Librarian's Rant

I was reading this Reuters article on the Bush response to Kerry's speech last night. Struck by this: "Bush, who aides said slept rather than watch his rival's Democratic nomination acceptance speech to run against him in November...'He went to sleep last night. That was a late speech,' McClellan told reporters, but he said Bush had 'read some of the coverage.'" FOX's coverage, no doubt, digested 'specially for him. And since when is 10:30 late in the Eastern time zone?! Keep sleeping, George, I'm sure someone will steal you the Cliff's Notes. [emphasis and disdain mine]

Also from the Windmills guys, this color-coded gay alert. Originally from Gaywired.

Okay, this is kinda funny. Not the story, which is horrific, but the second-to-last paragraph, where someone decided to have a little dig. Yahoo! News has pulled the story, no surprise.

Thanks to Rebecca on the Chatty list.

Lots of claim and denial about the rumor. But I agree with Kevin and Ian at Tilting at Windmills that complaining about making $175K/year is a bit ludicrous. Complaining about the frustrations of the job. Yeah, I get that. Or maybe he's figured out he'll be unemployed come January anyways, so...

I heard they were looking to put this together, and they have: Librarians Against Bush.

Thanks, Liza.

An article from the BBC on how Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring was viewed upon publication, 50 years ago.

Great reference site, posted to LU by Chris: NY Times Historical Movie Reviews. Selected reviews up to 1982, complete from 1983 on. So you can find out what they said about your favorite movie when it first came out. Like Vincent Canby's review of Star Wars from 1977:

Star Wars, George Lucas's first film since his terrifically successful American Graffiti, is the movie that the teenagers in American Graffiti would have broken their necks to see. It's also the movie that's going to entertain a lot of contemporary folk who have a soft spot for the virtually ritualized manners of comic-book adventure.

Star Wars...is the most elaborate, most expensive, most beautiful movie serial ever made.

He didn't know the half of it!

Thanks to Brian, aka "Eyes", who found this Indiepop Cred Evaluator. I got a dismal, hideous 12%. I am the most square person ever...

I checked out this Cyborg Name Generator. Mine came up
L.O.U.I.S.E.: Lifelike Obedient Unit Intended for Sabotage and Exploration.



Resistance is, I gather, futile.

Perhaps this is the first step to those Robots in the Library.

Okay, Liza, you got me with this one! It's a Panda Dog! (Or is it?!) And, no, I don't know what that is on its back in the last photo...

But, goshdarnit, that's really cute...

It is not great secret that I'm a Joss Whedon fan. One of my favorites was his cruelly short-lived Firefly series. Well, for his legion of angry fans, they're shooting a new Firefly movie, called Serenity. If you'd like more info on the movie, or would like to join the "Browncoats" (Serenity fans), click the logo below. I'll get points if you join through this link, so you'll also have my gratitude

Thanks to my pal David H. for this link to some new pics of Saturn's moon Mimas, with one in particular having a great caption (above photo).

Okay, I'm a regular (read: obsessed) fan of the comic strip Unshelved. Bill and Gene (the creators) regularly 'speak to me' via their strip with their insight into public library life. Sometimes it's spookier than others. For instance, at my library today our IT guys had to reboot the firewall, so our Net access was down for a bit. What should come in my email, but today's Unshelved which was just too freakishly on target.

Guys, really, you're freakin' me out.

Exhausted but pleased, I'm back from a weekend in Denver seeing friends. Why Denver? Cuz that's where Eric Clapton was playing this weekend. I went to the concert with Michael and Laura (who I finally got to meet in person!). The concert was great. Here's the lineup:

24 July 2004: Pepsi Center Arena - Denver, CO
Opening Act:
Robert Randolph & The Family Band

EC's Band Lineup:
Eric Clapton - Guitar, Vocals
Nathan East - Bass, Vocals
Steve Gadd - Monster Drums
Doyle Bramhall II - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Stainton - Keyboards
Billy Preston - Keyboards, hammond organ, Vocals
Sharon White - Background Vocals
Michelle John - Background Vocals

Setlist for July 20, 2004:
01. Let it rain
02. Hoochie Coochie Man
03. Walk Out In The Rain
04. I Wanna Little Girl
05. I Shot The Sheriff
06. Me and the Devil Blues
07. They're Red Hot
08. Milkcow's Calf Blues
09. (If I Had) Posession Over Judgement Day
10. Kind Hearted Woman
11. Got To Get Better In A Little While
12. Have You Ever Loved A Woman
13. Badge
14. Wonderful tonight
15. Layla
16. Cocaine

Encore
17. Sunshine of Your Love (with Robert Randolph)
18. Got My Mojo Working (with Robert Randolph)

For the Robert Johnson stuff (Me and the Devil Blues, They're Red Hot, etc.) they went rather acoustic and intimate. Very impressive. Review from the Denver Post is right on point:

In fact, after two hours of Clapton at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night, my only complaint is that "Wonderful Tonight" came off as an uninspired love song that's lost its relevance to its author.

But most of the show was expectedly on point. Clapton, looking up to his mike all the while and keeping his throat open and his head tilted toward the cheap seats, worked through the classics and, more important, tracks from his new record.

"We'd like to do a couple of Johnson songs," he told the crowd as he and his two guitarists took to chairs on the foot of the stage. And with that, they launched into a five-song mini-set from his recent disc "Me and Mr. Johnson," which made for the most interesting 20 minutes of the show.

I agree about their take on Wonderful Tonight. It was just schmaltzy and disjointed with the rest of the concert, and the band seemed bored with it. I love the song, but I'd be perfectly happy if he left it out of his concerts. He has so much else to give us.

The last time I saw Clapton in concert was in St. Paul on his 50th birthday. That tour (Pilgrim) was very introspective and "I'm turning 50, let me look at my life". This tour? It's more like "I'm nearly 60, screw it, I'm gonna play what interests me". Bravo!

For some reason, all my email lists keep coming back to the subject of different flavors of pie.

So, bowing to the inevitable, Pie.