Monday, March 31, 2008

Monday means arty links, right? Right!

Art: The work of Femke Hiemstra is gorgeous.

Music: A sad story about the decline of the college record store. I went and checked on my college store, and sure enough, the Schoolkids in Athens is gone. Noooo! I can't even begin to calculate how much time I spent in that store, in both its locations (oldschool OU alumni may remember when it was next to Casa Nueva). Haffa's is still around, apparently, so that's good.

More music: Talented pianists tend to go mad. Maybe it's good I stopped piano lessons as a teenager. (Then again, I wasn't all that talented.)

Film: Hey, drive-ins are making a comeback!

Literature: Could you date someone who didn't read the same sort of books you do? (I think this is something that really only happens with English majors, but I may be wrong.)

Architecture: When I first read about the proposed new design for the Eiffel Tower, I thought it had to be an April Fool's joke. Apparently it is indeed a hoax, which is a relief.

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's time for the Friday links from others! Thanks, everyone!

From Cassandra: A Russian farmer is understandably upset about a rocket crashing on his property. Also from Cassandra: there once were lions at the Tower of London; men are once again gravitating toward cosmetics; a newly discovered recording pre-dates the Edison phonograph; a look at where the stars of the '80s John Hughes movies are today; an article on artist Lee Lozano; a bizarre creepy website called Miss Bimbo; and why are we all so angry these days, anyway?

Swiped from Mr. Shanks: as a counterpoint to Miss Bimbo, we have...elementary school mixed martial arts fighting. Um. This will turn out well.

From Holly: Rejected Star Wars toys!

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you Monday.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Innovate or Die! That's the library-related headline of the week. Perhaps we should start up an Innovation Department in libraries. I'd be happy to come up with wacky ideas all day.

The Librarians Index to the Internet is celebrating the beginning of baseball season by linking to a huge list of its baseball-related resources.

Another take on the "MLS or no MLS?" controversy is going around. (My personal take: I've learned more from experienced people with no MLS than inexperienced people with MLS degrees.)

If you're ever trying to explain why library budgets are always so constrained, take a look at the updated Sticker Shock slideshow at Cornell for its engineering journals. Whee!

Books for Ears is a neat website which reviews audio books - both the book itself and the reading of it. (Speaking of, has anyone else read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? It's reviewed on the front page here. I just finished reading it and liked it, but am unsure why it was such a big hit.)

And finally, here's a brainteasing quiz on music lyrics. Can you recognize a song's lyrics when the words are in alphabetical order? I got 27 out of 50 and thought I did pretty well.

Tomorrow: lots of links from others!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who sees faces in things all the time, even when I'm not working on huge crazy projects. The project is finally over, hooray! Thanks for your patience.

Spring is coming! And with it comes all sorts of revelry. There's the International Edible Book Festival next week, as well as the UNIMA Congress and World Puppetry Festival. On the east coast, the Last Rites Gallery is now open; on the west coast, Yoko Tanaka is exhibiting her cool spooky paintings. Go out and have fun!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hi there. Sorry about all this not-showing-up bit; things should be back to normal by tomorrow. In the meantime, however, I give you the Test from Hell: what ultrasonic ringtones can you hear? Bunny and I think there's something wrong with this test, as we could both hear tones that we shouldn't be able to. (However, in our cases, "hearing" equated "feeling like someone was punching you in the eardrum," so, you know, keep that in mind and all.)

Friday, March 21, 2008

Hi. Between the aforementioned project and Easter festivities, things are busy over at Spooky Librarians HQ. I'll be back to regular posting on Monday!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

R.I.P., Arthur C. Clarke.

The link above and the ones to follow are brought to you by Cassandra. She's unknowingly the guest writer for today's entry, due to a gigantic project that has sucked away all my time and is now working on my will to live. So, from Cassandra, we bring you:

And finally, there will be candlelight vigils tonight nationwide to observe/protest the 5th year of the war in Iraq. See if there's one near you.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

We may get up to five inches of rain before tomorrow night. Where's Captain Nemo when you need him?

If you're tired of scouring eBay looking for steampunky bits, worry no more - Buy Steampunk will come to your aid! (I continue to be amazed at just how much stuff you can buy these days. Back in ye olden times before steampunk got so popular, we made things ourselves. Hey! You urchins! Get off my lawn!)

Via the always fantastic Brass Goggles: the unconventional Orbital 2008, aka Eastercon, will include the Beyond Cyberdome event, and the tinkerers are prepared for the 2008 competition. Here is just one example of what spectators might see. Gorgeous, isn't it? I don't believe it says "exterminate!" but then again, who knows what might happen...

The people who put together Steampunk Magazine have also put out an ebook titled The Steampunk Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse. Huzzah! The book is a hefty 7 MB PDF file, but a short excerpt and a little more info is available for perusing.

A tangential place to explore is MOMA's Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit, which is not only original and informative but also vast and amazingly full of ideas, ranging from the ancient to the futuristic.

And finally, if you can't dress like it's 1880 every day, perhaps you can wear a t-shirt evoking those days. Well, sort of. What's the Victorian equivalent of "In Your Eyes," anyway? (Threadless is having a clearance sale this week, and nearly all of their shirts are awesome.)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! As Bill Corbett (aka. Crow T. Robot II) has wisely noted, St. Patrick was the Samuel Jackson of his time when it came to dealing with snakes.

Today there are all sorts of fun art-related links. Flickr For Good! Art for Obama! Realistic-looking dinosaur puppets! There is also a site for Yeondoo Jung's fantastic photographs, which recreate children's drawings, and one for the creepily elegant work of Viktor Koen. Have a Guinness and peruse the internet!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Friday equals an entry full of links contributed and/or swiped from others! Thanks, everyone!

Bunny and Cassandra both sent me the story about the newest seven deadly sins, as announced by the Vatican. Way to improve your credibility, Holy See!

Also from Cassandra: a weird doglike beast has been discovered (I think it's really a werewolf); the Mad Hatters Review is a delightfully surreal place to spend some time; and where's FDR when you need him, anyway?

Swiped from Dawn: a weblog devoted to Photoshop Disasters, which is all kinds of awesome.

Swiped from Jere: you can create your own webcomics with BitStrips! Here's a starting point. I'm thinking of trying to start a Club Creatures webcomic.

Speaking of the Club Creatures, a link from Satori: a Flickr group called "Unknown Pleasures: Post-punk aesthetic" which displays photos that look as if they would be album covers for the Smiths, the Cure, etc. Lovely stuff.

Found on my own: Cincinnati has two new "green" buildings that are revolutionary in their environmental responsibility.

And now, for something completely weird: an alleged death-metal-loving puppy. Some metal band should use this in a video.

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you Monday.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Attention, fellow language lovers! Go and feast your eyes upon the website of the Typo Eradication Advancement League! (There's a convenience store near me that desperately needs this team.)

New happenings in libraryland include an idea for combining librarians and Twitter; Research Trail, a just-beginning site that promises to help researchers find information; and Library Riot, a new weblog.

Duke University's Answer Person has been around for years, on the other hand. He/she has answered the serious, the absurd, and the inexplicable questions put to them by students, and the archives are online.

In sillier news, I am ridiculously excited that I can have my very own Ordo Biblioteca t-shirt.

Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Today was a little more frenetic than I prefer.

However, all is not lost! I give you two links. One is for the readers - a comparison between Italian horror and anatomical wax figures. The other is for the watchers - more specifically, the watchers who are waiting to watch the cinematic version of Alan Moore's Watchmen. There's a year to go until its release and they have provided some screen shots as a teaser. I have to say that I'm impressed so far.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

If you're in the Chicagoland area this weekend, there's going to be a steampunk scavenger hunt at the Field Museum! I wish I could go!

If you're going to be homebound, however, there are still lots of things to see and do. LibraryThing has a steampunk section these days, so you can catch up on your reading! There are more and more websites to explore, like Velvet Mechanism's shop and The Secret Society of Odd Acquisition (which looks new, but promising!).

Did anyone ever watch Around the World in 79 Days, a cartoon that aired 1969-1971? I saw it for the first time last night! Another, more current homage to Jules Verne is going on above us right now via the spacebound automated transfer vehicle (ATV) which launched a few days ago.

And finally, because steampunk is futuristic as well as old-fashioned: a look at ideas for the cities of the future. I like the idea of a forested Atlanta.

Monday, March 10, 2008

As a follow-up to the bizarre bookshelf debate earlier, here are thirty design ideas for bookshelves. I'm not really sure what's wrong with regular bookshelves, but hey.

Antigone Magazine is running a project rather like PostSecret, except it's aimed toward dreams regarding the future of women. Neat stuff.

A wholly different but also neat project brings you all sorts of fantastic desktop wallpaper!

A colorblind artist is getting help from a gadget called the Eyeborg. Wow.

Do you suffer from art anxiety? (I don't have enough money to get anxious about art, judging from what they're talking about in this article.)

The people near Stonehenge have no artistic anxieties, which is why the place is crowded and messy. The latest effort to keep sprawl away has been shot down.

Friday, March 07, 2008

The great snowstorm of doom is upon us! This is sad, because Bockfest is this weekend and a parade celebrating beer is no fun in a foot of snow.

From Cassandra: X-Files mania is back! Also possibly back are wolverines, at least in California.

Also from Cassandra: Underground Voices.

From Bunny: LabelMaker 2600, which helps you create authentic-looking Atari cartridge labels!

From Zazoo: Dog Judo, the Noisebox episode.

Random news: a "new" photo of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan has just been found. Neat!

Have a spiffy (and safe) weekend, everyone! See you Monday.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Quiz time: what sort of technology type are you? Evidently I am an omnivore. (This is true, actually, in all senses of the word!)

Today's theme seems to be the combination of print and digital information. For example, the Library of Congress now has a myriad of RSS feeds and email options. If you want to read the classics but don't want to carry around a book, you can read it in small digestible digital chunks, thanks to DailyLit. (Has anyone tried this? I fear I would just let the emails pile up and try to go through them all at once, which defeats the purpose a bit.) The online Narrative Magazine aims to become "the future of reading," while Nicholson Baker, who has taken libraries to task on several occasions, has discovered the joy of Wikipedia.

Tomorrow: links from others! Sorry this week's entries have been short; I'm still not quite up to 100% operating power yet.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

R.I.P., Gary Gygax. (Thanks to the Graveworm, who was the first to let us know.) We've retired the Mazes & Monsters page, but you can imagine Bunny's comments on saving throws and constitution checks.

This weekend brings all sorts of wacky opportunities, such as the ESP Psychic Expo in Toronto, the Wildfoods Festival in New Zealand, and the annual Frozen Dead Guy celebration in Colorado. (Yes. Really.)

And lastly, this bizarre news story arrives courtesy of Cassandra: a charlatan convinced Allied officers that he could predict events by studying Hitler's horoscope. Wow.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Thanks to everyone who contributed links yesterday while I was down and out! I am back today, more or less, and I start with something I meant to post yesterday: the crayon physics game from Kloonigames, which looks amazing. You draw things that move!

The steampunk link of the week is, of course, the beautiful Mac Mini that was customized as a wedding gift. It's beautiful, and the "lid" design is one of my favorite parts! Apple should look into that as a retro logo.

I had read bits and pieces of a pneumatic travel system in the 19th century, but the wonderful Damn Interesting has consolidated the parts into a fantastic article on New York City's pneumatic transit system of the 1870s. I envy the people who had the chance to try it out!

Mounted trophies from hunting expeditions are very Victorian. So it would make sense that neo-Victorians would have robotic trophies, wouldn't it? Much more technologically advanced, and much more humane!

And finally, for the true tinkerers: the Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Gah. I woke up with no voice and an overall feeling of sick. I'm taking today off so I can be better for tomorrow's primaries. Back tomorrow, hopefully. (Feel free to post interesting links in the comments if you want!)