Film Discussions at Your Library!

Why not?  They're fun, educational, culturally-rich, bring patrons through the doors.  You can play and walk away, but in this American Libraries article, I detail to precision how to DIY.

10 Unrealized Adaptations

Flavorwire has a really nice feature today, 10 adaptations that failed to be realized. Orson Welles doing Heart of Darkness anyone?  How about Sam Goldwyn, Harvey Weinstein, Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, Terrence Malick, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Jerry Lewis doing Catcher in the Rye?  Or Bill Cosby direciting anything (aside from stand-up special Himself and a few of his 60's shows).  Read the post here.

The Smart Money is on Spending None!

I love articles in the general press about how libraries are great because they're free.  Even better, this article on MSN Money details exactly why that is.  We do it all the time in the biz.  But the article cites free books, audio, video, magazines, job searching, babysitting workshops, things to do with the kids, Internet and Wifi, and best of all:

"Librarian access 24/7. If you can't find the answers you need, libraries await your question. In Ohio, they have Know it Now (your local libraries will have different names for this feature) which gives 24/7 access to an online research librarian."

Yes!  Libraries and librarians are a great resource.  In a culture steadily advancing towards where everything has a pricetag, where the middle class is disappearing, and so many of us are poor, we need libraries, a center for the common good with absolute equity of access.

50 Writers Who Refused to Give Up

Little names like Dr Seuss, John Le Carre, Isaac Asimov.  James Joyce, Jack Kerouac.  They were all told repeatedly to give up.  This list details the rest.

McSweeney's 2/2

Have just finished the wonderful McSweeney's Created in Darkness By Troubled Americans humor collection.  Click here for a list of things actually said by Patrick Thomas's Hollywood bosses. 

A couple teasers:
"I don't want to understand it, I just want to know how it's going to be done."

"You're too enthusiastic and eager to please. Every time I see you smile, it ruins my whole day."

From McSweeneys 1/2

By Sean Carman, from McSweeney's, "Lessons Learned from My Study of Literature:"

Alcoholism has a sadly romantic quality that conventional attitudes overlook. Society = afraid to say this! 
Link here.

Breathing Books

This absolutely wonderful blog is the best side of what we tend to see on the web.  Someone gets inspired, decides to collect things.  A librarians delight: a list of quotes.  In this case: books and breathing.


"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." ~ Harper Lee.

"I nearly always write, just as I nearly always breathe." ~
John Steinbeck.

Link here.