CUNY Schools Take Top Spots in Princeton Review's Best Colleges List

This video is of a young Jim Morrison when he was at Florida State University, before transferring to UCLA. To verify its authenticity, read this article: State Archives of Florida.

CUNY schools dominate top spots on Princeton Review's list of best colleges in the northeast. Here is what they wrote about Hunter, specifically:

City University of New York--Hunter College Says...

Located in the heart of Manhattan, Hunter offers students the stimulating learning environment and career-building opportunities you might expect from a college that's been a part of the world's most exciting city since 1870. The largest college in the City University of New York, Hunter pulses with energy. Hunter's vitality stems from a large, h...Located in the heart of Manhattan, Hunter offers students the stimulating learning environment and career-building opportunities you might expect from a college that's been a part of the world's most exciting city since 1870.

The largest college in the City University of New York, Hunter pulses with energy. Hunter's vitality stems from a large, highly diverse faculty and student body. Its schools-Arts and Sciences, Education, the Health Professions and Social Work-provide an affordable first-rate education. Undergraduates have extraordinary opportunities to conduct high-level research under renowned faculty, and many opt for credit-bearing internships in such exciting fields as media, the arts, and government. The college's high standards and special programs ensure a challenging education.

The Block Program for first-year students keeps classmates together as they pursue courses in the liberal arts, pre-health science, pre-nursing, pre-med or honors. A range of honors programs is available for students with strong academic records, including the highly competitive tuition-free Hunter CUNY Honors College for entering freshmen and the Thomas Hunter Honors Program, which emphasizes small classes with personalized mentoring by the most outstanding faculty. Qualified students also benefit from Hunter's participation in minority science research and training programs, the prestigious Andrew W. Mellon Minority Undergraduate Program, and many other passports to professional success.

We beat out the hoity-toity schools in the area (um, er, that'd be Princeton, Columbia, NYU for example) which makes this girl, also a product of a public school undergraduate education, very pleased. Read the whole review though, they say some pretty amazing stuff about the other CUNY schools.

You Tube Weirdness and Vlogging

Have I ever told you my tragic story involving my favorite doll, Mego's Wonder Woman (see youtube-pulled commercial above to acquaint yourself with this fine, fine doll)? I saw that commercial countless times and was a huge Wonder Woman fan (big surprise, right) so I asked for her for my 6th birthday. I'll never forget it. I had my one and only birthday party, which was pretty fun as far as kiddie parties go, that is, until I opened my Wonder Woman doll and pretty much wanted everyone to leave so I could have some "alone time" with my new bff. I loved this doll so much that I broke my coveted rule not to sleep with my dolls (I didn't want to ruin their hair or risk breakage in the event of a late-night rollover), I squished-up against my wall, gave her her own tiny doll pillow (yes, I had many for my Barbie Townhouse) and off to sleep we went. It was pure bliss. That is, until the next morning when I awoke to a sharp digging pain in my lower back. And, to my horror, Wonder Woman was gone. Was she on a mission saving earth? Steve Trevor? Paradise Island? No. Her hand had broken-off and was responsible for the pain in my back, while the rest of her had fallen onto my floor. She was sprawled-out as if dead and I'd had her for less than 24 hours. So, I did what any logical 6 yr old would do, I hid her deep, deep in the bowels of my closet and I never played with her again.

What's the point of telling that story? I don't really have one except to illustrate that youtube has unbelievably random stuff out there. Unreal.

Speaking of random, remember Chris Crocker? That "Leave Britney Alone" youtube web star? It just shows you the power of Youtube. I've been doing some reading about vlogging and enclosed are some links explaining how to set-up your own vlog as well as lists of favorite vlogs. Some people think vlogging will replace blogging which would be pretty sad because quite honestly, there are so many useless vlogs on Youtube (just search "vlog" and you'll see), just as there are useless blogs, but at least blogs you have to use some creativity to write something decent, whereas many of the vlogs I've seen drunk blondes blather on about who's "hot." Anyway, you be the judge.

Linkies:

Information Wants to Be Freewww.vlogblog.com
vogmae.net/au/vlog
www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/vlogs.html

More Professional Librarian Blogs:

Information Wants to be Free
YALSA
Tame The Web: Librarians and Technology
Librarians Matter
Library Garden
Infodoodads

Here's a video on Library 2.0 that I dig.

Batgirl was a Librarian: A Simple Batgirl Pathfinder

Enough already! I know that "The Dark Knight" rocks and is kicking the crud outta every movie around, so much so that it's been sold-out pretty constantly here in NYC (or at least, while I'm not at work it's sold out), so I thought to pay a little tribute to Batgirl in the form of...a pathfinder! (And, it's a great tribute because the original Barbara Gordon was a librarian before she was Batgirl and is pretty much a web librarian now as Oracle.)

Those of you non-librarian types out there might not remember what a pathfinder is, but it's merely a list of resources to help students begin their research. But, this one is for fun and I'm going to try to whip-it-out in 45 mins (or less, depending on if any students come to the needing my help).

Character Origins:

Although DC Universe does NOT have a separate listing for Batgirl under their "Heroes & Villains" sections, they do have a listing for "The Birds of Prey" so I'm guessing that's about as close as it gets. Therefore, I'll give you a pretty general overview of the history of the character in a paragraph or less.

She was introduced in 1961 as "The Bat-Girl" and was created by Batman's original creator, Bob Kane. I haven't read any of books with this version of her in them, so I cannot really comment on this version of the character at'tall. I can, however, say that I've read many books with the Barbara Gordon Batgirl character (Comish Gordon's daughter, named after her mutha) (1966-1988) and quite enjoyed them. I read "The Killing Joke" (1988) in the day (need to read again, been on the hunt) when Batgirl gets shot and paralyzed by The Joker and then becomes Oracle (see: The Birds of Prey for continuation of the Oracle character). Then, our favorite bat-girl Huntress takes over for Batgirl in 1999, only for a couple books (I cannot recall how many). Then she becomes The Huntress and has her own books (short story arcs), shows-up in Batman and is currently a regular on The Birds of Prey. My all-time fave is Cassandra Cain, the product of assassin David Cain's loins, therefore complicated, tortured (like all good Batman-related characters should be) and testy. She debuted in a Batman book in 1999 (wearing the previous incarnation's costume), and began her own series 2000-2006. And, now she's back with a six-issue miniseries that you MUST buy (cause I have the first one and it's grrreat).


The Batgirl Pathfinder, Draft One

Books:The DC Comics Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
by Michael Teitelbaum (Author), Scott Beatty (Author), Robert Greenburger (Author)

DC Comics Covergirls (Hardcover)
by Louise Simonson (Author)

The Essential Batman Encyclopedia by Robert Greenberger (Paperback - Jun 10, 2008)

The DC Comics Encyclopedia by DC Publishing

Batman: The Complete History by Les Daniels (Paperback - Jun 2004)

DC Comics : Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels and President of DC Comics, Jenette Kahn (Hardcover - Oct 1995)

Batgirl: Year One (Batman) by Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon (Paperback - Dec 1, 2003)

Batgirl Vol. 1: Silent Running (Paperback)
by Scott Peterson (Author), Kelley Puckett (Author), Damion Scott (Author)

Batgirl #1 by Peterson (Comic - 2000)

Web Sites:

Wikipedia: Batgirl (Normally I'm not that into Wikipedia, but for this kind of thing, it's good for external resources and the bibliography lists/foot notes)

Wikipedia: Cassandra Cain

Wikipedia: Barbara Gordon

Batgirl Was a Librarian (this is mostly about librarians, but there are a few bits about Batgirl PLUS it's a fun site and inspired me when I was getting my MLIS)

Okay, so I was trying to keep this post short and failed, but by linking to Wikipedia I basically gave you some of the web sites I've used without listing them all. Tips when searching: I think should you research Batgirl, it's easier if you use her names: Barbara Gordon, Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain and Betty Kane.

If anyone knows of any reputable Batgirl web sites, please send them to me and I'll add them asap.

Editors Note: The photo in this post is a painting by Alex Ross, he's unreal.

Not-so-subtle-note-of-encouragement: Read the Cassandra Cain series, they are probably all in trade paperback (bound volumes with multiple comics in one volume) by now. They are grrrreat!

I stopped into Goodbye Blue Monday the other night to enjoy a happy hour glass of vino (dirt cheap, cool place) and I shuffled out back to check out the bands playing. Then, who sits down nearby but Phoebe Cates and her husband Kevin Kline. Yes, that is about as random as it gets. Their kids were there also (it was an underage crowd out back) so that must be the reason as they seemed to know everyone. But still. I have had a girl crush on her since "Fast Times" so it was quite cool to see her in person. And yes, she is very pretty, still, and recognizable, no doubt. It was also weird seeing Kevin Kline as I'd watched "The Big Chill" earlier in the week when I was illin' so seeing those folks in person is always a bit odd.

Then, the next day I was pawing through veggies at USQ farmers market and there was good ole' Malcolm McLaren of Sex Pistols/Bow Wow Wow/Adam and the Ants and Sex Shop fame. Double-true.

Today's Linkies:

Work/Library/Technology-Related:
LifeHacker: A Tech Tips Blog. A good one, too.

A Listing and Summary of some choice library blogs.


Fun/Interesting Stuff:

Sioux Falls Animal Humane Society: I really like the way they updated their site, in particular the listing of adoptable pets is an easy to read list and it's very cool that they have accompanying video.

Must go eat, feeling crummy again today. I'll to this list later today.

Hey, That's My Chew! Gimmie!

Uh oh, here she goes again posting photos of her dog. Yup. She's damn cute so you can't stop me. This one is from Tuesday night, right after I bought her this g-damn nasty azz chew that is solid rawhide on the outside, but the fun surprise is the shaved rawhide bits on the inside. These bits are super fun, they crumble, stink, and coat everything they touch. Oh, what I do for luv.

I'm still a sniffly mess and I'm NOT happy about it. Also, it makes me crabby. Here are my categorized updates.

Subway Yesterday:

Every step of the way yesterday, on each leg of my commute, after the doors closed there were people either preaching or asking for money, always starting-out like this: "Good [morning/evening/afternoon] Ladies and Gentlemen. I don't mean to disturb you but..." and it went from there. Now, I never have cash (a symptom of not banking here, not yet anyway, so I get charged-up the wazoo to withdrawl so I normally get cash by paying a tab with my card and my friends then pay me), so I rarely give people money. But yesterday, being sick and all, I found myself disgruntled by the last person on the 6 at like, what, 8pm last night. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Then, these 20-somethings around me pulled-out crockpots and other containers of food and started handing them over to this guy. Suddenly I realized that in truth, maybe, like Sandler in "The Wedding Singer" "I am an asshole." Lesson to learn here: don't turn into one of those hardened people, everyone has a story to tell. Also, NYers are nice people, just not me yesterday.

What's on Tap for Today:
Me and some friends from work are going to lunch at a fancy foo-foo place up here on the Upper East Side (or UES as they say on CL or Craigslist). It's NYC restaurant Week and I thought sure, when else can I afford fine-dining? I'll post a full-review after I gorge.

Not much else is a-happening-hot-stuff for me today EXCEPT, some dude name Joshua (um, k) called me a "Troll" in a line of blog comments today. I beg to differ. But hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no? I haven't heard anyone called a troll since my mid-90's AOL days. Those were the good old days in dial-up evil chat rooms.

Linkies:

Mashable's Guide to Conferences and Events (There are some Web 2.0 events.)

Friendfeed (Track yer pallies by creating an account. I aint got no friends so it's useless to me.)

A NYT article on the deadly dog flu. What's funny about this (if there is such a thing) is that none of the local news stations here in the city gave much detail on this. Basically, they said there's a dog flu and it's catchy and don't let yer dog near a coughing and hacking dog (duh, who does that) and that if your dog keeps coughing for three (!) weeks, take them to the vet. I dunnon bout' chew (Willis) but when Maddy got kennel cough it took two days of coughing before I took her in. Also, why not tell me what could happen? Is it fatal? Typical. But, this article does a decent job of putting things into perspective. Fear-based media, why I oughta....

Top Ten Reasons I Want to be Mary Tyler Moore (circa the MTM Show)

Yes, my jaw in that shot makes me look a) fat b) like Minnie Driver, neither option is good. I am so NOT photogenic nor am I awake enough to play the replace-my-face Photoshop game (didn't even try to match skin tones, so be it).

Top Ten Reasons Why I Wish I Were Mary Tyler Moore as the character she played on her 1970's series.

1. One word: Spunky

2. Purrfectly nummy hair and wardrobe (on the first three seasons anyway) and oh-so-1970's thin.

3. I want people to call me "Mare" instead of Mary (which means I'd be called "Dane" which wouldn't be cool).

4. How I long to utter the words, "Oh Lou!"

5. Rhoda was a real WTF bff and I could use someone like her dropping in on me all the time (plus, dig the scarves she wrapped around her noggin).

6. Love the apartment. The sunk-in bed reminds me of John Lennon's apartment in "Help."

7. She's single and loving every minute of it (single women in the world unite) but still dates some fuglys.

8. Let's Murray go on pretending he isn't gay (that Mare sure is a nice gal).

9. Seriously, was a role model for Oprah, now if that isn't enough.

10. SHE LIVES IN MY HOMETOWN!!!!!! (I'd move back in a second, I miss ya Minneapolis!)

The only downer, crappy job. A producer for a go-nowhere show? Huh? I dig my gig as a librarian, wouldn't give it up for the world (fist bump to all you librarians out there, you know you agree).

Thanks to www.hulu.com for reminding me how much I love this show. (And, did you know Husker Du does a cover of the theme song. Yah, huh, fer real.)

Librarian Blogs in Review

Yes, that is a picture of Mary from "It's a Wonderful Life" as a spinster librarian. Oh, how sad....

The Linkies:

The Good:
The Shifted Librarian
Unlike other blogs with the words library or librarian in their titles (I'll get to those later), this one actually stays on-topic. When asked to define what a "Shifted Librarian" is the author, Jenny Levine writes, "So I call myself "The Shifted Librarian," but what does that mean? I took the name from a presentation that I do called "Information Shifting" about how the change from pursuing information to receiving information is and will be affecting libraries." I've been reading this one since library school, she really does a great job of introducing new and interesting technologies. If nothing else, take a look at the links on the right-sidebar, (under "Virtual Jenny") they'll help the beginning blogger get started.

The Annoyed Librarian
I like this blog because its purpose is quite clearly stated, "Whatever it is, I'm against it." She refers to herself in the third-person and asserts in the most recent post that "Occasionally I think about the purpose of this blog, and based on the last couple of posts, I'm pretty sure I know. One purpose of the AL is to let librarians vent in the comments, to provide a forum for open discussion and argument. This is of course one of the things that has always bothered my critics. For people who claim not to take anyone seriously who writes anonymously, some of my critics sure seem to get their knickers in a twist about this blog." I believe there is value in our profession, as it is in ALL professions, to have a place to vent. Often, in doing-so, we learn how to do things better and feel good all at the same time. Bravo. Plus, sometimes the posts are very funny.

The Lipstick Librarian
I'm a fairly new reader to this one, but she's entertaining and offers some interesting insights (as well as rants, some with naughty not-safe-for Tipper Gore's ears language). Decent links throughout.

Librarian.net
This is another blog I've been reading for a while. The author, Jessamyn West, is a decent writer who always turns me onto issues and provides links to articles in the profession that otherwise I don't always spot in my normal reading/research life. She makes it easy for me to pop-in and out of hot topics and tends to also keep her posts brief and entertaining. Isn't that what topic-specific blogs should do? Methinks so. Yes. I also like her use of Youtube.

The Unquiet Librarian
She's gets crazy with the multi-media but I like. She (don't know the author's name, cannot easily find a profile) inspires me to add new media to my library's blog (but first, we must rebuild it, then they will come).

Take a look at the 2007 Edublog Awards for Best Library/Librarian Blogs HERE.

www.librarystuff.net
Just found it. I read today's article, very interesting but the posted linkies are wrong-o-daddy-o.

Library Web Chic
This one speaks to what I do for a living. Probably my favorite of these types of subject-specific blogs.

Librarian in Black
Also real specific for my j-o-b.

Not Always on-Topic but Worth Taking a Looksie:
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian
I just discovered this one so a review is pending...prolific though. Oh, but not always on-topic, still interesting.


Librarian Avengers
This is a new discovery for me. The author, Erica Olsen, is a User Experience Designer for Second Life (!) but was previously at Cornell in what appears to be in a role working with their digital recordings library, that part is a bit unclear. Either way, although mostly NOT about librarianship, there are spatterings here and there and the technology posts are certainly useful to us Web Librarians (that'd be me, y'all). I am interested in SL and she also offers links to resources, blogs, web sites, etc, that us librarians can dig. Oh, and she has a sense of humor. Rare.

The Tattooed Librarian
I like this one not only because I'm a tattooed librarian, but also because she (I think) has a lot of funny posts that don't really have much to do with librarianship, but make me snicker. Oh, and now and again she throws me a professional tid-bit.

The Travelin Librarian
This one I've been reading for a while, mostly because the author, Michael Sauers, wrote a scathing post abot a presentation I gave when I was very green in the profession. I also love the unique Nebraskan angle he gives to his posts. I think it's too cluttered, way, way, way, too cluttered, and when he's not posting about useless things like how many Starbucks are closing in Nebraska (must be earth-shattering to them, I surmise) he does sometimes offer-up interesting technologies and their possible uses in libraries. I just wish he wasn't so humorless, it could be so much more fun to read. Either way, I urge you to take a looksie.

The Effing Librarian
So the author of this blog commented for this post so I checked it out and it tis quite funny, ew, la, la. I hadn't heard of it previously, which is surprising because it looks to me like this fine, disgruntled (is that how you spell that word, I'm too sick and tired to spell check) fella is quite amusing. I also like that he refers to his language as "salty" in the profile, I haven't heard that phrase since my grandmother used it when I was a wee wittle girly goo.

That's all for now. My schnaze (as my dad refers to his nose) is running all over the place so I must mop-it-up (not "Lick it up," as Veronica told Heather #1 in "Heathers" after she puked all-over the hallway during the Frat house party). I digress.

Over and, sneeze, out.

Final Note (10:30pm): Here in mighty Brooklyn the rain, thunder and lightening is making my two animal companions quiver and I'm not far behind. What am I? Three? Nope, still sickly and feeling tender (and not in a good way). Rain, rain, go away, come again another...

I Peel Tick

I feel like this dog looks. But the previous two days I couldn't move from the sofa. What a mess. And what's worse is that it took hold, or at least started to, on Saturday night during Yaz I started to feel light-headed, VERY light-headed. Blows. Chunks. Oh well, I'm human so what do you do? I don't have a great tolerance for sickness and I think I know why. I got this angry vmail from my mother asking why I treat her like such, shall we say, crud, to be nice. Now, admittedly, I was incredibly busy last week and had planned to phone her this weekend, but then I got sick so I haven't called anyone. Not really. Text. Yes. Calls. No (ain't got no voice sir).

Anywho. So I emailed her letting her know I was down for the count. She doesn't reply. Worried that I may have the wrong email address (it happens, I was on my Crackberry) I called her and that conversation went something like this:

Me: Did you get the email I sent? I'm sick which is why I haven't called you back.
Her: Yeah, it was a horrendous day at work, sorry I didn't email you back. What did you do to get yourself sick?
Me: What? I'm to blame for being sick?
Her: Well no, but you must be running yourself down. Are you eating right? Sleeping enough? Taking your vitamins?

Good grief.

To any of the concerned out there, yes, I am feeling better today. I'm no longer making deals with God I cannot keep. I have stopped forcing my dog to cuddle with me when she'd clearly rather bite the hair off of my cat's ears. I showered.

But still, doesn't getting sick in the summer just suck? For some reason it's far worse than getting sick in the winter, I don't know why. I guess because it's so nice outside and here you are laying in a pool of your own stink. The only saving grace was/is that it's so dreadfully hot and humid outside that being indoors isn't such a bad think (says me with a stuffed-up nose). Right?

Today's Links: Library Websites that Stand Out (per my colleagues here at the library, thus, these are not my comments, just paraphrasing theirs)

http://www.library.phila.gov/ Good usability and the interface design is broken-down into three simple categories.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/index.html The main page is good, decent color-scheme, easy to understand. The underlying pages not-so-much.

http://www.library.umass.edu/index.html Good colors and interface design. The five most commonly-used links stay in place on all pages in the gray section.

http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/ Good "Featured Link" and "Did You Know" links. Scrolling news announcement at top also eye-catching.

http://www.library.miami.edu/

http://www.lib.washington.edu/

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/ Drab colors, decent architecture.

A FINAL NOTE: Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville" just had it's 15th (!!!!!!!) anniversary and there is a special edition out now. Check it out. If you don't already have the record, oh, the horror. What's lame is that Liz Phair is doing the music for "Swingtown" a guilty pleasure for me, but man, Liz, I thought you were going to change maybe not the world, but something. (I'm listening to Exile now, still as great as ever.)

Getting Crazy with the Cheese Whiz: Maddy's New Haircut

I am back with a vengence (not really). Sioux Falls was, well, Sioux Falls but I wasn't there to visit the town, I was there to visit a person (which is none of your bees wax). So there.

The magic behind the picture
When I took this picture I taunted Maddy with the following words to get her to cock her apple-head like that: "Madd-eee, come-on my little girl-eee, Mad-dad-dad-eee" and I ended it with a high pitched, "Are you my bunny?" and that is when the camera went click.

I'm dragging today. I had to work the desk until 9pm last night and be back here at 8:30am. Mercy me. I'm so hurtin' I had to order a venti tub-o-latte (that I let get cold, no less, not used to such a large latte I didn't time my swilling right). Oh, and, I'm at the desk again and agreed to do three hours today. I'm tough. The best part of last night, though, was that I didn't get one, not-a-one reference question. Why I oughtta...

When I got on the train yesterday during my morning commute it was hotter than the devil's armpit in there, I thought I was going to yak. Instead, I focused all my attention on the commuter seated directly across from me (much like the way you're supposed to focus on an object when you give birth (see the film "She's Having a Baby," you remember that scene in the hospital with Kevin Bacon blocking the bunny statuette when Eliz was having contractions, funny stuff). Let me describe him: he was in his early 30's, was wearing khaki shorts, black socks, off-brand Converse-esque type shoes, a short sleeved dress shirt, pens in the pocket, carrying a scuffed-up leather briefcase. Oh, and on his forearm was a giant portrait tattoo of Madonna. No. Not the virgin. Madonna Cicconne. Huh? It was his only tattoo, but it was good and was so detailed I caught it all from across the aisle. He must really like Madonna. I mean, I like Madonna, I do, but not that much. That type of committment I reserve for marriage (not that I'd get a spousal portrait, but you get the jist). From time-to-time I hate on Madonna. Right now, as a matter of fact, she's on my list. Why? Okay, for starters, the new record, not that good. Then, there's the INSANE (in the membrane, sorry, couldn't resist) ticket prices for her new show. I saw her for the Confessions tour and thought I dropped a bundle (close to 200 clams a ticket), but now it's closer to 400 clams for the same seats, at the Garden, no less. Sorry, but us normal people cannot fork out that much dough for a show that lasts less than 1 1/2 hours, do the math, it just ain't worth it maam. Plus, the accompanying videos for the new record are boring. Ya hear that Madge, B-O-R-I-N-G. So no, I wouldn't commit to Madonna the way my subway dude did because laser surgery still leaves a faint shadow. Now Marilyn Monroe, well you know I would and I have. She's my girly girl.

Today's Linkies are blogs of people who I wish were my friends (or at least would go out for one cocktail with me, just one because I'm a lush now):

http://raining-noodled.blogspot.com

http://jihky.blogspot.com/

http://julia.typepad.com/

http://serializer.net/comics/micrographica.php

http://blog.ninapaley.com/

http://www.theoldhag.com/

http://www.elguapodc.blogspot.com/

http://www.upsaid.com/eurotrash/

http://www.gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/

http://www.francisstrand.blogspot.com/

~No sleep til Brooklyn (ain't that the truth)~

Murakami in Brooklyn and Librarians Punked

I made it to the Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art by the hair of my chiny-chin-chin and I must say, the long commute was well-worth it. Jeff was able to sneak a couple photos in the gallery using his mighty iPhone, until he got caught and stopped. So here is one of my favorite sculptures, a piece I'd seen for the first time at the show that really opened me up to a whole new art scene, Let's Entertain at The Walker Art Center back in 2000. It's amazing in person, so beautiful yet grotesque. The show at BMA was quite a happening, the galleries with gigantic paintings and clusters of sculptures were jammed with people ewwing and ahhing. I was among those people. It's hard to believe Murakami is only a couple years older than me and he's accomplished so much. Made me feel like a bit of a chump.

The only bummer: the Louis Vuitton shop set-up right as you left the gallery selling "exclusive" bags Murakami designed. Always. Lame.

On another note, I was turned-on to an interesting debate regarding Google using us Librarians to further their evil empire (dontcha just love those words together, evil and empire, very Star Wars of me). Read the following posts and decide for yourself. I'm somewhat conflicted and need to marinate on the whole debate before issuing an official statement.

Steven Cohen's Library Stuff Blog posting, How Google Used Librarians ang Got Away with It.

Steven Bell's Nice Infomercial, Google, in Library Journal.

Sarah Houghton Jan's Google Punked Us, on her librarianinblack.net blog.

Weigh in all...

As for me, this'll be my last post for several days as I'm going back to Sioux Falls, SD to say goodbye to that fair state for good and to tie-up a couple loose ends (anyone want to buy my scooter, lemme know). Think of me in the great prarie once again, tipping cows and rustling sheep.

Toodle, do, all.

Six Degrees of Separation from Diana Prince

I splish-splashed through the rain on Saturday and finally made it to the Superheroes exhibit at the Met. It was grrreat! I plan to go again and maybe even again. The big thrill for me, of course, was seeing the Wonder Woman costume worn by the goddess Linda Carter from the famed 1970's series. It was about as close to meeting the Amazon Princess I think I'll ever get (suspension of disbelief here people, of course I know comic book heroes are not real people, but I'm reliving my childhood here so let's just go with it). There were a few surprises from the exhibit (btw, I plan NOT to talk about the fashion aspect on this post, I will get into that after I see the show again and have more time to get past the thrill of seeing the costumes). The first, of course, was the WW costume. Ms. Carter had a striking figure, that much I could ascertain from just one viewing (albeit lengthy viewing, apologies to all those standing behind me as I planted myself, tree-like, in front of the display). Also, as you can tell from this photo (which I didn't take, too fearful of the "No photos!" scolding I often hear when snapping pictures at shows) that the blue turned to purple, I guess it faded. Otherwise, the costume is as great as I thought it would be, much better than the plastic crap I bought at Kmart year, after Halloween year, of my portrayal of the mighty princess.

I also got to finally see Wonder Woman #1, Sensation Comics, for the first time ever (again, I was rooted in place, examining every last detail). It was thrilling, it was, I admit.

As for other highlights (spoiler alert to you Batman fans): the costume worn by Christian Bale in the upcoming Batman flick. It was great. It looked like rubber (which some of it had to have been, for sure the mask) but neither rubber nor plastic were listed as materials. But it was very cool, very interesting. I saw the nicks on the utility belt as well as the scuffs on the boots (his feet are sorta small) telling signs of its use in the film, it looked used.

Another cool costume was the Superman/Christopher Reeves from the first film, two Spidy costumes (one black, the other red) which had zippers along the rib cage, but were otherwise spandex (that Toby M, is a smallish fellow). Oh, and the Iron Man suit, I don't know how Robby could move around in that thing, he must've stood completely still. Finally, Catwoman, now, I'd seen one before when I was in L.A. around the time that film came out, but this was one that was ripped-up looking so it was very fun to picture tiney, tiney Michelle P, crawling around in that thing. That woman is so small she's child-like.

Art, all of it is, was and forever shall be art as far as I'm concerned.

Link to the show: Superheroes

Chilling Evidence of the Shih Tzu Revolution

Check out this site: http://www.obeythepurebreed.com/

Happy 4th of July

Happy day before the 4th of July!

Have you ever written what you think to be an excellent post and then, instead of clicking on the mighy "Publish Post" button, you, out of habit, hit the back arrow? No. You're too smart to do something like that. Apparently I'm not and did just that. Idgit.

Today's Stupidest Person of the City Award Goes to:.....
The woman who let her dog walk on the escalator stairs only to get his paw and tail jammed into the angry teeth of the escalator because he didn't know how escalators work (something that was crammed down my throat when I was a kid, "If your shoelaces get caught in those teeth you could lose your foot" my sister always warned me). Apparently the dog's high-pitched screams could be heard in the library. Can you imagine? What kind of smarts does it take to know NOT to let your dog accompany you on an escalator unless held? Especially a tiney tiny one.

As for the dog, luckily he gets to keep his paw and tail but was cut-up. The woman, well, she lost her brain (if she even had one) a long time ago to do something that idiotic. I fear for that dog's future.

Today's Linkies:

http://www.accrediteddldegrees.com/2008/100-awesome-youtube-vids-for-librarians/ This one is good for us librarian-types.

Explore Jamestown VA

Test Drive a VW from Your Desk

Art Institute of Pittsburgh (I like this concept)

My Pregnancy Pregnancy information presented in a cool way.

http://ydouthink.com/ Release your inner artist.

Local.com Search Engine (sort of)

Play a Spelling Bee game

Going GREEN was never so much fun.

Another crazy interactive site, click around on easter eggs to explore/unlock hidden areas.

It's so cute it must be stopped. It's a game but also a great marketing ploy.

Ew, ahhh....

Who's Yer Bunny?

Maddy is my bunny. Fer ser.

I'm web updating today so no linkies to share, but to make-up for it I've enclosed a picture of my puppy in a Sherpa on the subway, she's rip-roaring and ready to go.