More book "environments"

From Japan, where space is at a premium, there's the book case bedroom. Just cordon off a section of your living room, and you are set.



From London, where space can also be tight, you can make your stairs into a bookcase.



Vertigo, anyone?

Thanks to LISNews and Jessamyn.

Senioritis

What a difference two years makes.

Today, second period, sophomores:


Today, second period, seniors:


Hang on, guys, the senior trip is this Friday!

Something for Edward fans?

Hmmm, tattoo touch screens, with fuel cells powered by blood. The gadget uses bluetooth to communicate with your other gadgets.



Actually, less like Edward and his vampire cohorts, and more like the Uglies trilogy and its skintenna, eyescreens, and flash tattoos.

I think I have to stop reading Stephen's Lighthouse.

DIY cartooning

Hey, you don't have to have artistic skills any more to create your own cartoon. Check out the character Natalie and I just made using Toonlet. [Sorry, the embed code doesn't seem to be working or I'd show her here.]

Doesn't mean, though, that you don't have to have the writing skills, creativity, and imagination that it takes. What am I going to do with her now that I've made her?

Take a look at Stephen's Lighthouse for a whole list of comic creators.

Fitting in

Aliisa recently finished processing a bunch of new books and a couple especially caught my eye. They are as different as can be in most respects, but they share the central theme of trying - or not trying - to fit in.

Randa Abdel-Fattah's first novel, Does My Head Look Big In This?, tells the story of Amal, an Australian-Palestinan girl who makes a conscious decision to wear the Muslim head scarf full-time, knowing it will set her apart. The cover alone makes me want to read it:



Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, by Alan Moore and Gene Ha, describes what happens to science heroes and others with extra-human powers after their talents are no longer needed for World War II. They are settling in the city of Neopolis, under construction as a home just for the likes of them, and face the same challenges other relocated groups have faced.



I don't know, I might kind of like having a couple of superheroes move in next door.

Agora Days fun

There's nothing quite like Agora Days. This year, the library gets to host "Read Mr. Bild's Comic Collection." I was excited to see some individual issues of the Tom Strong series we've just ordered in compilation.



These are serious comics, in collector-type plastic bags. Mr. Bild's advice to budding collectors is to "buy what you like to read." Makes sense to me.



While I get to read comics, Runelle, Natalie, and Mme. Lopez are helping Ms. Tyson teach knitting. Think I can get a pair of fuzzy socks out of the deal?

Shop. Cook. Clean. Do it again.

Mr. Rayburn alerted me to a new book and its accompanying website called, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The website is interactive. Readers are invited to submit their own six-word memoirs, which will be considered for the next edition of the book. Readers can also subscribe to RSS feeds of all the submissions or just the featured submissions. There's even a Six-Word Memoir Facebook Group.

The only part I don't quite get is that you can tag your memoirs. Seems to me that tagging allows writers to effectively lengthen their mini-memoirs, or at least to provide a kind of code for memoirs that would otherwise remain cryptic (or at least not stand on their own). As a librarian, I'm all in favor of tags. But the English major/creative writing geek in me thinks that in this case it kind of defeats the purpose. Regardless, I think this is an inspired move on the part of the folks at Smith Magazine. Anybody want to try out their submissions here first?

It doesn't get any better than this

A feature story in the Online Gargoyle! Danny did a great job, don't you think?

Mr. Spock on librarians

Be still my heart...
*fans self*

Via LibrarianInBlack, via Lipstick Librarian.

You really have to be in the inner circle to get this one

Aaron alerted me to this entry from the gaming comic site Dueling Analogs:



But even when you click through to the original image, that poor Nancy Pearl library action figure is just so tiny. How many gamers can possibly get the lovely reference?

Book request fun

Uni students make smashingly good use of the University Library's book request system. Every once in awhile I'm stopped dead in my tracks by the arrival of a book that is especially unique, fascinating, or just plain wacko. Today, Adam J. is letting me wax on about his latest request, Handbook of Pyrotechnics, by Karl O. Brauer. I love that it has chapter titles like "Piston and Bellows Devices" and "Explosive Nuts" (yes, take that last one where you want to take it). In fact, this book is a real technical manual, all black-and-white and quite dull-looking, even the section on grey, yellow, red, green, and blue smoke producers. Just check out the scintillating caption for this image:

Operation scheme of an explosive-actuated nut

He's done it again

These juniors can't contain their glee at catching Mr. Sutton in deep snooze mode, mid-paper grading.

In fairness, he's getting over a nasty flu. But I do think he finds the library to be a very restful spot.

Awesome

Over this snow-day weekend, the Online Gargoyle has published a profile of uber Uni library assistant, Aaron. Nice job, Danny and Aaron!