just staring in amazement and horror at the news reports on the television one of our professors had wheeled out into the hall from his office. It was Sept. 11th 2001 and the World Trade Center had just been attacked.
That was it; we were at war and by GOD were going to get those fuckers for trying to destroy our capitalistic freedoms! As a result Bush simply by showing his face, looking concerned and vowing to bomb the shit out of Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts had secured himself a full eight year double term as president. From then on everything you encountered was rife with scare tactics and you were “un-American” if you didn’t agree with the way the Bush administration was handling things. You didn’t want people to think you supported terrorism did you? I was conflicted by all of this and deeply saddened by the loss of lives but I wasn’t scared. I really believed that as a country (leadership aside) we were going to be able to pull ourselves out of this.

Eight years later…..

The war on terrorism has quieted down a little. It’s still going on, and we are still throwing troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, but as far as television news is considered it takes a back seat to the hole we have now dug ourselves into all on our own. All we wanted was to live what people have come to consider as the “American Dream.” One of the biggest things that is part of this dream is the ownership of a home. The American dream has always involved the acquisition of land (see: Manifest Destiny.) As a result greedy bankers saw this as a way to grow their asset base and try to make some more money giving unrealistic loans to people who would be unable in TEN lifetimes to pay them back if and when they were called in. As such banks are collapsing and we are losing our jobs and homes as collateral damage to this. Our country is collapsing because of our greed, GREED, not because we have been attacked by terrorists again, or because the war has moved on to soil, but because some bankers and stock brokers wanted MORE MONEY. The government has tried to help bail the banks out of this predicament but it is hurting on all levels of government both federal and local. As a result, many people I know are afraid that they may lose their pensions or their healthcare or worse yet their jobs all together.
We’ve gone from heehaw “let’s put a boot in [the terrorists] ass!” to getting booted out of our jobs and homes. Heck, the dollar is worth less now than ever. In trying to put this in a personal perspective I’ve been trying to figure out where I fit in this whole snafu. As a librarian I see that I play a very important role because the library is where people in these tight times are turning to get their information that they need to move on from their place in the economic crisis. Unfortunately a lot of people are turning to people like Suzy Ormond and her contemporaries. They need to keep in mind that the way these people made their money wasn’t from following the tips in their books, but from selling those books to all of you saps. Am I unnecessarily cynical? Some might say so. Me? I just think that I am dealing with all of the crap in the way I can best and to some degree that is through helping other people and trying to be optimistic. This outlook has been seriously tested as of late. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when I can but has really become a tooth and nail world because of the economy and the general incompetency of people (both in our government and in general.) I hope I can be one of the good guys and help us as a society, in my own small way, get us out of this slump. That is where, despite the scariness factor my eyes are now open to with my robbery causing this bad economy to hit me on a scary personal level, other people are hopefully trying to go too, so that we can save ourselves from complete implosion, especially in light of this new presidential election. While I am trying to keep positive I do see that regardless of who gets elected into office, we have a lot of scary things to deal with. We have to repair our economy, we have to get our troops out of the Middle East and we have to repair the general publics trust in the government so that we can go back to living in a true happy pre 9/11 war on terror mindset. As it is the world hates us and we hate our leaders, but a lot of people are hopeful. I’d like to be but now I feel tainted because I can’t look at other people without a certain degree suspicion. Everyday I am filled with fear and dread questioning my own position in the world and looking incredulously at everyone else’s. This leads me with one overbearing thought: While I’d like to be optimistic and think that after this years election we will be able to get on a road to recovery from the place we have put ourselves in now, or am I just counting on a pipe dream that will never come to fruition? I’m scared…and the potentially bleak look on the horizon really hurts.

Here’s hoping something comes along soon to change my mind and brighten my outlook on the future…

I hope you out there like it and I'd love to hear some feedback.

Halloween, Board Games and other ephemora

2008-09-13T12:10:00.006-05:00

Wow, this is the closest together I've had two posts in a long time. I've been thinking about a lot of different things recently that seem to go together and have also at the same time been sending my brain off in like a million different directions. First of all I'm already getting into Halloween mode. I've been watching tons of horror movies through Netflix. Most recently I've watched Catacombs which is a little lame but has its moments the ending however is awful but in a weirdly awesome way, and up next I've got American Zombie which has lots of different conflicting reviews so I'm no sure what to expect. It's along the same lines as Diary of the Dead, but I suspect Diary will hold up to be the better film still (Hey when it comes to zombies you can't beat Romero!) I've got tons of other movies on the list including the infamous Italian cannibal movies (Cannibal Holocaust, Ferox, and Jungle Holocaust) which I am finally getting around to seeing.

All of this Halloween stuff of course, coupled with the fact that I have been invited to an actual Halloween party have also gotten me thinking about my costume quite a bit. Unfortunately right now I seem to be all over the place about it. I either think up something that would be too complicated as a costume or just wouldn't work cause I am balancing the fact that I have to take public transportation dressed like this most likely. One of my first thoughts was to go as Pogo the Clown:

but I thought that might look a little odd sitting on the Brown Line in that get up, plus it might be in bad taste to go as an actual serial killer.I've also toyed around with literature related characters the biggest one being Hunter S. Thompson:

and the other being one of the characters from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

I've got a lot of other ideas clattering around in my head but those are the top ideas right now, so...if anyone has some good ideas (that they don't think they are going to use themselves) then by all means pass them my way!

Now, the title of this post mentions board games. Where does this work in you might ask, well let me explain thank you! First of all I started following Will Wheaton on twitter and as an extension of that I also subscribed to and have been reading his blog and on his blog Will mentioned a board game called the Last Night on Earth which looks really cool I mean a zombie apocalypse board game? Heck, yes! So, I went and took a look at this on Board Game Geek and then I was looking up other horror based board games. I really think I want to get this or possibly Arkham Horror or maybe even Mall of Horror. I think it would be totally awesome to have a big complicated horror based board game to play on Halloween! I already know I'm going to have a couple of video games to play what with the release of Dead Space and with Bioshock finally coming out on the PS3. A board game however gives a person a different kind of social experience that you can't have any other way, not even playing video games multi-player (not that it matter as most GOOD horror games are single player, with the exception maybe of the forthcoming zombie shooter Left 4 Dead but I won't be able to play that as plans for a PS3 version currently don't exist.) Hopefully I'll be able to pick one of these up for Halloween...

Another thing that has been on my mind with all of the Halloween stuff coming up is music. Last halloween io downloaded an awesome mashup album called The Bride of Monster Mashup and it looks like this year they've put together another album called The Son of Monster Mashup and some Nerdcore Halloween Albums overall a good selection to go with the old Halloween standbys. Speaking of which what do you guys listen to for halloween? The classics? Death Metal? Goth Music? or something else altogether?

Heck I'm so into the Halloween spirit I'm even reading classic horror. I've started old by reading some H.P. Lovecraftand I'll work my way up to contemporary writers.

Well, thats everything I think that I wanted to cover for now... but now I have a question for any of you that might read this. I'd love to hear some of the things you are doing for or like about Halloween. I'd love for you to share stories about Halloween when you were a kid, favorite costumes and candy, any traditions that you have that are Halloween related that sort of thing. I'll be doing the same in more posts in the near future. I t would be very interesting to see what all of you readers have to say and frankly I think it would be fun to swap stories so get em goin and send them my way! That's all till next time fair readers....
Sayonara!

Musings

2008-09-08T10:44:00.003-05:00

I've come to an overall conclusion when thinking about this blog the other day... Twitter, although I love it, has made me extremely lazy in my writing and has stifled me when i want to write something longer than 140 characters. This was mentioned on the wonderful podcast Net@Nite and as a consequence I don't feel so bad if twitter is doing the same thing to a person like Leo Laporte. It's not that there hasn't been things to talk about oh heavens no! So much gone on in the world and my life since I last wrote anything on here. First of all I finally met my friend from the interweb who had moved away to Wisconsin before we could ever hang out before, but now that she has moved back to Chicago we have hung out three times already! She is a lot of fun and I don't know if the situation is going to head anywhere at the moment, but as usual I am open and remaining hopeful, so far we have a kickin' friendship so things look good. (Although I'm not gonna push it cause that will just make things confusing and dumb.) In hanging out with her I had the opportunity to go to the Chicago Jazz Festival and see Ornette Coleman play, which I must say was amazing! The concert was great and I had an opportunity to be close with my new cute friend, what more could I ask for? :)
Our LNO this month was great. We went to Piece and had many beers and a pizza topped with mashed potatoes, bacon and jalapenos. Honestly it's a lot yummier than it may sound (although personally I think it sounds yummy!) and we had a lot of newcomers to the group who I hope all show up for Sept.!
I've been to a couple of Sox games since I last wrote in here and while I had fun but Tuesday nights game was depressing esp. since I pretty much witnessed our loss of Konerko for the rest of the season, but I wont go any further into that lest I get really mad.
Work has been good, well..it was annoying for a while because I had a broken keycard which was preventing me from being able to complete some of my many projects that I have been working on, but finally after a MONTH of not being able to get anything done I have a working keycard again! It's been good to catch up on the storage project I was working on even though the project itself kind of sucks cause it involves heavy lifting (I thought I was done with that now that I'm not a page...)
Nothing else terribly exciting has been going on, but I have reconfigured the way I use my computer at home. In an attempt to converge everything so that I am more streamlined I installed a new IM client that also checks facebook and my email! This new client is called Digsby and it it quite shiny and fancy looking. In conjunction with that I've been trying out google's new web browser Chrome. I must say... even though there are still some bugs and it doesn't have extensions yet, it IS a bit faster than Firefox, and like a hojillion times faster that IE so even though I don't have things like I.E. tab for watching netflix or my stumble button for when I am bored I still use Chrome as my main browser cause of both speed and the fact that it basically never crashes. I like it quite a bit, and in fact I'll go so far that between this and the other service I use I really am a google fanboy!
That's all that is going on in my world at the moment (Exciting! I know...) other than playing through some new games (It's gonna take me YEARS to finish Disgaea 3!) and saving up for the huge amounts I'll be spending on games next month.

Olympics

2008-08-08T10:57:00.003-05:00

I don't have too much to say except that I wonder how many of us out there are seriously looking forward to the Olympics??? I mean seriously my favorite sports aren't even in the Olympics. What are they.. you ask? Well...
The first of course is Parkour... I mean seriously how bad ass would it be to see competitors leaping, sliding, bouncing, and tumbling through downtown Beijing or something to get a gold medal. It's nice that it's finding its way into movies and video games though:

The next sport I would want to see would be Competitive Eating: Now as many people know this sport is already international with athletes such as Kobiyashi, and how interesting would it be to vary the competition from Olympics to Olympics by basing the food around the country hosting the games? I know for one I would love to see a Dim Sum competition in Beijing.
The last sport I would really love to see in the Olympics would be Golf. Now I know that this is already possibly being considered for inclusion in the 2012 Olympics in England, and although I hate watching golf pretty much I've always had fun when I've gone out and played it.
I would also watch anything involving monkeys and pigs being athletic per the awesome animation made for BBC Sports from the geniuses behind the Gorillaz (click image for clip)

So that all being said... what sports would you want to see included in the Olympics???

Lost in the Woods No More

2008-08-06T17:22:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted here in a bit and I don't have too much to say but I do have a few things I want to let out. Firstly I think I have dodged an emotional bullet and to the people who helped me I want to thank they heartily and I also want to put a special thanks into the higher power (I dunno which one so I leave it open!) for putting these people in my life I would be lost without them.
Secondly I just finished reading the book American Nerd The book was interesting but it was also disturbing because it made me question things about myself. One example was the chapter on aspergers syndrome, in reading that I wondered if I had it. It also made me relate to the fact that most nerds are born out of hardship, such as death or divorce or what have you...i think I know what it was in my family and I wont go into detail but I think a lot of it has to do with my fathers former drinking (he used to be a dick.)The minutiae discussed in this book however is fascinating and I highly recommend it. Also, I think I'm gonna go home play some PixelJunk Eden and organize my Magic cards, just like Kenneth... (read the book you'll get it!)
The rest of my life is going well now too. Work is good as we just made our big move to the first floor grand lobby desk, which has considerably made things more busy around here, and yes I do enjoy the busyness. As I stated before I am no longer worried about a certain situation, if something happens, it'll happen if not whatever... I need to go with the flow more. Plus.. hopefully soon, I'm gonna get to meet one of my internet freinds! She is a really cute nice funny and smart girl and once shes settled back into Chicago I look forward to getting some opportunities to hang out with her, I have a feeling we will become tight real-life buddies as well. Thats my life, I got to spend some good time with my brother, thanks to my awesome friends I no longer feel lost and confused, and I have a lot to look forward to in the near future. It's been a while since I've been able to confidently say this: Life is GRAND!

Do NOT read this if you havent seen Dark Knight and don't want spoilers!!!

2008-07-25T16:56:00.005-05:00

So, OH....MY.....GOD! I finally saw The Dark Knight and I can confidently say that not only will this be my number one pick for best of 2008 when I do my top ten of the year... it will easily fall into one of my personal top movies of all time, and by god is that a list to be on (one of these days I'll post it but that for another time.) Anyway...down to business.
The movie has a cold open a la Heat(click images to view clips)

Now, while the robberies are different they certainly seem to have the same type of feel to them. The calmness of the surroundings, the sparseness of the soundtrack, the precision of the robbers (even despite the insanity of the ringleader in Dark Knight) and the overall tension that the scenes convey. Right away when you see the cinematic beauty with which this scene is enacted in Dark Knight you know you've got so much more than you're typical superhero movie in front of you. Speak of which as an aside the end result of this film is everything Ang Lee's version of the Hulk could have been if it had been employed with more care and definitly everything the Spiderman movies should have been but weren't (but that is an aside.)
After we are introduced to the joker we are immediately thrown back to Batman and are informed of something that is an interesting addition, and that is the idea of imposter "Batmen" who just want to help. I like this because I believe were Batman real and acutally doing as much good as the fictional Batman of course there would be copycats who want to do their part to help out. Also, what was up with the Scarecrow was he really trying to help or was there something else there? One may never know because he just shows up in one of the opening scenes and that seems to be the last we see of him (not that he is missed with how much is going on in this film!)
Then we really get to the Joker which the meat of the film:

Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is absolutely fracking insane! I mean I knew it was going to be dark but WOW. It was akin to the portrayal of the Joker in the disturbingly dark graphic novels such as Arkham Asylum. First of all the way he kills the mobster near the beginning of the film is awesome! It's a totally "holy shit!" moment so I wont tell you how he does it. I also like that the Joker is just crazy for crazy's sake rather than having some convoluted connection to Batman. I liked this cause it was more true to the comic book origins of the character. Also Heath Ledger did such a good job portraying ball to the wall crazy with the character I can see (although I don't believe it) why people might have thought that playing this character somehow contributed towards his death. Of course they did the we're not so different you and I thing, but then batman of course is different because he doesn't want to kill. As for the overall persona of the Joker, one thing I found especially unnerving was the graphic way in which he would explain how he got the scars on his face and I really do NOT like the phrase "Why So Serious?" because rather than simply being a crazy catchphrase it has not become a catchphrase symbolizing intensely brutal and insane child abuse. Despite this though the Joker is brought to a higher level of creepy by the fact that he keeps changing the story about his scars which means despite how f*****-up the story is he's actually making it up! Other than that I'm glad that there is no origin story for the Joker he's just evil. As for Two-Face (Surprise!)there is quite a bit to the origin story for him. When we jump into the movie it turns out that young D.A. Harvey Dent is dating Bruce Wayne/Batman's former girl Rachel Dawes (now played by Maggie Gyllenhall instead of Katie Holmes.) Now Bruce/Batman like Harvey because he is doing great things for the city. In fact using the Rico statute he is able to round 589 of Gotham's gangster and get them (although only temporarily) of the streets. The gangsters pissed off and with little other options actually hire the Joker to go kill Harvey and Batman. Unfortunately this actually lets loose a monster and whole ton of trouble on the city of Gotham. One thing that really got to me was that with the makeup and all I got creepy visions of things like John Wayne Gacy, and although I have a weird fascination with serial killers (purely intellectual mind you) I still get chills thinking about the things that those sickos did.
One of the most interesting aspects thematically of the film was that fact that good and bad are no longer polarized. Now, although bad is still very very bad as represented by the psychotic evil of the joker... good is becoming fuzzy. Wrapped up with this is the idea of justice. In seeking what they believe is justice some of the characters in the movie end up doing more bad than good.
This brings me to Harvey Dent/Twoface

This character is interesting for a number of reasons. First of the whole dichotomy of good and evil being present in one singular character is a fantastic representation of the core ideals of the themes of the film and makes him much closer thematically to Batman than the Joker. Also bringing Two-Face closer to Batman is that both persona (whether voluntarily or not) were created through the death of a loved one.

This is interesting in as much as it brings up the fact that the true idea of justice within the universe of the film is quite warped. In many cases people mistake revenge for the ideal of justice and end up causing quite a bit of trouble in the process. All in all this back and forth takes the movie as a whole to a much deeper psychological level than your average superhero movie it really gives the superhero genre validity as a genre overall taking it away from just being "Popcorn Fare."
Other psychological aspects that were interesting but not necessarily "thematic" were many of the queries posed by the Joker, esp. the "social experiment" posed by the Joker at climax of the film. This is the one instance in which I think the film, while meaning well, held back. A bunch Gotham's citizens are on boats fleeing the city and the wrath of the Joker. When they are on the boats they told that they all have detonators that will blow up the OTHER boats which will spare them if they do so, but if none of the boats blow up by midnight the Joker is going to blow them all up. Now, predictably no one goes through with it and the Joker is thwarted by Batman as he tries to detonate it. I for one would have liked to seen someone have the guts to blow the other people up to save themselves (esp. since one boat was all criminals anyway, but then it would have been even better if it were all a trick and if no matter what if one of the detonators was tripped it would blow up all three boats, I guess I'm just sick like that and think that it is something that falls in line with the Joker's personality.
Other than that the movie does not fall short at all. I really admire Christopher Nolan for eschewing cg effects save for only the most extreme circumstances. This means while filming in Chicago he really fired off rockets down on Lower Wacker, and they really dangled Christian Bale off of the Sears Tower (my father says he's a candy-ass though "Cause I went up there without any damn harness or safety crew.." I will explain some day in another post the wild and crazy life my father has lead there are great stories!)
Speaking of Chicago, this was something that personally amped me up even more for the film because some of the biggest action sequences in the movie were filmed mere steps from where I now work. I mean to get up and take my weekly Friday cab ride to get to my library school classes only to see things like the twisted wreckage of the Joker's semi that had been blown up and flipped over on La Salle street a mere 4 hours earlier is cooler than any press release or tv spot or press junket or trailer could ever be. I saw some of these stunts in real life! I remember sitting in the theater as Batman rushes under the el tracks on the Bat Pod and thinking to myself "Holy Crap he's on Van Buren like 20 feet from the library!" Even though it is never referenced by its real name this has to be one of the best showcases of Chicago on film in quite a while. I mean they actually blew up the old Brach's candy factory not imploded and not a little pussy explosion they blew it to hell and there was nothing left! I doubt that stunt is going to be topped in this city any time soon.

Now in addition to these stunts being complex and actually acted out rather than computer assisted, they were all filmed using Imax cameras. This means they had huge 70 pound cameras perched on helicopters and on places like the top of the Sears Tower. They reported in wired magazine that the cameras were so heavy they even crushed a camera mount during filming. They say as a result the film is an altogether mind-blowing new type of experience viewed in Imax... I haven't seen yet but I shall on Aug. 3. Extraordinary lengths were gone to in order to bring us this extraordinary film.
Now you must be asking yourself why go through picking apart the minutia of this film. Well, I must say this I haven't even begun. There is so much more that could be written, plus all the speculation on what the heck are they going to do to top this if they ever can.
I will leave you with one last thing... I do my best to not let the media that I take in stick with me long term. Now, there may be a book I read that I remember passages from fondly books I like and can quote films ad nauseam nothing has effected me the way some of the images for the Dark Knight have. The most vivid (which I can't find on the net to show you urgh) is of the Joker hanging out of a cop car flailing crazily as he barrels down the road. That image will stick with me me for a some time to come

Summerdance and such

2008-07-13T12:16:00.003-05:00

So, I went to Summerdance last night and learned zydeco dancing. That was a lot of fun, especially since one of my dance partners was real good. As usual when I hung out with her though I left the evening slightly confused, cause although shes seems to be warming up to me I still can't completely tell if she has any interest in anything more than really good friendship. Stuff like this is so confusing, and it isn't helped by the fact that everyone I meet is usually so busy that dating and stuff doesn't even cross their minds. I don't know if its because I've been single for so long or what but it really has been starting to bug me lately. I know I know wtf... everybody complains about this crap on here, but hear me out. I'm not really complaining so much as sending out a query for advice on how I should proceed. I mean in the past my luck has been very bad. The only females that showed any interest in me ultimately have been crazy up until now. Right now I'm at a point that I think a certain someone might have some interest but I really can't tell. A certain part of me wants to assume she doesn't simply based on the fact that she isn't nuts. Of course when I think that though I feel like complete crap because I know that I'm better than that. Also, in this situation the problem is compounded because from what I understand (through a mutual friend) this girl I am crushing on is just as oblivious as I usually am at picking up signals. As such I don't know how I could hint at her that I like her so that she can appropriately feel out the situation without being blatantly awkward about it. I mean she seems receptive when I invite her to things and dancing with her was wonderful, but I need to know how to step it up. Any Suggestions?

Additional: at least everything else in my life is going smoothly at this point.... turning 25 next week, got awesome friends, awesome job and life is sweet just gotta figure this other stuff out....

Media that Has Made Me Cry

2008-07-02T19:05:00.004-05:00

So, I was watching the Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson" and I started to tear up at the end the music always gets to me and makes me cry. As such it got me to thinking about other things that have made me cry that were media based. Now, I know what some people may think but I am a modern man and I feel that its ok to cry without slighting my manliness at all. That being said here are some things that I usually cry at: (I have included clips... let the sobfest begin)
The opening of "Finding Nemo"

Barber-Adagio for Strings

Now it might be because of the association with September 11th that this song makes me cry but I don't think so because I believe I remember crying due to the Melancholy beauty of this song well before it became associated with that tragedy.

The short film "My Name is Lisa"

I know the reason this makes me cry is because of my grandmother (who just passed away last week) because over the ten years that she had Alzheimer's it really hurt to see her transform from the smart witty interesting old lady I had gotten to know over the course of my life to the nearly catatonic unresponsive sack of organs she was when she passed away.

The end of "Field of Dreams" Actually I defy any respectable American male to NOT cry when viewing this:
"Hey Dad, do you wanna have a catch?", gets me every time.

(This one I'm slightly embarrassed about) The End of "Return of the King"

I think this one is due to all the build up through the three movies and seeing Frodo go and all....
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip... Multiple moments

These are only a couple of clips from this amazing show that was cut short.

I am Sam
This whole movie had me weepy.
Hallmark- Required Reading
I only saw this on t.v. once and even though Hallmark ads always manage to tug on my heartstrings this one did the most of all.

"It's a Wonderful Life" ending

Saving Private Ryan- Ending

Final Fantasy VII Theme and Aeris Death
This is still the only time I have really cried while playing a video game. I had been playing the game for over 20 some hours at this point collectively and it really struck a chord to see Cloud whom I had been through so much with at this point have his g/f get killed. As for the theme it just brings back memories of my first truly AWESOME gaming experience and brings a tear to my eye.

So I know there are more moments, but those are the ones that come most vividly to memory recently.... I may do an addendum post to this some time in the future (I hope you weren't to bogged down with vids!)
Additional: I realized whilst writing this that a lot of the clips involved fathers, so I made sure to call my Dad and tell him that I love him and that I think he's done a fantastic job raising me right. I think this also has to do with my strong desire to be a dad someday....
So.... How about sharing some of your moments? What have you seen that has made you cry?

Status

2008-07-01T16:06:00.004-05:00

So, My sister is doing fantastically with her treatment, which means she might get to come home earlier than expected. Yay! I don't really have much to update about right now.... I've been playing a lot of rock band and keeping it easy around the house. When I DO have something more to report I'll be sure to do so...

The Hardest Week ever....

2008-06-30T21:46:00.003-05:00

So last week sucked....
Well, it started out ok I traded in my ps2 and stuff and got myself Rock Band (frickin Awesome!) Unfortunately everything went downhill. First my grandmother passed away. In a way though it was kind of a relief because of how bad her Alzheimer's had gotten but at the same time it was still really tough. We had also heard that Meghan was going to have to do her ADG treatment again which meant a month in the hospital. Matisyahu was enjoyable especially since I got to see S & K and spend some time out of the house, but the train ride home sucked balls. Then came the funeral. It seems like everything was a passive aggressive fight and the whole thing sucked even worse than it had to. At least I got to go out on Sunday, go bowling and see some of my friends, and I was esp. happy because a certain someone (whom I still think I should leave nameless for the time being) was there. I'm still not sure what to expect from that whole situation because sometimes she seems to be digging me and at other times she seems a little distant, now this could just be her feeling out the situation, but I'm such a dunce I cant tell. As for today, Meghan had her surgery finally and as of writing this she got out about 20 minutes ago and is just fine in one piece. Currently she is in the ICU waiting to start her ADG treatment. It's going to be a hard rest of the month because of this but at least we know we can handle it. So, that the strife I've been put through recently. I've had my good moments but they've been outweighed by hardship lately. Here's hoping that July is a little less stressful and that I can at least figure a few things out.

I feel stupid

2008-06-22T13:20:00.004-05:00

Yeah so I think my Nintendo DS got stolen or lost or something yesterday and I for the life of me can't remember what could have happened to it. As a result I feel pretty stupid, but then again this is giving me the impetus to get myself organized and get rid of the unnecessary clutter I drag around with me everyday so that I can be more streamlined and less forgetful. I think I am going to trade in my PSP and my PS2 as well as any stray DS games that might be floating around the house. First of all this will allow me to pick up Rock Band for next to nothing on my PS3 which will be good, and second of all I think it will reduce a certain aspect of anxiety that i get over my electronic devices. The less I have the less I can lose or break and the better I'll feel about myself. I also think this is a big step forward because I need to keep the things that I am interested in that others MIGHT see as childish to myself rather than flashing them around everywhere I go... that being said I am still on the fence a little as to whether I should keep my PSP or not, part of me wants to keep it while at the same time another part of me knows it would be smart to just get rid of it. The less I have, the more money I can save, and the more enjoyment I can get out of the two systems I am going to keep (PS3 & Wii) Its going to be tough but I am going to get rid of the handhelds. Now, I've gone without a handheld system before and I think it would be smart because I really need to get back into my reading and maybe save my money for a nicer MP3 player because I DO obsessively listen to my music and its something I can do when I am doing non-ref work... so all in all I think if I reduce some of the clutter in my life around me I'll reduce a lot of the clutter in my brain as well. I hope by the end of 2008 that I will be confident, uncluttered, and ready to move out on my own... I need to strat showing some of my own independence, and I think showing that I'm grown up enough to just keep the video games as part of the entertainment center at home, which I find perfectly acceptable because of how intellectual and complex gaming has gotten in the full sized console world. I think paring down my life will help me be more social as well since I won't have so many reasons to keep to myself as much, I really think I am doing the smart thing, and that along with working on my weight loss and organizational skills should get me well ready for going out in the world on my own for good. (plus if I ever change my mind I can always by the next DS Lite or the PSP2 down the road. :p) Also, as all this was going on there's been all sorts of crap going on with my sister as well, which of course has me worried. I need to get my priorities straight and I think organization will help with this... any suggestions???

An Elegant Alternative

2008-06-10T12:10:00.004-05:00

I think I found and awesomely superior,(and the ultimate in nerdiness) way to search using Google. It is the Google Shell. Basically what that means is that Google has been redone to mimic the look of a Unix shell, which means that firstly all the searching is only in text and secondly it comes off as elegantly minimalist and looks like this:

Thats it nothing more on the page and you enter commands like you would in a unix shell. To search the web just enter your query, but to search images just type images (query), or to search maps, just type place (query) etc...its incredibly simple and if you get lost just type h and all the commmands come up for the user, couldn't be easier. I know its a highly nerdy way of searching the internet and isn't everyones cup of tea but frankly I enjoy the simplicity it exudes.

Pluggin Away

2008-06-04T17:07:00.002-05:00

First off, the exercise is going smoothly and other than an unrelated allergy flare up I'm feeling better than I have in a while. I've already lost 2.4 more pounds and am down to 294.4! I really feel confident in myself that I can keep this up because through keeping up with exercise I think I have created my own plan for keeping healthy. This is a good thing because if I don't make it my own I'm never gonna stick to it. I also realized that being single is a good motivator too, since if I had a g/f that liked me even though I was overweight I might not see any reason to do anything about it. That being said I have some leads that may be promising, I think... I can never tell with females,(which is why the only two girls I ever dated asked ME out and were admittedly a little off-kilter too...) I finally sort of did as a girl out for a cup of coffee or some related activity and I'll see how that pans out after we manage to make plans, cause she does seem receptive, of course I'm never sure if she realizes I'm trying to ask her out on a dating type situation or not,so we shall see. The bricks are falling into place in this Tetris game I call my life.

Back on the Wagon

2008-06-02T10:56:00.004-05:00

I'm trying my best to stay up in my life but I dunno sometimes I swamp myself with too much stuff. As such, I seem to be anxious all the time and my head is always swimming because I keep myself invested in WAY to much crap. I need to find something to center myself and calm down so i can clear my head. It's been suggested that maybe I go for a run and I think when I get home from work tonight I'm going to give that a try. I'd really like to trim down more before I go to Florida in July as well, not to mention the fact that it would be nice to be a little more attractive to the females. It would be fantastic to finally get a g/f but I'm not going to push for it because if I set my sights too high to fast I probably wont be able to live up to them and I'll be highly disappointed. So I think if I take things slowly I wont risk falling so hard like I have in the past. This summer is really going to be one of cleansing so that I can get to the best place possible physically and mentally before I move away from home (which will be soon I hope!) I know I find myself with a constant inner monologue whining about my dating situation since I haven't had a g/f in like 6 or 7 years now and I'm gonna stop that. I know I am a good guy and would probably make a nice catch for a girl someday (or so I have been told... I am not a damn egoist.) I guess right now I'm gonna focus on myself and once I get that into check I think everything else will hopefully fall into place. I also think I might take advantage of the psp program here at work, because it would be helpful to have an objective person to talk to once in a while. Until we went and voted on our contract last Friday I didn't even know that this program existed and now i think I am going to make great use of it when possible. Self-Improvement truly is the goal for this summer. I've got the job, I've got the friends, now I just need the physical and mental health and (god-willing) by this time in 2009 a place of my own away from home.... I'll keep posting and we can see how this all turns out. Also I'll keep track of my weight and exercise, but that will start tomorrow as my exercise will not start until tonight. Hopefully logging my thoughts and feelings as I try to progress and do a lot of growing this summer will be met with decent support. I'm laying myself out to see if it will turn out for the good.
p.s. as of now before i start exercising my weight is at 296.8 and I prolly need to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 lbs...we'll see how it all works out.

Summer Movies and Summer Reading

2008-05-16T15:50:00.002-05:00

(Note: This is going to be a beast of a post... bear with the length!)
So this week,summer ,I believe, officially starts for me because the Sibs are coming home from school. Also because I saw Iron Man last weekend, which starts my descent into the Summer Movie blockbuster season. Personally this Summer more than any other there are a crapload of films I want to see. In order of release date:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22) This is going to be so awesome Indiana Jones has been one of my fictional Idols since I was a little kid.
Incredible Hulk (June 13) Ed Norton looks good in this, I'm just hoping its better than Ang Lee's version.
Get Smart (June 20) Steve Carrell looks to be making an amazing Maxwell Smart, I'm really hoping the goofball attitude of the show is paid a good homage in this.
Love Guru (June 20) My brother actually had to analyze the trailer to this for a paper so I've seen it like 100 times.. It looks to be funny on the level of the Austin Powers movies... personally I'm just glad its not more Shrek.
Wall-E (June 27)This is Pixar's summer offering just based on that you'll know its good but I've seen trailers... it looks charming as hell.
Wanted (June 27) I don't know much about this one except that its based on a Graphic Novel and looks really damn cool.
Hancock (July 2)This looks to be a funny take on the super hero genre, but done as its own story with a funny anti-superhero rather than as a crappy parody.
Hellboy 2 (July 11)The first one was cool a Guillermo Del Toro is directing again...I'm on board.
The Dark Knight (July 18) OMG! I've been salivating for this movie ever since the credits rolled on Batman Begins... Plus I watched them film it all last summer here in Chicago and my friend was an on set carpenter (How cool is that??? HE got to sit in the fucking BATMOBILE!)
X-Files: I want to Believe (July 25) It's always fantastic to see Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny teamed up.. I just hope it is as witty and hardcore as the early show was.
Mummy 3 (Aug 1)I loved the first two and have a strong affinity for Evelyn... sexy kick ass LIBRARIAN whats not to love?
Midnight Meat Train (Aug 1)This looks freaky as hell and is based on a story by Clive Barker so you know it will be...
Pineapple Express (Aug 8) I've seen the full trailer for this and nearly laughed so hard that I pooed a little... thats magical I tell you what.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Aug 15)This is a prelude to a series that will be on Cartoon Network, I love all things Star Wars and this looks like with its 3d animation and cool premise that it will be something worth checking out.
Bangkok Dangerous (Aug 22)I don't know much about this one either but Cage as a hitman sounds like it could be good.
Hamlet 2 (Aug 22)I think I'll enjoy this because of how hooked I've gotten recently on Slings and Arrows
Babylon A.D. (Aug 29)It's mindless action but I've liked the stuff with Vin Diesel in it lately (WHAT!? the video game Escape from Butcher Bay kicked ass and he was great in Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick not to mention Find Me Guilty...)
That the whole list... after that we get into fall movies but there is already one in October faintly on my radar: Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist
Now as for my summer reading, the books that I've picked up all seem to do something with food. I'm not sure why I fixated on this but I do believe I have gotten some interesting books. Before I get on to this, however, I am also considering starting the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett (since I finished the Thursday Next series and the next book isnt due out till summer 2009, and seeing as how this is such a beast of a series at about 48 or so books long I was wondering if any of you out there that might read this would have any recommendations as to how to approach the series as I have been told there are multiple orders in which to read it... I'm a newbie but really want to get into these! What I AM currently reading like I said other than finishing up the last bit of Thursday Next is mainly food related. The current book I am reading is called
Eat This Book by Ryan Nerz and is about the world of competitive eating; which is much more fascinating and less gross than one would think. The rest opf my list that I have picked up for the summer is as follows:
American Pie: Slices of Life and Pie Through America's Back Roads by Pascale Le Draoulec this book is interesting because it appears to read bit like This American Life through food.
The next book is Eat This! by Ian Jackman which looks to be interesting and kind of Travelogue-ish but not with the same level of organization I'm not sure how well I'm going to take to this title but I'll be giving it a try.
One that I am particularly interested in in however is The Year of Eating Dangerously by Tom Parker Bowles this book looks fantastic as it has the writer traveling the world eating things such as FUGU and super insanely hot chile peppers and other potentially dangerous foods.
Further on the list I have No Reservations by Anthony Bourdain and a book called
Real Beer and Good Eats by Bruce Aidells although this last book reads a bit more like a cookbook I still may peruse it for beer recommendations.
In addition to these books I have a couple that I've been meaning to get around to that I think I will finally get a chance to take a look at. The first one is Ten Cent Plague by David Hajdu and is about the sensationalism surrounding comics that is akin to the sensationalism being brought down on video games today particularly the comics of EC who were writing books about monsters and crime and murder. And finally because I saw Iron Man and LOVED it I picked up the ESSENTIAL IRON MAN by Stan Lee for some lighter reading and cause I wanted to compare the origin story in the comic with the movie.
So that's my media intake for the summer. I'm sure I'll be going to a few concerts too here and there Matisyahu at Ravinia and maybe Lollapalooza if I can afford it.... Other than that there is my trip to Key West in July for the Hemingway Days Festival (we share the same birthday!) and there you have it a glimpse into my summer and the sum total of one of the longest posts I've written on here.

Cult of Wii

2008-05-12T09:50:00.002-05:00

wii fit ad
Originally uploaded by tem365

Every morning when I head into the library for work I pass one of the bus stops for the #22 Clark bus. As of last week I have been greeted from within the bus shelter with an ad very similar to this one (the model in the ad is a younger girl but other wise it looks the same...picture forthcoming.) Now, I understand that Nintendo is trying to appeal to moms and the ubiquitous (and annoying) "Casual Gamer" market but there is still a little something that is off-putting. See what she's wearing? This white and green "Wii Fit" workout suit is a bit cultist no?
Also... any of you out there with Wii's considering picking up this 90 dollar peripheral/ mini game collection?

Where I've been What I've done!

2008-05-05T21:38:00.003-05:00

So I havent posted in a little while because I've been spending a lot of my free time playing GTA IV which simply put is amazing! I could go on and on gushing about that but I've been doing that for a while so I won't. Besides that I also was dealing with the passing of my Grandpa Morris which really is dealing more with whats going to happen with my grandmother as she has alzhimers so bad that she can't really move or talk anymore. So that was kind of tough but we managed. Suffice to say I dont want to go to much into detail about it cause it sucks to talk about it.
Friday Night was fun though cause I got to go out to Looptopia and I saw the Weird Sisters That was a lot of fun, but at the same time I got that whole kind of depression thing I get after being out with my friends when I wake up and I'm all alone again. I cheered up myself a little though by going and seeing Iron Man, which ROCKED! I went with my dad because he wanted to see it as well, and I hardly do anything him anymore so the father/son bonding was good. Despite that I was still down becuase of the single thing and everything, but today at work that changed. I got to work hardcore today and actually got to answer phones in the Info Center! So when I got home I realized this: I may be sinlge, I may be socially awkward and come on a little much for some peoples tastes or whatever it is, but I see that despite my dating situation I have A LOT going for me. SO...now that I'm focusing on the positives I feel a lot BETTER

GTA IV update.. OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-26T15:54:00.005-05:00

I'll just say.. earlier I posted that GTA is going to be the greatest Crime Drama ever, well IGN agrees, but even more spectacular is the world itself to quote the fresh review from IGN.com
"Watch the people and you'll witness some amazing things. At one point, I saw a woman stopped at a light, looking in the rearview mirror right before she was rear-ended by a man ogling a girl on the street. The man got out of his car and went to the woman, checking to see if she was okay. This had nothing to do with Niko or a single action I took. These were the citizens of Liberty City going about their day. And it was just one moment in a day full of incidents.
Hang in one area of the city long enough and you'll see how traffic and pedestrian flow changes as the day progresses. When it rains, people bring out umbrellas or shield themselves with a newspaper and run for an awning. Cops chase petty thieves unaware that walking down the street is Niko Bellic, cold-blooded killer. There's a perfect balance of mumbling doomsayers to remind you that the reason this city never sleeps is because it's full of nut jobs. People go about their day, only altering course when Niko inserts himself into their lives with his crappy driving or excellent marksmanship."
Holy Crap! Rockstar has actually created a living city! 11:59p.m. on Monday cant get here fast enough!
"The idea of a 'living, breathing city' has always been somewhat of a joke in gaming. Every city in the past has felt artificial in some way. But Liberty City feels like a real place."-IGN.COM

HWLC

2008-04-23T14:54:00.004-05:00

So, I've completed my first full week here at HWLC. I love it! The hustle and bustle of working downtown, the variety of the reference questions, NOT having to help people when their computer freezes (or have that be my only reference question in a given day or do ANY computer help for that matter!) This is definitely my dream position because I really get to flex my "Librarian" muscles on a daily basis. Not to mention that my co-workers are so nice and for the most part hip and cool too! One of them is a punk/hipster chick and the other is a video game journalist on the side... (how freakin cool is that!?) The only think I've really been doing so far though has been this reference packet that I was given on my second day here (wasn't ready on the first) and its been kicking my butt a little, while at the same time being pretty fun to work on. I think the best part is when working in this department (General Information Services) I really feel like I am getting the full worth of my MLS. When I was in a branch and heck even the regional there were a lot of academic resources that I knew how to use and skills I had acquired that weren't being put to use. Now, i use the full breadth of my knowledge when working in the Information Center. This has certainly been an interesting and enlightening week getting used to my first few days here in my new department. Really though I don't have anything bad to say about it, all of the things that were normally complaints that came from working in the branches and the regionals are practically non-existent. Now, I could just be saying this because I haven't been around long enough in the department yet and we shall see, but I have a feeling that this might actually not be the case...

Earthquake

2008-04-18T07:35:00.006-05:00

Holy cow.... I really can't believe there was an earthquake. Apparently is was 5.2 on the richter scale and originated from the New Madrid fault line out of Mt. Carmel Illinois. I was initially a little worried because I have a lot of friends down south closer to the epicenter of the quake (Mt. Carmel, Illinois) I didn't even know that it happened until I got up and checked facebook. Its interesting... everyones status updates were about this earthquake I didn't know had happened. The news has gotten innocuous though cause all they are doing is accosting people on the street asking.. "Did you feel it??" Frankly, no and to be honest this is a big enough deal that I'm a little disappointed. Well, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the info center today at work. I wonder if we will get reference calls about earthquakes and the fault lines down south....

HWLC

2008-04-16T22:35:00.003-05:00

So, I started my new job...nay CAREER today. I am officially a Librarian! Oh joyous joy oh happy day! I was a little worried about how things would turn out working in the big main library, but everyone I will be working with is so cool! Finally I'm working with some of those hip young librarians everyone keeps saying are moving up in the profession. There is a lot of variety working downtown, and I am soooo glad that I don't have to deal with BS computer problems (yay for a real computer department!) I like that I am in the GIS department because it means I am going to have all sorts of opportunity to move all around the building. We get to work in Newpspapers (my main dept.) and General Information, the Information Center, Talking Books, Inter Library Loan, and the Popular Library...whew! Think of the possibilities for variety! I am seriously stoked. Right from the start I know this is going to be the best ever b/c I even already have a project I get to work on with the other new L1. I really like having real librarian work to do. Reference is fun! Well I'm worn out from my first day so thats about all I've got right now. Pretty much the feeling is that the job is freakin awesome. I'll report more on its awesomeness at the culmination of my first week...

GTA IV is going to be the greatest crime drama ever produced

2008-04-10T18:35:00.003-05:00

Clocking in at nearly 100 hours of gameplay (including sub and side missions) and 7 Hours(!) of cutscenes, this is likely to be one of, if not THE greatest crime opus ever produced. I've been excited about this game ever since I heard of its release. Things got a little out of hand with San Andreas and the game was unable to hold my complete attention, (4 years and I still haven't finished it!) but this game although very grand is scope looks to be much more cinematic and much more tight and dense than San Andreas. Some of the pointless rpg elements look to be gone and replaced with other more social aspects and the multiplayer looks amazing. I must say as I posted before, I truly think this game is going to take over my life, so i should get my other games finished as soon as possible. I'll leave you with the mind-blowing trailers for the game and you can see what I mean by how awesome this behemoth of a game is going to be.:

BTW, its been said that you can go to bars and things in the game and your character can get realistically drunk... I think we all know the first thing I'm gonna do in the game!

Relaxation

2008-04-10T02:34:00.003-05:00

So, I've finally taken some time to slow down and basically do nothing. I know it's been a while since I've written in here but thats because I've actually been spending time being social IRL. I wnet and played guitar hero with some friends last weekend which is something I havent done in a looong time. I've also been watching a lot of college basketball and (yay!) baseball. That and I've been spending tons of my free time working through Half-Life 2 in the Orange Box because I really need to do some catch up on my gaming before GTA IV comes out and takes over my life Aside from gaming and sports viewing I'm doing a lot more reading and I'm preparing for my new Librarian 1 position that I am starting next week. As you can see there has been a lot going on lately which is why I am enjoying just sitting here and smoking a little strawberry sisha in my hookah and listening to podcasts basically doing nothing (aside from writing in here)I'll probably write something longer and more coherent in here later, I just wanted everyone to know im still here havent disappeared.

Librarians Night Out

2008-03-30T00:34:00.002-05:00

Well, tonight we had our third official "Librarians Night Out" get together tonight and it was amazing! We had our best turn out yet, around 13 people! I was so happy that we were able to hang out and that I got to see some people that I hadn't seen in quite a while as well. Although the first two get togethers that we had were fun and successful this one was by far the best! The blue line car club was fun kitschy and oh so easy to get to. The drinks were wonderful and the food was tasty (even if it was a bit much on my budget...) The one thing I know for sure is that now that we have gotten the group to be so succesful the skys the limit! I cannot wait to put our next meeting together. Between this and the fantastic news I received of my appointment to Harold Washington I really believe all is well with the world and I am certainly the happiest I have ever been in a long time. I've 2 out of 5 on the critical list down, (the other three are lose a lot of weight, move out and get a g/f...) so I think I am well on my way. I couldn't ask for better friends and things couldn't be moving in a more positive direction. For the first time in years I think I can honestly say, I love my life!!!

Your Not My Father!!!!!!!!

2008-03-28T03:08:00.003-05:00

So I'm sitting here unable to sleep and thanks to the Onion AV Club I stumble upon the most bizarre, hypnotic and quite possibly greatest internet video of all time. Ah Full House anyone my age has fond memories of the sappy show and those three girls with their three "dads" or were they? All I know is Dave Coulier would be a little sad and creepy to have around the house in any capacity (no matter how innocent he's supposed to come off. Anyway this project concerning the video I found is by a multimedia artist name Paul Slocum The video recreates 10 precious seconds from Full House with Dj yelling at "Uncle" Joey "You can't tell me what to do you're not my father!" with actors culled from all across the world through craigslist. Now as funny as it would be to see many many people recreate this moment over and over again, that isnt even the genius part. The real genius lies in the audio. Slocum takes all of the performances and overlaps them over and over again interweaving the original audio throughout the whole piece. As a result when the audio overlaps again and again the music and dialogue become strangley hypnotic and I find myself watching this video in a loop over and over again. Well enough hyping it up here is the full strangeness in all its glory:

Stangely hypnotic and somewhat soothing no?

If they can do it why can't we?

2008-03-25T17:08:00.005-05:00

So it seems they've made Video Games are legit finally in the library world. Why I am saying that you ask? Well, simply put video games have reached the big time because theyare now being circulated by the New York Public Library! As of now the pilot program includes Wii games, xbox360 and playstation games. The number of circulating itesm is currently 2,500 and the cost is somewhere in the ballpark of 100,000 dollars. Now I know 100,000 dollars sounds like a lot but when it comes to a system the size of New York's thats a drop in the buckets compared to the cost of some of the other services offered by the library such as access to databases and heck even books. Not to mention the fact that it would help to greatly increase the use of the library by teens. So, pretty much all I am saying is if New York can do it why can't Chicago? I mean in the past sadly all of my interactions with teens in the library have tended toward the negative side, and I know I would like to have more positive experiences. Now of course there are some people who don't like this idea But more than not it appears to be a positive concept. Video game programs are popping up all over getting teens to frequesnt the library for something other than trouble, and not just in New York, small libraries are in on the act too...

Overall I am writing about this as sort of a plea. If they can do it why cant we? All we need is a benefactor like in New York, anyone wanna step up and help get us gaming for CPL??

"I want to be remembered most as a writer — one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well."

2008-03-20T17:13:00.005-05:00

RIP Mr. Clarke....

Great News!

2008-03-19T09:36:00.004-05:00

So, H.R. called for me yesterday but unfortunately I was unable to take the call as I was not in for work for the day yet. That being said I got off the phone with them just a few moments ago,with the greatest news ever! After I get them another copy of my transcripts and fill out a little more paperwork, I'm gonna be a Librarian 1 at Harold Washington Library Downtown!!!!!!!!

Open Letter to the Girls Next to Me at the Gaelic Storm Concert

2008-03-19T09:17:00.003-05:00

F*** You! What makes you think you are entitled to push your way to the front of the concert venue and block my brother out so he cant enjoy the entirety of the concert with his family? Quit taking whorish pictures of yourselves and your friends. I know you think you're all all hot shit or something but trust me you're not. The way you all are acting like desperate asses is very unattractive. No,the bagpipe player does not want to pay attention to you in fact he's giving you dirty looks, are you oblivious?? Also, keep your damn shoes on and pick your purses up I don't like tripping over other peoples crap, and while were at it quit bumping into me too! Finally and most importantly remember it is NOT I repeat NOT your place to lecture me about ANYTHING. The crowd happened to push me a little bit in front of you that does not give you the right to chew me out. Yes, I am ignoring you because you have the nerve to tell me you've been standing there all night, where were you during the opening band? Where were you until 5 MINUTES before Gaelic Storm went on? Oh right drinking shitty overpriced Bud Light at the bar in THE VERY BACK of the venue. Y'know you were so annoying that I was unable to even glean some enjoyment from staring at your ample tits. It annoys me so, when a females cup size is bigger than her IQ. So, I guess all I'm left with is to tell you and your annoying friends thank you... Thank You, for lessening my overall enjoyment of Saturdays concert. I still had a great time but it would have been so much better if you weren't a part of my evening.

Good news within a terrible story

2008-03-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

So, I know I wrote on here before that Terry Pratchet has early-onset Alzheimers. The good news is that becuase of this (so it seems) Pratchett has pledged to donate $1 Million to Alzheimers research. Terry Pratchett of course is the author of the amazingly wonderful Discworld series and he is an amazing intellect. It's good to see that Alzheimers research is getting some much needed monies. Maybe we will be able to prevent the loss of such a great mind.

Something Creepy and My Newest Addiction

2008-03-08T09:12:00.006-06:00

Well I should start with the something creepy and that is Garfield Minus Garfield It is the strangest thing I have ever seen, apparently if all you do is delete Garfield's image and text Jim comes off as psychotic, and possibly bipolar/schizo. Here is a prime example from today:

See what I mean?
Now, the second half of this concerns my new addiction. I have found a new form of video gaming crack that ranks right up there with Tetris and Geometry Wars, Patapon the game is something unique. It is a realtime rhythm strategy rpg. In order to move your armies of little Patapons and to give them attack commands you have to follow patterns of button presses in time with the beat. Not only that but the art style is really cool and cute looking:

The songs are infectious and the gameplay addictive, needless to say its wonderful to have a non-Disgaea reason to pick up and play my PSP (not that Disgaea doesnt rock too!) Also the game is only 20 bucks to boot! Whats not to love? Between that at tomorrows release of Super Smash Bros Brawl I'm going to be entrenched in games for a while.....

The new system Pt. 2

2008-03-07T08:12:00.003-06:00

So, I know its a little late but as promised here is my impression of the new system. In a word the new website is FANTASTIC, but the new circulation software, how di put this... is CRAPTASTIC. OK so lets go at this in two parts.
1. The Website. The new website rules! The new site is so much more friendly than what the old site used to look like. There are more colors and tons more option of what to do. Not only do we have downloadable audiobooks now, but we also have e-books! Access to patron accounts is much easier now. Patrons can do much more specialized searches and limit those searches by branch and age level. The databases are still top notch and are presented much more logically on the new site. Greatest of all though is the fact that patrons can renew their books and place holds online! Something many of the good patrons (you know what I mean) have been clamoring for some time about. I find myself STILL playing around on the website and discovering little gems. It's sooo much richer than the old site. In fact, there is so much stuff that I havent finished exploring the whole site. That said I will have further posts after I've explored the childrens and teen sections
2. The Circ Software. This sucks... The software keeps kicking my passwords out and when it does accept it the darn stuff takes forever to load up... needless to say outside of looking at and updating patrons records I'll be staying away form this stuff.
Well, thats it the new website rocks, and the circ software sucks for non technical stuff. I highly recommend checking out the website because there is so much cool stuff to do. It really is (finally!) a worthwhile web destination.

The System is up!

2008-03-04T12:25:00.008-06:00

Well its official, we have our new website! Finally!

Isn't it beautiful? I really can't wait to make full use of this wonderful new resource in helping our patrons. A full review of how it handles in conjunction with the new circulation software will be coming this evening after my shift at the library....

Netflix has the best customer service ever!

2008-02-29T11:35:00.002-06:00

So, I calle dup netflix becasue I was wondering why the movie I wanted was skipped on my Queue even though the website said it was avasilable now. The kind lady on the telephone explained to me that this was due to the fact that the website doesnt update realtime and that the stock fluctuates. Y'know I'm fine with that and we could have left it where it was, but you know she said? "Which movie was it you most hoped to have this weekend? "Martian Child" "ok let me see if I can move that to the top and send it out as an extra disc." Wow! Now, thats classy customer service. Netflix you've got me hooked as a customer for a long long time....

Updates!

2008-02-27T11:48:00.004-06:00

So it's been about a week since I posted on here. As of late thats actually a bit of a long stretch for me, but then again I have good reason. Thanks to a new found social life that I have been growing I have not been able to sit on the computer for very long and post on here. Anyway, on Friday I went to a birthday party for one of my friends and it was sooo much fun! She got a lot of fun presents, and her friends are really fun, and all the females (mostly females) are cute to boot! I made a bunch of new friends that day and it was really a blast! Then on Sunday I got to go to a little Oscars party at another friends apartment. That also was tons of fun. I wont get into my picks in detail but I did secure second place, both at the party and in my pool at work! Outside of that I've been spending some time getting to know my ps3 better and I've been putting my nose to the grindstone at work in preparation for our system upgrades this weekend.

I know... not the most interesting blog post, but I'll have TONS more in about a week after the South Side Irish parade and my sister comes home for her spring break! Oh, and of course, I'll be updating you all on how awesomely awesome the new system is when it's up and running!

I bounght a PS3 the weekend HD-DVD dies, Long Live Blu-Ray!

2008-02-19T11:27:00.005-06:00

So, last weekend I went and finally bit the bullet, and I BOUGHT A PS3. I had been waffling between that and an XBOX360 for a while, and even though the XBOX360 currently has more games, the exclusive titles on the PS3 look so much more spectacular. I mean the game developers Quantic claim that their upcoming game "Heavy Rain" in its final form might cross the Uncanny Valley! Not to mention the fact that this game will raise the bar on true "maturity" in gaming with real emotional responses (not just gratuitous violence and sex, but with MEANING.) Take a a look at the tech demo:

It's not much yet but between that and all of the other exclusives coming
just take a look for yourself:

Now unfortunately youtube does bring down the quality of these clips but still holy crap there talk of crossing the Uncanny valley! Thats unheard of, movies haven't done that!
Anyway here is one last video I must show you because it is the most beautiful game coming for the PS3,Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots:

Keep in mind this is GAMEPLAY not a trailer!

Well now that I have strayed far far off topic here is my point, the final domino to bring the ps3 into a brighter light has fallen. The format war is OVER, and the proof has been given by Toshiba themselves. I feel sorry for anyone who bought a stand-alone HD-DVD player but I waited till the dust had pretty much settled, and we saw this coming since CES, but as we all know the average consumer doesn't pay attention and shops at Walmart. So during the holiday season until they went blu-ray exclusive people were being duped into buying cheap HD-DVD players cause Toshiba saw this coming and slashed prices on HD-DVD players. Like my friend who really believed that HD-DVD was gonna win just cause the players were cheaper, and he wasnt a real gamer so he didnt want a PS3, I don't even want to bring up how stupid hes going to feel in a month when not nly hd-dvd is dead but it is finally gone from stores as well. Now, I know this has little impact on me professionally, but the day will come when libraries will want to invest in high def formats to keep up with patrons wants and needs, just like when we switched from vhs to dvd. It's nice to know that the decision is made and that day might be coming sooner than expected. Funny PS3 is my first blu-ray player, and PS2 was my first DVD player... Leads me to think that when it comes to my life, Sony knows what they are doing to get my entertainment dollars. Also, I don't know about you, but I think a lan night in the auditorium at work would kick some serious ass, especialy with something like Team Fortress 2 Burnout Paradise or Rock Band (although I dont have Rock Band yet 160 on a game is a bit much...) As for the price tag of the hardware? It was totally worth it! I hope I see more high tech stuff like this coming into libraries soon because they have such an increased potential for interactivity that I'm sure we could tailor events proud things we can do with the machines that at the same time will promote literacy. I dunno, say how about a high-def viewing of something like the LOTR Trilogy or some equivalent movie based on a book followed by a discussion comparing the movie and the book and then playing around with a game based on the book? The possibilities are limitless.

My perceptions of Ben Affleck have certainly been changed...

2008-02-15T13:49:00.005-06:00

So, I just watched Gone Baby Gone on dvd. The movie, based on a Denis Lehane novel is about a young girl who gets kidnapped that lives in a lower income neighborhood in Boston. The movie was directed by Ben Affleck and I must say for all the bad acting I've seen him do, I believe his directorial debut makes up for it in leaps and bounds. The story is tense and frankly hard to watch at some points but that has nothing to do with the director just the content. I'd say more but I don't want to give anything away just yet. That being said the way in which Ben Affleck handles the film was amazing. Great camera work and he really put a good gritty super realistic feel into the film. Rather than a lot of films (like the Departed, which don't get me wrong was amazing)this film really felt ultra authentic, and had the right kind of feel as though it had been shot by someone who grew up in the same slummy neighborhoods that film was mostly set in. Ben does an amazing job with atmosphere and he totally got me sucked in, Bravo! I think if more hometown connections were made in movies like this one, or say some of the work done by Kevin Smith (although a lot of the things do not apply to comedy.) There would be a whole 'nother layer exiostent in a lot of films that in some cases may have salvaged a bad film or two.

NIU Shooting

2008-02-15T09:20:00.004-06:00

I don't really have much to say about what happened. Except this: I feel from the bottom of my heart for anyone who might have lost a loved one during this tragedy. Oh and when then search this guys dorm room or house or whatever, remember that he was messed up in the head, he was kinda psycho. That way if you find and metal cd's or any video games like Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt. Trust me it's not the games fault that he did this, otherwise I know people who should be torture murdering, and maybe even raping on a EPIC scale if that were true. Video Games don't kill people f-ed up people with chemical imbalances kill people. I mean I play Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt and Hitman, and yes I plan on playing GTA 4 and maybe even the SAW game when it gets made, am I going to go on a murder spree? Hell No! Right now though I think the theory is a bad relationship cause of it happening on VD. I didn't have a date, but did I go kill people cause of it no sir, nor would I ever! Also, for the people who say why don't we just medicate the people with chemical imbalances to fix this? One, most cases go completely undiagnosed, and two: True people who are chemically imbalanced and are medicated with antidepressants don't kill people, they just have increased thoughts of suicide and kill themselves. Then again this could bring the gun control people out of the woodwork too, and as far as that issue is concerned leave me out of it! I know if I had the opportunity I would go hunting, and I've always wanted to go to the Gun Store in Vegas and shoot machine guns. Fundamentally I am not FOR or AGAINST gun control. I think the people on either side of the issue are way too over-zealous. Forget all the BS and just remember to keep the victims and their families in your hearts and thoughts...

RIP Roy Scheider

2008-02-11T09:30:00.000-06:00

Wow we've been losing so many good celebrities this year Bobby Fisher , Sam the Butcher, of course lets not forget Heath Ledger. Now, we've lost Roy Schieder too! I know personally this comes as a bit of a blow because he was in quite a few movies that I really really liked. He was Martin Brody in Jaws and Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2010. He played one of my favorite literary characters; Dr Benway in Naked Lunch. He was also Gene Hackman's partner in the French Connection and on the small screen Mr. Schieder played Capt. Nathan Bridger on "Seaquest DSV", a show which I really enjoyed when I was younger. That being said we all know his greatest role was and will be his role in Jaws so, Mr. Schieder as you shuffle off this mortal coil and we need to deal with all the talent we've lost, I'll take a page from you book and say "We're gonna need a bigger boat."

Response

2008-02-09T16:48:00.000-06:00

In response to a comment I recieved earlier today, I believe you may be correct that I should not have posted the information about upcoming changes here as of yet... People have been talking about it to patrons here a little bit, but writing about it in here may have been jumping the gun. That as it may be I have retracted the post and will refrain from putting any new information on that topic up until after it is already up and running. I know the internet is a haven for rumors and whatnot but I would not want to embarrass those whom i work for by posting information on the off chance it fails to follow through for whatever reason.... That being said the rest of the blog is back to business as usual!

An interesting reference

2008-02-09T16:39:00.000-06:00

So, this afternoon I had a teenage girl ask me to help her find information on the 1885 Cholera Epidemic that happened in Chicago. I did some searching and I wasn't coming across anything related to such an even whatsoever. It was getting somewhat frustrating. As such, I decided to go out to the web and see what I could find and in doing so I came across a wikipedia article that says it was all an urban legend and never happened! I thought this was quite interesting so I searched our Chicago Tribune Historical Archives for the whole year of 1885 and all I could find was information on cholera in Paris and Spain. The only bit of information I found was a retraction in the Tribune from 2005 that pointed me to Libby Hill's book The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History I thought the reaction she had was interesting realizing that the topic she was given to write a paper on could not be written about because it never even really happened? Have any of you out there ever run across similarly flawed assignments given out by mistaken teachers?

Best fight EVER!

2008-02-07T18:41:00.000-06:00

You just need to see it, Conan Obrien vs Stephen Cobert & Jon Stewart fighting because of Mike Huckabee no further comment need be made:

A poorly conceived assignment

2008-02-07T18:13:00.000-06:00

Once again unfortunately, people are coming in with the dreaded "Library Excursion Questionnaire." I had a long talk the other day in fact with one of my fellow coworkers on how poorly the assignment is actually written. Rather than tell you however, I'll just show you:

Answers to Professor Headen's Library Excursion Quiz

1. Find the photograph entitled Vernon Jarrett, Speaking at Celebration Honoring Timuel Black, 1994. What is the color of Mr. Jarrett's shirt?
2. Find the photograph of Vivian Gordon Harsh. What type of neckalce is she wearing?
3. What is the title of the book with the call # TR670.P65 2002
The Sea
4. Find the photograph of Charlamae Hill Rollins. When was she born?
5. Carter Godwin Woodson died in what year?
6. Find the videotape series entitled "Exploring the English Language" by Video Tutor. What is the title of Videotape 7 (WB) (C890)
7. Find the book with the call # REF JUV/ E76.2.E53 1996 What is the complete title of the book?
Encyclopedia of North American Indians
8. Who are the authors of the book with the call # JUV/REF AG5.K315 1997?
Joseph Nathan Kane
9. Find the book with the call # REF JUV/ F548.25.S28 1991. What is the title? Who is the author? Who is featured on page 78?
Chicago Portraits: biographies of 250 famous Chicagoans; June Skinner Sawyers;
10. Find the Library of Congress Classification System. What does PN stand for? What does PR stand for? What does PS stand for?
Literature (General); English Literature; American Literature
11. Who is the author of the book with the call # JUV/ PN6109.97.W47 1999?
What Have You Lost?
12. Find the Grant/Proposal Writing Collection. What is the call # for the book entitled, "How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters" by Mal Warwick?
HG177.W27 1994
13. Find the Grant/Proposal Writing Collection. What is the call # for the book entitled, "Paying for College Without Going Broke by the Princeton Review 2001 Edition.
LB2337.4.P744 2001
14. Find the Grant/Proposal Writing Collection. What is the title of the book with the call # REF LB2337.2.C65 2004?
Peterson's College Money Handbook
15. Find the Audiobooks section. Locate "Empires of Sand" by David Ball. Who narrated the series?
George Guidall
16. Find the Audiobooks section. Locate "Beowulf," unabridged narration by George Guidall. Who translated it?
Francis B. Gummere
17. Find the Audiobooks section. Locate "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton. Who was it performed by?
George Guidall
18. Locate the book with the call # REF NB60.S38 1996 volume 1 entitled, "Puebo Children of the Earth Mother." What is the name of Chapter 2?
19. Locate the book with the call # REF NB60.S38 1996 volume 2 entitled, "Puebo Children of the Earth Mother." What is the name of Chapter 2?
20. Locate the book entitled "The Rose" by Peter Harkness. Turn to page 122. What do you see?
21. Locate the book with the call # REF TL440.A747 1998 entitled, "The Art of the Motorcycle." What type of motorcycle is featured on page 378?
22. Where are the Large Print Books Located (upstairs or downstairs)? On what side of the library can they be found (north, south, east, west)
23. Obtain and submit a Chicago Public Library Application Form. Submit the completed form.
24. Obtain and submit a January 2008 or February 2008 Chicago Public Library Newsletter.
25. What is the title of the book with the call # HF5549.5.16158 2005
we were unable to locate this call number as typed above
26. What is the title of the book with the call # PE1128.A2E545 2004 v.1
27. Find Cassette # PE1128.M4 1988
Practice and Improve Your English
28. Obtain and sumit a copy of the Windy City Times
29. Obtain and submit a copy of Employment Source
30. Obtain and submit a copy of the Urban Naturalist
31. The Vivian G. Harsh Society will present A Tribute to Paul Roebeson on Saturday, February 9th, at what time?
1:30 PM
32. On March 8th, Law at the Library will host a free legal information series on what topic?
Buying and Selling a Home
33. On June 14th, Law at the Library will host a free legal information series on what topic?
Starting a Small Business
34. Find the photograph entitled Zion Temple Missionary Baptist Church Members Marching Into Their New Church Building 1960. How many men are in the photograph.
35. Find the photograph entitled Horace Clayton in his Office at Parkway Community House, 1944. What is he wearing?
36. Obtain and submit a copy of the 1040 A tax form.
37. The Carter G. Woodson Library will showcase designer fashions and Afro-centri attire on what date?
Sunday, February 10th
38. When will Clarence McNutt host a cooking demonstration and taste session at the Carter G. Woodson Library?
February 20th at 2 PM
39. Obtain and sumit a schedule of the day and evening computer classes at the Carter G. Woodson Library
40. When does the Vivian G. Harsh Readers Circle meet?
41. Rhoda Tillman is the Director of the Emmett Till Gospel Youth Choir
42. When should I visit Woodson Library to find my Ancestory's Social Security Records?
Feburary 23rd 11 AM
43. Obtain and submit a copy of tax form 2441 Child and Dependent Care Expenses
44. Obtain and submit a copy of the Woodson Regional Library Children's Department January and February Programs calendar (yellow).

Thats the assignment. What do you all think of it and what merit does this actually have for an English class? I know the professor is trying to get his students to understand how to use the library so that they can get information that they might need later on down the road when they come into the library to do further assignment. Is it just me though, or does some of the information seem a bit spurious for an English class?

Microhoo???

2008-02-06T10:12:00.001-06:00

It's been bouncing around the internet for a day or two now but it looks like Microsoft wants to mount a hostile takeover of Yahoo! for the tidy sum of 46 Billion (with a B) Dollars. Yikes! Although I'm not a huge Yahoo! fan, (outside of messenger and flickr)I still wouldn't want it to become evil by having the Microsoft Overlords in charge. The last thing we need is internet searching/e-mail etc. to be fouled up outside of Google. Honestly this upsets me because so many of our patrons default to yahoo for their e-mail and whatnot because frankly they don't know what else exists except maybe hotmail (why won't people wake up to the great service that is gmail?)
Now we all know with the way Microsoft is something would go wrong that would end up costing users money out of pocket involving DRM or subscription services or something, maybe even Microsoft trying to cripple them enough so that Live search of all things flourishes. Not all is lost though since I came across this article: Google offers pact with Yahoo in effort to thwart Microsoft Thank You Google! Savior of the internet. Even if the librarian in me is wary of singing the praises of Google to highly because lets face it Google search is not the "whole internet" but at the same times they uphold so many of my own ideals in trying to keep the internet free and open for everyone so that the Evil Overlords (Microsoft, AT&T, Congress even etc) don't restrict the internet for the users. Between Google (especially if they win the 700mhz Auction) and the work being done by the Electonic Frontier Foundation it looks like the web is being decently protected (Knock on wood!) Let's keep our collective eyes on this to see what happens...

Netflix Can Be Annoying at Times

2008-02-05T12:19:00.000-06:00

So I just got off of the phone with Netflix customer service. Now, don't get me wrong I love I mean LOVE Netflix cause I am a complete movie junkie. At the same time though I think their "priority ranking" for popular movies just sucks! Example: I looked at my queue this morning to decide what I wanted to get next from them, and Sunshine was finally available so to the top it goes and then I thought, lets see whats on my parents queue since I manage it for them. Netflix recommended Sicko for them, which was Available Now! So quickly I went back t my queue and it said... get ready for it! LONG [f-ing] WAIT???!!!!! Now don't get me wrong I would be so annoyed but I've had this movie on my queue since the day it came out, and since the day it came out (which was OCT. 07 btw!) its been on long wait. I finally got Ratatoullie that came out at the same time, but anyway... I called customer service and they explained the priority ranking to me and i thought that it sucked! At least I still get movies really fast though cause the old way was to sit on movies you returned and make it take longer for you to get anything, and thank god I love old movies so I still have a list a mile long to get stuff sent from. At the same time though, wouldn't it be nice to get something new a little faster than five or six months? I should correct myself, I HAVE gotten new movies the day they came out, but thats because I like obscure films too, and documentaries, also having unlimited computer viewing had filled in the gaps quite nicely. So, Netflix is still awesome its just that the popular movies take way to frickin' long. Then again, if I were to go through the library to get my movies I do realize I'd probably be having the same problem since some of those movies take months to get off hold, and honestly Netflix has a much larger film catalog cause thats all they deal in is films. All in all Netflix is worth paying for if you like obscure films and dont mind waiting for the occasional popular flick. I just don't like that different queues with the same movie say different stuff. Oh, well I according to the TOU I aggreed to it when I signed up and frankly in light of the rest of the service it's a small (despite being annoying) price to pay.

A Most Useful Smartphone App

2008-01-31T20:08:00.000-06:00

During my quest for a useful im application that would handle all of my accounts much in the way Pidgin does on my computer, i have tried all sorts of options, mostly ending in frustration because they either used the clunky java (that emulated a slower phone environment) or quit after seven days or so and then asked me for anywhere between 20 and 40 dollars... The best I had found so far was a little app. called MIG33 but that unfortunately was not designed for windows mobile and was painfully harsh on my system memory cause of its use of virtual java. Thankfully that all change today because I found the greatest IM app for smartphones ever! The lovely little app is called Fring and it is simply wonderful. It can handle all the major chat clients (even icq and Google talk) and it does Skype! The interface is lovely too it plants itself right on the home screen and is there to alert you whenever you get an im message or a skype call. Also unlike some clients it gives you the option of using edge/3g or wi-fi (both of which my phone can handle.) All in all its the perfect application for the mobile user who wants to keep in touch with their internet-only contacts and acquaintances on the fly. (Could be useful for roaming im reference too, No?..... :p)Now that I'm done gushing about it, how many of you out there might have a use for it and what do YOU think?

Update 2

2008-01-30T12:56:00.000-06:00

I really think this dude needs his hand held through the whole job searching process, so yeah targets really gonna want to hire a dependent loser like you, 'specially since according to the website the only thing available is management jobs right now. Then again most managers are idiots...

Job Skillz

2008-01-30T12:44:00.000-06:00

Patron: I'm looking for a job but I cant get to yahoo.com

Me: (mentally) well then good luck cause you're highly UN-employable

Patron (typing) "wwwyahooo" Do I put .com now

Me: (ugh) You're typing it completely incorrectly "http://www.yahoo.com"

No wonder unemployment is on the rise, the world is full of idiots that lack the necessary skills to find job, and even apply for them much less be desirable employees.

Update: OMG! He interrupted me as I was posting this, because he doesn't know how to use Yahoo! Web Search.......eeeeergh I need a drink.

EPIC FAIL!

Facebook asked to remove Scrabulous!

2008-01-30T09:14:00.001-06:00

I was listening to one of Leo Laporte's many podcasts Net@Nite and his co-host Amber MacArthur reported that Hasbro games is trying to get Scrabulous pulled from Facebook. All I can say is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Scrabulous is hands down my favorite application on the 'Book, for one its a lot of fun (I mean who doesn't love Scrabble?, also it's one of the least annoying apps on Facebook. Personally I'm sick of a lot of it. No, I don't wanna be a vampire or a zombie or a werewolf , I don't wanna start biting chumps, I don't wanna answer puerile quizzes. All I want to do is connect with my friends and possibly share some (i.e. only one or two not 10 or 15) of the library/book related applications. I mean , I still have my account but it's because of similar annoying-ness that for all intensive purposes I've abandoned Myspace. Speaking of which, if you feel so inclined today is international delete your Myspace profile day... Anyway, the point is we need to find a way to preserve our beloved Scrabulous, what will us Librarians do (other than obsessively reading other library blogs, and play Free Rice...)to kill time when the reference desk is slow?

Monster Attack-The Webcomic Drawn by a 4yr Old!

2008-01-29T20:24:00.000-06:00

Monster Attack is a webcomic drawn by Eli Kochalka, who's father James writes "American Elf". Now, "Monster Attack" is genius for a number of reasons. First of all it's being used as a tool to foster artistic creativity in a child's life. Secondly it's a great example of father-son bonding (Eli comes up with the ideas and does the drawing, dad does lettering and publishes the comic.) Lastly, it's fun to read. This kid is obviously bright for a 4 year old and I love the neat ideas for monsters he comes up with, his Christmas Comics are especially good.
My whole point I think is that we should open up opportunities for this sort of thing at the library. If Eli and his dad can do it, what about other little kids? I know I've heard of libraries doing things for teens and the like but what if we did the same sort of thing but geared for the little ones? I think we might be surprised by the results. Plus the pride that they might get from their creation would be associated with the library, and as we all know we should get them hooked early so they love the library their entire lives.

2008-01-28T14:24:00.000-06:00

So I watched Confessions of a Superhero last night and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by who emotionally attached I managed to get to the characters. Now, I thought that this movie would simply be about wackos and have little in way of view attachment to the people the film was about. Boy was I wrong. Especially the two characters of the guy who plays Superman and the Girl who plays Wonder Woman. I felt a tear come to my eye when Superman proposed at the Metropolis superman celebration to his "Lois Lane" Bonnie. The same held true to hearing about Wonder Woman splitting with her husband. Now Batman however was a scary dude and not someone I would want to run into in or out of costume, and the Incredible Hulk was just sad... and I wondered how he could put up with doing that all summer when at times the temp. inside his costume rocketed to 130 degrees! This movie, then which could have been nothing more than making fun of crazies, ended up being a quirky human drama full of pathos and emotion. I highly recommend it to anyone who gets a chance to see it.

Strange Patron Interaction

2008-01-24T18:56:00.000-06:00

This is an actual conversation I had with a patron this evening about an hour ago:

Patron: "Do you know if the library downtown has a big gray book with all sorts of pictures of Hollywood movie stars in it?"
Me: (confused) "Umm I'm not sure but I think they might..."
Patron: "Good, good cause the Empires gone, Hollywood's all gone." (Patron Leaves)

WTF!!??

I mean all the librarians here know this patron probably has mental issues from the way we see him act in the library everyday but that was still too weird.

Anne Frank and Outkast!?

2008-01-23T09:18:00.000-06:00

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

So in an article from Reuters I see that the "Anne Frank Tree" (i.e. the tree that brought her comfort to look at whilst writing her diary and hiding from the Nazis) is being saved from getting the axe. Frankly (no pun intended! :p) I didn't even know that the government of Amsterdam was considering doing this (what were they smoking ha ha ha.... [boooo]) since anything else related to Anne Frank have become national points of considerable historical significance. Anyhow me being the way that I am, and my brain being packed to the gills with useless media and pop culture information, after reading this story I chuckled. The reason I chuckled is the same reason I now do any time I read anything about Anne Frank now, the song "So Fresh and So Clean" by Outkast. I dunno how many of you out there reading this have actually listened to the song recently, and further who among you really listened to the lyrics very closely. I however just happened to be listening to the song the other day, (thank you shuffle ) Now since lyric stylings are one reason that I choose to listen to certain rap and hip hop groups. I mean beatmaking aside that is one of the main reasons I listen to artists like Saul Williams and The Streets. Anyway, now the reason I always think of "So Fresh and So Clean" when I hear something about Anne Frank is because of the third stanza of the song sung by Andre 3000:
Those huge baby eyes get to runnin off at they mouth
Tellin me everything that's on yo nasty mind
They say your malnutrition in need of vitamin D
And inviting me to that tingle in yo spine
I love who you are I love who ya ain't you're so Anne Frank
Let's hit the attic to hide out for bout two weeks
With change and no chains and whips I do suck lips
Till hips jerk and double time the boy next door's a freak
Ha Ha
Is than not seriously one of the strangest lyrics you have ever seen in a rap song? I mean I know there are other songs that have odd lyrics and whatnot but seriously.... First of all why would you bring up Anne Frank when you are hitting on a female, and secondly how can a girl be so Anne Frank? That being said I don't know much what to think, if any of you out there have comments or thoughts on this or on the strangeness of rap lyrics in general please share, I'd love to know what you all think.

Morning Commute Soundtrack

2008-01-16T09:06:00.001-06:00

So when I was listening to my MP3 player this morning (Sandisk Sansa E280R (8gb) with additional 2gb Micro SD card) I realized something, if I were to put my player on shuffle and hit play all and put the headphones into a random persons ears the resulting mix quite possibly might make the average persons head explode (both due to the strange vastness in variety and to shear audacity of some of the content.) To give you an idea here's some of what came up on my player on the way to work.
1. Venetian Snares- "Suasive Chess Strategy" This is quite a lovely piece of music to start ones morning with; hardcore electronic music that sounds like chaos theory translated sonically. This music has bits of hardcore, breakbeat, techno, noise, breakcore, gabber, drum n' bass, and something I've only heard of in reference to Venetian Snares: dril n' bass.
2. Billie Holiday- "My Man" I love the old jazz singers so I have a bunch of them on my player. This is definitely more mellow than the previous songs and is certainly one of those many switches that my player makes that would have the average listener scratching their head.
3. Venetian Snares- "Like Tooth Decay" Just when it mellowed out the music goes right back to driving in like a sonic nail into your brain, even more jarring that before coming out of Billie Holiday.
4. John Williams- "A Tree for My Bed (Jurrassic Park OST)" This is even more mellow than the jazz before "WTF!?" the listener screams holding their head in confusion.
5. Shirley Bassey- "Light My Fire (Twelftree's Lady Remix)" This is off of one of my favorite finds from when I was a student dj in college. The song is a remix of a Shirley Bassey (best known for singing pretty much every classic James Bond theme) cover of a Doors song. Now while this song is mellow enough to not be jarring, it's still strange enough on its own to make people go "What the heck?"
7.Metallica- "Prince Charming" Not so bad, good rocking tune. Still an odd choice after listening to a house remix of a jazz cover of a classic rock song.
8.M83- "Noise" The title says it all, although compared to Venetian Snares this is quite restrained and mellow. So although chaotic hence "noise" it remains quiet and listenable different but not disturbing following Metallica.
9.The Darkness- "Bald" I guess my player was on a kick and wanted to keep the rock music flowing. Every once in a while the player will go through a bunch of songs fitting into one or two related genres and (for a little while at least) my player library appears to have a semblance of making sense.
10. Sonic Youth- "Silver Rocket" This is yet another entry in the rock genre that my player decided to play this morning. A classic in its own right as far as alternative rock is concerned.
So, there's the first ten songs that my MP3 player played on shuffle on the way to work today. Even though most people would probably be beating their brains out in confusion after the first four or five songs played the player did seem to even out a bit and play songs that strung together and made a little more sense, or when that wasn't the case that were at least more mellow. I suppose the thing I take away from my morning listening experience is that because of how wide my music tastes are, if I were to share my music library with another listener I am really an argument for having carefully crafted playlists when possible.
Now, of course, I won't even get started on how even more random my entire collection is thats on my computer. While I have a little over 2,000 songs on my MP3 player taking up just under 10gb my full music collection is more near 40gb and contains well over 6,000 songs. So one can imagine the sort of things that pop up when I put my computer on shuffle...

Instant Reference

2008-01-14T09:49:00.000-06:00

For a while now instant messaging has been becoming a tool that many libraries are making use of for online reference services. I for one like this idea and think that every library should make a go at it whether officially or not. That being said I am currently toying with the idea of offering up my librarian skills over instant messaging on a personal basis,since I know it would be a long time coming (if it were EVER to happen) that my library would officially offer instant messaging reference services. I'm not sure to what capacity I will be able to perform this service so right now it is simply sitting on the good idea to be developed shelf in the file cabinet of my brain. I mean as much as I would love to do this I'm not sure how much it would detract from my required daily duties. However, if I feel that this is at all feasible, I will be sure to alert you dear readers as to what my screenname for providing this service will be and what instant messaging service I will be using to provide said service. Baby steps are what we are going to have to take people.

Us Crazy Librarians

2008-01-13T17:01:00.000-06:00

I was taking a look at the website Hanzi Smatter and this was the top post: A picture of a tattoo on the body of an anonymous librarian. Now, I love anything making us seem less striaght laced and boring than the typical stereotype, but for God's sake youd think a librarian type person would be smart enough not to get a tatoo in a foreign language they don't understand at all. Enough with the Asian writing symbols you don't know the full meaning of people!

Ownership and the future of physical media

2008-01-09T09:44:00.000-06:00

Last night I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts The Weekly Geek Show and an interesting conversation arose. It began first with discussion of the on again off again rumors of the set top box that Netflix is developing which would allow customers to download movies instantly right from their televisions. From this came a discussion of physical media such as DVD's and the two high definition formats HD-DVD and Blu-Ray that are fighting it out right now, and brought up the inevitable opinion of one of the hosts that physical media should just die already. In his (as well as others across the internets) opinion digital downloads is the way to go for everything. This then of course brings up the issue of ownership. When it comes to physical media such as a Disk ownership is simple, whoever has the disk is the one who owns it because there is an actual physical object one can hold and experience in the meatspace. It was also pointed out that Netflix is already calling into question the idea behind physical ownership with its existing movies by mail service, because although you do get physical ownership of a disk when your movie is mailed to you, it is only temporary thus not true ownership. I wondered myself then in what way libraries could be equated to this within the issue. Since in effect libraries do some of the same things as Netflix but with a bunch of different forms of media. When you check anything out of the library, be it books, movies, or music you are granted with temporary ownership of the object. True these are still all physical objects and applying the idea in this way is a little bit of a stretch since it applies much more readily to digital content, which may or may not have a physical counterpart that exists in the meatspace. As we've seen with music things such as digital downloads are for the most part (as soon as record companies come to their collective senses and drop DRM) a good thing because you can get content near instantaneously and in many cases for less money than a physical disk could cost. One would assume that the same would be true for movies and games distributed in this manner as well. With digital content it would also be easier to have a larger selection of overall content for consumers to choose from, which, just like the other points mentioned, is always a plus.
Now this brings me back to the realm of libraries. If people are more comfortable with not owning a piece of physical media because of Netflix and the eventual rise of digital distribution, would that mean that they would more readily want to use certain services of the library as well? I know as it stands now, a lot of my "non-librarian" friends would much rather patronize a bookstore and purchase a book rather than check it out from the library and consequently don't end up patronizing the library very often at all. Still worse some barely ever even read as it is (gasp!) but thats an entirely different issue all together. As it stands we can already see that it is becoming difficult for e-books to catch on (yet again!) because we have yet to find a truly comfortable way of viewing the printed word on a screen an especially lengthy period of time. This then, quite obviously, is holding back the digital distribution potential of the book. Does this then mean that people would still consider physical ownership an important enough issue that they would continue to purchase books from bookstores and online vendors such as Amazon? Or will people having the example of Netflix and of digital distribution finally see that it is content that is king and that the library can provide this for free just without the permanence of ownership? Now, I know for a person such as myself this issue to a degree is moot because for one I love the library and use it frequently for my current content and if there were something I truly liked enough to revisit occasionally I would also purchase it, and for me I would prefer to have the physical book or disk (even though if it were music I would also rip it to my computer and mp3 player, no matter what the RIAA has to say about the legality of doing so ) because of the collector in me. That being siad I would make it worth my while to purchase said media by buying the nicest hardcover edition (if available) of a particular book I like, or the most comprehensive special edition of a cd or movie. The physical experience of owning a nice edition of a book or movie is part in parcel for a person like me that has obsessive collector tendencies with experiencing the content. Now I know this argument could be dragged out, especially by music geeks who wold argue that if I were a truly obsessive collector type I would eschew nearly all formats other than vinyl when available or in rarer and much more exciting cases original reel to reel, but lets not go there. I also know that from where many people stand on digital distribution the fact that it takes ownership of a physical object out of the equation worries them because they don't feel as though there is any completely reliable way of having a backup if the digital object is lost or damaged in some way. Could libraries bridge this gap by becoming the definitive repositories for the respective physical objects? I for one see this as a way in which Libraries would be able to thrive in the upcoming age of consumer digital distribution for media.
Now, overall I'm not sure what to think yet as I am waiting to see where things are actually going before I form my full opinion on the matter. As such all I know is what I would LIKE to have happen. That is, of course, that there is a balance struck between digital content and physical objects. That way, people can get what they want on demand and the idea of "out-of-print" would become almost outmoded, but then those that need to have the physical media (even if only temporarily) for comfort sake can do so, as well as having the physical media in existence in case of the failure or loss of the digital form of the media. What I am wondering from all of you out there reading this is to what degree do you believe libraries are providing this now, what might we need to do to better provide this form of service/ content protection when digital media/distribution becomes even more ubiquitous, and where do you all see the future of relationship between the physicality of the library and digital distribution going? I know some libraries provide digital service now, but where might this all be headed? As always readers, your comments would be highly valued.

(Insert Witty Headline Here)

2008-01-08T19:19:00.000-06:00

Well,
I'm feeling a lot better than I did the last time I posted in here. Not only that but I actually have something semi-professional to write about. Hooray!!!! Anyway, down to business. The reason I am feeling better is, 1.) because I am finally getting over being sick/depressed 2. I weighed my self and despite the holidays and not following the plan I'm down back to 287! and 3. I had a long chat with my friend Susan and the idea we've been brainstorming is finally going to take off. Now, this is where I get to be semi-professional. The idea you see is to have a group that meets up a couple times a month or (hopefully!) more. This group would be comprised of people we know and people that those people know who have graduated from library school or that at least work in a library setting to some capacity. The other point would be that this group would be comprised of mostly younger people which I know in my case particularly will be very helpful socially (as you well know from my previous post I need to get out more.) At these meetings we would gather both socially and professionally talking about different library-related issues in our lives, but the idea was also tossed around of simply having unmitigated fun once in a while too dedicating a night to playing board games or something else fun. As of now however the only thing we have set is the date on which we will hold our first meeting; Jan. 21st. We're still working on a time and place but as soon as I know those details I'll make sure to update here so anyone reading this who may be interested can be able to join us. That's really all we've got for now, updates will be following.

2008 sure has gotten off to a Massive start...

2008-01-03T17:17:00.000-06:00

So, here it is my first post in here of 2008. I have to say 2007 ended with a quite a revelation that really helped me see where my priorities probably need to be and where I need to be going. Without going into detail, I made an ass of myself when visiting my friends, and although I could chalk it up to just letting a little too loose when I was drinking, I ultimately know that something was amiss if I was acting odd enough that my best friends were legitimately worried about my well-being. In a nutshell I have a lot of growing up that I see I need to do. I mean with everyone else I know through them and whatnot already living on their own and in many cases having significant others and what have you, when I am put in a room with them I feel like the child of the group and needless to say coupled with the depression and anxiety I've been experiencing lately it kind of set me off. Dave even said he'd never seen me act so mean. I don't know exactly why I am writing about this since I know it is something I don't want to remember so much, but I guess it must be just for the catharsis of it really. If I didn't get my feelings down in writing I don't know if I'd ever be able to sort them out completely. I had a nice long talk with Dave about my situation and he seems to think that I need to move out so that I can get the motivation to get out and find a bigger circle of people to run with when I am at home. I do realize that I am kind of isolated but every time I tell myself that I am going to do something about it, there is either an unforeseen roadblock that slows me up, or I seem to lose my own motivation to want to go out and do things. For some reason I feel as though being around with my parents and such is holding me back from wanting to go out. Partly because in my current situation if I don't go do something that is accessible by public transportation there isn't much I can go and do. Also, I don't think being in my current situation is helping me get the motivation to go and do anything because if it is spur of the moment or something I am truly interested in (albeit nerdy or dorky) I have this dread in the back of my mind that eventually my father will end up ridiculing me for it. This is part of what has been holding me back as far as meeting new people. I don't want to have to explain everyone I meet to my father. I mean besides,if I met someone because I was investigating one of my nerdy pursuits or if I wanted to meet a person I ran across through the internet I'm not sure how I would want to explain that person to him. I mean its one thing to say I'm hanging out with people that I met from school and stuff but how do I explain other things. Not wanting to have to open any of that up seems to be causing me to want to do little more than go to work and sit alone in my room. I don't want to spend the rest of my life embarrassed to bring up my personal life with him. Frankly I don't understand why he doesn't get it. I mean I want to share things with him but I also want to figure things out on my terms and I feel as though I can't at home so I just resign to ignoring real life (outside of work) altogether. I love my family but I think they might be depressing me and causing me to still feel like more of a child than I should be at this point in my life. Also, since I don't want to go and hang out at bars (especially the ones in my neighborhood which are all mostly "neighborhood old man" bars) where can I really go? I honestly can go as long as a month and manage to not see another person my age that would be good to hang out with. Some of the patrons that come in the library might be close to my age but I am really uncomfortable hanging out with people of that nature (yes black, but the unintelligence level is more what I am driving at I am not repeat not racist.)Lately I am getting so lonely that I think the loneliness is driving my depression thus preventing me from going out and making new friends to hang with. That is not to say that I haven't made any friends. I mean I consider most of the people I work with to be my friends by this point, but unfortunately they aren't good enough friends that I would be comfortable inviting them to participate in extra-curricular activities outside of work with me. Also, many of them as is true with most people I know are either A: much older than I, B: Have families or at least significant others that take up most of their time, or C: which is that they fall into both categories. The more I think about it the more I feel as though I might be reaching the end of my rope. The mostly disheartening part I believe is that even school which I had thought would have been the most likely avenue for friendship and maybe even kindling something more, did little to help. I made little to no new male friends to hang out with, and all of the female friends I made were unavailable. Even in school a lot of the people I knew outranked me age wise. (I apparently am very young and of the uncommon gender for my chosen profession.) Now despite this, I do love my job and I am hoping that when I get placed downtown (c'mon and give the damn call!!!!!!!) that things will start to pick up for me. I can't say for sure, but I can say that I hope they do. I don't know what else to do. I thought at least something like K of C was going to help me out because it would give a chance once in a while to be social, but I feel like that is falling apart too, because I seem to be in a different class from the others in that organization. It seems more like a place for working class guys that use their hands and like to have a beer while watching Monday Night Football. Not to mention that it is yet another place in which I feel out of place because of my age. I really wish it wasn't because I do see its potential as a place to possibly help me make more male friends, which I fully understand is something I need to do in my ultimate pursuit of a girlfriend. Then again I don't know what good winging on here about it is going to do in the end. I am working a little bit on things and I have some people that I have gone and done things with from school with, despite the fact that they are already spoken for and the only thing that could ever blossom would be very casual friendship. Even that would be better than nothing though, since if I ever did feel comfortable enough then at least I would have friendly females to ask around through to see if they have any available interesting friends to maybe set me up with. I mean if I ever hope to go on a date again I know its going to have to be through getting set up through a friend, since I don't know if I'd ever get the guts to ask someone out on my own ever. Heck, I'm not even sure if I remember how to do so since it's been about 3 years since I've asked anyone and about 5 1/2 since I've actually gone on a date. All in all I think the hardest thing now is trying to shake how awful I feel so I can actually get back up on my feet and move on. I keep talking and talking about this but I never seem to have the motivation to get over the hurdle so I can be back to my old jovial self. I hope I can get over this soon cause lord knows I want the rest of 2008 to feel better than this

Daily Deal: Your local library! - WalletPop

2007-12-27T23:52:00.000-06:00

I found this link on the Wallet Pop blog. Always nice to see someone pointing out the money saving benefits entitled to a person with the simple use of a Library Card.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T12:10:00.000-06:00

I don't have a whole lot to write about but I just want to make sure that I wish everyone a merry Christmas. Now if you are on the internet today (and why? I only am because of work...) then you should be checking out the Norad Santa Tracker Not much else to say,except that I hope everyone gets what they are wishing for this Christmas (good luck to those who asked for Wiis) and that everyone gets to spend some great time with their families.
I'll just leave you with Christmas Unwrapped (shown here in five parts) so you can learn a little about the holiday.

Addendum

2007-12-22T12:41:00.000-06:00

I was just on the phone with a patron who was bitching at me cause she had to come all the way out to a regional library so she could print out her resume.She had the nerve to say her local library branch was COMPLETELY USELESS just because we dont have enough resources to provide word processing at every library branch beyond the regionals and main branch. News flash, we only provide computer services such as word processing as a courtesy libraries were first and foremost created for access to BOOKS. Now, I am not one of those crust librarians that doesn't like having computers in the library, no way! We should have more! But, I am one of those librarians that is angry and saddened by the decline in book usage and reference questions in the library system. The number one question I get in the library now is how can I get on the computer so that I can use the internet or type a paper? Except in my case its usually "I need a computer!" or "I need the internet." or something rude and ignorant sounding to that effect, which is also mumbled so horribly nine times out of ten I can't understand what they asked for in the first place. Also, does anyone have a library card anymore??? It seems like every time we tell someone that they need a library card to sign up for internet access they don't have one and then get all uppity with us for inconveniencing them when we tell them that they need to apply for one. I'm sorry I strayed, but all in all its been a mortifyingly stupid day at work for me. I need to find a way to be able to spend some more time around a more intelligent class of people...

Save Yourself!

2007-12-22T11:44:00.000-06:00

I'm here cause I'm frustrated and just needed to write for a moment. So sorry in advance if this post seems uncharacteristically angry. I don't know about most of the world but I believe that at least the people who are reading this understand that if you are typing something,do not save it, but DO close it about after sending it to the printer, that it is gone and irretrievable from said computer if the printing fails. The patrons here unfortunately do not seem to understand that concept very well. I thought we were at a time (finally) when the knowledge that one must save their data in order to not lose it in the event of a computer snafu was compulsory. The fact that I have been proven that it is not leads me to yet another disheartening question: Am I just working from a different class of viewpoint or is computer literacy really a privilege and not an innate right? I mean its day in and day out with the computer crap. It would be one thing if people just owned up to being wrong or if it was always just because of some tech error on our end, but that isn't the case. The situation that happens most of the time is that people seem to like to pick fight with us about what they can and can't do with or on the computers. Case in point the patron who demanded to be put back on the exact same word processing computer because the stuff she had typed failed to print out. Now,I could see how this would make sense because if you save something on one of the word processing computers you would want to go back on the same one so that you could retrieve your SAVED documents. Thing is, this patron didn't SAVE anything! For some reason she just believes that despite the fact that she didn't save her work that somehow it will magically reappear for her on the computer. Now, I have a funny feeling that in light of this the fact that her document didn't print is probably related to the massive blight of stupidity she has that caused her to NOT SAVE her documents in the first place! Anyway, I feel as though I've vented enough, that phone call confirming my Librarian One placement cannot come fast enough so I can move on downtown and be in a nice subject department that doesn't have to deal with the technological equivalent of autism and mental retardation.

Juno

2007-12-20T19:43:00.000-06:00

So I got to see the film Juno starring the wonderful Ellen Page last night. I must say I absolutely loved it! It's nice that amongst the current Hollywood crapfest (anyone get 'munked?)to see a somewhat intelligent, funny and heartwarming film. The film was very interesting, I was expecting the situation to be cathartic considering th overall subject matter but it was a highly amusing film, with an infectiously indie soundtrack (thats still stuck in my head and already on my mp3 player.) I don't have to much else to say about the film except that Jason Bateman and Michael Cera are top notch, Jeniffer Garner is creepy and be prepared to cry a little bit if you go to see it. (Minor Spoiler) The scene where Juno actually gives up her baby and Jennifer Garner has the baby at home for the first time and we see the note that Juno wrote framed on the wall of the nursery (where the baby's first family photo was supposed to have gone)turned on the waterworks for me a little. I seriously think that I might put Juno in contention for one of my best films of the year, (and not just because I've got a geeky crush on Ellen Page.) Other than that I'll just let the trailer speak for itself:

Updateage!, and other musings

2007-12-11T09:07:00.000-06:00

So a lots been going on lately, which is why I haven't written on here in a little bit. I had my job placement interview for L1 last Thursday, and although I was nervous I feel as though it went pretty darn well. Now, it's just a matter of sitting and waiting to find out where I am going to be placed to start my full time job as a librarian. I pray to god that I get placed downtown cause that would be really awesome. I think being placed downtown would also help me out with my social life because it would be a lot easier to go out after work if I am already downtown. It also helps that my diet is going swimmingly. I weighed myself early this morning and I'm all the way down to 287! Thats 31lbs! I am well on my way... even if it will still be a little while before I am down to what i would consider trim, but the closer I get to 250 the better cause thats at least the halfway point. Ultimately I wanna look good when I go to Key West this summer for my birthday.
As for other things, I found some bookmarks at work the other day that have tips for safe web surfing on them for the kids in our children's department. I think I should comment on the first one that I found because it's pertinent since it is about blogging itself. The bookmark is entitled, "Safe Blogging Tips for Teens." I wonder what sort of view the library is projecting itself as having about computers. A lot of the information is common sense, but I don't see how it could be helpful as being designated as blog specific. A lot of the points such as "Be anonymous", "Protect your info", and "Avoid in-person meetings" sound like they could be general information about chatting on the internet as well. I also don't like that myspace.com is the corporate sponsor for the pamphlet/bookmark. The reason I don't like this however is personal because I think that the blogging on myspace is pretty weak. I mean I did use that as my blogging software for a little while before I moved back to blogger here which I feel is much better, especially in presentation. The next pamphlet/bookmark is one of tips for social networking for parents. Now, I know I would consider a lot fo this stuff common sense as well, but the way this pamphlet/bookmark is written I feel is better than the blogging tips one. I like this because the way in which it is written posits the fact that "Holy Cow, kids can actually be smart!" I also like that the tone of the writing when it comes to things like talking about how to properly use social networking website with your children that the parents seem to be held accountable as well as the children. Bad decisions can be made on both sides, but it is important to point out that 9 times out of ten the purveyors of the original website had no wrong doing in any part. It's not Tom's fault your tween thought it would be a good idea to post those bikini picutres online that now old men lust over in disgusting ways, and with millions upon millions of people on myspace I don't blame him for not catching everything either. They do have a system in place for reporting things though people, and sometimes because of sheer size that what it comes down to: we need to help out by doing a little of the policing ourselves. Speaking of which, the last pamphlet/bookmark I found was on tips for dealing with cyberbullies. This is interesting because it is the only one of the three topics that I haven't dealt with personally. Again most of this stuff is common sense as well, so not much needs to be said here on it. I'm not sure overall however how I feel about the quality of information presented on these pamphlet/bookmarks. I mean since most of it is so common sense it almost makes the information seem dated. Also I wonder if myspace isn't falling off a little bit. I know in my experience personally I find myself checking my myspace profile less and less these days, and I am seeing way less people on it here at the library. I know some younger people are still on it and consequently parents are up in arms somewhat, and I have used it as a means of getting introduced to some cool new music, but other than that I haven't heard much lately. I know Tom was one of Barbra Walters most interesting people but shes an out of touch talking head. I mean shes been around so long that GILDA RADNER made fun of her on SNL and she was in the original "not ready for prime time players." But I digress, should we be teaching kids more about responsible use of youtube and how to put web 2.0 to work for them in an academic sense, or should we still just be sitting back and saying watch for that myspace.com thing its full of perverts? I don't know about you but I think we should be more forward thinking like the librarians that have the awesome privelege of being able to work at the coolest library ever: imaginon. So waht are your thoughts on this people? (p.s. I will try and get a picture of said pamphlets uploaded a.s.a.p.)

On Punk Music and Serial Killers.... among other things.

2007-11-29T17:20:00.000-06:00

So, I've been catching up on older gems that I missed (mostly due to young age at the original time of release) so I only just now saw Summer of Sam by Spike Lee. I initially missed this one because I was still only 14 when it came out and thusly couldn't get into R rated flicks and this was certainly not a movie my parents would have taken me to, and then after that I just never go around to renting it. That being said more than just being about David Berkowitz it certainly offers an interesting slice of the 70's not seen in many films. It seems that most films set in the 70's either (musically) focus on straight disco culture or rock culture. This is the first film I can remember seeing (that was not strictly about the subject) that included a glimpse of punk culture. I really dig punk culture (if I had been born about 12 years earlier than I was I'd have probably been a straight up punk by the time the 80's came around.) This was especially interesting to see considering that i was able to catch some of the new film out at the Music Box about Joe Strummer from the Clash. (Also coincidently SomaFm's Christmas station Christmas in Frisko is playing the Stiff Little Fingers cover of "White Christmas as I write this.) The only reason I bring this up really though is because the punk character in the film was played by Adrian Brody which I felt was an interesting casting choice and is quite possibly one of the better roles I have ever seen him in (although nothing will ever hold a candle to his performance in the pianist.) That being said what i am really writing in here to talk about is Serial Killers. The reason I bring this up is because of a general question that I have: Does anyone have any thoughts on possibly doing a serial killer related book display at their library? Now, I don't mean anything tacky, just a crime related book display that happens to focus on serial killers. Now I would include things in the display such as "Silence of the Lambs" (both the book and the movie), Zodiac, Summer of Sam, Monster, as well as psychology books written on the subject if available. as of now this is only a hypothetical display, and would probably not even be considered until closer to Halloween. What I am asking is if there is anyone out there who knows how I could use my interest in this subject to make a display showcasing this that would make sense to a library patrons and not seem gratuitous. I know one way of doing so would be to include classic murder mysteries in the display as well as things such as the amazing graphic novel "From Hell" by Alan Moore, and the highly controversial but fantastic book "American Psycho" by Brett Easton Ellis. Now, the reason I find this so fascinating is from a psychological standpoing which is how I would want to display it to my patrons... Any thoughts? The movie spurred my interest again at the moment, but I obviously have some time to mull it over...
On a different front, I have my interview for a full time position coming up next week. I'm sure everythign will go swimmingly at the interview, I just hope I get good placement at a safe and not to difficult to get to branch. Wish me luck! Oh, and all you religous types out there (I'm looking at you Grandma Doherty!) be sure to throw up an extra prayer for me. I know the big man upstairs is all knowing and seeing, but I'm sure he appreicates a heads up anyways just to prove we're thinking of him too. Thats the firs tbit of big news I've got going on, and the other bit of big news is that I am down to 294lbs! That means I am now steadily losing weight at about a rate of 1.5lbs a day, which I must say is pretty amazing in my book. So that's it bit of an odd post to have right now, but then I AM a bit odd so who knows right? I'll be looking forward to seeing any thoughts people may have.

E-Books

2007-11-20T18:28:00.000-06:00

So, last week Amazon debuted their new e-book reader the "Amazon Kindle" and I am not going to review the device for a few reasons. Although the main and only reason that needs to be considered is because I am not lucky enough to be able to get my hands on one. This being of course a result of the first glaring drawback to the device which is of course the drawback of most dedicated e-book readers: price. The "Kindle" costs 400 dollars and for something dedicated to a task that currently my cell phone can do (albeit with a bit of a nicer screen and easier to read text) and considering all of the things it can't do that my cell phone can, I'll be holding off for now on the device. That withstanding the fact that when the price goes down this very well could be the device to finally make e-books considerably more mainstream, I was wondering what sort of things are available so that libraries can jump into the e-book game. So after venturing across the vast salt flats, barren wastelands, mountainous ranges, and thick rainforests and jungles of teh interwebs, this is what I came up with.

First of all the main option for a library looking to start up an e-book lending program appears to be through adobe (purveyors of the .pdf format.) Although this is not the only resource by any means as I found a ver y interesting site called Library City which is a non-profit company working to put e-books and other multimedia electronic content online to be made accessible to librararies in order to help bridge the gap that exists in some areas due to demographics whether they be economic or otherswise. Also there is Teleread which along the same lines as Library City. This is of course the easy part of the equation though. I mean providing the digital content to a server so that the library system offering the e-book program can lend books out but what about the other side of the equation. Sure, in some library systems there very well may be patrons who have dedicated ebook readers that they carry with them or cellphones such as my windows mobile based AT&T 8525 that can handle the reading of ebooks, but what about the other people. The ones who don't have access to this technology and who might not even have the means to access it at all due to lack of a computer at home, how do we service them? Should there be some sort of a lending system for the actual ebook hardware, such as is done with ipods in some library systems, and with the use of playaway digital books. Then there are patrons who would miss the tactile feel of a real book, (and i can say that although I like the technology and i would be totally supportive of being able to do something such as keep and entire library of books on a small 10 ounce device, and that i do a TON of reading on the internet I too fall in the catagory of persons who would miss the tactile feel of a real book. It must be the part of me that is also also fascinated with ancient manuscripts and rare books.) Right now it doesn't seem like there are any answers to these questions. One thing is for sure though, until the practicality of the software goes up and the cost fo the hardware comes down, I don't think we'll be seeing a program like this implemented in many library systems outside of the truly large ones such as the New York Public Library and in academic systems. So, although the future for e-books looks bleak right now, I am still fereverently hoping things pick up since the true core librarian in me does see this as a potentially wonderful format for giving patrons more freedom of access to as much information as possible. Will it get to a point where it can actually work? Only time will tell....

Phone Reference( or should I am not a medical expert!)

2007-11-14T09:28:00.000-06:00

Last night around 8:15 the phone at the reference desk rang and I answered it like I always do when I am working. At first things didn't seem awry. The patron wanted me to get a particular multilingual medical dictionary and translate a couple of terms. This in and of itself was difficult because the resource was terrible and half the stuff he was asking me for wasn't even in it, and unfortunately it was the only such resource that we had which translated medical terms from Italian to English. I found what I could for the patron and looked up some definitions for the words on the internet, and thats where I thought the reference call would be finished. The patron had a few other questions so I since I had only been on the phone a couple of minutes with him I figured it was fine to help him find some of the information. However, aftert I found some of the information he kept asking and asking minute questions about things like setting broken bones and basically asking me for what amounted to a medical opinion. I answered a few of these questions and even read back some of the stuff that I found for him spelling some of the more difficult medical terms. Despite helping him with this the man would not stop asking innane questions over and over again. In the interest of politeness and being professional I had no clue of how to get this an off of the phone. The only way I was able to was that we were closing for the night and i told him I had to go because the library was closed. This is the first time I've been faced with a relentless patron like this that just keeps asking and asking without consideration to the fact that I might have other patrons that need waiting on, (Which in fact I did, having to let the phone ring through 3 times and have two in person patrons almost walk away as this man kept me on the phone for nearly an HOUR!) The question I have then is: have any of you come across something like this, and if you have readers, how have you dealt with it so you could get the patron off of the phone (without being to rude) so you could jhelp out your other patrons as well?

Dominoes

2007-11-13T10:59:00.000-06:00

I was playing around on youtube today and I realized something, aren't dominoes and other rube goldberg type setups just some of the coolest stuff ever? The reason I thought of this is displayed firstly here in a new Guiness Ad:

After watching that ad, which I thought was the coolest thing ever, youtube linked me to an even more amazing honda car ad:

Upon watching these ads I, being the librarian that I am wondered if there were any videos of librarians doing this sort of thing with library books. Now, I know that there are some people who would say to me, "How dare you suggest that someone use library books as toys!" I say to them,think about it; putting up a display like this could be a wonderful promotional tool, not to mention educational since I could be used in a childrens department to teach kids about science such as engery, physics, gravity and whatnot. Needless to say I DID find a video of a some librarians from Ohio setting up a small domino display with library books as a childrens activity:

I guess the point I am trying to make is that dominoes are cool (and seem to be popular at the moment.) No, really the point I am trying to make is that we as librarians should continue to think up non-conventional ways of advertising things to do at the libarary be it with out of the box childrens programs such as a game night or having performers in the library (to get kids interested in reading Of course!) or if it is something like turning the books into an awesome domino display. Overall we need to always be forward-thinking if we want to get the little ones to come into the library, so they will continue to frequent the library when they reach that oh-so difficult phase of "young adult."
On that note there is one last thing I would like to leave you with, and that is one of my all time favorite domino related videos. This is the video for the Fatboy Slim song "Champion Sound," which features two girls who set off a complex domino display in Norman Cook's (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) home resulting in the bouncing of a tennis ball off of his head as he walks by in the alley behind his home. (Also interesting to note is that this video was completely shot on cellphone cameras!)

Musical Awesomeness and what not...

2007-11-07T10:00:00.000-06:00

Late last night I was reading through my subscriptions on google reader as I do pretty much every night, and I came across something completely awesome. Since it was a Teusday night I was reading through the new music reviews from the Onion A.V. Club and I came across a band called "Holy Fuck" to put it mildly this band is Freaking AWESOME!!! They are somewhat in the vein of LCD Soundsystem and the Klaxons in that they perform "live" dance music. That is, while they may use some loops and samples and synthesizers and whatnot, they also perform with live musicians in synch with the multilayered electronica goodness. The resulting musical cacophany is something to behold. The AV Club Review has a sample track for your listening pleasure, and I suggest one starts there because its what got me hooked on the band last night. Also, if you want to listen to some more to get a fuller feel for the band check out their myspace profile
Now, I can't say for sure whether you dear blog reader will like them or not but I can say this: after hearing some samples of their music this is the first time in a while I've actually wanted to go and buy a bands cd.
On to other things....
Other than discovering new music things have been pretty quiet. We've been following the upcoming Holiday film season at work,(since we all play the Hollywood Stock Exchange )and looking at what movie properties are coming out that are based on books. "No Country for Old Men" looks pretty good, especially with the Cohen brothers at the helm, and of course there is "Beowulf" which I am dying to see in 3D. Also up for the holiday season are Stephen King's "The Mist", "The Golden Compass" from the His Dark Majesty trilogy by Phillip Pullman, and "Atonement" based on the novel by Ian Mcewan. I'm looking forward to how the holiday film season holds up (both for my own entertainment and my hsx portfolio), although the most highly anticipated film for me isn't based on a book. The film I am most looking forward to is "Sweeney Todd" with Johnny Depp in full "Edward Scissorhands pale white goth" mode.
Elsewhere at work I am finally getting into a good groove and I'm really getting to know my coworkers. Currently I've been working on the African American collection and cleaning it up. It's nice to finally have a project to work on when I'm not scheduled to work on the reference desk. In addition to that I've been poking around on the City of Chicago career site and there's L1 positions back up on the site, so here's hoping I get my appointment soon!
Outside of work currently I've been looking around for social activities to participate in. The best thing would probably be to find some sort of gaming group or something so that I can find some more local friends (both male and female although preferably more female.) so if anyone reads this and has some suggestions for social groups to join in Chicago please comment and let me know. On a final note the diet is going well and I would like to report that I weighed myself this morning and I weighed 309.6lbs, I weighed 318 when I started. I've been on the diet for barely more than a week and I've lost nine pounds!
So, that's it for now, see ya later my lovely blog readers.

Video Gamage :) and the DIET :(

2007-11-04T12:21:00.000-06:00

Well, like everyone else in the world who plays video games I picked up a copy of Guitar Hero 3 this week. If you play video games AT ALL (and I'd be surprised if you were reading this and didn't at least a little bit) not much needs to be said except that the game is not without its charm as part of the complete GH canon. In addition to this I've been playing a lot on my handhelds lately as I am totally addicted to the New York Times Crossword Puzzle game on my DS and I'm loving pretty much anything on my PSP especially Sid Meir's Pirates! It's the coolest Pirate based game I've ever played since Escape from Monkey Island. It's also quite nice to have things like Grand Theft Auto portable in my hand as well. The big games I've been playing however have been 2 new additions I picked up for my Wii. The first is the Simpsons game. I have to say as a game overall the gameplay is so-so but the thing that really puts this game in a high spot is the animation and the humor. All of the cut scenes were actually designed written and animated by the shows writers and animators, so everything in the game is right up there with a good episode of the show. The other game which I am currently obsessed with is Batallion Wars 2. This game simply put is awesome! Its the best combination of rts and action-adventure I've played in a game in a long time, and the best part is I can play over the internet with people on the Nintendo wi-fi connection. Now, I haven't gotten good enough to venture out and play someone online, but as soon as I do I will be sure to write in here to let you reader's know if it plays as smoothly as the game does offline. If things work out well enough for the games it is one of the titles I might want to try and play if I am able to get together some sort of video game event at the library.
The other thing that is good with my current preoccupation with these games is that it keeps my mind off of my former preoccupation: food. This is especially helpful because I am trying to stick the new diet and nutrition plan our household has decided to try out. We are following the Michael Thurmond 6 week body makeover plan and boy has it been difficult! I don't know how long I'm going to be able to go without sneaking myself a little bit of cheese or something. I mean I can't have dairy, salt, sugar (or pretty much anything fun) anymore! The weight loss has been surprisingly good however, and the motivation to be healthy and skinnier so that I can do things like get myself a girlfriend is good motivation to try and stick with this as best I can. Readers; I'll be sure to keep you posted on how I'm doing. So far, I've only been on this for about a week, and I've lost around 10lbs! Here's hoping that things keep going well for me on this.

U of I Weekend

2007-10-29T23:26:00.000-05:00

The weekend down at U of I was really fun! I had a good time hanging out with my siblings and enjoying some beverages. The party was so-so on Saturday. I felt like the band was better than I was expecting, they had a fairly decent horn section, and I liked that they played both some Chicago and some Cake. As for beverages the beer ran o0ut kind of early and the punch seemed kind of weak, but then again I wasn't really in the mood to get so plastered that I couldn't function. The largest reason I felt this way was because of Guitar Hero III, which my brothers roommate had gone at midnight to pick up. The playlist was so-so for this latest installment of the game, but there were some good songs on it. The things I liked best about the game was the boss battles, because it unlocked a multiplayer battle mode which is a heck of a lot of fun to play. Sunday was pretty low key because of the people in the apartment were pretty tired after staying up practically all night. We pretty much hung out and played guitar hero till we beat it on hard. Other than that I played around on my new psp that I just recently picked up while my brother Shawn got ready for the long night of studying he was going to have to put in. Overall it was a good weekend, and it was nice to unwind and actually have people to talk to and hang out with, especially Meghan's friend Cayla who was a lot of fun (and if she wasn't taken I would probably fall in love with...) it was a good change from the way things usually are at home when I have hardly anyone to hang out with. Can't wait till next time I get to take a weekend down there.

Back into the Fray as it were....

2007-10-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

So, its been nearly a year since I last wrote anything for this blog, and now that I have some time to actually write decent posts I figured I should try and resurrect this thing. I originally had started this blog as part of a summer course that I was taking at Dominican University for my MLS, and after the course ended it kind of fell to the wayside as did many of my fellow classmates blogs. I found that in my day to day I didn't I was having a little difficulty putting aside enough time to properly write a blog post. This does not mean I wasn't blogging however. In the interim while this blog was dormant I would post within my myspace blog and I discovered microblogging through Twitter Recently however, I have found myself with some free time now that I am finished with school, and I should be able to update this blog on a fairly regular basis. I am hoping to this, eschewing the myspace blog, because the blog here has the opportunity to appear as somewhat more professional than my myspace blog did, (Also, embedding things such as videos and pictures has become a bit of a pain in that blog if they aren't already posted somewhere on myspace.) I'm going to try my best to keep this updated regularly and hopefully people will be interested in what I have to say. I'll be writing about libraries and anything related to that, media (books, movies, music, video games, comics etc etc...), and anything else that seems like it would fit on this blog that I find interesting. I know blogs like this have the possibility of just becoming dime a dozen, but I hope that with an injection of writing on my own personal life experiences that this blog will find its niche and find some readership. Here's looking forward to an interesting future of writing, reading, and commenting.

Douglas Adams - hyperland

2006-09-12T22:14:00.000-05:00


I havent posted in a while but in my adventures across teh interweb I stumbled upon this documentary from 1990 about hypertext. It is entertaining AND informative! Oh, and who's that hosting why its none other than the late Douglas Adams creator of the much loved Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series!

Odd moment in Internet Privacy?

2006-08-21T09:02:00.000-05:00

So I meant to post this kind of a while ago but I've been swamped helping my brother move back to U of I and working on my final paper for my other class, but I thought this was something important to bring up. I recieved an odd phone call from Michael Stephens last Teusday. He had finished grading my work and everything and told me that one of the bloggers that I linked to in my Wiki for the group projects on blogs had contacted Kate Marek who had contacted me. I am not going to even name the blog but I will say that it is a blogger blog and thus easily accessible by anyone on the internet. Anyway, this young woman said that she wanted the link to the blog taken down because she had not given us permission to link to it and she wanted her privacy. I dunno but keeping a blogger blog (which I found through another blog linking to her which made me believe it was free to link to) is not a way of showing you want to keep your complete privacy. I mean a search of google brings it up right away. if she wanted her privacy she should have done something like kept her blog in livejournal where it could be locked out and kept private if she so chose so only people she wanted to see it would. So, I am taking the time to say right out in this post you wanna link to me go ahead, if I didn't want you to, I would either A. Delete this whole blog or B. Have set it up on livejournal and only let my friends see it. This is the new web folks, and if you put yourself out there people are going to find you, and you ought to be informed on that. If you want to keep it private dont put yourself out there in the first place. That is all, and keep on blogging fellow interweb dwellers, and remember if its out there someone's gonna find it.

Blog #6

2006-08-13T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here is the link for my final project for LIS 753. The website is for the fictional "Everytown Library" and their new video game project, which includes lists for a circulating video game project as well as video game making resources and a fictional calendar of events.

Blog Post # 5 "What brings a user to a blog?"

2006-08-12T01:35:00.000-05:00

With all the talk of rss and blogs and other web 2.0 resources that libraries can use, I have recognized that there has to be a draw for the audience in order for these things to get used. Now when I was reading one of my favorite blogs Slashdot I was directed to this post about what brings a user to a blog. This blog article is actually an overview of the article "The Hype vs. Reality vs. What People Value: Emerging Collaborative News Models and the Future of News” The study looks at collaborative newsites (like Slashdot) and finds out what sorts of users frequent these sites and what they are trying to get from them. Some of the conclusions they come to include that users are: * mostly young and male, especially those who visit technology-related sites. * very active in their use of the sites. * looking for “a fix of unique, informative fun.” * and “filling in the blanks” left by traditional news sources. * sharing what they know. * looking for and finding multiple perspectives. Other things were cited as well, such as the fact that the users were frequenting the sites for the the sake of meaningful sharing as well as the side perk of good company, and the collaboration sought to bring out the individuality of the reader/user. This was quite interesting to see what sorts of trends many of the top blogs are geared towards. I think we as librarians should look at this study and see what we can do as collaborators in our daily blogging lives to bring more users and readers to our library blogs. What are YOUR thoughs on how this information can be used to couple collaboration and blogging with increasing patronage at our libraries website as well as in the library physical itself?? We have much to learn from the big dogs on teh interweb.

Blog Post 4: Re: Computerless=Lifeless

2006-08-04T10:37:00.000-05:00

After reading the latest post on Maggie's Blog It got me to thinking not only about how much I use the computer but to a greater extent how much my brother uses his. Now not counting all of the time he is working with his computer, (upgrading it and whatnot) I think he probably spends a minimum of 6 hours a day on it either chatting on Skype or playing video games. I wonder if spending such a largely inordinate amount of time on the computer is changing the way he reacts socially to certain situations in real life. It has been shown that some gamers go through the same types of symptoms as major drug addicts when getting their fix of games or when deprived of their games. A good example of this is the man from South Korea who died of heart faliure after playing video games online for nearly 50 straight non-stop hours! Even more interesting is that is was reported on Slashdot that in Amsterdam there is a detox clinic for video game addicts that has recently opened up. So, maybe some people do feel quite lifeless without their computer access, but at the same time shouldn't they unplug once in a while simply for the sake of their own health?

A Series of Youtubes!

2006-07-27T10:37:00.000-05:00

I was wandering around on youtube again, (which I am prone to do quite often) when I stumbled across this...

This of course is in reference to Ted Stevens remarks that “The internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s, it’s a series of tubes.” This comment is especially alarming because A is highlights his ignorance and b he is supposed to be the head of the commerce committee, the committee that is supposed to be in charge of e-commerce. I don't know what to think but I know I will never be in favor of anything that restricts access.
Here is some more Ted Stevens related youtube content:

Is this really the sort of person we want making the decisions that could effect our rights to access and the way we use the internet in general?

Youtube

2006-07-18T09:44:00.000-05:00

I wasn't sure how I was going to breach this topic so as it could be discussed by the whole class. I mean I have spoken to Michael about YouTube and apparently he is as addicted as I am (although he has yet to make and post any videos!) I thought I should mention the website because it is related in a way to the blogosphere. On this website you can post videos that you make for others to see. Similar to websites likeFaceBook and MySpace(which coincidentally just added their own feature for posting videos) there are some social networking elements present on the site as well, such as searching and linking to other users profiles and the option to select and post some of your videos to a vlog or video weblog. Now the reason I finally decided to bring this subject up now was for a few reasons. The first being I have just recently embedded a video from the site in this very blog. Now as long as you say its ok in the options when you first upload a video youtube creates the necessary html code so that anyone who wants to can post a video on their website or blog or even their myspace profile. Seeing as how this is possible one may wonder if there are any copyright issues with people possibly posting televison shows and what not. So far I have not seen to many copyright issues but for the most part the webmasters of youtube have been pretty good in removing content that violates copyright laws. The other reason I am posting about this is because of an interesting article I came across in USA Today about the website YouTube Launches Its Own Web Stars It amazes me that having been around for not even an entire year yet that mainstream media types are already standing up and taking notice of the content on youtube. I feel that this truly is the type of thing that will build a bridge towards the next big innovation in Internet technology from a content wise prosspective. Sure the connections themselves may get faster and the technology to wire the connections and whatnot will advance but that is a different realm of internet technology. The leap that will effect most users is content based and with sites like youtube the lines between internet entertainment and mainstream television and movies will intertwine and become further and further blurred. I for one am salivating at the prospect of what is poised to come about with the evolution and growing technical sophistication of hombrewed internet content.

Blog Post 3: Copyright and DRM (Anti-DRM Kiddie Lit!)

2006-07-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

Lately I have become obsessed with reading all sorts of blogs here on teh interweb. One of these blogs I have been reading regularly is one that bridges the gap between being a geeky tech blog and being an entertainment blog which is called Boing Boing and on this blog there have been multiple posts concerning copyright and the topic of DRM's after you get a feel for the tone of the blog it makes sense that most of the stuff posted is ANTI-DRM but for the most part it is intelligently written so I still consider it a good source of opinion. Well, before I load on a heap of their information and probably get people sidetracked a little I should explain what DRM's are. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and according to the wikipedia article "Digital Rights Management (often abbreviated to DRM) is any of several technologies used by publishers to control access to digital data (such as software, music, movies) and hardware, handling usage restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work. " Many opponents of DRM say that it is Digital Restriction Media because it keeps them from doing essntially legal things with their own legally purchased music such as transfer it to their mp3 player (that is if the firmware isn't compatible.) The best example against DRM's I have seen that also serves to illustrate (in a way) how they work is this homemade childrens book entitled The Pig and the Box which was written to counter the pro copryright character
Captain Copyright It's interestig to see how the two sides of this issue are realizing the potential of snagging the kids now so as to influence their decisions when they are adults. Other than these instances DRM's have had their own memorable moments as well as sordid affairs. One of the most notable DRM snafu's that comes to mind is that of Sony BMG Firestorm rages over lockdown on digital music in this instance the DRM software on the cd's had a rootkit that basically installed spyware when you put the cd into a pc. (shame on you SONY!) Although unrelated this is one of many reasons this blog poster is becoming more upset with sony as a company (the PS3 specs are all lies! UMD's have become the betamax of Disc media and is blu-ray going to suffer the same fate? and on and on...)but I digress this is not a tirade about sony this is about DRM's, and as such there is recent news that give me pause and makes me feel hopeful about the whole situation. Yahoo Music blog posted that they are pushing for the selling of music without DRM's this is a big step even though it is because of a gimickey Jessica Simpson song at least the idea is there. I know that for the most part the theory behind DRM's came about with good intentions, but honestly the people who the record comapanies are trying to stop from pirating music keep getting better and better software/equipment which can cicumvent the DRM's anyway. So, as Yahoo puts it why not sell the music without them so that honest comsumers can use the media in anyway they would like be it burn it on a cd, ;lay it on your squeezebox, dj with it in using DJ software or make a movie out opf it with IMOVIE or Windows Movie Maker. I for one (even though I do have respect for copyright laws) both as a future librarian and as a music lover am against DRM's because they go beyond copright protection and restrict people from using said media in ways they should be allowed having paid for the songs, such as the uses mentioned above or even something as simple as putting the song or songs on their personal mp3 player. DRM's were dreamed up with good intentions but are serving to moreover be a royal pain in the behind especially for those of us into digital media and digital media creation. C'MON record excecs.... can't trust us little old consumers? Oh and by the way theDRM's do not help keep the artists themselves from losing and money or royalties , it has been shown that the only people who benefit from the restrictions placed on music by DRM's are the record companies themselves. Put that in your brain and think about it.

Funny Ad

2006-07-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

This really has nothing to do with class but I found this to be amusing and I figured you all would (especially Michael seeing as how he loves chipotle so....)

Online Book Discussion Group

2006-07-11T13:56:00.000-05:00

It's been a little while since I have posted on this blog. I'm glad we have the assignments and the fact that this is for class to motivate us but thats not enough for me. I still feel like I'm falling short if I don't post more regularly. I've been trying to do the same with my blog on myspace as well. Anyhow the reason I am finally posting again outside of doing another post for assignment which will be coming later this week, is because I am thinking of trying to start an online book discussion group. I'm not sure exactly how the details would work yet but I do know that i would start a second blog here on blogger (and I'll be posting a bulletin on myspace to invite even more people to participate.) dedicated to the group to facilitate discussion much like a forum board. I also know that I would probably limit the discussion to one book a month unless it is agreed upon by everyone that a particular book is short then we can try and do two. I also think that we would have a set amount to have read per week (which will probably vary from book to book) to keep everyone on the same page. Thats all I can think of at the moment... Obviously I would be the main moderator because I came up with the idea and would be running the master blog, and I think thats anything. If you are interested in doing this please leave a message here and any suggestions on what else we should do to facilitate the forming of such an online group are very welcome. I look forward this idea coming to fruition because if we can get enough people interested it should be a lot of fun. Oh, and I almost forgot suggestions of books that would be good for all of us to read are welcome as well. I hope some of you are interested, lets see what we can do with this!

Blog Post 2: History of the Internet (Net Neutrality)

2006-06-23T17:06:00.000-05:00

Seeing the issues that are being brought up in Congress this week, I thought it would be prudent to focus on the idea of Net Neutrality when doing some research into the history of the Internet. The definition given by wikipedia of the term is as follows: "Network neutrality is used to describe a proposed legal principle for regulators of broadband operators to decide between "permissible" and "forbidden" forms of discriminating among packets on a network, in order to prevent restrictions by broadband operators from distorting the market for Internet applications. As originally defined, it would forbid discrimination based on IP address, port number, running a server, or using a VPN, but allow discrimination based on bandwidth or quality-of-service guarantees. The purpose of this regulation would be to disallow forms of discrimination that would create distortions in the market for Internet applications."

The issue of net neutrality has become important lately because the large telcoms are trying to prevent net neutrality from becoming solid law. As such they could be free to give preferential bandwidth usage to people who pay more for example. With net neutrality in place every is able to get fair and open access to the whole of the Internet, without ISP's granting preferential access to certain websites.

The term itself was coined by Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia law school. Wu brought used this term in the context that he believes the Internet is not a neutral network in that preference is given to data applications. Wu's most recent work on the concept of Net Neutrality can be found in the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law with his article "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination" .

In this article Wu discusses net neutrality in relation to telecommunication policy, saying that "regulations on Internet access networks must allow broadband operators to make reasonable trade offs between the requirements of different applications, but regulators should carefully scrutinize network operator behavior where local networks connect." (Wikipedia)

We need to keep in mind that "Network Neutrality" is simply a legal term and does not describe anything technological to do with the Internet. Overall "Net Neutrality" exists, (and should) to protect our freedom of thought and expression fairly on the Internet.

The hotbed issue of net neutrality has been around since the late nineties ever since the first implementations of high speed broadband access came about. Until that time Internet access was governed by common carrier regulations since all telecommunications are covered under these laws. Now, however with cable modems, high speed access has been classified an information service and is not regulated by common carrier laws. As such it is argued that current fcc principles are to weak to prevent the telecommunications companies from charging for preferential service. The FCC however did come up with a policy statement saying that it would adhere to the four principles of network freedom which are:

Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice;
Consumers are entitled to run applications and services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement;
Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network; and
Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.

This was decided upon in august of 2005. Outside of this little has been done for the specific cause of network neutrality. Congress has attempted to address blatant issues with ISP abuses but overall Network Neutrality as law has not yet seen the light of day.

One notable step forward however was the signing of the COPE act on June 8th. This act, although not containing any outright provisions for net neutrality concerning the ever present issue of service tiering, but it does provide a step (even if it is small and weak) in the right direction.

What does that all have to do with the history of the Internet you might ask? Well two things. Firstly the idea of network neutrality has been ingrained in the information sharing of the Internet since its inception. Secondly even Vinton Cerf the inventor of the Internet protocol has weighed in on this issue. He believes that a lack of net neutrality opening up ISP's to force consumers to pay for a tiered access service as well as certain invasions of privacy are wrong outright. As he puts it, "allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success." The Internet should remain a neutral network as it always has since its inception. History should not be tampered with, for if it is the Internet as we know it may be forever changed in a way that for us as librarians, with our passion for freedom of access and fairness of access to information to all people, should find especially troubling.

For further information concerning both sides of the "Net Neutrality" argument visit these sites:

For Deregulation:

Dontregulate.org

Hands off the Internet

Against Deregulation (for Net Neutrality)

Savetheinternet.com

commoncause.org

Myspace

2006-06-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Silly me I started this blog and never mentioned my profile on myspace. Well now that I've remembered I am, and you dear blog reader can feel free to take a look, add me as a friend, and see what it looks like when I am blogging in less formal of an environment.

Songs for in the library

2006-06-17T01:31:00.000-05:00

I was poking around on one of my favorite indie music review sites Tiny Mix Tapes and I was looking at the automatic mix tape generator and ran across this:

Songs for in the library.

requested by: Jaie
compiled by: Jordon

note from Jordon: It's all instrumental. No singing along to lyrics in the library, come on!

01. Mogwai - "Friend of the Night" (Mr. Beast)
02. Alfy and Aria - "7891" (Alfy and Aria - A Demo)
03. Air - "Highschool Lover" (The Virgin Suicides Soundtrack)
04. Jon Brion - "A Dream Upon Waking' (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack)
05. Yann Tiersen - "La veillÃ©e" (Les Retrouvailles)
06. Don Nelson - "Nola's Bounce" (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack)
07. Nick Drake - "Bryter Layter" (Bryter Layter)
08. John Vanderslice - "Interlude" (Mass Suicide Occult Figurines)
09. Boards of Canada - "Skyliner" (Trans Canada Highway)
10. Handsome Boy Modeling School "The World's Gone Mad" (White People)
11. Abignale - "1" (Abignale 1)
12. The Album Leaf - "Another Day" (In a Safe Place)
13. Badly Drawn Boy - "Rachel's Flat" (About a Boy)
14. We are Of Birds - "In a City This Big She Only Needed One Friend" (Little Known Facts About People You've Always Known)
15. Gregory and The Hawk - "Saul" (Gregory and The Hawk)
16. Erik Satie - "Gymnopedie No. 1" (Locus Novus)
17. Mum - "Stir" (Summer Make Good)
18. Sufjan Stevens - "Let's Hear That String Part Again" (Illinois)
19. String Quartet - "Take it Easy [Love Nothing]" (String Quartet Tribute to Bright Eyes)

Compiled by: Stev

Note from Stev:I went with mostly obvious picks plus some instrumentals I enjoylistening to while reading and songs that remind me of being insideolder city libraries.

01. Elliott Smith - "In The Lost And Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost" (Figure 8)
02. Doves - "Firesuite" (Lost Souls)
03. Belle & Sebastian - "Wrapped Up In Books" (Dear Catastrophe Waitress)
04. The Shins - "Pressed In A Book" (Oh, Inverted World)
05. Radiohead - "Meeting In The Aisle" (Airbag-How's My Driving? EP)
06. Echo & The Bunnymen - "Read It In Books" (Crocodiles Deluxe Edition)
07. Cake - "Open Book" (Fashion Nugget)
08. Badly Drawn Boy - "The Blossoms" (One Plus One Is One)
09. Elliott Smith - "I Better Be Quiet Now" (Figure 8)
10. Stephen Malkmus - "Black Book" (Stephen Malkmus)
11. Talking Heads - "The Book I Read" (Talking Heads 77)

I just thought this was amusing and this could be another service we could offer just like having suggested book lists at the library, why not suggested music lists for your mp3 player too? With the proliferation of music download services and with the availability of CD's at libraries as it is this could be a fun way to reach out to our patrons.

Second Life

2006-06-14T16:38:00.002-05:00

I had mentioned in class that I had read some articles on the topic of Second Life when it came up in conversation before we all left on sunday after class. I had mentioned that there was a woman who makes 250,000 dollars a year exisiting in the second life world and selling real estate. Well I tracked down the various article about her and Second Life as presented in business week back in May. Here are the links:
Cover This cover shows a picture of the avatar for Anshe Chung the "Donald Trump" of Second Life.
My Virtual Life A first look into Second Life.
It's Not All Fun and Games A look into the Economy of Second Life.
Virtual Land, Real Money An interview with the Anshe Chung.
Virtual Worlds, Virtual Economiesan essay incorporating Second Life by economist Edward Castronova.

I found all of these articles to be intensly interesting and with the news that libraries are being vitually built within Second Life as well as the possibility of professors from Dominican teaching classes within Second Life I am struck with many questions. Some questions that come to mind are: How can a resource like this be used to further callaboration? Also how may this effect our use of the internet in the future? I personally think that Second Life is a small glimpse into what the future may hold and what working and interacting on the internet for both business and entertainment could become. Finally I wonder what role in interacting on such a medium do we as future librarians hold? I for one see many possibilites that could come from such a rich medium with so much potential. Will it go, or will it fall short of our fantastic dreams for the internet? Only time will tell.

Web 2.0 Browsing!

2006-06-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

Well for all us nerds in the class I thought I would provide an important technological update. With all the talk we had in class about the subject of web 2.0 I thought it would be pertinent to send you all the link for Flock that I found on Slashdot. Flock is brought to us from Mozilla and the wonderful people who gave us Firefox, and integrates all sorts of wonderful things such drag and drop support for Flickr, and RSS aggregator similar to bloglines for reading blogs and what not as well as shared bookmarking ala del.icio.us. I urge you all to check it out, I know I'm gonna download the beta! I'm excited to see what uses we could find in the library setting for software with such a high level of integration using web 2.0 features.

Blog Post 1: Magic The Gathering Librarian Card

2006-06-11T14:39:00.000-05:00

Magic The Gathering Librarian Card
Originally uploaded by mdoherty2005.

Here is my Librarian Trading Card
I am a game geek so I made it look like a Magic:The Gathering Card.
I'm a 5/5! I'll blast your hit points noob!

Welcome to My New Blog

2006-06-11T11:58:00.000-05:00

My name is Michael Doherty. I am a student at Dominican University majoring in Library and Information Science. This is my blog for LIS753

Back in the STAXXX

Michael Doherty invited you to Dropbox

Michael Doherty wants to stay in touch on LinkedIn

LinkedIn

You have been invited to join 5ft Shelf

Let the top ten lists begin!

Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (shuffle)

The Season of the Empty Wallet

IMUR Submission

Halloween, Board Games and other ephemora

Musings

Olympics

Lost in the Woods No More

Do NOT read this if you havent seen Dark Knight and don't want spoilers!!!

Summerdance and such

Media that Has Made Me Cry

Status

The Hardest Week ever....

I feel stupid

An Elegant Alternative

Pluggin Away

Back on the Wagon

Summer Movies and Summer Reading

Cult of Wii

Where I've been What I've done!

GTA IV update.. OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

HWLC

Earthquake

HWLC

GTA IV is going to be the greatest crime drama ever produced

Relaxation

Librarians Night Out

Your Not My Father!!!!!!!!

If they can do it why can't we?

"I want to be remembered most as a writer — one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well."

Great News!

Open Letter to the Girls Next to Me at the Gaelic Storm Concert

Good news within a terrible story

Something Creepy and My Newest Addiction

The new system Pt. 2

The System is up!

Netflix has the best customer service ever!

Updates!

I bounght a PS3 the weekend HD-DVD dies, Long Live Blu-Ray!

My perceptions of Ben Affleck have certainly been changed...

NIU Shooting

RIP Roy Scheider

Response

An interesting reference

Best fight EVER!

A poorly conceived assignment

Microhoo???

Netflix Can Be Annoying at Times

A Most Useful Smartphone App

Update 2

Job Skillz

Facebook asked to remove Scrabulous!

Monster Attack-The Webcomic Drawn by a 4yr Old!

Strange Patron Interaction

Anne Frank and Outkast!?

Morning Commute Soundtrack

Instant Reference

Us Crazy Librarians

Ownership and the future of physical media

(Insert Witty Headline Here)

2008 sure has gotten off to a Massive start...

Daily Deal: Your local library! - WalletPop

Merry Christmas

Addendum

Save Yourself!

Juno

Updateage!, and other musings

On Punk Music and Serial Killers.... among other things.

E-Books

Phone Reference( or should I am not a medical expert!)

Dominoes

Musical Awesomeness and what not...

Video Gamage :) and the DIET :(

U of I Weekend

Back into the Fray as it were....