Citegeist

Love, Actually

// April 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books, Random, Web Stuff

OK, so I’ve been thinking a lot over the last couple of years about love. The different kinds of love, who we have love for, how it waxes and wanes (or not).  Sounds pretty stupid, I know.  Sappy.  Love is for Twilight fans, readers of bodice-rippers, those who like to have Kleenex handy when watching a movie, right?  Well, no.  Love is for all of us, and the more we say so and let ourselves write and talk about it, the healthier we will be.  Let’s just say that I buy into J.K. Rowling’s view of love. Rest assured, Dear Reader, that this is all I’ll say for now on this topic.

I’ve had this video open in a browser tab on my home computer for several days:

It’s a short film (illegally uploaded, ahem) written and directed by one of my favorite novelists (and library champions), Neil Gaiman, whose novel Neverwhere I first read quite a while ago. I’ve watched “Statuesque” several times, and I have to admit that the first time, the Neverwhere fan in me was waiting for something horrible and bloody to happen.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised at this wonderful little tale of simple love.

There is so much to, well, love about this video, start to finish, from story to music to acting to set.  My favorite bit? Bill Nighy gives a brilliant performance without saying a word.

Now, for your enjoyment

// September 2nd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Libraries, Library Systems, Web Stuff

Not that you don’t have plenty of things to read and do, but in case you have missed me in your reader, here are a few things that have caught my eye over the last few weeks while being completely buried at work, at home and with extracurricular libraryland activities.

I do believe in you, little guy!

Take a few minutes to watch this fifth grader give an amazing and moving kickoff speech for the Dallas public schools 2008-2009 school year.

If your browser could read your mind

Mozilla labs introduces Ubiquity, an add-on to the Firefox web browser that puts web content at your fingertips. I’ve installed this and replicated the first, simple email example. I can’t wait to dig in and do more. NB: the thought of Ubiquity and Zotero working together makes my head all asplody. Watch this short video for more:

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Last but not least… a new day dawns at Darien

On September 1, Darien Library in Connecticut unveiled a new website and integrated library catalog. SOPAC 2.0 is open source, is built using the Drupal content management system, and is a seamless experience allowing library users–any user, you included, Dear Reader–to rate items, write reviews, and add tags. One thing that library websites, particularly academic library websites, have been missing is the Amazon-like unity of interface that allows one to view hours, contact a librarian and search for your favorite book without a bewildering array of constantly-changing interfaces. SOPAC is it. Kudos to John Blyberg and the Darien crew for dreaming it all up again, and doing it big. It’s a huge step closer to where libraries should be on the web today.

Read more about SOPAC at Library Journal, read what John has to say about it, or listen to a recent Talis podcast conversation with John.

As for me, I’m off to bed for some much-needed sleep, then I’m going back to being buried for at least six more weeks.

Happy New Year!

// December 31st, 2007 // 3 Comments » // My Kids

I am glad that this is the last day of 2007. It’s been a wild ride, and I look forward to a calmer 2008. Perhaps if I stay in one state, one house and one job, that will help.

I hope that this version of Jingle Bells helps you to usher in a pleasant new year.

PS the lyrics are: “Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas on the way / all the fun, mister ride / something something sleigh, hey!”

Learning 2.0: Video

// December 14th, 2007 // No Comments » // Libraries, Web Stuff

Yay! Teh Tubez!

I love YouTube and have posted several videos to my blog over the last few months. Here is one that I haven’t posted here before but enjoy very much:

That’s quality stuff!

A long lost U2 video sees the light of day…

// November 20th, 2007 // 4 Comments » // U2

…and it really probably should have stayed in the vault. Yikes!

This overwrought piece of crap accompanies my least favorite, most maudlin songs on The Joshua Tree, and it’s been released this week in conjunction with the (just past 20 years) re-release of JT.

Wow, I think this post marks the first negative thing I have ever said about the band, and I know I’m inviting flames by saying so, but they really should have kept this embarrassing footage under wraps, from the lamentable canaries tossed by Adam and Edge to Larry’s faint and foppish brow-mopping to Bono’s Bruce-Willis-style black tank top–not to mention the Messiah shot at the end. Awful.

The best U2 concept video is still “All I Want is You.” Go watch it, it will make you feel better.