New and Featured Books for 08/15/2012:

Come and check out these and some of the other new books and materials (or at least new to us) added to our library collection…

FICTION:

The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

The Temptation Of The Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig

Delicious by Sherry Thomas

The Triumph Of Caesar: A Novel Of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor

You Are The Love Of My Life by Susan Richards Shreve

By Starlight by Dorothy Garlock

Captain Freedom: A Superhero’s Quest For Truth, Justice, And The Celebrity He So Richly Deserves by G. Xavier Robillard

Sea Of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

NON-FICTION:

It’s A Jungle In There: Inspiring Lessons, Hard-Won Insights, And Other Acts Of Entreprenurial Daring by Seven Schussler with Marvin Karlins

Danger’s Hour: The Story Of The USS Bunker Kill And The Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy

The Day After The Dollar Crashes: A Survival Guide For the Rise Of The New World Order by Damon Vickers

When I Was A Child I Read Books: Essays by Marilynne Robinson

Airport Planning & Management by Alexander T. Wells

Airport Planning & Development Handbook: A Global Survey by Paul Stephen Dempsey

The Crazy Makers: How The Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains And Harming Out Children by Carol Simontacchi

The New New Deal: The Hidden Story Of Change In The Obama Era by Michael Grunwald

Energy For Future Presidents: The Science Behind The Headlines by Richard A. Muller

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Please note that books mentioned here could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk, OR call us, OR send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and  we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured books:

08/09/12.

08/02/12.

07/27/12.

07/18/12.

07/03/12.

New and Featured DVDs for 03/15/12:

Come and check out these and some of the other new DVDs and materials (or at least new to us) added to our library collection…

FICTION:

Sunset Boulevard

The Trip

2010, directed by Michael Winterbottom. A compilation film from a short British television series featuring comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing fictionalized versions of themselves, as friends and rivals, on a road trip to review restaurants in the north of England. But it’s about so much more than that. And it’s hilarious. Check out the trailer below:

And if that’s not enough for you, go to YouTube and check out the clip of Coogan and Brydon’s compete Michael Caine impressions.

Stop-Loss

The Last Starfighter

Vantage Point

To Sir, With Love

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 1

and

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Splice

Where The Wild Things Are

Julius Caesar

1953, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

L’Avventura

Under The Mountain

The Town

The Hidden Fortress

1958, directed by Akira Kurosawa

The first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, was based on this film as a primary influence. But beyond that, this is another great film from Kurosawa, and another great release from the Criterion Collection.

Cousins

Synecdoche, New York

2008, directed by Charlie Kaufman. This is a personal favorite of mine, and partly because of that, I can’t say too much about it. It’s not a film for everyone, mostly because it’s a very difficult movie, with a lot of meanings on a lot of levels. Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives the performance of his career as a playwright trying to capture the sadness and infinitely mundane aspects of every day life in a new work that seems to be growing more and more epic (that’s putting it lightly) with each passing moment. I know that’s a very vague plot description, and I apologize. I’ll just put it this way: This is one of the bleakest and most depressing movies I’ve ever seen in my life, but it’s also one of the best films I’ve ever seen, and one of the most uplifting. Check out Roger Ebert’s review and an interview with writer/director Charlie Kaufman.

NON-FICTION:

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise And Fall Of Jack Johnson

How Art Made The World

F For Fake

1975, directed by Orson Welles. This is the last major film by Welles, and it’s partially a documentary, focusing on the life of art forger Elmyr de Hory, and partially an essay work, dealing with the ideas of authorship and authenticity, and the value of art. This is a truly enchanting work, and for proof of that, check out the film’s introduction:

Mysteries Of The Garden Of Eden

Secret Origin: The Story Of DC Comics

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Please note that DVDs could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured DVDs:

02/14/12.

02/07/12.

12/30/11.

Previous New/Featured books:

03/01/12.

02/02/11.

01/27/12.

12/27/11.

Reading material for 03/12/12:

Some reading material from around the internet:

Apparently tweets can now be cited as evidence in academic papers.

The massive launch of Mass Effect 3.

RIP Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius.

Wal-Mart debuts their “Great For You” seal.

The “QWERTY Effect” is changing what words mean to us.

How do you ship a horse to the London Olympics?

The picture above is by Jan van der Veken, from here.

NASA would like you to know that the world will not end in 2012.

The youngest female self-made billionaire.

Car breaks down before Consumer Reports can even test it.

A 340 ton boulder turned work of art.

Inside some of the world’s tallest buildings.

Here’s a fascinating radio documentary: “Nuclear Power After Fukushima.”

Penguins fly first class on airplanes.

They’re going to make a movie out of the theft of Nic Cage’s prized Action Comics No.1!

by Yale Stewart, from here.

The 10,000 year plan for Amazon.

Get ready to share even more on Facebook.

Apple has announced the new iPad.

Speaking of which, are Apple’s insanely high profit margins built to last?

The Navy will be testing a new firefighting robot in 2013.

RFID your stuff, then find it with your mobile phone.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes buys The New Republic.

Why are companies ditching Google maps?

10 of the most powerful female characters in literature.

The review of 1984 that Aldous Huxley sent to George Orwell.

The paranoia of Philip K. Dick.

Audiobooks and the celebrities who were born to read them.

There’s still quite a gender bias in book journalism.

10 essential history books written by women.

The only Game Of Thrones/Song Of Ice And Fire map you’ll ever need.

A few things that Jonathan Franzen actually likes.

The trailer for the return of Community.

Also, check out this mash up Community/The Dark Knight Rises trailer.

And speaking of The Dark Knight Rises: Action figures!

Jennifer Lawrence almost said no to The Hunger Games.

A complete guide to 2012’s TV pilots.

Apparently there’s an R-rated version of Galaxy Quest out there somewhere.

A picture of Peter Dinklage as Wolverine.

A chart that helps explain just how much of “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” does Star Wars take place.

Speaking of Star Wars: Topher Grace has edited all the prequels into one concise 85 minute long film that is supposedly fairly good.

Your first look at Johnny Depp as Tonto in Gore Verbinksi’s The Lone Ranger adaptation.

by Scott Ferguson, from here.

The many dimensions of Catherine the Great.

Kids found living in abandoned bus.

Fiona Apple reveals her new album title, and it’s 23 words long (as opposed to 90 words).

Disturbing school lunch menus.

What visions of the future do high speed rail lines provide us?

Is this the nicest Taco Bell on the planet?

A 7 year old makes an awesome Rube Goldberg machine.

This will be an interesting week, since it contains both Pi Day and the Ides of March. Beware!

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Previous online reading material:

03/05/12.

02/27/12.

02/20/12.

02/13/12.

02/06/12.

Leap Year!

Today is the 29th of February!

It’s an extra day! You have an extra day! Go crazy! With your extra day! That doesn’t happy very often (“every four years” really isn’t what I’d call “very often”). An extra day! Unless, you know, you have to work or go to school or something.

A patron asked us the other day just what exactly is up with Leap Years and Leap Days, and there’s a lot of really complicated explanations out there that can only confuse a person more than anything else.

For example, this is the opening of the Wikipedia article on Leap Day:

February 29, known as a leap day in the Gregorian calendar, is a date that occurs in most years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 do not contain a leap day, with the exception of years that are evenly divisible by 400, which do contain a leap day; thus 1900 did not contain a leap day while 2000 did. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year.

That makes sense, right? Besides being a little complicated and kind of confusing, right?

Well, the same Wikipedia article also has a fairly easy explanation for Leap Days, which I’ll break down like this: Each day has 24 hours in it, right? A year is the Earth’s annual trip around the sun, right? And each year, as defined by modern calendars, consists of 365 days, right? Well, yes, and also… No.

The annual revolution of our planet around the sun actually takes 365 days and 6 hours to complete. So every four years we take those accumulated extra hours (6 of them with each year), and we add that to the calendar as – ta da! – February 29. It’s something we do just to make sure that the calendar stays fairly accurate to the planet’s journey around the sun.

Also, there’s this:

Also, there’s the whole Julius Caesar angle.

But basically, like I said, it’s kind of an extra day, and one you want to enjoy.

from here.

Just out of curiosity: Any of our patrons or readers out there who were born on Feb. 29? If so, then HAPPY BIRTHDAY! But also, if you don’t mind us asking, how, and also when, do you celebrate your birthday?

And we hope that everyone has a great Leap Day!