Blog Post
Remember THE SHEIK?
by Maxine
Many of you are too young to remember him, but for young women in the 1920's, Rudolph Valentino was the first major movie sex symbol. On November 20, 1921, one of his most famous films, The Sheik was released. Valentino's steamy, melodramatic portrayal of a desert prince hopelessly in love with an Englishwoman left women fainting in the aisles. A sequel, The Son of the Shiek, was released in 1926, a few weeks after Valentino's tragic death.
The Library has an extensive collection of silent films featuring such greats as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and the "It Girl, Clara Bow. Check them out!
Blog Post
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
by Maxine
Although America Recycles Day was November 15, it's never too late to start being more environmentally aware. Check out all the services of Recycle Ann Arbor. You'll be amazed by opportunities both to recycle and to grab some great finds, especially at the Re-Use Station.
The Library has a wealth of information on recycling and environmental issues. A new dvd series produced by PBS titled Design e2: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious looks at inspiring examples of environmental projects throughout the country including Mayor Richard Daley's green initiatives for the city of Chicago. Other programs examine a proposed greywater recycling system in Bejing that would be the largest in the world and how Boston's Big Dig project has provided opportunities for using its scrap for innovative house design.
Ready Made: How to Make (Almost) Everything: A Do-It Yourself Primer by Shoshana Berger is a playful look at how we can transform discarded materials into such creations as chopstick clocks and cd racks made from Fed Ex boxes.
Blog Post
2006's 4-star picks from Video Librarian
by amy
Sure, you know the blockbusters. But what about all the hundreds of other video titles (children's, documentaries, anime, how-to) that come out each year? How do you know what's worth watching? In their Nov/Dec issue, Video Librarian rounds up all titles receiving the highest rating (4 stars) from their crew of 20+ reviewers over the course of the year; and since they're generally pretty stingy with the 4-star designation, you can bet they're all worth checking out. Below are those titles owned by or currently on order for AADL:
Lost in the Woods: The Movie; Time Warp Trio: Passport to Adventure; Old Believers; Reckless Indifference; City of Bees; Exploring Space: The Quest for Life; Life in the Undergrowth; Duncan Wong: Yogic Arts-Awakening Level; Trout Grass; Ballets Russes; Horses of Gettysburg; Tony Palmer's Film About the Salzburg Festival; Windosr Castle: A Royal Year; Unknown Chaplin; Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque; John & Abigail Adams; Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 1; Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek; Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film; Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities.
Blog Post
“Well, I’ll be an eight-ball’s uncle!”
by anned
In Secret Wars #8, released in the mid eighties, an alien machine gave Spider-Man the now infamous black costume. It turned out to be an alien symbiote and soon became one of his greatest foes, Venom.
Since then we have not seen Spider-Man in the black costume. But, in the aftermath of Civil War, Marvel’s summer event, we once again see Spidey don the black threads. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Back in Black! series runs through next February.
Could this be a possible tie-in with the upcoming Spider-Man 3, where we see Toby Maguire also wearing the black costume?
Get reacquainted with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man with books and movies from aadl’s collection.
Blog Post
Trust and Betrayal
by joy k
The Meiji Restoration (1866-1869) marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. The two part OVA Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal is a story set during that tumultuous era. In the shadows of Kyoto, Himura Kenshin works for the Choshu revolutionaries as their best assassin. But a chance meeting with a mysterious young woman named Tomoe leads him to reconsider his choices.
Samurai X is gorgeously animated and features some of Japan’s best voice actors, including Mayo Suzukaze and Tomokazu Seki. It’s based on events from volumes 19, 20, and 21 of the manga Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki, but unlike the manga, it’s aimed at adults rather than teens.
If you’re interested in reading more about this historical era, the library also has some great nonfiction books about it, such as Inventing Japan, 1853-1964, The Making of Modern Japan, and The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori.
Blog Post
25th Anniversary of Columbia's STS-2 Flight
by anned
Twenty-five years ago today, the Shuttle Columbia launched for the second time. Columbia was the first Space Shuttle to fly into Earth orbit in 1981. This mission launch proved that the space shuttle was the first reusable manned space vehicle.
Columbia's 28th and last mission was STS-107, which launched January 16, 2003. The crew and vehicle were lost on re-entry on February 1, 2003.
Blog Post
Book lover fights crime!
by joy k
The protagonist of Read or Die isn’t exactly your classic secret agent. Yomiko Readman is a mild-mannered substitute teacher who has a habit of spending every last cent she earns on books. But, as a monster quickly discovers when it tries to steal one of her books (which she hasn’t even finished reading—the horror!), she can put up a pretty good fight with her special skill for using sheets of paper as weapons.
Yomiko’s talent brings her to the attention of the British Library Special Engineering Force, which is investigating a rash of thefts involving rare books. Can Yomiko and her colleagues uncover the mastermind behind the thefts before their sinister plan comes to fruition?
Blog Post
Shedding light on Happy Meals
by K.C.
Many of us eat McDonald’s burgers and Chicken McNuggets and yet know very little about what we’re putting in our bodies. Chew on This! Everything You Don’t Want to Know about Fast Food shares what fast food industry officials would rather you not know about what’s in the food, what it does to the body, and about their campaign to lure children into a life long habit of fast food eating.
What if you ate nothing but fast food? Check out film director Morgan Spurlock's 2004 film, Super Size Me and see.
Blog Post
The women behind poets dying young
by Maxine
I know Halloween overshadowed (no pun intended) everything on October 31, but we must also remember John Keats who was born on that day, as well as his cronies Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. John Keats was born on October 31, 1795 and died an untimely death from tuberculosis on February 23, 1821. Shelley and Byron also died young, leaving only William Wordsworth, the father of the Romantic poets to live to a ripe old age.
A new novel, Passion by Jude Morgan looks at the lives of their wives and lovers including Mary Shelley and Fanny Brawne. Morgan's novel gives us a glimpse of early nineteenth century life where these women flouted the more rigid conventions of the time and created their own identities apart from the men they loved.
Blog Post
Youmacon is here!
by joy k
Youmacon, “Metro Detroit's first and only anime con,” is being held this weekend, from November 3-5, 2006 at the Hilton Detroit/Troy. The full programming schedule has now been posted on the con web site. Be sure you don’t miss the featured guests, who include Caitlyn Glass, voice actress for Winry in Fullmetal Alchemist, and Matt Hill, voice actor for Kero in Cardcaptor Sakura.
Don’t worry if you missed pre-registration--on-site registration will be available!