"Librarian 2" coming (eventually) to a television near you

Yes, that's the sequel to The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, starring Noah Wylie, brought to us by TNT (where they Know Drama). And the best part is that it's going to be directed by Jonathan Frakes, aka Commander Riker, aka Number One, from the intrepid Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. You can read the buzz on various fan sites.

Here's what the library community had to say about the first Librarian epic. Personally, I thought it was a hoot.

I made it into the yearbook

OK, well, into the index pages, one of those throwaway candids.



From this year's Halloween costume contest. The sign says "MINE! Last worn 1969." When I was a junior in high school. You can do the math.

The whole Seuss and nothing but the Seuss

One way to justify a hobby that's gone out of control is to write a book about the hobby. Then you aren't considered obsessive, but an expert on the subject instead. That's what Charles D. Cohen did with his fixation on all things Seuss. He wrote a book called The Whole Seuss and Nothing but the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel (813 Se814c). From this work I learned that Seuss was a cartoonist, a maker of documentary films for the army, and an ad man - all before writing children's books. Besides sharing this history, Cohen shares items from his collection of both licensed and unauthorized Seuss merchandise.

Here's a Cat in the Hat-infused self-portrait Seuss did for the July 6, 1957 issue of the Saturday Evening Post:

And to continue with the ridiculous...

Courtesy Slashdot, we can now link to a video of "The Line People," the product of waiting in line for three hours to see the midnight premiere of Revenge of the Sith.

Guess what week it is?

If you don't know, just check our magazine shelves.
From the sublime:



To the ridiculous:

Feeling competetive?

Or ironic? Or both? If you are a resident of the UK, you can enter Microsoft's "Thought Thieves Short Film Competition." This is your chance to be creative in spreading the word about intellectual property theft. Remember, though, that winners must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights for their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft. Natch.

If you are a competetive-minded librarian, you've got a chance to show your stuff at this summer's annual American Library Association conference in Chicago. On Saturday, June 26th, be on hand for the Book Cart Drill Team World Championship. I'll be there -

Books into movies

Corinne has put up a nice display of books we have that have been made into movies, like these two:



The Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri has a nice guide they developed using the Internet Movie Database. So has the Skokie Public Library. Oh, and the Edmonton (Canada) Public Library. And the Hastings (Nebraska) Public Library. ...I guess we weren't the first ones to think of this.

Literary sin

Rush Hour (810.8 R89 v.1) is the title of the new "cutting-edge literary journal of contemporary voices" edited by Michael Cart and published by Random House; "Sin" is the theme of the inaugural issue.



Within these pages, find stories by Joan Bauer, Brock Cole, and Chris Lynch, essays by Marc Aronson and Hazel Rochman, poetry by Nikki Grimes and Sonya Sones, art by R. Gregory Christies and Mark Podwal, and much more. The theme was chosen because of its relevance "to a world ridden by guilt and riven by conflict that, though sometimes secular, more often seems rooted in religious belief -- and disbelief."

My fear about this appealing little book is that it will be hard to find on our shelves once it leaves the limelight of the new book shelf. It so deserves to be thumbed through, discovered, passed around.

Wikipedia hits the comics

Must see if I can get permission from the publishers of Fox Trot to use this strip in my lessons on website evaluation. The Wikipedia wonks probably wouldn't let something like this happen, but it's fun to think about the possibilities -

Librarians go to prom

And aren't they stunning?

Not nearly as stunning as the library's student workers:



Alejandra, Emma, Hannah, Tanya, Tess, and Meredith.

President of Turkmenistan shuts down libraries...

This from IFLA (the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions), courtesy LISNews: "The President of Turkmenistan, Mr Saparmurat Niyazov, has ordered the closure of libraries on the grounds that 'nobody reads books or go to libraries.' Central and student libraries will remain open but the remainder will be closed. The President has stated that additional libraries are unnecessary as most books that Turkmen need should already be in homes, workplaces and schools." A few years ago, a Mortenson Fellow from Turkmenistan completed an internship at the Uni High Library. I wonder how her rural library is faring now.

Also from LISNews:

The Benton Harbor, Michigan school superintendent has lifted the ban on the middle school band playing "Louie, Louie" for a weekend parade. The Detroit Free Press article also states that "The FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics on the Kingsmen's recording before declaring they not only were not obscene but also were "unintelligible at any speed."

And finally, Princeton University students have been conducting a "Reading Filibuster" in protest of Senate Majority Leader and Princeton Alum Bill Frist's proposed actions against filibustering in the Senate. Maybe he's been taking his cues from the President of Turkmenistan.

Final installment of New

It's here! Our inaugural issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, aka EGM.



I must say, I'm rather mesmerized by the variety of warning labels in the ads. Sexual themes. Crude humor. Blood and Gore. Intense Violence. Cartoon violence. Fantasy violence. And the mysterious "Visit www.esrb.org for updated rating information." All these ways of subdividing violence are an inspiration to the cataloger in me.

More cool news from blogs

This time, just a couple from Slashdot.

If you are a Boy Scout in Hong Kong, you can now get a merit badge in understanding the value of intellectual property and the importance of protecting it.

Alienware is now selling high-end PCs with Star Wars themes. You can get Light Side or Dark Side case designs, external decals, a light kit, skins and wallpaper. Now I might consider it if they had Star Trek PCs (make that Macs).

Attack of the Zombie Librarians

During my visit to Niles West High School this weekend, I lifted some bookmarks from the IRC (aka, the Library). I'm going to have to order some of these movie-themed bookmarks from the good folks at Demco.



We're also getting some more of those stunning bookmarks from the Campaign for Reader Privacy: