Friday, July 29, 2011

Happy Friday! Straight to the links we go.



From Julie: Right out of a zombie movie, a supposed corpse wakes up in a morgue and scares the bejeezus out of everyone.



Also from Julie: A bookshelf the size of the world! (Actually it's a digital library in the works.)



From Cassandra: a really fascinating half-male, half-female, split-colored butterfly has emerged from a cocoon.



Also from Cassandra: Ad slogans throughout the years.



Not from Cassandra, but for her so she can rant about this: Chick beer. (Ugh. Give me some Rogue's Dead Guy Ale or Celebrator, not this stuff supposedly targeted at women.) From the local blog Hoperatives, which is a great read and highly recommended.



And finally, from Bunny, who knows me awfully well: The Bollywood version of Nyan Cat! (For those of you not up on internet memes, here is the original Nyan Cat in all its absurdist glory.)



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you next week.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Why aren't we telecommuting more? (Beats me. I'd love to telecommute more!)



News librarians rock, and here is one example, and I'm not just saying that because I was a news librarian once.



Local fun: the Cincinnati Art Museum has rediscovered and is restoring a huge collection of antique instruments. Meanwhile, right across the river, a Kenton County judge is being hilarious. (I especially like the "madder than mosquitoes in a mannequin factory" comparison.)



The Bookshelf weblog has a lovely traveling bookcase as its most recent entry, and the whole weblog is great, too.



Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Despite the horrible stuff going on all over the world, it is still technically Silly Season, and the festivals reflect that. Among the many objects at the center of festivals:


And, finally, Lughnasa is almost here; Carrickfergus Castle is an especially nice place to be at that time. So I'm told, anyway.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Steampunk Librarian giveaway news:   Sir Reginald is indisposed, but we stole his hat and drew names for the Falling Machine giveaway contest!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Interested in supporting "musical architecture for New Orleans"? Consider contributing to the Dithyrambalina!




As the Art of the Video Game exhibit continues to take shape at the Smithsonian Art Museum, an interview with the creators of "flower" examines how nature influences game design. (I have flower and it's a lovely game; I highly recommend it!)



Szoki makes fantastic poster images of popular characters from the sci-fi world. I think a whole series on a wall would look great.



Have you imagined Grace Jones in LEGO form? This, and much more, can be found in Flickr's LEGO Album Covers gallery!



Another great Flickr site is wishbook's collections of 1980s catalogs and vintage Disney material. Fun for flipping through with someone else, just like looking at the catalogs back then!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Happy Friday, everyone!



Julie sends in all sorts of fantastic links: a Clockwork Orange musical (yes, really!); a bee-wearing contest (yes, really); an official "trekologist" job at a television station (again, really!) and a new photograph gallery opening at the V&A Museum this fall.



From Bunny: ventriloquist dummy portraiture.



Also from Bunny: a fantastic interview with Alan Moore. New LXG material coming out soon! Woohoo!



From Zazoo: If you're in Denmark, get thee to this concert and bring your dancing shoes, for Prince is performing with Chaka Khan, Nikki Costa, Janelle Monae, and more. Wow.



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! Stay cool if it's possible. See you next week.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Strange as it may sound, apparently there are as many newspapers today in the U.S. as there were around 1890, according to Stanford's visualization of newspaper publishing throughout the years.




Meanwhile, libraries are expanding their horizons. MP3 checkouts, for instance! And lots of e-books! And even a library on a canal boat!



Fellow grammar and spelling police, here is an article designed to cause teeth-gnashing; the word "literally" is being weakened through overuse. Literally!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Hey, what's the weather like outside?

**********

Dangerous Heat. Feels like 110.

************



Well, all right then. Back to the links. The wacky summer festivals continue!




Here in the U.S., we celebrate hermit crabs and Ernest Hemingway. Not in the same place, however. (The Hemingway lookalike contest is sort of creepy, actually.)



On the other side of the pond, it's time to celebrate bugs (aka Volkswagens) and unexplained phenomena and, uh, wicker men! (Note that James is performing! Woohoo!)



And finally, Cannes may be best known for its film festival, but they put on a nifty firework festival as well. It's especially interesting to look at the music choices for each entry.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

In the 1880s, the scorer for the Cubs baseball team was a woman! Unofficially, of course. But hooray for "E. G. Green," also known as Eliza, for her baseball career.



Sunday Magazine continues to be a great source of retro news with articles about a millionaire planning to live on a yacht and attempts to invent levitation machines (both from 1911).



Austin Peay State University has a steampunk class! I am envious.



I am also envious of the people who live near London's Kew Bridge Steam Museum; their celebration of steampunk is going on right now and looks like all kinds of fun (tea duels?).



And finally, as we (finally!) prepare to conduct the drawing for The Falling Machine, Ann and Jeff Vandermeer's The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is out, and looks fantastic!

Monday, July 18, 2011

It is Monday, and we're at the beginning of a week-long heat wave here, so let us hunker down in the cool and read about art and the like.




Woody Guthrie would have turned 99 last week. Plans are underway for a centennial celebration!



NPR's story on space age design led me to the Space Age Museum, which unfortunately is not open to the public but looks amazing.



Also amazing, though for different reasons, is Slate's slideshow of mushroom cloud postcards. Wow.



A new series of U.S. postage stamps honors industrial designers and their products. Streamlining galore!



Tiny paper sculptures featuring writer Ian Rankin have appeared in several places throughout Great Britain, and no one knows who's doing it. This is, of course, all kinds of awesome.



Not so awesome, but not really too surprising: Danish ballet dancers may have taken cocaine! I am shocked and appalled that substance abuse may be going on in the rarefied world of dance!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Oy, it's Friday, and that is a very good thing!




From Zazoo: behold the bookless library, inching toward us byte by byte.



Not from Zazoo, but rather for him and Satori: a man is allowed to wear a colander on his head for a passport photo, thanks to Pastafarianism. Club Creature influence, perhaps?



From Julie: a lost Michelangelo painting may have been found, and the British Library is out to save the St. Cuthbert Gospel for posterity.



From Cassandra: biology gets philosophical, and freedom gets digital.



From Bill Lucey's weblog: journalists who keep working, way past the typical retirement date.



(And also, hooray, Rebekah Brooks has been...well, not sacked exactly, but close enough! Now for the next bit...)



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you next week.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hi! Busy day (it's Thursday, after all); longer post to follow, or maybe a double post on Friday!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

What to do this weekend? Why not storm the Bastille? Even if you're not in France, there are celebrations worldwide. My favorite is the super-soaker version at Pennsylvania's Eastern State Penitentiary.



On the other side of the United States, Da Vinci Days are going on this weekend in Oregon!



Meanwhile, England is celebrating the World Championship Snail Races on a cricket field (yes, really), and the World Santa Claus Congress is meeting in Denmark. Elves are there, too. Christmas is right around the corner, you know.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Announcement! As our winner of Andrew P. Mayer's The Falling Machine has not stepped up to claim his prize, we're redoing the giveaway....and now we have two copies! One is an Advance Reader Copy, and one is the actual published edition. We'll include everyone who entered the contest on the original post, plus anyone else who wants to be included! Deadline is Friday, July 15th, and Sir Reginald will castigate everyone (and draw the winners) via video soon afterwards. Best of luck to all!



For more book news, check out Books and Things, for Steampunk Week is about to begin over there.



I'm entertained by the slow decrease of "steampunk is so over" articles and the slow increase of "why has steampunk lasted so long?" articles. Not so much a flash in the pan as a low, steady shimmer, it seems.



This weekend marks the opening of the Great American Hall of Wonders at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which celebrates the technological innovations of the 19th century. Go if you can!



Doctor Fantastique's Show of Wonders is, well, fantastic and wondrous, and also keeps one up to date on steampunk happenings.



For the artists among us: Contemplate the offerings at Vintage Printable, and marvel at Nemo Gould's recycled and reimagined trophy heads. The first piece is beautifully Cthulhuesque.

Monday, July 11, 2011

I am shocked (seriously) to report that I have perfect color vision, according to this test. No color blindness for me! How about you?



Chinese propaganda was saturated in color. A few examples...


Carl Bernstein (yes, that Carl Bernstein) compares the News of the World phone hacking scandal to the Watergate scandal. Interesting stuff.


Jeremy Hutchinson's "Err" exhibit features factory-made objects with deliberate errors. The email correspondence is included and is especially entertaining.


Hooray for ham radio, which is still alive and kicking!

Friday, July 08, 2011

Friday, hooray!



From Julie: a book at a church sale in America turns out to be "a long-lost Byron memorial." What are the odds?



From Bunny: a wacky and slightly disturbing hand puppet.



From Cassandra: Guilt, forgiveness and "stolen suffering."



From Josie: "EXTERMINOM!"



And finally, from McSweeney's, something I sent around and posted on Facebook, and is still funny to me days later: What Your Favorite '80s Band Says About You.



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you next week.

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Once a journalist, always a journalist, I guess; I'm fascinated in a horrified sort of way with the ongoing News Of the World phone hacking scandal, and watching as the Guardian refreshes each minute with more information about the paper's imminent shutdown. 



Speaking of phones, sort of: Visualize the Connected States of America! Put in a specific county and you can see what areas are called most often. Apparently my county calls LA and NYC a lot, along with Florida and, bizarrely, Hawaii.



A happy library story for once: a library working on the honor system reopens in Massachusetts. (Garden tools available for checkout!)



As seen on Metafilter; The Milwaukee Public Library has put its historical recipe index online. Awesome retro food parties await!



Tomorrow: links from others. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

It is that time of year when people everywhere lose their minds and attend wacked-out festivals, evidently. To wit:



-- Right now (as in, today/tonight, depending on your location) there is an Underground Catwalk modeling show going on in Berlin!



-- In the UK this weekend, they will be shooting peas at each other. Or at targets. Or at both.



-- In Australia, meanwhile, they are tying beer cans together and then paddling out to sea. Or racing camels. Or both, possibly, but that seems rather ambitious.



-- And in America, the Summer Redneck Games happen this weekend, as does the annual Mooning of Amtrak. We are classy folks here in the states, let me tell you!

Tuesday, July 05, 2011



If you are not a member of a steampunk league/troop/squadron/gang/whathaveyou, look at all the fun you are missing! This photo, courtesy of Mr. W.B., is from last weekend's League of Cincinnati Steampunks salon.



The League is on Facebook, as are many, many, MANY others. The good man behind the Steampunk Tribune has taken it upon himself to list all of them; here is part 2 of the list. (Part 3, which follows soon after, is a list of airship pages on Facebook. We are legion!)



Quebec is beginning a new era in waste management, one pioneered in Sweden and labeled...steampunk. (Pneumatics and vacumms are involved.)



Meanwhile, over at the Steampunk Opera, they've done a lovely four-part series on the Golden Dawn.



And finally, something which has no real connection to steampunk, but features two inventions of the 19th century: baseball teams as ice cream flavors. Ha!

Friday, July 01, 2011

Happy Friday and Happy July!



From Bunny: Behold, the incredible lyrebird. It can imitate motorcycles, garbage trucks, and pretty much anything else making noise in its environment.



From Zazoo: The amazing piano theft!


Also from Zazoo: Amazing optical origami.



From Julie: Mysterious Mayan tombs! With tiny camera action!


Also from Julie: The harshest author-on-author insults! I particularly like the Hemingway-Faulkner slapdowns and Mark Twain harshing on Jane Austen.



Have a spiffy holiday weekend, everyone. See you next week.