At 10:30 p.m. tonight (London time), the 2005 winner of The Man Booker Prize will be announced. The Booker Prize, established in 1969, is one of the most prestigious literary awards coveted by writers.

Tonight’s winner will be selected from the shortlist of six authors who were chosen August 7th. They are:

John Banville The Sea – scheduled for U.S. publication in 2006
Julian Barnes Arthur and George
Sebastian Barry A Long Long Way
Kazuo Ishiguro Never Let Me Go
Ali Smith The Accidental – scheduled for U.S. publication in 2006
Zadie Smith On Beauty

Last year's winner was Alan Hollinghurst for The Line of Beauty.

"Good Night, and Good Luck", the signature sign-off of legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, is the title of George Clooney's second directorial effort. Edward Murrow is most famous for taking on Joseph McCarthy and his aggressive tactics during the Red Scare. The library's collection includes The Edward R. Murrow Collection, a multi-disc DVD set featuring Murrow's work and his influence on broadcast journalism. Point of Order, a recent documentary featuring clips from the 1954 McCarthy-Army hearings, and Guilty by Suspicion, starring Robert DeNiro, are also recommended.

You’ve seen them at the mall, in your classes, or even living next door. They’re Zingers, who constantly quote famous lines from TV shows and movies. Or perhaps they’re Molly McButters, young women who epitomize the “granny cool” look. You may have even met a Hair Gel Knight, those unfortunate men who have confused gallantry with male chauvinism. And if you’ve seen them, Robert Lanham has categorized them. His newest book is Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees, and other Creatures Unique to the Republic, a hilarious taxonomy of frequently seen American types.

One thing we did learn about Chief Justice John Roberts during his confirmation hearings is that his two favorite movies are Doctor Zhivago and North By Northwest. Now that the Supreme Court is tackling the delicate subject of physician-assisted suicide, I might suggest A Death of One's Own. This episode from On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying "...unravels the complexities underlying the many choices at the end of life, including the bitter debate over physician-assisted suicide. Three patients, their families, and their doctors discuss some of the hardest decisions, including how to pay for care, what constitutes humane treatment, and how to balance dying and dignity." "...beautifully and sensitively illustrates the need to put humane and empathetic treatment back into the dying process...Highly recommended. Editor's Choice." (Video Librarian)

The directorial debut of Karim Ainouz’s, Madame Sata, is a pictorial marvel detailing the life of Joao Francisco dos Santos, a black Brazilian living in 1930’s racially and socially oppressive Lapa (northern Brazil). Joao (Lazaro Ramos), along with Laurita, (Marcelia Cartaxo) his best friend and Tabu, (Flavio Bauraqui) his pseudo household maid, construct a colorful yet restrained, irrational yet tender, spellbinding yet dark world through prostitution, drug usage and fantasy. Having the desire to rise above his meager lifestyle, Joao aspires to be a celebrated stage entertainer and loved by the public.

"The term 'outside artist' has never been so apropos, or so wistfully sad, as it is in the true case of Henry Darger, who spent his childhood in a home for 'feebleminded children' and his adulthood in near seclusion, working as a janitor and, in secret, on a 15,000-page epic novel with accompanying illustrations. Even those closest to him, relatively speaking--his landlady and a neighbor--did not know about his creative output until his death at the age of 81, after which his fantasy world came to light. Jessica Yu's In the Realms of the Unreal is an extraordinarily respectful documentary portrait of this strange, childlike man....highly recommended." (Video Librarian) Nominated for the 2004 Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Festival.

All Jacked Up by Gretchen Wilson is this week's no. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart and it is also no. 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart. All Jacked Up topped her first cd Here for the Party in number of cd units sold the first week of sales.

In the no. 2 spot on this week's Billboard 200 chart is Wildflower by Sheryl Crow. Her 2002 title C'Mon, C'Mon also opened at the number two spot on the Billboard 200 Chart at the time of its debut.

What is the future of gas prices and gas availability?
Read these books to try to understand the situation.

Deffeyes, Kenneth Beyond Oil: the View from Hubbert’s Peak

Goodstein, David Out of Gas: the End of the Age of Oil

Heinberg, Richard The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies

Klare, Michael Blood and Oil: the Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Petroleum Dependency

Roberts, Paul. The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World

Simmons, Matthew Twilight in the Desert: the Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy

Develop an appreciation for the tree rats in your yard by reading these lovely accounts. Such Agreeable Friends: Life with a Remarkable Group of Urban Squirrels by Grace Marmor Spruch records her observations of the squirrels in Washington Square Park and of the one climbing the rubber plant inside her Greenwich Village apartment. Eugene Kinkead's Squirrel Book has wonderful squirrel stories that may convert us all to squirrel fanciers.

Even if you can't make the fifth annual Open to Art walk this weekend, there's plenty to ponder during a casual lunch-hour stroll downtown. Less than a block from the bus station on 4th Avenue, in "The God Show" at Gallery Project, you can catch a huge oil on canvas titled "American Fundamentalists (Christ's Entry into Washington in 2008)", artist Joel Pelletier's update of James Ensor's 1888 Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889. Or, just across the street at the WSG Gallery on Liberty St., you can catch Death playing chess from Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal in Alvey Jones's "As Time Goes By: Scenes from Famous Motion Pictures".