I just put up a post on Instagram, and I think it sums up the year for me. So I'm linking to it here, and wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year's Eve. Here's to 2021. See you next year!

 We're almost to the end of the year! On January 1st, works from 1925 will enter the public domain, including The Great Gatsby amid a plethora of great literature and music. Take a look.

Also, for the end of the year, here's a list of the books I read in 2020, more or less chronologically. I'm not sure if this is complete (this year was, er, a little erratic, shall we say?) but it's close enough. I'm happy to share my thoughts on any of the below!

The Season - Kristen Richardson

The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman

The Cartiers - Francesca Cartier Brickell

The Masked City - Genevieve Cogman

The Long Weekend - Adrian Tinniswood

The Bones of Paris - Laurie R. King

The Ghosts of Eden Park - Karen Abbott

The Ohio Gang - Charles L. Mee Jr,

Wicked Newport - Dr. Thomas Barker

Accidental Presidents - Jared Cohen

A Madness of Angels - Kate Griffin

The Midnight Mayor - Kate Griffin

The Neon Court - Kate Griffin

The Minority Council - Kate Griffin

The History of the Ancient World - Susan Wise Bauer (re-read)

The History of the Medieval World - Susan Wise Bauer (re-read)

The History of the Renaissance World - Susan Wise Bauer

Full Service - Scotty Bowers

Scandals of Classic Hollywood - Anne Helen Petersen

Red Land, Black Land - Barbara Mertz

The Mitfords - Charlotte Mosley

Forced Perspectives - Tim Powers

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler

The Vapors - David Hill

Damoren - Seth Skorkowsky

Farewell, My Lovely - Raymond Chandler

Curiocity (in progress) - Henry Eliot and Matt Lloyd-Rose

Hello and happy fifth/sixth/seventh day of Christmas! (I can never figure out when it starts, exactly.)

Just one link today: Christian Schloe's art. It's beautiful and surreal and just my speed. Enjoy!

Happy day before Christmas Eve! Our schedule will be a bit erratic through the rest of the year, in keeping with the erratic theme of 2020 in general. 

A follow-up from yesterday: Zazoo sent along this interview with the man behind the Snoopy and Red Baron song!

Have a safe and spiffy holiday and/or weekend, everyone!

Last night we drove around and looked at houses done up for the holidays. We found one in particular that has quite the website!  (Also, I discovered the "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" Christmas song, which is over fifty years old, but new to me.)

In other seasonal news, why not add a raccoon to your Christmas tree? It's fun! (Well, maybe not.) Thanks to Cassandra for sending this along!

 Hello, and Happy Solstice and Great Conjunction!

From Cassandra: Generation X is finally getting some respect for handling this particular set of circumstances. (We've been in training for this all our lives!)

For seasonal viewing: The University of Dayton has one of the largest creche/Nativity scene collections, and you can see it online this year. 

And also, for fun, here's one of my alter egos!

Hello and happy Friday! 

This weekend brings the winter solstice. SpaceX is broadcasting live from Stonehenge on Facebook. Surprising but true! Check it out if you can. 

Meet Cleaver Theatre's Christmas specials continue! I missed Emergo's guest spot on Monday, but today brings the Paranoid Neighbor's recommendation: 

   

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

 How bad has 2020 been? So bad that YouTube won't present its annual "Rewind" retrospective! Yikes.

On a brighter note, John Waters is bequeathing his art collection to the Baltimore Museum of Art. In return, they are naming the bathrooms after him. (It's true! It was his idea!)

If you're feeling investigative, the Library of Congress put up some more mystery photos to identify. I always feel like I should recognize the '80s shots, but never do. Maybe you'll have more luck.

 If you need some gift inspiration, fear not - Sanctuary has you covered, with ideas for each astrological sign! (Once again, my rising sign seems to fit better than my sun sign).

Without even watching it yet, I know I am going to love the Geography King YouTube channel.

Here at Spooky Librarians HQ, we are big fans of Mort Garson and his Moog masterpieces. We were delighted to hear of a new discovery!

 Hello and happy Tuesday! It's time for a surprise Links from Others day!

From Nicole: COVID street art! This is via the Omeka website, which has more great stuff like the Lomax, Kentucky recordings.

From Cassandra: Here comes the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which is possibly the same phenomenon that was seen in Bethlehem's night sky about two thousand years ago. Will this conjunction herald something new? Stay tuned to find out!

Janelle Shane has a list of AI-generated 2020 headlines, and most of them seem plausible, frighteningly enough. I especially like the mysterious rock that looks like a plane ticket.

I have sung the praises of Room Rater before, and through them I discovered the Lockdown Book Detective, investigating the books on people's shelves!

Can you believe it's already time for the "best of" lists? This year's offerings have certainly been a little different. Springwise, always a great source of information, has listed the top apps of 2020, and I'm completely enthralled by the concept of Randonautica. I think I'm going to try it out soon and will report back!

Also from Springwise: Sustainable architecture ideas! I recommend following each of the links; they'll take you to some amazing places.

Happy Friday! Hopefully you are safe and healthy as we head into the weekend.

For Advent, some gamers have devised a calendar of RPG goodness.

Meanwhile, if you'd like a portrait of your pet drawn by someone with little artistic ability (but a lot of goodwill and humor!), consider this charity drive, won't you?

However, the pandemic continues unabated, and here's one story from Paris.

From Cassandra: What can cats teach us about life?

Also from Cassandra: There's a meteor shower coming up! Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain here, but you might be luckier, depending on where you live.

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

 Last week, my mom sent a great email of street art. I went searching for more info and found that a lot of it is done by TomBob, a street artist working in NYC and New England (see some highlights here!). I also found some nice examples of Parisian street art. (We are big fans of street art here at Spooky Librarians, especially if it has some added culture jamming flavor!)

On the other side of the spectrum, Rich Frishman explores the past of America by photographing the sites of former segregation, slavery, and oppression. Ghosts of Segregation is well worth a visit, and may make you see some theater side entrances in a whole new light.

Hello! Where do you stand in the line to get vaccinated? This is a nifty little interactive tool which told me I was basically at the end of the line (which is fine with me, other people need it much more). 

Tis the season, and Make Magazine has an “in-vent” calendar with daily projects! 

Good news for fans of ventriloquism: The Vent Haven Museum is getting an upgrade! While it’s closed right now, you can take a (truly amazing) panoramic tour of the museum. Go and explore!

Greetings! As we get caught up, here's some fun news. Meet Cleaver Theatre is celebrating the holidays by bringing back some of the old cast members to talk about their favorite films. Check out our announcement! More soon.

 Friday at last! It's been a long week here. We're taking a long weekend to recover!

From Zazoo: A koala tried eating a Christmas tree - in someone's house! Unfortunately, it was a fake tree. Fortunately, the koala is fine, has been named Daphne, and is now eating eucalyptus leaves outside.

Also from Zazoo: "'Not Wanted' posters of Ivanka are popping up around the city. We will be on the lookout..."

Now that winter is here, we've taken to feeding the birds, and we've been getting a lot of new visitors. Bunny sent me this link to birdwatching; check out your own region if you'd like to get to know your feathery neighbors!

Have a safe and spiffy weekend, everyone. We'll be back on Tuesday. 

 Greetings! It's Thursday. You know the drill. It's busy! But here's a quick link for Cincinnati-area people, about the latest Simpsons episode and those terrible depictions of our chili. Hee.

 For Wednesday, we often post spooky links, but the nation's COVID stats are scary enough these days. 

In chirpier news, Google is celebrating the many, many December holidays in their Doodles. (I've been agitating recently for a generic "winter lights" holiday season for December and January.)

Something random: George Rhoads makes "ball sculpture" kinetic pieces, many of which are located in shopping centers and parks. A Reddit user posted this as a nostalgia piece for one of our local malls (Forest Fair, for the Cincinnatians in the reading audience!). 

 Hi all. It's Giving Tuesday, but it's also World AIDS Day. (And it's also a snow-filled day here, to welcome December.) Back tomorrow with more links!