I'm back from ALA Annual in Chicago (American Library Association meeting - where thousands of librarians swoop in, learn stuff, get free books, and waddle home with swag in tow).

You know, I'm not a very good librarian.  I like books - I like organizing them.  I like putting them into their spots, and I like to catalog them with all the numbers and subject headings and fiddly bits.

But I don't like people enough to be a good librarian. I know we're supposed to be all for freedom of this and that, and access for everyone, and whatever.  And, I am.  Just not enough to really advocate for it.  Will I stand in the way of someone whose rights are being threatened?  I may furrow my brow and tut-tut, but will I actually move myself to help?  Probably not.

I like to read.  I don't like people.  I like to be alone, and to be left alone. 

Why can't jobs I'd probably be really good at be available to me?  For instance, I would make an excellent assassin. I sure like money more than I like people.  I'd get more money to buy books, and make fewer people to bother me while I read them! Sign me up!

I used to want to be a writer. But, it turns out you need to really understand people in order to write about them. My people in my stories are usually just varying forms of me. And that's not much fun for other people to read. It's being alone though, and that's very appealing. You do, pretty much, have to be left alone in order to write.

Would anyone like to train me to be an assassin? 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

 

So, you know the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, from which HBO's True Blood comes? I read the first one again, and it's much better now that I've seen the show. The first time I tried to read this, I don't think I caught the snarkiness. Now I get it though, and I've enjoyed re-reading the first book.  Now I've got the second book, but I realize that it may give away some of the plot points of the second series of True Blood... and since I still like the show better, I'm going to hold off on reading any more of the books just yet.

 

Read Trick Or Treatment, by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. Read it front to back. Everyone needs to.  I thought Chiropractors were just "back doctors". They so totally aren't.

 

 

Husband and I have been enjoying our bi-weekly boxes from the local CSA. So far they've mostly been lettuce, but as the summer progresses we'll be getting more things that I'm looking forward to, like zucchini and squash and cucumbers and tomatoes. Since I've learned I have no patience or talent for gardening myself, it's lovely to have fresh produce from someone who does.

 

On the fandom front, take a look at what Linzy's done to our home. It's looking quite snazzy! 

And speaking of fandoms, Harry Potter 6 is out next week!  I'm excited. I'm pretty sure I'm going to the midnight show, since I've got the Friday after that off.  We'll see if I have anyone crazy enough to go with me or not.

 

And finally, this upcoming weekend I will be in Chicago for the American Library Association Annual convention.  Neil Gaiman will be there, so I'll be getting my Graveyard Book signed, and will also attend the Newbery Award banquet to see him receive his award. Fun times!

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

I blame it on the short week - we've got Friday off for Independence Day. Hooray! There will be fireworks in the park on the 3rd, and perhaps I can convince The Husband to sear me some cowflesh on the grill on the 4th.  Corn on the cob, too. Yummm.

So why are we all trying to better ourselves all the time?  Is there any point at which we ever say, "Okay, there, I'm as good as I"m going to get"?  On the flipside, if you're NOT trying to better yourself, you're seen as a lazybutt. Why AREN'T you trying to better yourself?  You're certainly not perfect - I'd be happy to list out your flaws for you if you don't know what they are.

It's also much easier, I think, to list your own flaws, and it's interesting to note that they don't always match the list that someone else might have for you. Something you list as a strength might be what someone else views as a weakness. Nothing to be done about it - but interesting to note.

So there you go, my false-mid-week philosophizing. Have some more cute Tim Minchin clips (he guest-VJ'd on Australias Rage TV) to numb your brain from the ache of all that thinking I just made you do.

 

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Technology's evolution is much like biological, (only much faster, obviously). The changes aren't always "good", or "forward". Sometimes someone invents something and thinks it'll change everything, but it disappears because in real-life usage, it just doesn't happen (8-track tapes, anyone? Beta?  Beta?)

However, I'd like to take a stand in support of my Kindle.  Perhaps even e-books in general, although I admit to having a bias for Amazon's fantastic setup - the 3G "Whispernet" which, without any additional costs, will deliver me books in under 60 seconds, immediately.  That's IMMEDIATELY, folks.  That means, that Tuesday at midnight when that new title for which you've been aching comes available, in can be in your hot little hands without you ever getting your lazy ass out of your armchair.  And if that ain't fantastic, I don't know what is.

For me though, it's not just instant gratification.  My kindle allows me the following squees:

1) I can carry LOTS of titles around with me, all at once.  I'm one of those people who tends to read several books at the same time. If I'm at work or in line at the post office, and I feel like dipping in to that fantastic Simon Singh book about the fallacies of alternative medicine, I've got it right there. Or if I want to continue reading my vampire porn by Laurel K. Hamilton, I've got them all, right there.  RIGHT. THERE. 

2) And by RIGHT THERE, did you know I don't even have to actually have my Kindle with me?  My selection of books follows me around in iPhone form as well.  Because my iPhone and my Kindle can talk to each other!  If I happen to be in that post office line without my Kindle in my purse (which, by the way, I can totally do because it weighs less than a paperback book and takes up less space) then I can pull up the title on my iPhone, and it'll be RIGHT THERE on the page i was last reading.  If that's not magic, I don't know what is.

3) The whiners cry, "But what about the FEEL of a book in your hands?  The smell of them? I like my physical books!"  Well, this sounds like a personal sort of fetish to me. But yeah, I do understand. Books should be smelly (to quote Captain Picard).  I'm NOT one of those people who say the e-book readers will take over and someday the library will be nothing but a stack of e-files to be downloaded.  But I DO believe that an e-reader, for a reading-lover, is a fantastic addition to a collection. You may resist trying them out, but once you do I think you'll understand.  You've been in that situation where you're reading Neal Stephenson's newest 960-page hardback brick, Anathem? Where you're trying to balance that in one hand while you eat your lunch in the other?  Ouch.  With my Kindle, I can read ANY book, whether it's Neil Gaiman's 176-page Coraline or the entirety of Stephen King's Dark Tower series without so much as straining my hand, or shifting around to turn the page. The button is RIGHT THERE.  Easially accessed by my thumb with a mere click.  The feel of a 2-lb. brick compared to a few-ounces?  I'm just not that much of a masochist.

4) And if you complain that the screen hurts your eyes, you've obviously never tried these e-readers because the "electronic ink" is *just* like reading a regular paper page. BETTER, damn you, because you can at-a-touch-of-a-button change the font size if you wish. And guess what, you can also look up words with the built-in-dictionary (again without having to get up and hunt down your copy or get online) and highlight paragraphs and write "notes in the margin", all just like a regular book, but better, because you're not defacing the thing by doing so. 

Finally, I do agree with the naysayers that the e-books, as of yet, don't really have a place in the public libraries.  I just don't see how that would really work - or why.  You "rent" out the unit, so the person can keep it for, what, a week? Two?  And browse the collection of books on the unit, or would they be able to download new titles?  It's just not a system that is set up for sharing.  If everyone in the world had an e-book reader, and could download titles from the library (for a week or two), then that might work.  But I don't think techology (or demand) is quite there yet.

I will not give up my physical books.  I do like them, and I agree there's nothing quite so wonderful as a shelf full of your favorite books.  But I will NOT be one of the e-book haters - I think the techology world has something fantastic going on there, and I think it's only going to get better.  Resist it all you want, but do you really want to be the only old fart on the block who still insists on listening to his records "because the scratchiness adds a certain blah blah blah"?  Really?  DO YOU?

Added: It really is okay if you YOU don't want an e-book reader. Just... don't be one of those people who have never tried one and say they're dumb. It's just like being a non-twitterer who rants and raves about how stupid twitter is. You just make it more obvious that you don't get it.

Another added point: The reason the Kindle works so well for ME is, I already buy 99.9% of my books from Amazon. I can understand if you're not used to ordering your books online, that you'd balk at the idea that with a Kindle you'd have to purchase EVERYTHING (for the Kindle anyway) from amazon.com. It's a bit of a committment that some people may not be willing to accept. It works for me though because Amazon already gets most of my money anyway - all they need to do to own my soul completely is invent a Replicator so I can buy all my clothes, food, and other household items from them as well. :)

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

This one is, for me at least. Tomorrow I'm taking off for a couple of days in Chicago - mainly to see Neil Gaiman accept his Young Adult Book Award at the Printer's Row Lit Fest, but also to run around and see other things, like the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry.

So, how about some Tim Minchin for your Thursday? This is some "classic" Tim, which someone has illegally ripped from his "So F**king Rock" DVD. Enjoy!

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

This isn't new, but the vid is a better one that has previously appeared on YouTube.

It's the "JLA Song"!

 

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

So, last December two outstanding musicans got together for a little sing in Dublin.

Tim Minchin joined Duke Special on stage - and from what I heard and from the pictures I saw, it was as close to heaven as many of us non-heaven-believing people can ever hope to get.

Thrillingly, a Northern Ireland television station recently aired the concert, and a lovely person loaded it up on YouTube. So now we can ALL experience a tiny bit of the heavenly.

WATCH! And be AMAZED. :)

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Tired of Monday kicking my ass. So even though I got very little sleep last night, I'm not letting Monday get the better of me. Nope. In fact I'm denying Monday's very existence. It's not Monday. It's Slapdown day. Booyah.

Saw Bo Burnham on Friday - he was very funny. The audience was extremely loud and rowdy though - a mix of it being the "late show" (started at 10pm) so lots of people were already drunk, and there's that fable of the full moon having something to do with it as well. At least the rowdiness was very positive-flavored. Much more of the "I looooveeee youuuuuu Bo!" rather than get-off-the-stage-fag kind of heckling.

I'm currently listening to Amanda Palmer over and over and over. I love her attitude. She's on Twitter too (@amandapalmer) and she updates regularly. Recently she went back to her old high school and helped the kids there write and produce their own musical. That's pretty damn cool of her.

Take a look at her awesomeness:

 

She makes me want to walk around in my underwear and shout "Fuck You" at anyone who says anything about it. I hope I have the chance to see her live sometime - she'll be a hoot.

So in making Monday my bitch, I'm listening to Who Killed Amanda Palmer while I'm cataloging music CDs. Who needs love when there's Southern Comfort? The sandwiches are wicked and they know you at the Mac store.

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Husband still hasn't been able to get into the fields to start planting, due to all the rain. This sucks because apparently the later they plant, the lower the yields, which means a lower income for the year. Blah. Go away rain, yeah? Just for a few weeks. Then come back over the summer. Kthnx.

 

Reading... I'm currently sucked into a girlie-sci-fi series that Felicia Day

recommended (via Twitter and via Goodreads... how cool is THAT now?) Right now I'm only on the first one, Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair. And loving it. I think I needed some fluff to read since I'm

also (still) working my way through Trick or Treatment by Singh and Ernst.  Why does it take so long for me to read nonfiction? And does everyone encounter this problem?

Anyway, they're good books. Especially the Trick or Treatment - I think it's something that everyoen should read, since it's so hard these days to discern "real" medicine from the quakery. 

 

 

 

What else?  Still planning my fun-exciting trip to England this autumn.  At some point I'll blog in detail about all the places I'll be going and the people I'll be seeing.  It'll be a long, grand adventure, and I can't wait!

And finally, since no blog post of mine can be without a little bit of Tim Minchin, enjoy this nice audience-vid of Tim performing Bears Don't Dig On Dancing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

 

 

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Parts 2-4 have been posted!  Give 'em a watch.  Poor runny-nosed Tim.

 

 

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Lookit what we've got for you today - it's a video version of the Skeptic Zone interview with Tim Minchin!

 

And even better, it says Part 1... so hopefully the rest will be uploaded soon as well.

Enjoy!

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Thanks to Linzy for finding this!

This is Tiernan Douieb.  He's a funny guy.  And he's from London so he's got a really cute accent, too.

 

He's trying to get to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. To get there, he needs money.

Watch him for a bit here:

 

And if he made you laugh at all, you might consider giving him some money so he can take his act to Scotland.  Or, if you're just feeling generous.  Or, if you're just a lovely person and you do this sort of thing - help out a stranger, gain some karma.  Or something.

Donate HERE!

He's a very nice guy.  You can also follow him on Twitter!

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Because Friday is for wonderful things, here's a new Skeptic Zone podcast with Tim Minchin, being his usual brilliant self.

Have a listen!

Right here.

And while you're at it, you should listen to this interview of people who are performing at Melbourne's Comedy Festival (Des Bishop, Tim Minchin and master of magic, James Galea) because their conversation is fantastic and very eye-opening.

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Neil Gaiman's Sandman fans will appreciate this one (made of awesome, gakked from Kitty's Neverwear blog)

 

 

And you can join with me in pointing and laughing at these nitwits... (really - don't enter the argument if you have no idea what you're talking about...)

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

It's an oldie but a goodie. Music vids! Canvas Bags! It's an earworm! You're welcome!

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

What I know about women: Tim Minchin
Published Date: 12 August 2008

Comedian Tim Minchin, 33, is married with one daughter and lives in North London.

I'M A ladies' man, no question. Not in the Russell Brand kind of way, quite the contrary in fact. But I love women; always have.

I like warm, laughing, open women because they hug me and I like that because their skin is soft and they have boobs.

I like cold, aloof women who are hard to impress because it's so satisfying when they smile, eventually. I like little petite women because unlike little petite men, they tend to be totally happy in their littleness.

I like big curvy women because, well, because they're curvy and big and for some reason such geometry seems correlated (dare I say) with ease of laughter and sharpness of wit.

I like really old women because they were nurses in wars and you think they are all pruney and conservative but then they call someone a f***ing idiot for changing lanes without indicating. I like female lawyers because they wear suits and know how to argue. Nice.

I like women who dress up in heels and illogically short dresses and lots of make-up, because why not? I like women who refuse to wear make-up and refuse to shave their legs and only ever wear jeans. There were a lot more of them in the 90s. Where did they go? They're probably the lawyers in suits now.

I like women who want to be looked after and I like women who want to look after you. I like straight women and gay women. I like bi-curious women.

Everyone does.

I think I quite fancy Japanese women, but that's ridiculous because there are loads of them and so statistically some of them would be really annoying and have no sense of humour.

I don't find women mysterious the way blokes always claim to. Or rather, I find them mysterious, but sort of figure-outable.

I think I like women because I grew up surrounded by the bloody things: a mother who told it as she saw it, who laughed at funny stuff and fought annoying stuff and freaked out at scary stuff; smart, funny sisters who looked up to me and hounded me and laughed and laughed and laughed; cousins who played music and wore bikinis and looked beautiful in ball dresses; grandmothers who danced comically and taught me tapestry; aunts with critical eyes and sparkling eyes and folk bands; a godmother with envelopes of $20 bills and buckets of silliness.

And then the girlfriends, of which I've only had two. Number one was my first love, my uni-crush, my virginity-taker, my KFC-and-videos-when-we-should-be-at-lectures. We were together for three years and then she broke my heart. Temporarily, it transpired.

The second was an injured dancer turned lawyer – who taught me to love jazz and women in suits; the one who taught me there might be love beyond first love.

The third was the first one again, who proved – in the end – that for me there was to be no getting over the first love. At the end of next year, we will have been together half our lives – pretty rare for 33-year-olds these days.

Maybe more than anything else, I probably love women because they've always been nice to me. Which is nice of them.

Now I've got a new woman. She wakes me at night and I go into her room grumpy and tired but glad for the opportunity to see her. She's a mystery to me, but I'll figure her out.

(From here.)

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Isn't this the most silly/sweet thing you've ever seen?

I think it is.

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Today's Unshelved comic strip is perfection in simplicity. Great for librarians, but can also be applied to teachers, comedians... anyone who exposes people to new ideas.

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Tim Minchin is still in Australia, and from the reports, sweeping through very successfully! Which is lovely but predictable. The man's charisma is impossible to resist, after all. See him in person, and just try not to fall for him, I challenge you!

Anyway, he did this thingy for Australian television to promote their Melbourne Comedy Festival. It's just recorded off someone's TV set but the sound is pretty decent for that. Plus, further recorded evidence of the evolution of The Wiggle. Fun stuff! Enjoy -

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com

Incredible news out of Texas: creationists have lost a big battle to destroy science education in the Lone Star State!

Meanwhile, in other good news... both Vermont and New Hampshire have passed bills that approve gay marriage. Way to go, New England!

 

 

Originally posted on slytherinlibrarian.vox.com