This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 34

Point Your Face at This: Drawings by Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin is an unlikely comedian. He graduated from Yale University, went to NYU’s School of Law on a full scholarship, and grew up in a traditional Greek family setting. Yet, his style of humor is soooooo off-the-wall. He’s known for his one-liners, incorporation of music, and - most importantly - his drawings that he does during routines. His newest book is filled of sketches that comment on current pop culture, dating, his extreme allergy to peanuts, and life in general. Some are really ridiculous (like his drawing comparing death to a game of golf) while others are extremely poignant and insightful, filled with wisdom and truth by someone twice his age. Fans of deadpan humor and unconventional essays will be pleasantly surprised with this collection. The book is available through SWAN.

-Judy, Reference

What’s a Syfy?

Does the thought of watching a science fiction movie bore you to tears?  Are you one of the reasons that the Sci-Fi channel changed its name to Syfy?  Are aliens and ray-guns and cheesy background shots that are supposed to be Mars but are clearly a desolate canyon in the middle of Arizona not your thing?  Do you hate James Cameron?  (Okay, bad example.)  Do Sheldon, Leonard, Raj & Howard bring to mind ‘law firm’ instead of ‘geeky awesomeness’? 

If your answers to all the above are ‘Yes.’ or ‘What the heck is she going on about now?’, then keep reading!  If your reactions to the above are, in order, ‘No way!’, ‘Unbelievable!, ‘Ooh, retro!’, ‘Yes!’ and ‘Bazinga!’, then there may still be something here for you, too.  The following movies are, by definition, science fiction but there’s something here to fulfill almost everyone’s movie viewing tastes.

Pandorum is for those of you who like psychological horror, including cannibalistic creatures and claustrophobia.  Red Planet, Pitch Black and The Arrival are for those of you who like action/suspense movies and/or have a thing for Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell or Charlie Sheen (eww, really?), respectively.  For those of you possessing a more philosophical bent to your movie viewing pleasure zone, Moon, District 9 and Gattaca are about class-ist societal structure and the ultimate search for, and meaning of, human identity and the dreams and fears engendered therein.  And, as if that wasn’t enough, they are actually good and entertaining films and they are all available through SWAN.  (Pandorum, Moon and District 9 are even conveniently located right on the shelves of Acorn!)

Happy viewing!  Live long and prosper.  Geek girl out.

-Danielle, Tech Services

The Conjuring

James Wan’s latest horror movie tells of the story of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren’s experience helping a family deal with a supernatural presence in their new farm home. Horror fans will recognize the familiar plot, but Wan managed to make the movie feel original by avoiding cheesy cliches and cheap scare tactics. It remains thoroughly creepy throughout - the idea of playing “hide and clap” may be too much for you after watching this movie. Seeing this will remind you to do a little research on the property before you buy a home. Or, ask a librarian to help with the research.

-Mike, Reference

Sharknado

With Shark Week coming up in a little over a week, I have to recommend Syfy's recent made-for-TV movie, Sharknado.  As the title suggests, there is a freak meteorological disturbance in California, causing sharks to rain down and attack the flooded population of Los Angeles.  Though the premise is improbable and most of the plot points laughable, this is a really entertaining movie.  Ian Ziering didn't stray too far away from his former 90210 zip code, starring as our protagonist Fin Shepherd, who tries to rescue his ex-wife played by Tara Reid and their teenage daughter from the killer sharks and rising flood waters. 

Though at one point Ziering chainsaws his way out of a shark's digestive tract, rescuing himself and another character the shark had recently consumed, he gives a strong and relatively believable performance.  Other performances aren't quite as solid, but the outlandish plot twists and absorbing action more than make up for any other shortcomings.

-Jen, Youth Services 

Patron Review: The Gatekeepers

As one former head of Israel’s secret service, Shin Bet, states “We won every battle, but lost the war.”

Recently released on DVD, The Gatekeepers is a series of interviews with six former heads of Shin Bet.  They acknowledge that a strategy did not exist in their organization for dealing with Palestinians.  Shin Bet relied upon tactics of fear, intimidation, targeted kills, and deathly torture, in response to rock throwing and more serious responses to occupation.  Shin Bet leader Avraham Shalom recalls that control of Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank was the goal and it was easy to achieve.  While listening to these powerful Israeli men, I thought about our yearly payments to Israel of $3 billion that probably finances the military, into which almost all Israeli men are recruited.  It takes money to put into place all the military apparatus with which to control an occupied people.

Of course, in order to understand why the Palestinians would rebel, this might be informative.

Another revelation concerns the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. We may not remember that the Prime Minister was killed by a young Orthodox Jew of the belligerent religious right. Rabin was seeking an end to settlements in occupied territories.  But ultra conservative rabbis were successfully urging huge rallies of followers that were calling for violent removal of Rabin from power.  This sector of Israeli society wanted no end to settlements in Palestinian territory. One former head of Shin Bet from that period of history states that the settlements of Israelis in the West Bank were never approved by the Israeli government, yet no government ever stopped them; this most obviously because politicians realize that they need that sector in their corner in order to remain safely in power.

Considering that our Congress seems to love showering Israel with financial aid, in spite of recession here, I believe The Gatekeepers a worthy use of time.  Apprise yourself of current events. 

-Janice Gintzler, Acorn patron

This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 33

Flash Fiction 

For Sale.  Baby shoes.  Never worn.

The quintessential flash fiction, perhaps written on a bet by a master of meaningful brevity, Ernest Hemingway.  Also known as short-short fiction, sudden fiction and micro-fiction, flash fiction is the telling of a full story in as few words as possible.  The extremes, as demonstrated above, are able to convey emotion and move a reader with fewer words than the usual curse-laden, road-rage rant.  

I like to think of these stories as the place where poetry melds with prose and where brevity and beauty collide.  This type of storytelling has been around for a long time (think Aesop’s fables and Kipling’s Just So Stories) and crosses many cultural boundaries.  It has been particularly embraced by Latin American and science fiction/fantasy authors.

The internet has added a new dimension to the writing style.  Along with the proliferation of the 'drabble', numerous websites are available for those who want to either read or, perhaps, give writing some short-short fiction a shot.  (I would love to read anything anyone reading this comes up with if you do give it a try!)  Whether you have two seconds or two minutes, there is literally nothing to lose by getting lost for a while in some beautiful and brief prosetry!

-Danielle, Tech Services

The Baffler

Despite the rhetoric of the impending collapse of print media, I am always finding new and interesting magazines. The Baffler is my most recent discovery. It’s in its second year of continuous printing - the editors aim for three issues per year, but have not come close to that goal in a decade. The streak is now four issues printed on the intended date! Here’s hoping they make it at least five. 

Thomas Frank (of Harper’s) is the editor and has a lengthy article attacking John Galt and this issue has articles by David Graeber (who I’ve written about before) and Slavoj Žižek, a piece on silicon valley guru Tim O’Reilly, and Fifty Shades of Grey/Late Capitalism. The Baffler is muckraking at its finest.  Hopefully it will last long enough to warrant a subscription. Until then, B&N should have it or you can try your luck with a subscription.

-Mike, Reference

Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen

Novelist Kate Christensen's recently released memoir frames her peripatetic life through her love of food. She describes how her mother--a domestic abuse survivor and single parent to three girls--lovingly assembled budget meals that transformed her impoverished Arizona youth into a nurturing pep rally. While working as an au pair in France she discovers that zucchini can be magical and Nutella should be a controlled substance. And as an adult, she evolves from reluctant ramen preparer into some kind of culinary alchemist as she comes into her own as a writer and full-fledged human being.

Christensen is frank, funny, and delightfully unpretentious about her lively, sometimes nutty, and occasionally harrowing experiences. Plus, she’s kind enough to share her recipes. Acorn owns this book, and you can request it through SWAN.

-Megan, Reference

Dinner with the Smileys: One Military family, One Year of Heroes,and Lessons for a Lifetime by Sarah Smiley
Sarah Smiley wrote Dinner with the Smileys: One Military Family, One Year of Heroes,and Lessons for a Lifetime (2013). Smiley's husband, Dustin, was deployed to Africa for 1 year and she stayed in Maine with 3 boys, ages 11, 8 and 4.  As the family talked about missing a husband and father at the dinner table, they decided that once a week for the whole year they would invite someone to dinner and call this event "dinner with the Smileys."  They had a wide range of people over including school teachers, politicians, athletes, authors, artists, friends, neighbors, and even a zookeeper. 
This heartwarming story was enjoyable, honest, and gripping.  Smiley skillfully weaves in stories of her sons, the guests, her foibles as a temporary single parent, her love and commitment she shared with her husband, and the beauty of the community as they rallied around the Smileys to help and care during this time of separation. I heartily recommend this book! 

-Janice, youth services 

Side Effects
Emily and Martin are rolling in the dough and are living out their own American dream - that is, until Martin is taken away in cuffs for insider trading. The scenario is all too real for Emily and tries to cope with the subsequent depression by taking antidepressant medication. However, when the newest drug on the market comes with surprise side effects, Emily does something terrible without even knowing it. Or does she? A financially struggling therapist, played by Jude Law, gets caught up in the chain of events and makes discoveries and decisions that will affect everyone involved - and change their lives forever. If you love plot twists, check this film out! It’s available through our new movie shelf or through SWAN.

-Judy, Reference

This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 32

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
This book’s release was highly anticipated and some bloggers even thought that there was too much hype surrounding the book. But there’s a reason for all the hype -- because it’s a really great fantasy that incorporates magic and evil spirits -- and it’s geared toward adults. It’s fairly quick at less than 200 pages and if you’ve ever wished you could be seven years old again, you should definitely check out this book. Holds can be placed for the book via SWAN or the eBook can reserved through MediaOnDemand.

-Judy, Reference

Philip Glass
I have three words for you…modern. classical. music.  Hey, where’d everybody go?

My introduction to one of the most prolific modern composers of avant-garde music today was through the score of The Hours.  Philip Glass’ haunting scores cascade through films too numerous to list but as diverse as The Illusionist (available at Acorn), Kundun, Candyman, The Fog of War and a re-visitation of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula.  He’s written operas, symphonies and, seemingly, most of that evocative music you hear in almost every movie trailer ever made…ever.

Personally, I prefer his more melodious experiments in repetition and resonance as represented by The Hours soundtrack that is playing as I write this.  Here we encounter the hypnotic sound experience of being enveloped in a heartbeat;  a sensual building of silences and crescendos, an ebb and flow, indicative of reserved passions, or ultimate despair, faltering at a precipice before finally crashing into being;  an exaltation of the search for hope and the possible repercussions of that search symbolized in the film by the discovery that that search can only end in one of three ways...love, forbearance or death.

For the more sonically adventurous, Glass has numerous works to cater to your tastes as well.  For a taste sampling, you could give The Essential Philip Glass a try, although, I would recommend listening to "Floe" with your hand firmly planted on the volume control unless the chaotic sound of two clowns trying to beat each other to death with squeaky toys appeals to you.  I do highly recommend the five-disk set, Philip on Film, (especially the fifth disk) where there is something for everyone to enjoy whether your tastes run toward the melodious or are more firmly planted in the murderous clowns end of the spectrum.      

-Danielle, Tech Services

Danceinayear.com
Web designer Karen Cheng dreamed of becoming a dancer. And she got there in one year by taking classes and practicing everywhere—in the checkout line, at the bus stop, while on her computer at work, etc.  She also used lift.do to chart her progress, get statistical feedback, and gain support from an online community. Before long, she was completely consumed by her new passion; and you can watch Cheng transform from a robot-hand greenhorn into a confident, graceful performer here.  Even if you wouldn’t dream of cutting a rug in public, you can find a way to adopt Cheng’s thoughtful, practical methodology and inspiring enthusiasm to embark on a journey of your own.

-Megan, Reference

The Dissolve
The Dissolve might have had some launch issues this past Wednesday, but the web site is finally up and running. The site, which is comprised of many former writers and staff of the Chicago-based The A.V. Club's film section, promises to provide coverage of everything movie-related, from obscure Blu-ray releases and exclusive interviews, to standard film reviews. Although I might tune in from time to time, I actually like the idea of Letterboxd better. Letterboxd is a social network/database for sharing movies you've seen and making lists of favorite directors or actor retrospectives, as well as a place to share reviews and ratings or comment on movies you've seen. The site no longer requires an invite from a pre-existing user, which makes it the perfect time to start keeping track of your viewing habits.

-Anna, Youth Services

Swamp Thing
The Swamp Thing aka Alec Holland is back as part of DC Comics’ The New 52 with Scott Snyder writing and Yanick Paquette as the artist. The first paperback volume is available through SWAN. It’s a pretty good start, but living up to Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing is going to be difficult. Moore’s storytelling and Stephen Bissette’s artwork are outstanding in the 1984 comics. Moore, who also wrote V for Vendetta and The Watchmen among other things, made the Swamp Thing a fully realized character who is part human and part plant. While Swamp Thing struggles with his humanity, not unlike Dr. Manhattan in The Watchmen who considers letting humans perish because they've become inconsequential to him, the reader gets an entertaining story that reflects our society’s troubling coping with nature. Moore’s environmentalism is often grotesque and the comics have their share of body horror, but the eco-friendly message is clear. It is available through SWAN so go green with the Swamp Thing.

-Mike, Reference

This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 31

The Fourth
The Fourth of July holiday is upon us once again.  (No, I can’t believe this year has gone by so quickly, either!)  Another flag-festooned holiday filled with frolicking and fun with our friends and family and, let’s not forget, those festive fireworks!  We celebrate our country, its beauty and scars, alike.  We try to forgive it its trespasses while working, together, to facilitate the promise of its founding.  And, we remember…

Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, located on the site of the old Joliet Arsenal and, in a rather poetically dichotomous contrast of life and death, adjacent to Midewin Prairie, the first National Tallgrass Prairie in the country, is one of the largest veterans’ cemeteries in the United States.  A thousand acres of land dedicated to those who have given at least part, and sometimes all, of their lives in honor of their country.

For those of us who’ve been there to bury a friend, a neighbor or, especially, a beloved grandfather, it is a place of solemnity and honor tinged with grief and colored by the knowledge that their sacrifice, large or small, recent or muted by the march of time, mattered and will not be forgotten.  So, this Fourth of July weekend, after the picnics and celebrations are done, I’ll remember Philip W. Johnson (September 12, 1919 – July 6, 2010) USN WWII and honor all the other men and women who believed enough in a promise to stand and serve but we can also celebrate the continuation of life and contemplate the brave struggles we’ve yet to overcome which are exemplified by a human spirit that decides that, together, we can build an entire prairie, one seed at a time.

-Danielle, Tech Services

Hype Machine
If you’ve always wanted to be on the cutting edge of music or just listen to something new, then this is a great way to start. Hype Machine is an app/website that tracks music blogs with MP3s all over the world to see what’s trending and what’s popular. It’s also a great way to discover new music and genres that you’ve probably never heard of. (Who knew dubstep was its own genre? Not me.) The app costs a few bucks for your smartphone, but if you sign up *for free* with their website you can keep track of your favorites and even listen to full albums before they are released. If you like remixes of popular songs, then you’ll especially like this site because there are a ton (and I’m not kidding!) I found a particular remix of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Too Darn Hot” and it’s pretty fly; anyone who likes music can find some great new tunes with this website.

-Judy, Reference

The Maker Movement
I recently had the opportunity to attend the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago. One of my sessions featured the sprightly Mark Frauenfelder, founder of Boing Boing and editor of Make magazine. He outlined the history of maker culture, which was a necessity of agricultural life that largely disappeared due to urbanization and the advent of relatively inexpensive consumer goods, but is currently in the midst of an exuberant renaissance.

Frauenfelder shared a number of impressive DIY projects, from the sublime (a bacon-cooking alarm clock that awakens you with a savory aroma instead of a grimace-inducing buzz) to the spooky (a homemade drone). You can find an inspiring array of other ideas--including a lawnbot, a cake that approximates the Earth's composition, and simple hacks for the home--through Make’s website or by requesting Frauenfelder’s books via SWAN.

-Megan, Reference