Googlize It!

My son is 8 and he asks a lot of questions. He wants to know things like who invented the scanner or what does MC squared equal (and E is not the answer it is 10 million). Now I don’t often admit this but lately I don’t know the answers to his questions. I mean who DID invent the scanner? I usually tell him that I don’t know but we can look it up on the computer. This has led to his coining a term for it: Googlizing. When I say I don’t know the answer he responds, “We can Googlize it when we get home.” Yes, Google is my favorite search engine. There are some segments of the library world that think Google is evil incarnate, that Google will eliminate the need for libraries (and ergo librarians). I won’t hold my breath on that one. I mean I have lost many a good colleague who was holding his/her breath for the paperless society. May they rest in peace.

So what is the hubbub over google? Well, the biggest issue is the digitization of books. But let’s be honest reading a scanned pdf of a book doesn’t do it for most people. This is not to say that tons of people don’t like reading on a computer but a scanned image is vastly different from say a Kindle or even a downloadable e-book.

I know that I only use about 1/10 of what my technology gadgets and gizmos can do. I really want to start using the things I have to their fullest advantage. To get me on the right path, here is a list of books I plan on reading (or at least reading the parts that interest me!)

Google-pedia: The Ultimate Google Resource
Since I use this so often and it is much more than just a search engine I figure this is the place to start. I already saw something just by flipping the pages that I know I want to find out how to do.

Take Back Your Life: Using Microsoft Office Outlook to get organized and stay organized
I am not an organized person. I used to be able to keep it all in my head; but, alas, as 40 approaches quickly, my mind is starting to lose information through osmosis. And it isn’t the useless stuff that is seeping.


Geek My House
I have read this one before but never implemented the hacks/tricks that got my attention. I really do want to scan my pantry, books, and music CDs into a database, mostly because it is just one more step toward being able to use SQL to create weekly menus. (Hey did I just hear someone yell “GEEK!”)


Have a GRRREAT Fourth of July—try not to melt.

Celeb Death Count

It started with Ed McMahon, I think - I am a bit foggy on the sequence. I don' t pay that much attention and I usually get the report second hand..."Hey, have you heard? So and so's died."

When I heard about Ed, I was surprised that he was still around and his death had no particular resonance for me. He had always seemed like one of those country club guys of my dad's generation who was sort of professionally amiable, reeked of cigar smoke and martinis and laughed at the boss's jokes a lot since that was his job basically. I'm sure in truth he was a very worthy individual. I am just talking about his celeb persona which is really the only thing I know about him.

Then it was Farrah Fawcett and I felt sad about that, because she had been so extremely lovely and payed us the compliment of trying to become a good actress as well, and pretty much succeeded. I am usually impressed when a celeb works really hard at giving good value for all the attention and adulation instead of sliding by on some tired old schtick like that guy who went around saying "Dy-no-MITE" all the time. But, I really wish she'd dumped that dweeb Ryan O'Neal and gone back to studly Lee Majors. Keep in mind that this opinion is formed on absolutely no real knowledge of any of those three people. It's just celeboslush sucked up from the big media celebojuicer.

Then it was Michael Jackson and I bethought me of a book that I read way back in 2001. It was by Cintra Wilson, an entertainment reporter for Salon, entitled A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Re-examined as a Grotesque Crippling Disease. Her essay on the Michael Jackson situation as it existed at that time is insightful and mostly sympathetic despite also being funny in a macabre sort of way. It is worth a read now. It starts like this, "There are people who, over their time of celebrity, have been seemingly autonomous broadcasters of a kind of holy joy." That doesn't make a bad epitaph for Mr. Jackson, not bad at all.

They say that celeb deaths come in threes. Well, really, that's probably just how we count them. If some minor celeb croaked tomorrow we'd start all over again with, "Well, that's one."

Fan Fiction - Fiction for Everyman

If I tried to list everything that has changed due to the Internet, I would be writing for days (or perhaps weeks given the rate of change). One thing that I recently became aware of is fan fiction. My 16-year old daughter, Shelly, had recently gotten a refurbished laptop and I was becoming concerned about the how much time she was spending on it. I just assumed that she was chatting with her friends, but upon investigation I discovered she was spending the majority of her time reading fan fiction so I decided to find out more about it.

According to Wikipedia, fan fiction is “a broadly defined term used to describe stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than the original creator.” Fan fiction often answers “what if” questions and consists of alternate timelines or realities. Okay, I can understand this. Basically it is this generation’s version of fanzines which were popular when I was growing up.

FanFiction.net is probably the largest site with millions of stories in dozens of languages. The age range of contributors runs the full spectrum as does the quality of the writing, but that is half the fun of it. Most fall in the short story range, but often writers will serialize their entries building chapter after chapter.

Going into FanFiction.net you will find many categories to choose from – Anime/Manga, Books, Cartoons, Comics, Games, Movies, Play/Musicals, and TV Shows. A couple of the selections under “Books” that caught my eye are “Dresden Files” and “Michael Crichton.” If I want my fix of Harry Dresden and don’t want to wait another year for a new book to come out I can get it here. Michael Crichton may be dead, but I can go here to find stories of his type. Shelly regularly checks the listings under Naruto and D.Gray-Man in the Anime/Manga section. There is also a crossover section where characters from one series find themselves in another setting. My personal favorite is “Calvin & Hobbes go to Hogwarts.”

You can find fiction for almost any interest or genre. I see this as having great potential for getting reluctant readers to read. For example, you have a boy that is addicted to video games and his favorite one is Kingdom Hearts. Bring him to FanFiction.net and show him the Kingdom Hearts listings and he can read about Sora and other favorite characters to his heart’s content. What if your teen is addicted to the Twilight series? Sadly, the series has come to the end. Send her to fan fiction to fill that void.

What a great place to go for someone who loves to write. It is good for honing writing skills and the site allows for giving and receiving instantaneous feedback or reviews. If you are a member of the grammar police you might find reading fan fiction to be disconcerting. Contributors can ask for help from a “beta reader” to provide feedback much like an editor does for an author, but it is not required. At first I let the grammar bother me, but I’ve since taken on the philosophy of my 80-year old aunt who used to teach English. Bad grammar used to bother her, but she decided to let it go. As long a people are communicating and getting their point across grammar doesn’t matter as much as the sharing of ideas itself.

For other fan fiction sites go here.

Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Okay, I talked briefly about this book last week but now I've finished it and - wow!

I think this might be one of my favorite books this year.

As I mentioned before, the story Graceling is based around a world where some people are born with 'Graces' which give them some sort of extraordinary skill, like being incredibly strong, or seeing in the dark, or reading minds. The only way to tell if someone is Graced is when their eyes change color and then their Grace will reveal itself soon after.

Our protagonist Katsa has one green eye and one blue eye and she discovered her horrifying Grace at a very young age when she very efficiently killed someone accidentally. Now she is the prize pet of her uncle, King Randa, who uses her as his henchman to punish underlings and basically bully his subjects into giving him what he wants.

Katsa struggles with her identity throughout the book. She knows what she's good at - killing - but after years of breaking arms at the King's command she views herself as a monster. People are afraid of Gracelings in general but one who kills is particularly feared so Katsa grows up essentially alone - very few will get close enough to teach her how to be a lady and not just a well-trained tool.

Over time, something inside Katsa begins to chaff at the injustice she sees and the pain she is ordered to inflict unfairly. With the help of her cousin and a few trusted friends she starts a secret council to subvert the unjust practices of King Randa and the rulers of nearby kingdoms. When one of her missions puts another Graceling in her path, a young man graced with fighting, Katsa awkwardly begins to learn more of the social skills that she has never had to use before.

There is a very powerful enemy in this story, but before Katsa can fight it she must learn how to grow from being a mindless henchman into a powerful, intelligent young woman in control of her own destiny. This story is beautifully written, with heart-wrenching conflicts and intense plot twists. I could not put this book down and I would love to read a sequel. I think this could be a very empowering story for young women, especially those who feel they don't really fit in. Graceling is just the right mix of fascinating world building, headstrong adventure, young romance, and lovably identifiable characters.

My Favorite Adaptations - Number 1

I thought that I would just discuss book into movie adaptations, mostly because adaptations these days have a tendency to labyrinthine permutation. These days, anything is grist for the hack mill and adaptations tumble over one another like a gaggle of giddy puppies. It used to be that a book or a play became a movie or a book became a play became a movie. But, now the adaptation can happen just any old which way. For instance, one of my most current favorites is the movie into musical into movie musical adaptation of Hairspray which I found more delightful than the original, to the absolute disgust, I am sure, of all those John Waters fans out there.

However, as I said, I will concentrate on the staid old way. The first adaptation I would like to draw your attention to is the 1935 Hollywood adaption of Dickens' David Copperfield with Freddie Bartholomew as little David, W.C. Fields as Mr. Micawber and too many other luminaries to name in a relatively short post. And George Cukor demonstrates why he was considered one of the best directors of his day from an actor's standpoint. Never was Freddie Bartholomew so winning or Basil Rathbone so hateable or Edna Mae Oliver so astringent or W.C. Fields so endearing. In fact, Mr. Micawber is Fields' most endearing star turn showing that he could successfully assay a role without displaying his usual dismal misanthropy.

There have been other subsequent adaptations, all well mounted and upholstered with posh production values and gorgeous color but none with the sheer hectic energy of this one. The black and white cinematography only contributes to the pell mell momentum of the storytelling and evokes the crackling activity of the black and white illustrations done by "Phiz" for the book.
(The lesson to take from this is that any adaptation of Dickens should move and move briskly. If the adaptation is slow and too "Merchant and Ivory" posh then it resembles more a work of taxidermy than Dickens.)

I would go so far as to say that no subsequent film version of David Copperfield is superior to this one in any way whatsoever. I would be glad to take on anyone who might want to debate me on this.

Oh, by the way, I intend for this to be series of posts, not one right after the other, but sprinkled in, from time to time, among my other posts on different subjects. This was my first.

What is the truth about yourself?

When Patty Ho's Honor's English teacher assigns a truth essay for the end of the year project, Patty wonders what she will write. She really isn't sure what the her truths are, and the ones she knows she would never admit to anyone. In the end, she turns in an unfinished essay and is given until the end of the summer to complete it.

Patty is a half and half-half white, half Taiwanese. Secretly she wishes she was just a whole-whole white. When Patty's mom takes her to see Chinese fortune-teller, the predictions cause Patty's life to take a different course. Patty's mom is so horrified by the predictions that she ships Patty off to math summer camp.

At first, Patty is dead set against math camp but she suddenly realizes that it means several weeks away from her mother's constant lectures. Once at camp, Patty revels in her new found freedom even if the math part is kind of boring. She makes a few friends and a possible boyfriend. She starts to learn several truths about herself and realizes that maybe being half and half is not so bad.

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) is Justina Chen Headley's first novel. As always, Headley's characters are living and breathing. It is easy for any teen girl to relate to Patty's struggles. Patty struggles with being ashamed of her mother, wishing she was like everyone else, body issues, and the pressures of trying to determine the rest of her life. The comments about race are never preachy but will have the readers questioning how they treat others. All in all, a great read.

Summer's Here and the Time is Right for...

READING!

It's that time again. Mayor Mike and Ruth's Summer Reading Challenge is off to a running start this year. This year's theme is “Deep In The Heart Of Texas” and emphasizes not just reading but also heart healthy living. All you have to do to take part in the program is read for 20 minutes for 10 days or complete a variety of activities designed to encourage reading and library usage.

It’s easy to sign up. You can visit your nearest branch and sign up there or you can sign up on-line.

This challenge is for ALL ages (summer reading isn’t just for kids anymore!) There are various prizes for participants who complete the activities including book bags and a certificate. You can read novels, short stories, graphic novels, manga, magazines, cookbooks, how-to, self help, and all sorts of other books you can get at the library. It’s summer so read what makes you happy (or what is on your school’s summer reading list). If you have a required reading list for the summer why not sign up for the reading challenge. You will get your required reading finished AND you could win prizes for your effort.

What better family activity than to sit outside after the heat has dissipated for the day (okay I know it’s Texas and the heat doesn’t dissipate until late October) and read as a family! Take the reading thing on a family field trip. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden's large lawns and shady areas are great for kicking back with a blanket and a great book.

Not only that but with the focus on heart health why not try some physical activities as a family? Not only can you check out books on different activities like yoga, tai chi, swimming, biking, etc.

Oh, you say you aren’t athletic. Well why not try dancing? Instead of sitting and watching So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars, check out a book or a DVD and get up and start boogie-ing. We have DVDs and books that feature the professional dancers from Dancing with the Stars.

So walk, run or bike down to your nearest branch and get started on your summer reading!