Monday, October 27, 2008

Three out of four isn't bad

The "Librarian on the Run" has an interesting post (thanks to LISNews for the link) about how to dress like your "mother's librarian." I fear I'm doing my part to keep the stereotype going since I meet three of the four criteria:

1. "Wear a lanyard, and attach as much crap to it as possible: t pass, work badge, several keys:"

Lanyard, check. Work ID badge, check. Thumb drive, Check. Geek? Check.

2. "Don't wear glasses that you think are cute or vintage. Wear glasses similar to those that Angela used to rock on "Who's the Boss?"

I had lasik surgery in 2003 and no longer wear glasses. Whew.

3. "Wear book-themed jewelry"

Guilty. Check out my "Dewey or don't we?" pin.

4. "And finally, wear sensible shoes"

I'm all about comfort and would wear slippers to work if I could get away with it.

Call it what you will.

Original newspaper articles tell the story of "Changeling"

Larry Harnisch of the Los Angeles Times and The Daily Mirror blog has been asked by several of his readers to see the original stories which formed the basis for the newly-released film "Changeling" and has obliged them with an interesting sampling:

  • "Changeling" stories Part 1 deals largely with the disapperance of Walter Collins and his reunion with his "mother," Christine Collins.
  • "Changeling" stories Part 2 consists of stories about "Enigma Boy," the young man who pretended to be Walter Collins and the motives behind his actions.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

TV anchorwoman passes away

Anne Pressly, the TV anchorwoman who was beaten during an apparent robbery at her home earlier this week, has passed away at a Little Rock hospital. She was 26.

You knew this was coming: A game show set in a library

LISNews reports on a story in Variety about the Japanese game show "Silent Library," in which competitors play pranks on each other while trying to remain as quiet as possible. I admit I don't get the attraction, but someone must because the show has just been sold in six countries: Spain, France, Romania, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see it in America.

Here's one clip from YouTube and you can see many more by searching on silent library.

Friday, October 24, 2008

More on "Changeling"

* A segment today on "Morning Edition" on NPR featured an interview with "Changeling" screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski.

* A photo of a letter from Billy Fields, the boy who was "found" by Los Angeles police and returned to Christine Collins. In the letter, Fields admits he isn't Christine's son, Walter, but just a kid who "wanted to get into the movies in Hollywood."

* A variety of historic photos related to the case from the photo collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. (The page won't load when I link to the results list, so search for Murder California Wineville in the keyword search box to see a listing of the various photos.)

The last two links are courtesy of the Crime Scene blog by Frank Girardot.

The story behind "Changeling"

The Los Angeles Times recently had an interesting story about the new Clint Eastwood film "Changeling," which tells the true story of an infamous case involving a missing child and the corruption within the Los Angeles police department.

Christine Collins was a single mother of a 9-year-old son, Walter, who went missing on March 10, 1928. Five months after his disappearance, police found Walter and returned him to his mother, except there was a problem. Christine Collins insisted the child was not her son. She fought a long battle against the police department and endured a brief stay in an insane asylum in her fight to find her child.

Screenwriter and journalist J. Michael Straczynski made extensive use of newspapers and court records from the period to reconstruct Christine's story. The Daily Mirror blog has a post showing one of the newspaper clippings about the case.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Shameless SLA promotion

Tonight I met my first major deadline as a division program planner for the 2009 SLA conference, inputting my programs into the online conference planner. In spite of a planner that wouldn't always cooperate (mainly in the form of giving me error messages when I tried to save pages), I made it just under the deadline.

This weekend, I'll be making an audio recording of myself talking about my career path and how I got involved in SLA for the student SLA chapter at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. One of the students (thanks Anna!) in the management course I co-taught this summer flattered me very much when she asked if I would be willing to speak to her group. I really do enjoy talking to students about my job and what an important part SLA membership has played in my career.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Senseless violence

I was depressed tonight when I read the story by Albany Times Union senior writer Steve Barnes of a violent attack against him and a friend as they left a restaurant Friday night. The attackers, who began pummeling Barnes and his friend Josh with no provocation and remained silent during the attack, simply walked away afterward. Steve and Josh, I hope you make a quick recovery and that the police catch the scumbags that did this to you. (Thanks to Romenesko.)

The second incident was in Little Rock, Arkansas, where TV reporter Anne Pressly was found seriously injured in her home early this morning with "blunt force trauma to the head and upper body." Pressly was found around 4:30 a.m. by her mother, who had gone to Anne's home after she failed to answer her mother's wake-up call. Police say the attack may have been the result of a robbery since Pressly's purse was missing. There are currently no suspects.

Librarian graphic novel

My favorite reporter George sent me this link to "The Night Bookmobile," a graphic novel by Audrey Niffenegger that's been appearing in the Guardian newspaper since late May.

The chapters are listed in reverse chronological order, so start at the bottom of page 2 and work your way back to page 1.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Addicted to NPR

This should be one of the taglines I always use when describing myself. Every day, I listen to four shows on National Public Radio: "Morning Edition," "Fresh Air," "Talk of the Nation" and "All Things Considered." On the weekends, I listen to "All Things Considered" in the evenings, while mornings are devoted to "Weekend Edition," hosted by Scott Simon on Saturday and Liane Hansen on Sunday.

Weekend Edition now has a blog, appropriately titled "Weekend Soapbox," which includes videos of interviews, as well as behind the scenes looks at Scott, Liane and their shows.

Next year the SLA annual conference is in D.C. and in my role as program planner for the News Division, I've worked with librarian Kee Malesky to have a reception at NPR on Saturday, June 13, 2009. Even though its months away, I'm already really looking forward to that.

"The Hollywood Librarian" DVD coming soon

Blake Carver of LISNews posted about "The Hollywood Librarian" documentary being made available on DVD.

Ever since I heard filmmaker Ann Seidel's presentation about the representation of librarians in film at a Wisconsin SLA chapter meeting in April 2004, I've been eagerly awaiting the finished product.

Unfortunately, I'll have to wait a bit longer. When I went to the site today, there was a message from Ann asking for patience as negotiations go on "with a prestigious, international film distributor." She says to check back in the next couple weeks for updates.

The film will be available for $39.95 and there is also a version available for $289.95, which grants "limited performance rights to show the movie in public and educational settings."

Good intentions

Unfortunately, I haven't been as good as Kristine at posting on a regular basis since I decided to revive "All Things Amy."

First, it was computer problems (which now seem to be fixed), then some very busy days at work that left me drained in the evenings and this weekend, it was a problem with one of my eyes, compounded by a 4 a.m. phone call from an unknown caller that jolted me out of a deep sleep and left me wide awake and generally screwed up the rest of the day.

In the midst of all this madness, I did find a couple good items to post. Read on.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Let's get this party re-started

Ok, it didn't take long. "All Things Amy" is officially resurrected!

One of my favorite blogs of late is "The Daily Mirror" from the Los Angeles Times. It's written by Times' staffers Larry Harnisch and Keith Thursby and offers an interesting look at the history of the city of Los Angeles through the use of historic pages and photos from the Times' archive.

One of favorite parts of the blog is the reader interaction it offers by way of the various "Movie Star mystery photos" that are posted. Here's a recent example. (I made a guess on this one, but was dead wrong; I did manage a correct guess of Cary Grant in a prior mystery photo.) Given my interest in the stars and movies that were part of Hollywood's Golden Age, I really enjoy these posts and always anxiously await the next set of photos.

And as a news librarian, I really like the idea of using your paper's historical print and photo collections to attract new readers via the Web.

Is a return in the foreseeable future?

My friend at Abridged Adventures, formerly known as the "Adventurous Archivist," has returned to blogging!

As I told her when I commented on her return post, she might have inspired me to do the same because I just have to find a way to get back on at least a few people's blogrolls.