Friday, December 30, 2005

Today: links from others! Thanks, everyone!

From the Club Creatures: dance the old year away at Jacobs on New Year's Eve, with a night which celebrates the old and the new! (Incidentally, dancing may be a sign of superior genetics. You never know what could happen on the dance floor.)

From Glenna: the Dave Chappelle Theory, while not true, is hilarious and tinfoil-hat-wearing worthy.

From Holly: we get an extra second this New Year's Eve! How will you spend yours?

From Danny: after seeing the Dead Body Guy's abilities (and hey, did you see that DBG actually posted a comment below? How cool is that? Consider starting your career at Meet Cleaver Theatre, DBG!), check out Patrick Musimu's site. Amazing stuff.

Have a safe and happy New Year's, everyone! Back on Monday or Tuesday, depending on how the weekend goes.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

I'm going through all my saved-up stuff, trying to get organized before the new year (when the main Spooky Librarians page will undergo a redesign - Folderol shouldn't be affected, though). Tomorrow brings you links from others, and there are some fun ones, so stay tuned!

'Tis the season for "year in review" articles, and there's a gigantic list of them to help you remember everything that happened in 2005.

Alert to law librarians! If you're discarding books, consider the International Law Book Facility before calling in the dumpster, won't you?

A report on America's "most literate cities" is out, and I just discovered that Cincinnati is #9 on the list. Finally, something we're doing right!

Attention, all you pessimists: It's a Wonderful Internet. Really, it is.

And last but not least, one of the best uses for wiki technology ever: The Muppet Wiki!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Photos of the trip - plus donkeys and sheep! - are up over at Flickr.

Today the papers are running a story about an Ohio man who wants to be a corpse in a film. Directors, take note. He can hold his breath for 45 seconds, he says.

If you're free this week, why not visit a reindeer herd in Scotland? Or you could prepare for the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

And lastly, everything at DIY Media is cool...but their political "truth collages" are the best.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Hi, I'm back! Photos from the trip east should be up shortly. In the meantime, here's a link to one of my presents. Hee.

The Guardian ran a contest in which people were asked to send in photos of their office holiday celebrations. There's a summary of the best ones, but the whole gallery's up as well. (Page 3 has a Dalek nativity scene!)

Possible belated xmas or upcoming Chanukah gift ideas: Nabaztag, a little rabbit that can tell you the weather or read your email, and cakes from Debbie, who constructs amazing confections like a dead rat cake and a treasure chest cake. Ooo. Ahhh.

Fun for a slow week at work: the Patent Room is filled with wacky (true!) ideas. Who knew people could be so creative?

And finally, a correction to an earlier post: it's turned out that the story about the Dartmouth student getting a visit from the FBI over a book was a hoax. That's a relief.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Meta announcement! I leave for Massachusetts on Wednesday and will be back next week. Folderol will be going on all next week, but will be spotty until then. So today we have a mishmash of Monday links and links that have been waiting patiently in folders for who knows how long. Onward!

First off: Happy birthday, Mom! See you tomorrow!

If you've ever wondered what toys do when no one else is around, here's one answer. Playmobil figures perform AC/DC's "The Girls Got Rhythm."

A Dartmouth student got an unexpected visit from the FBI after asking for Mao's Little Red Book via interlibrary loan. This is why the Radical Militant Librarians are ever vigilant, you see. We're fighting the good fight here. I'm seriously considering making some stickers of my own.

Swiped from the Secret Library Workers Union: get ABOLized at Automata Design. Wowzers.

Getty puts out Edit Magazine for all those interested in working with images. Good stuff.

Long ago, the PostMod crew debated whether geeks or nerds were more evolved. The Graveworm just pointed me to a site which seeks to answer this age-old question. I think someone needs to stick up for the geeks, myself; I've always identified more with them than with nerds.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Today: links from others. Thanks, everyone!

From Dr. Matt the Commenter: Bjork is sailing a ship right now. Really! "Captain Bjork" has a nice ring to it.

Holly sent me the link to Natalie Dee's site a long time ago and I keep forgetting to put it up. We both think the "stupid Ohio" drawing is fabulous.

From the good people of ookee: a music recommendation gizmo named Pandora.

From somewhere in my RSS feeds: Billboardom, a site dedicated to the strange and wonderful world of billboard advertising!

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday.

Thursday, December 15, 2005


Bleargh. Today we are featuring a lovely mix of rain, ice and snow! Enjoy this seasonal combination during your drive home tonight!

Anyway. Many happy tidings and birthday wishes to Zazoo! The Club Creatures will be DJing New Year's Eve at Jacobs. It's never too early to make plans.

The big news in library land is that the FBI is complaining about "radical militant librarians" and their reluctance to give up patron library records. Because, you know, privacy is radical these days. It didn't take long for the t-shirts and stickers to start popping up, which is fantastic. (While looking for these, I found dozens upon dozens of great librarian-related merchandise items on CafePress, ranging from the sweet and innocent to the cynical and slightly deranged. Great stuff for the librarian(s) in your life.)

Beyond the radicalism and the cynicism, there's a new concept among librarians: Library 2.0. Give it a look and see what you think.

Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Happy Monkey Day! Yes, really, it's Monkey Day. Who knew?

If you've had it with the holiday season, you may find some joy in this psychotic Santa display in New York City, complete with decapitated figurines. Or you could check out some of Bloody Disgusting's recommendations for holiday horror flicks. Or you could mock this year's light displays via Ugly Christmas Lights. (Most of these don't strike me as all that bad, but I do live in an area known for its tendency to take Christmas lights to an extreme.)

If you're traveling, you can vicariously live the life of a baggage screener and test your skill at identifying potential weapons in carry-ons. Wheeeeee.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005



I spent way too long on this dollmaker, only to find that they have no long black skirts (what's up with THAT?) and that once again I can't get the hair right. No avatar maker seems to feature the "brown/black/reddish, wavy medium-length with messy bangs" style. Mmph.

Today it's all about the kids. If you grew up in Cincinnati, you probably remember the Shillitos Christmas display with the animatronic elves in Santa's workshop. Someone has found the old displays and resurrected them in Mariemont! Time to organize an excursion!

Many people go on about their childhood memories HR Pufnstuf. I managed to miss this somehow, but have caught up on the show since then. Now there's a weblog dedicated to that weird, weird program.

Coca-Cola will roll out their new invention, Coca-Cola Blak, in Europe soon and then try it out in the States. Coke plus coffee. This is going to be...odd.

And lastly and leastly, Bush Baby Toys features several toys for your completely average urchin. I like the Terror Level Xylophone the best. Heh.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Pix of Bowie Night will be up shortly. Watch the morphing Flickr badge for details.

Finally, someone's gone and analyzed Christmas carols. Some of those classics are downright weird.

If your song preferences are more secular, why not send a Waffle House web card to someone? Sadly, no Waffle House jukebox hits are available in the music selection.

For the bored and/or geometrically obsessed: TryAngle. You can design quite the optical illusion if you want. Or design your kitchen floor, maybe.

Lovecraft seems to be everywhere these days. Now there's even Lovecraftian jewelry. This stuff is amazing. No word yet on whether it preserves your life or sanity against the Old Ones, though.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Today's links from others post is sponsored by the Netherlands, Sweden, and names which begin with Da-. Thanks, guys!

From Danny: LaCie designs new hard drive disks that look like Legos!

From Daniel, a slew of great video links:
  • Russian kids take urban climbing to a whole new level. I think these kids are the new X-Men. Seriously.
  • Victor Wooten shows why he's the best bass player in the world. Says Daniel: "Keep your peepers peeled for him playing the melody by just touching the strings without actually pressing them to the fretted neck. Resulting notes are pure overtone harmonics - right on the desired pitch."
  • Blixa of Einsturzende Neubauten reads a housewares catalog for several commercials. These are absolutely brilliant. Watch them in order - first, second, third and fourth - to see an increasingly manic Blixa. Genius!

From Dave: The Hollywood Librarian. Woot!

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. If you're in town, the annual ReinDog Parade goes on tomorrow, along with Zazoo & Satori's Bowie Tribute Night at Jacobs. Come out and say hi!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Lately there's been a brouhaha in the library world about Wikipedia and its accuracy (or lack thereof), which has raised some interesting questions. It's also pointed me to the Uncyclopedia, which is just plain hilarious.

Search engine news: GoodSearch donates money to charities every time you search the web, which is great for library types who do approximately 4598 searches every day. Also, the Xooglers weblog is authored by ex-Google employees, so there's some Google analysis, some background stories, and only a smidgen of bitterness to be found.

I cannot wait for ArchiveGrid to make its debut next year. Genealogists, get ready!

The DaVinci Institute has futurists on staff. How cool is that? One of them writes about the future of libraries, which sounds promising from his viewpoint.

Here's something I think we could use over at MCT for movie reviews: Structured Blogging, a way to write reviews with stars, asterisks, or whatever else you want to use.

And lastly, if you haven't gotten your holiday cards yet, consider the San Francisco Gate's downloadable card images. The 2004 ones are particularly good!

Tomorrow: links from others, weather permitting. (We are under a HEAVY SNOW WARNING, which means 3-6 inches. We tend to panic here in southern Ohio. I don't really know why; it snows every year.)

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

First off: the Reds trade Sean Casey to Pittsburgh in exchange for an okay left-handed pitcher. The hell? No one seems too happy or enthused about this, in either city. Argh.

Anyway. On to the regularly scheduled links...

This is not a real great week in history. Today's the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombings, tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, and on Friday the iconic double-decker buses of London will disappear. Routemasters will be replaced with regular boring-looking buses, more's the pity. (A nice tribute to the buses, complete with photos and music, is online as well.)

In 31 years a meterorite is going to hit Earth and we're all going to die! Well, maybe.

An archaeologist may have discovered King David's palace in Jerusalem. The find is causing all sorts of controversy among scientists and scholars.

Fun and strange activities: you can now ski in Dubai (really! or ice skate!) or, if you're in Philadelphia, you can see the latest amazing installation by ArtLumiere, a company which turns buildings into stunning works of art, if only temporarily.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Glenna sent me the "What Animal Are You?" quiz and it's been a hot topic here at Spooky Librarian HQ. I am a bat (shocking, I know) and Bunny is a wild dog. The descriptions are rather eerily accurate. Take it and post your results!

If you wanted to know what Aeon Flux was all about, wonder no more. Now you don't have to see the movie in order to sound knowledgable (and, judging from the reviews, seeing the movie wouldn't help anyway).

The Sesame Encyclopedia is comprehensive and pretty and FUN. I miss Roosevelt Franklin!

The oddly named Klong is a sort of creature-esque security blanket substitute for kids, evidently. I think it looks frighteningly like a face-hugger alien, myself. Eeeep.

Johnny Five is alive! Well, he is on the internet, at any rate. I wonder if Ally Sheedy knows about this site.

'Tis the season to acquire, but why not consider Discardia this year instead?

Monday, December 05, 2005

Hi there. Today is awfully chaotic. But still, there are links!

Friday, December 02, 2005

RIPs to Stan Berenstain (of Berenstain Bears fame) and Wendie Jo Sperber (of Bosom Buddies fame).

From Bunny: join God's Puppet Army! Yikes. Puppet debriefings are needed, and how.

Speaking of godly things, the New York Times discovered our local monstrosity...er, Jesus statue. I hadn't heard the "MC 62-Foot Jesus" nickname before, but I am so calling it that from now on.

One New Orleans Christmas display showed a great sense of humour. So, of course, some people got offended and they had to change it. Fortunately, there are photos to show the original design.

And lastly, for no real reason, a whole assortment of great Cthulhu links. Huzzah!

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Support World AIDS Day


Once again, it's World AIDS Awareness Day. I hope that one day, this won't be an annual observance, because it won't be a major issue any longer. I've been hoping for this for a while now.

A few interesting links, not related to the above:

Tomorrow: links from others!