Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Samhain/Halloween/All Saints, everyone! Thanks to my mom for the link.




Slenderman, the Silence, and the Scream: some nice spooky thoughts for you.



Could your antique items be haunted? Probably not, although there is a nice summary of the Dibbuk Box happenings in here.



Victorian-era drawings of Japanese monsters. They have a monster for everything, it seems.



For the more pragmatic among you: consider the newly created House of Random Penguins. Aieee!



From Wired: here's the first episode of Bloodline, a look at horror films and fear in cinema. (Happy Halloween, Bunny! It’s a whole series!)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sending good thoughts to everyone on the east coast. Stay safe.




On the other side of the country, Steamcon occurred last weekend and the photos look great.



Here in the Midwest, there’s a steampunk production of Titus Andronicus going on. Check it out if you can!



If you’re intrigued by archaeology, here’s your chance to help from afar by transcribing notes from the 1922-1934 dig at Ur.



A unified theory of Cthulhu? Yes! Read and believe.



For your dignified/steampunk/retro parties, Archie McPhee provides the perfect wine bottle stopper.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Happy Monday. As we watch the Frankenstorm edge closer, here's something fun: the planes used for hurricane recon flights are named after Muppets!

More soon!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Happy Friday! Are you preparing for the Frankenstorm? (How Halloween is that?)




From Chuck via Cassandra: UFOs over Kentucky. It’s the end of the world, people!



From Julie: Superman quits the Daily Planet. See? End of world.



Arnold Schwarzenegger may be doing another Conan movie. See? End of…well, actually, that might be sort of predictable.



From Zazoo: Amazon reviews of binders (of women). Hee.



From Cassandra: Did you know Arthur Conan Doyle traveled to the Arctic? I didn’t, and his diaries are fascinating!



Have a spiffy (and safe) weekend, everyone. See you next week.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Happy library links day! Also happy anniversary to Bunny. Nine years married and he hasn’t fled screaming into the night yet.




A treasure horde of maps has been discovered in a house, and donated to the LA Public Library. One of the maps is from 1592!



Bill Lucey investigates the popular Halloween costumes this year. If you’re still casting about for ideas, there are some good ones there.



LLRX provides a wealth of fact-checking sites as the U.S. election draws ever nearer. (Incidentally, living in Ohio means that literally every other commercial is a political ad at the moment. This morning I saw three in a row.)



The New York Public Library has a fantastic site on stereographic photographs. You can even make your own in Photoshop with this handy tutorial!



From old photos to new books: Digital Textbooks explores the changing world of academic publications.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Archaeologists think they may have discovered the grave of K’Abel, queen of the Mayans. Just in time for December 2012! Cue the prophecy stories!




Have you ever wondered just how Frankenstein’s monster operated? How Stuff Works is here to explain.



Halloween Radio! Seasonal radio for the spooky, at last!



This tutorial on how to make an animated Ouija board is all kinds of awesome.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

If it’s Tuesday, this post must be filled with steampunk.




Dishonored is garnering some rave reviews and a lot of attention – so much so that the Attack of the Show hosts dressed in the spirit.



What were the ten best films of the 1890s, you might wonder? Wonder no more! (Thanks, Bunny!)



Just missing the cutoff date is the newly rediscovered 1903 Robinson Crusoe film by George Melies.



Steampunk is not new in literature, but it’s gaining momentum in young adult literature, and the ALA takes notice.



The Maker Faire mentality is also gaining momentum, huzzah; Chris Anderson discusses the trend.



Even Oscar the Grouch has gotten into steampunk. It’s a natural for him – recycling trash into useful things!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Happy Monday, everyone!

I just discovered Dorianne Laux’s poetry.  Oooo.


Henry David Thoreau was not quite the hermit legend has made him out to be.



Mental Floss lists “25 most powerful shows of the last 25 years.” They might surprise you.



A Halloween comic and a pointer to a Halloween-themed game, courtesy of Drawn!



PostCrossing believes in the power of posted creative material. Try it!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Happy Friday! Links from others! Woot!




From Julie: Marie Antoinette’s slippers are for sale. If you're got a few thousand spare euros lying around, consider a bid.



Also from Julie: Aspiring writers and artists, take note – according to a recently discovered letter from J.R.R. Tolkien, the first edition of The Hobbit didn’t sell well at all. Keep at it!



From Chuck via Cassandra: Meet Douglas the Dormouse. He's very cute.



From Jack: Li-fi may be the future!



From Cassandra: the 25 best horror movies being streamed on Netflix.



Also from Cassandra: the life of Jupiter (the planet), and thoughts on death with dignity.



Swiped from David Malki!: The true story of the Earth Girdler and his amazing paper suit!



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Libraries: All things to all people!




Incidentally, Jessamyn has a great post on how to write stories about libraries and librarians.



My mom sent me a great story on Kee Malesky, NPR librarian.



The University of Rochester has digitized archival materials related to women’s rights, abolitionism, and spiritualism. Fascinating stuff.



Have you contributed to a Kickstarter campaign? Things We Start shows Kickstarter projects on a map. See what’s going on near you!



And finally, track the campaign of promising candidate Abraham Lincoln. I think he’s one to watch.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Also, here (at last) is the video for the book giveaway. With an unexpected guest, no less.



One of the best (and/or worst) things about the internet is that a phrase can take on a life of its own in mere seconds. The “Binders Full of Women” tumblr is pretty hilarious. My favorite so far is Beyonce’s “Put Three Rings on It” image.




In other news, Alpha Centauri has a planet! A nearby planet! Woohoo!



Okay. On to the spooky links….



Nicole sent in a link so great it can’t wait until Friday: Notable Women Halloween costumes. Take back Halloween from the sexy getups! The links on where to find parts of costumes are really useful, too.



If you’re going the zombie or random victim route instead, there’s a tutorial on how to make scarily realistic bruises, wounds and the like.



We once lived near a mortuary college. Spooky? Occasionally, but not nearly as spooky as these abandoned mortuaries and morgues. (Bunny has lots of creepy/funny stories about his experiences there, however!)



Speaking of, I’m putting up retro Halloween photos on my Facebook page as a sort of countdown to the holiday. If you’d like, send me a friend request (and tell me if you’re a reader so I know who you are!) at facebook.com/jinnet.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

It's Oscar Wilde's birthday! In honor of the man and his wit, I direct you to Dandyism.net, and point out the list of links in the sidebar when you're finished with the site. Hours upon hours of entertainment!

Back soon, with more giveaways.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Was The Count of Monte Cristo based on the life of Dumas’s father? Possibly! (Incidentally, I first typed “The County of Monte Cristo.” Someone should get on that as a parody book/movie/whatever.)




Urban architecture is rediscovering its literal roots. Vertical gardening is springing up in cities everywhere; new art installations are floating on waterways; and cities like Louisville are getting rid of interstates which cut off access to riverfronts. Wow.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Update: Boooooooooooooo. I am now recalibrating my baseball cheering for “anyone but the Cardinals” (sorry, St. Louis fans).




From Cassandra: The joy of reading also improves one’s brain!



From Julie: A Roman coffin is used as a flower trough. Then someone realizes what they have and it sells for almost 100,000 pounds.



Also from Julie: London meat market: the gory details! Even for a Spooky Librarian, this is…a little gross.



From Zazoo: “One day, we will tell our friends about the days when people walked around naked in San Fran...and they won't believe us!”



From Nicole: Hilarious (but somewhat NSFW, language-wise) McSweeney posts on corporate philosophy and autumn décor.



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

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Today, the city where I work is on pins and needles, as it’s the deciding Game 5. Later on, you will hear either cheers or disgusted boos from this quarter.




In work-related news, however…it’s also Ohio Library Snapshot Week! Take a photo and post it to the Flickr pool, and see what fellow Ohio librarians are doing.



The powers that be at the New York Public Library have changed their minds about their new storage plan, after some protests by the people.



Color photographs of the Korean War are pretty rare; a collection showing daily life at a prison camp is even rarer. More photos available at the gallery.



The 1940 U.S. Census has been digitized completely (in record time, hooray for crowdsourcing); here are interesting census facts! (I don’t understand how history can be boring. Censuses are fascinating.)



Tomorrow: links from others! Also, the above-mentioned cheers or boos.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Spooky October continues! Fright Catalog has a blog which is pointing out all sorts of macabre goings-on. (The London butcher shop post is especially…er…interesting.)




Also, it’s time for Final Girl's SHOCKTOBER! There are other participants, each posting about a certain movie each day.



Tom Spina Designs feature amazing props, costumes, and creatures from movies.



Wellcome Library, meanwhile, focuses on the mythology of the season with an extensive post on memento mori art.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

I missed the Maker Faire this year, but it looks as if it was quite the time!




The Tesla Community is celebrating the success of the campaign aimed at saving Tesla’s laboratory with the intent to make it a museum, huzzah! Also to be found on the website: Tesla 2012 stickers and other paraphernalia. “Change history! Energy for all!”



Sadly, getting the actual Tesla back and into power will not be possible…unless someone figures out how to work this amazing time machine (video of the mechanisms in action provided).



Retronaut features 1917 ads on how to properly use the telephone. We could all use some reminders, I think.



Battersea gets all the attention, but the Lots Road Power Station was equally inspiring/terrifying back in its heyday.



Artist Colin Bolton created a Cthulhu idol which looks like it would be at home in an Art Deco parlor. Lovely stuff.

Monday, October 08, 2012

RIP, Sam the Record Man. Your Toronto store was amazing.




Discovery news alert! A giant Roman mosaic has been discovered in southern Turkey, and Lord Byron’s copy of Frankenstein (autographed by Mary Shelley!) has been found as well. Not together, though. That would be odd.



Walker Kershaw’s street art is a new discovery to me, although it’s been around so long he might be Britain’s first street artist.



Nigeria is inventing a new language, with pidgin English at its core. My new favorite phrase is “ginger my swagger.”

Friday, October 05, 2012

Happy Friday, everyone!




The Sparkle Queen tells me of a website dedicated to steampunking Lowell, Massachusetts. Huzzah!



From my mom: Bill Moyers talks about banned books.



From the BBC: Doctor Who banknotes!



From my RSS feeds: Ever had an unidentified gizmo running amok (or lurking amok) in the house? The What Is It? series may answer some questions (or raise new ones).



From me: We’ve been watching Crash Course’s history series and it is so, so good. Can’t recommend it enough. And each episode is only ten minutes long, so no long term commitment is required!



Have a spiffy weekend! See you next week.

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Read a banned book today! It’s Banned Books Week, and the books under fire for the last thirty years are wide-ranging.




The Internet Public Library is celebrating October with a linkfest of spooky sites (and some non-Halloween sites, too).



Did you know Dorian Gray was based on a real person? It’s true! Smithsonian Magazine has the story, along with other real-life people who inspired literary figures.



NPR has a fascinating “then and now” comparison of Civil War photographs. It’s amazing how little some places have changed.



I will always click on vintage library ads. “Man Overbored.” Hee.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

It’s October! Time to celebrate all things spooky!




Some websites are devoted to this month, like The Cult of the Great Pumpkin (nothing but Halloween-esque sincerity as far as the page can scroll!). If you remember the Halloween Countdown at X-Entertainment, you will be delighted to rediscover it at Dinosaur Dracula!



Pinterest is getting into Halloween themes, too – via One Night in Lonesome October, I found out that there will be Muppet Monster Mania in Brooklyn later this month. Ooooo!



If you’re thinking about yard decorations, consider a Day of the Dead flamingo flock.



And if you’re looking for scares, Shriekfest kicks off a month of haunted attractions!

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Oh, dear god, the Steampunk Librarian giveaways are being transcribed. On one hand, I'm mortified because I tend to talk like an idiot; on the other hand, I'm described as young, which is nice of them.

More importantly, however, Tor is celebrating Steampunk Week, which means the site is chock-full of steampunk goodness! Check them out and we'll be back with more giveaways soon.