Banned Book Week

This week, and until October 2, is Banned Books Week! I'm not going get on my pedestal too much here, but obviously it's pretty damn stupid to allow one group to tell another what they are allowed to read (if, for some, another type of rhetoric is more helpful, we can call this type of censorship Un-American. See? There's the librarianesque preference for "yes, and" rather than "no, but").



In any case, books get challenged all the time all over the place (check out the map linked below), and it's my job, and yours, to advocate for our freedom to read whatever we choose and for libraries to carry what their varied communities want. I've yet to meet anyone who has admitted to challenging a book, probably because deep down they know it's a jack move. With that, remember: you can call their bluff, and shame them into reconsideration.

Check out the links below for other Banned Book Week resources:

• 
  Map of Censored Books
  


• 
  Voice of Youth Advocates Banned Book Page
  


• 
  American Library Association of America's Most Often Challenged Books of the Century
  

Librarians do rock.

Thanks Wired for posting this and thank you Central Rappahannock Regional Librarians for making librarianship a little more awesome.

Sayonara Satoshi Kon.

I hope your trip to whatever dream awaits is as vibrant as your films. Your vision will be missed.

Oh no del Toro!

Normally I avoid most things MTV but noticed this comment about a potential Hellboy III movie from Mike Mignola and felt compelled, reluctantly, to share:

[re: del Toro's Hellboy III] "My Hellboy is not going to have kids,” continued Mignola. “My Hellboy is going to die, but I want to be the one who does that. And if del Toro does my ending, there won’t be a lot of surprise when I get to the end of the comic.”

Normally, I think Guillermo del Toro's talented, imaginative, and over-all rad (c'mon, you know that movie was awesome), but if he were to give Hellboy some kids, I may have to boycott his work henceforth.

But if you are into the whole Hellboy/infant thing, than this might be for you:

Okay, so this is actually from January of this year, but I just saw it and thought it was pretty awesome, so I'll pass it along to all the rest of teh internets lollygaggers like myself who are a little slower but have some fascination with both fashion, samurai, and absurdity. I would like to share with you the Coco Chanel Samurai Yoroi set:



Maybe some high fashion armor for Usagi Yojimbo?

Libraries!!!

Thanks Nedroid!

Ah the games of my youth...

Saw this over at 8bitlibrary.com and was deeply impressed! Cho sugeii!

spelling bees and indie lit--together? Yes.

Small Press Distribution is putting on the 2010 BEE-IN on May 17! What is it, you ask. Why it's A Spelling Bee to Benefit Small Press Distribution!



Bee well, and spell better.

for those interested in martial arts and librarianship...

...just discovered that bojutsu has its own classification in the Dewey Decimal System: 796.86.

Specifically:

.86 : Fencing

Including bojutsu, kendo

Class here sword fighting.

Awesome (though I am a little sad to see it under 796, which is "Athletic and outdoor sports and games").

Art of Mike Mignola

Saw today that Mike Mignola--one of my all time favorites--now has his own site on the interwebs (thanks for the info, Mark)! It's a lovely, creepy site and well worth taking a look at: Art of Mike Mignola, or just click on the lovely pic below!

Also this week is Library Week, so why not check ol' Hellboy out from a local library?

Cute Cat Theory

Was reading about China and Google today over at CNET and came across this:

Contrary to the perception in the U.S. that Chinese citizens are clamoring for subversive information, Internet users there tend to be more interested in general information and entertainment--much like Web surfers in the U.S., according to Roberts.

Citing what he called the "cute cat theory," Roberts said Internet users in China are more interested in videos of cats flushing toilets than they are in reading political diatribes. "At the end of the day, the social uses of the Internet are bigger drivers than political and controversial news content," he said.

So I ran a search on CCT and came up with less that people are more interested in cute cats than in politics (which is true), but rather that the same tools to say O Hai to your pals will also be used for subversive/activist/political communications. Seems that a fella named Ethan Zuckerman came up with this theory waaaay back in '08, and you can read it here: http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/03/08/the-cute-cat-theory-talk-at-etech/.

A couple of quotes I liked:

It’s fine to build tools for activists, but even better to build tools for folks who don’t know they’re activists yet.

and

With web 2.0, we’ve embraced the idea that people are going to share pictures of their cats, and now we build sophisticated tools to make that easier to do. As a result, we’re creating a wealth of tech that’s extremely helpful for activists.

Anyways, apologies for those already down with the CCT, and two years on the internet is like a million years, I know, but hey.

Reanimation Library

Wow--this independent library in Brooklyn is soooooo cool. Check out the interview:



Poor Stephen Hayes's Mystic Arts of the Ninja--relegated to obsolescence...I loved that book as a kid! (I might even still have it around somewhere.) And OH MY GOD can someone with skillz please make me a pair of those "Master Librarian" knuckle dusters--I'll find a way to make it worth your while. Really.

Books, Content, Form and Formlessness -- Craig Mod Explores the Book as Object and Metaphor

Thanks to a tip from Saudade about a NYT article, I just read a great article on the nature and future of books, printing, and reading. Check out book designer, writer, and publisher Craig Mod's thoughts here: http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/. And as a book lover, a book seller, and a librarian, I must admit I agree with his points, especially that "disposable books" should be swept out from print and into solely digital formats.

My only concern here is that he seems to ignore the digital divide. What of those who cannot afford one of Steve Jobs very expensive-but-beautiful products--do they not deserve to take a bit of summer reading to the beach? I don't think many public libraries will be loaning out iPads anytime soon, so perhaps the disposable mass market should be left around, despite its inherent negative effects until everyone can have some sort of e-reader. Any thoughts?

Know any good librarian jokes?

If so, post 'em over at LISNews, where they're having a Librarian Joke Contest all of March.

AA Bondy at Cafe Du Nord

See more of this guy here:

from Somewhere There is a Forest

Scuttled rubbish and lightened
ardent valse of Autumnal
flux. Muscled runners flit by
chests a’heaving sculptural
as a kingdom of blood of
future joy, of future love
dense as close collapsing stars.