Honestly, it was fantasy novels that I devoured as a kid. I didn't always like the real world so much, so taking refuge among albino sorcerers, wayward talking cats, and elder gods was vital then and still has impact today. Since then, I've taken many English classes, have taught English, and have read a lot of writing which eschews the realms of the weird and unreal. But science-fiction, fantasy, and the weird are incredibly important. These genres often allow our culture to have a dialogue around things that otherwise may go ignored or are felt in the culture but have yet to be defined.
Early (first-wave) Gothic literature was a direct reflection of those in positions of power (read land-owners / nobility) nervous about losing their place in the social structure. Thus we have stories like Walpole's Castle of Otranto re-affirming, through haunted armor, ghostly wails, etc., the rightful heir to some property and sticking it to the upstart usurper. Today we have television shows like Supernatural, which after a few seasons devolved into various powerful, and often times corporate, camps vying for power through deception, intimidation, resource-control, genetic tinkering, and sometimes force--sound familiar?
That said, there are a lot of poorly written, but very popular, scifi, fantasy, and slipstream books out there just as there are a lot of well-written, but sometimes less known, books of the same genres. As a librarian directly involved in collection development, sometimes this can be a challenge--what to purchase for a collection and how to recommend it? Luckily, an intrepid few, myself included, have started a blog, SciFi & Beyond, which provides reviews and essays on science-fiction, horror, fantasy, and the weird. It's a fun work-in-progress and is a great place to visit in the internets if you are looking for some great reviews and insights.
Saw this today while searching for a cool map of Oakland. Eric Fischer, as mentioned on Fastco Design, made this from thousands of geotagged tweets. So cool! Reinforces the metaphor as the city as a beast.
It should be known that even I own a pair of cat eye glasses and wear them when I need to shhh patrons; when you receive your MLIS diploma, the glasses come with a ribbon.
Never have I had the pleasure of labeling a post with three of my favorites: poetry, libraries, and comics. Yet thanks to Eric Baus, I can do so today. Eric's post at Jacket2 "...explores the poem as index, bibliography, catalog, or otherwise arranged list."
Of specific interest, Eric writes:
I am interested in what the arrangement and interplay between selected materials suggests as well as how indexical forms often point to the hidden, the unacknowledged, the invisible, the partial.
This is a topic that fascinates me as well. I am curious about syndetic structures. What rules act as their structure, what atypical forms might an index utilize and how might one use this creatively, and how do they look when they are evolved/automated as with somefolksonomies? These are just some ideas to play with you listen though the post, which can be read here:
If you have patiently read thus far wondering when the comic angle was going to appear, then, first, thank you, and second, be sure to scroll down to Alice Notley's recorded poem which uses comic book titles to exist as both the poem and non-alphabetized concordance. Mar-vell-ous!
This project is really neat! Draw your soul, and send it to the good people at Information is Beautiful. Closing date is Oct.31st though, so get on it! As David states on his site:
If enough people do this, it could be really interesting. Because we’ll all be blind to other peoples’ drawings, there’s a chance here to spot patterns, commonalities and any interesting coincidences that might appear across all the souls.
And to my agnostic and atheist friends, swap out "soul" for "mind" and play on.
These screencast videos about technology and culture are so often tacitly about design as anything else; nonetheless this video is thought provoking (and well designed!):
(It should be mentioned that Bermuda has such high internet penetration, relatively, because it is tiny: just over 66,000 people living on 20.6 sq. miles.) Actually, that's my only gripe with this presentation--where did this information come from? Is the data properly contextualized? I know I'm splitting hairs here, but I do wish the video would include at the end some sort of indicator about about how the information was gathered and from what sources.
This video also reminds me of a concept I still often ponder--the difference between information and knowledge, and of course, the process of information becoming knowledge. The video asks "Do You Know?" This is a good refrain for the video, but I then have to ask, what good is knowing when the knowing does not (or cannot) alter behavior in positive ways for the "knower"? I don't mean to sound cynical, this is rather just a question about which I wonder. Perhaps that is the difference between information and knowledge: information is data that cannot yet be acted upon, while knowledge is data that, to use a business term, is actionable.
The tacit question, of course, is how we as a species will begin to deal with this immense amount of information. When we realize that we can create and publish information so much faster than we can organize or even comprehend its fullness, the above presentation takes on a slightly more serious tone; nonetheless, that doesn't mean we can't try. Ah the joys of librarianship! I knew I went into this profession for good reason.
Thanks to Karl at experiencecurve.com for posting the above video!
My pal Saudade found the following interactive map, and it is so awesome I cannot help but share it. For all those design-savvy, sci-fi geek, Japanophiles this site is for you.
And for all of the samurai fans, kenjutsu enthusiasts,and hoplologists out there, check out the following site--a super resource for all the terms of yoroi and katana.
That said, there are a lot of poorly written, but very popular, scifi, fantasy, and slipstream books out there just as there are a lot of well-written, but sometimes less known, books of the same genres. As a librarian directly involved in collection development, sometimes this can be a challenge--what to purchase for a collection and how to recommend it? Luckily, an intrepid few, myself included, have started a blog, SciFi & Beyond, which provides reviews and essays on science-fiction, horror, fantasy, and the weird. It's a fun work-in-progress and is a great place to visit in the internets if you are looking for some great reviews and insights. 
