June 30, 2003

Buddha Boy

Went into work today and was surprised to see a boy sitting off to the side of the entrance to the library meditating. And it struck me that anyone compelled to meditate at the doors to a library isn't really meditating so much as they are saying, "Look at me! I'm so special! Gaze upon my self-consciously serene face as I commune with the Buddha." I was trying to think of something sufficiently snarky to say. But then I realized that it isn't like I'm the Buddha police, and the kid was punishing himself enough by meditating on concrete. I don't think it would be all that possible to free one's mind from clinging if your butt is totally numb.
But you never know!

I enjoyed ALA. I especially enjoyed being mistaken for a Canadian while shopping. I bought some shoes.

Some of the programs I went to were very illuminating, or at least presented some interesting research. I think that the next time I go to ALA, I will go armed with stickers saying "Yes! I'm a librarian and an easy mark! Rob me blind!" for those people that think the entire city is their conference center and go wandering about with their badges and corporate sponsored tote bags.

I tore through the new Harry Potter. It left me underwhelmed. I probably need to read it again, since I read most of it between midnight and 2 am, so maybe I was underwhelmed due to sleepyness. I thought that it was nice to see how some of the characters are growing up, like Ginny and Neville. Harry was appropriately angsty for a teenage boy. Rowling continues to be great at building an atmosphere of increasing dread, but somehow the ending didn't have the same payoff the other books in the series had for me.

Posted by tangognat at 12:10 AM | Comments (3)

June 18, 2003

Read or Die

Watched Read or Die, which was an excellent DVD. It was nice to see a division of the British Special Library coordinating spies with super powers and submarines. I identified with the main character, Yomiko Readman, since she lives in an apartment overtaken by a maze of stacked books, and places post it notes everywhere "Wake up! Wake up!" to remind her to actually get out of bed. She has the power to manipulate paper into whatever form she wants (sword, parachute, shield from shrapnel, etc.)

The part that I loved in the opening minutes was the way Yomiko goes into a book trance when she's reading, and is totally oblivious to her surroundings (giant evil insects, car crashes, and explosions). I used to go into book trance all the time when I was younger, to the point where my mom usually had to yell something attention grabbing at me "Look! Chocolate!" in order to bring me out of it, but I don't read that intensely anymore. I wish I did.

There are a few bits of Engrish with the character names, Yomiko is referred to as "The Paper", as in "The Paper, Watch out for that evil clone!" and her boss is "Mister Gentlemen". With Miss Deep, who can walk through walls, Yomiko fights a group of evil clones of historical figures bent on killing off a large portion of the world's population. One thing I loved about the DVD was that all the chapters on the DVD corresponded to a book, and each book had its Library of Congress call number! Yes, I am a geek!

Must pack for ALA. So far my plans are:

1) Visit lovely places
2) Go shopping
3) ???????
4) Be illuminated with fabulous experiences contributing to my professional development!

Posted by tangognat at 08:37 PM

June 12, 2003

Betrayed by sony

I really like the new "magazine" feature, the wise guide, ok the flash interface takes a few too many seconds to load on my slow internet connection, but I think it is great that they are highlighting interesting resources from the American Memory collection like an exhibit on Ballroom dancing manuals from 1490-1920. Who knew? Now if I want to look up laws governing dance in Buffalo NY, I have the perfect resource! It does seem like a great way to highlight the random resources of a huge digital collection that are interesting and entertaining but might get lost otherwise.

Sony dvd player, why have you betrayed me? When I bought you, I thought our love would survive forever. You survived multiple viewings of Buffy box sets, Clint Eastwood westerns, and bad action movies. Why did you have to break?
I felt so lost and adrift without you, but I am fickle. 15 minutes after I determined that it would probably be cheaper to replace you than fix you, I did. After weaving skillfully through rush hour traffic I walked into my local neighborhood electronics superstore and picked up a cheap, sleek, silver number. You are dead to me, sony dvd player, so don't pout. If it was not for you constantly saying "no disk!" to me when I loaded you up with movie goodness, I would not be currently wondering how best to dispose of you.

So far, I'm thinking of covering you with batting and fabric, attaching some legs, and using you as a foot stool.

Posted by tangognat at 12:16 AM

June 09, 2003

Birthday

is over!

I ate donuts for breakfast. I am very good at not eating donuts for breakfast often, despite living near a donut shop. I am not as good about not eating donuts as I was many years ago when I lived next door to a "Ye olde donut shoppe and barbecue pit". I never bought a donut there, partially because of not wanting to give my money to a store that used faux olde englishe for its name, and partially because any place making donuts and barbecue was probably a front for the russian mafia. That combo is just scary. I wondered sometimes if the donuts ended up tasting like hickory or spicy barbecue sauce.

I spent the day vegging out, storing up quiet time since I'll be traveling for the next two weekends, first to florida, and then to SARS infested Toronto. I realize that I should be enthused about all the professional development opportunities that I'll be getting going to ALA, but so far I'm just excited to be going to Toronto and being able to visit all the comic book booths in the exhibit hall.

Having fun now listening to the new Blur CD. It does sound as if the Gorillaz cornered poor Blur in a dark alley, and then proceeded to slap Blur about the face. I'm enjoying it very much so far, except for the couple of seconds of techno saxophone and squeeky bed sound effects.


Posted by tangognat at 12:34 AM | TrackBack

June 04, 2003

pretty men with guns

I finally saw Equilibrium. I wonder why it was so buried by the studio when it came out? It is a well-crafted sci-fi movie with an excellent cast. You get to see Sean Bean appreciate Yeats. You get to see Christian Bale clench his jaw while wearing a mao jacket. You get people dancing around waving guns in the air! And Emily Watson and William Finchter.
I can see why some people thought it ripped off the Matrix, one of the obvious examples being the scene where Christian walks in slow motion through a lobby, shooting faceless henchmen. It was worth the rental...

You get a dystopic science fiction world where everyone wears drab clothing!

I think my favorite dystopic science fiction world where everyone wears drab clothing is the planet of Camazotz from A Wrinkle in Time. The creepy suburban town, the poor kid who can't bounce his ball in rhythm with the others, it was so spooky when I first read it. My paperback copy cost $2.70!

Posted by tangognat at 12:30 AM | TrackBack

June 02, 2003

Trading Spaces and OS personality types

Ty on Kia "I'd rather not even talk about that". And he admits to breaking Vern's furniture on purpose, and considers Hildi a decorating hurricaine, leaving devastation and confusion. That sounds about right, for the woman who sticks wine labels and hay on people's walls.

Which OS are you?

I am Amiga! What????

Posted by tangognat at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2003

mini cooper

I want a mini cooper!

I saw the Italian Job, which was good summer escapism. I've never seen the original movie with Michael Caine, but now I want to check it out. It was a good ensemble cast, although Marky Mark continues to be rather vanilla, and he did not have a ton of chemistry with Charlize Theron. Mos Def, Seth Green, and Jason Statham were all very good. Jason Statham is so very good at driving cars while smirking.

Edward Norton's character seemed to be invested mostly in his facial hair, he did his usual smarmy smart guy schtick.

The car chase scenes were great, it was fun watching tiny cars race all over the place, instead of the usual souped-up sports cars going fast and crashing.

Posted by tangognat at 10:40 PM