Hip Hop Portraits

New Yorker artist Alex Melamid - at one time the Soviet Union's most famous dissident artist - unveiled twelve life-size paintings of hip hop icons and stragglers in his first solo show, Holy Hip-Hop, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in 2008. The exhibt has also shown in LA and New York at the Forum Gallery. The dozen include: Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Common, Kanye West, Reverend Run, Duke, Lil Jon, Don “Magic” Juan, Whoo Kid, Marc Ecko and Russell Simmons. The twelve are dressed in their ordinary clothes but rendered in an “Old Master style,” providing the series with compelling imagery. Only 50 Cent actually sat while the artist painted. The rest of the portraits were done from photographs. Melamid says he got into the project because of his son, "Dan the Man" Melamid, who produces hip-hop music videos. "Realism is the only thing I can do," he says. "I can't do anything else. Like the rappers. They can't play violins."

Melamid used to work with another former Soviet artist, Vitaly Komar, and the Library has two books by the team.

Painting by numbers: Komar and Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art
Komar/Melamid: Two Soviet Dissident Artists

If you would rather listen to hip hop, APL has four of the top hip hop albums from 2009.

Eminem's Relaps3

J Dilla's Jay Stay Paid

K’Naan's Troubadour

Method Man's Blackout! 2

I want to take a “National Geographic” picture!

Well, who doesn’t??? National Geographic magazine has been the inspiration of lots of photographers that grew up reading its wonderful articles but mostly admiring the quality pictures.

This is the official magazine of the National Geographic Society and its first issue was published in 1888. Now it is translated into 32 languages and has a huge circulation worldwide.

This was the first magazine using color pictures in a time when this kind of technology wasn’t common.  National Geographic, for example, was the first one publishing the first natural color underwater picture in 1926. In 1959 color pictures started to be printed in the cover of this magazine, and in 1984, National Geographic was the first magazine with a holographic image in on its cover.  This is a publication that has impacted deeply the way photojournalism developed over time.

“All the world is watching how the rest of the world lives” said the journalist Maynard Owen. National Geographic has become one of the most reliable windows to the world at our fingertips. Austin Public library subscribes to National Geographic magazine but if you are curious and you want to see an old edition of this periodical you can find bound issues starting in 1913 at the Faulk Central Library. If you want to see some National Geographic photos online, just click here and enjoy!!

*Picture by Mike Yamashita, National Geographic photographer

Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton, a National Book Award winner and twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist, died Saturday. Ms Clifton was born born into a working-class family in Depew, NY June 27, 1936. Her first book of poems, Good Times, was rated one of the best books of the year by the New York Times in 1969. During her long, highly productive career, Clifton became known as a distinctive writer who identified herself forcefully as a mother and a black woman. She published 11 poetry collections and 20 children's books. In 2007, Lucille Clifton,was awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Several years ago she had donated her papers to Emory University's special collections library. These were just made public after her death.

The poem below is from the Library's database, Proquest Learning: Literature.

I Take My Glasses Off

it is the hard

edge of things

i am avoiding

the separations

so that i take my glasses off

and then i cannot tell

which are the leaves

and which the angels

like blake

like that man

who lived with lepers

not noticing what was sin

and what was grace

visioning visions vision

i take my glasses off

so i can see

Olympics

The Winter Olympics started on Friday and the whole world has its eye on Vancouver, Canada for the next two weeks.

Here are some interesting facts on the Olympic games, did you know them?

• The first Olympic champion recorded was Coroebus of Elis, he won the sprint race in 776 BC.
• Ancient games included a sport called pancratium, which is very similar to today's mixed martial arts or extreme fighting.
• It was often the case to compete in the nude in the ancient games.
• The ancient Olympic games were abolished around AD 400 by Theodosius I (or his son), the Roman emperor, because of the festival's pagan associations.
• The Parisian, Coubertin, fought hard to reinstate the Olympic games, now referred to as the modern Olympics, with the first games staged in 1896 in Greece.
• The United States has hosted the Winter Olympics more than any other country (four times).
• The summer and winter games use to be held the same year every four years, in 1994 that tradition changed. The games alternate every two years. The next Olympics will be the summer games in 2012 in London, England.

Some authoritative websites and online information:

The official Olympic website

The International Olympic Committee, the governing body of the Olympic games

NYTimes medals maps, an interesting look at who and how many

Winter and Summer

Learn more about the Olympics at the Encyclopedia Britannica database.

Check out some books on the topic:

Beijing's Games: what the Olympics mean to China by Susan Brownell

Michael Phelps: the World's Greatest Olympian

The Olympics for Beginners by Brandon Toropov

Rome 1960: the Olympics that Changed the World by David Maraniss

Dig Holes

A global water crisis is imminent. It's not going to happen 1,000 years down the line or even 100 years - it is happening right now and is due to catch up to the Western world shortly. In fact, 1 in 5 people do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. In many developing countries affordable, drinkable, and accessible water is a dream rather than reality. As the world population explodes and weather patterns become more erratic, a number of scientists, researchers, and authorities, such as the UN, believe that we may experience a global water shortage in which water will only be available to the few able to pay (i.e. the rich). The world population in 2030 is estimated at over 8 billion people (with the current population at a little over 6.5 billion). This not only means that many, many more people will be needing drinkable, uncontaminated water, but it also means that more infrastructure will be built to accommodate all of these people. With new infrastructure we will see more rooftops, roads, and driveways; all structures that do not allow water to penetrate the soil and, therefore, help replenish our supplies of groundwater (see How Urbanization Affects the Water Cycle). Climate change is a factor as well with droughts becoming a real problem and flooding producing more water than the ground can absorb to help replenish our supply. Most of us are taught in school the beauty of the hydrologic cycle, but that cycle cannot do its work with the continuing onslaught of new buildings and frequent drought.

This is only a very minor part of the problem, though. Perhaps the bigger issues are the bottled water industry and the privatization of water. Bottled water manufacturers typically purchase land and/or establish plants near local water supplies and then pump large amounts of that water supply out, bottle it, and distribute it to others many miles away. There are a number of problems with this practice. The first being the fact that water is being taken from public water supplies, in a number of impoverished countries as well as in the United States, and being marketed to Americans as cleaner, more healthy water (for example, at least one of the sources of Aquafina bottled water is the public water supply of Ayer, Massachusetts). These companies are taking a freely available resource and then selling it for a huge profit. The second problem are the environmental impacts: 1) bottled water must be transported so there is an effect on our ozone and, 2) by removing water from its locality, the industry is pumping out local water resources at a very rapid rate. To further confound this, many local governments have been turning to private corporations to manage their town or city's water supply. This puts water distribution in the hands of an organization looking to profit rather than make sure water is clean, drinkable, and accessible. Often times, in other countries that have privatized, these corporations abuse their power by doubling or tripling the price of water and cutting off those who cannot or will not pay. In fact, in some countries it is cheaper to buy Coca-Cola than water (according to the documentary, Flow: For Love of Water).

There are numerous examples of all of the problems I just described that I'm going to link to below and I hope you will read more about the issue. I don't think there are many that would disagree that water is essential to life and people have a right to it. Here are some ways you can take action:

1. Do not drink bottled water. The bottled water industry is a billion dollar industry thanks to us Americans (see Columbia Water Center - Bottled Water). As I mentioned, this water is often coming from public water supplies or from countries whose own inhabitants do not have access to clean water.
   


2. Dig holes. Sounds odd, but as mentioned, with the buildings we build to house the nearly 2 billion more people that will be living on this planet in 20 years and the rate at which bottled water companies are pumping out local water sources in the US and abroad, we are making it difficult for the Earth to replenish our aquifers and groundwater resources. By digging holes in our yards we are giving rainwater an opportunity to pool and slowly reabsorb into the ground rather than running off the street and becoming useless to us. Not interested in digging a bunch of unsightly holes in your yard? Why not try a few rain gardens? See below for a list of resources.


3. Get information about your own water. Where does your water come from? Is it owned and managed by a private corporation? How is your water being managed? Americans have proven more than once that they have a right to their own water supply (see the Wisconsin story and the Stockton, California story).


4. Use the library's resources to read up on this issue - this blog post is a somewhat cursory explanation of the real issues at hand.

BOOKS and DVDs

Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water

Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
Both Blue Covenant and Blue Gold are written by Maude Barlow, the Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and a chair of Food and Water Watch, a champion of water rights and access. Her documentary, Blue Gold (which is on order for APL), based on the book by the same name turned me onto this issue.

Flow: For Love of Water (DVD)

Not a Drop to Drink: American's Water Crisis (And What You Can Do)

Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden and Designed Landscape

Unquenchable: American's Water Crisis and What to Do About It

Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters

WEBSITES and ARTICLES

2nd UN World Water Development Report

Blue Covenant: Maude Barlow on the Global Movement for Water Justice

Blue Gold
Website for the movie that includes information about taking action

Bolivia: Leasing the Rain
The amazing story of the fight to free Cochabamba, Bolivia's water (including its rainwater!) from the private corporation Bechtel

Communities Speak Out: Nestle, Stop Stealing Our Water

Is There Really a Water Crisis?
Asit Biswas says we do not have a water crisis on our hands, but a serious water mismanagement problem. The reasons he cites for the mismanagement are included in the discussion above.

Pacific Institute: Water and Sustainability Program

Pipeline Not the Sole Option
Since 2007 Pat Mulroy's plan to build a 300 mile pipeline (read some background here) to ship water from rural parts of Nevada to Las Vegas has been much talked about; however, some recent setbacks may prevent the pipeline from ever being built.

Rain Garden Plants - City of Austin/Grow Green

Water Crisis Information Guide
Created by Middletown Thrall Library in New York state

World Water Council

Jefferson: where do I start?

The founders of America are intimidating. Let me qualify that: the writings of the founders of America are intimidating. They left such substantial quantities of written work, and so much of it occupies an exalted position in the American historical, political, and literary canon. So where do we start? Do we dig in our heels and begin with the ample correspondence between Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Washington, Jay, Hamilton, and others? You could. I didn't.

I stumbled upon a wonderful book, Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness. Eric Petersen edited Thomas Jefferson's writings and arranged them in a provoking and digestable manner. Beyond the joy of Jefferson's words, I'm thankful for Petersen's work as it has inspired me to tackle the works of Jefferson and some of those other guys.


Next up for me?

Jefferson Abroad

Writings

Solve for X

I'm a practical guy. I typically don't much see the point of doing something solely for the sake of doing it. For me, the endeavor has to have an ultimate purpose or better yet, use. For example, it would not be very satisfying to me to simply invent a mathematical formula in pursuit of such abstract qualities as elegance, symmetry, or beauty only. I would be much happier developing such an equation whose invention might solve some real world problem like perhaps predicting how a particular stock might perform or how the market might behave over time. Ed Thorp is also such a person. So much so, that he is credited as being the first person to use mathematics to win big at black jack. However, Ed Thorp was not content to limit himself to a life time of counting cards in casinos. His ambitiousness led him to develop similar equations and formulas in an effort to remove, restrict, or hedge against the uncertainty of the stock market. Unsurprisingly, Ed Thorp is also credited with having created one of the first hedge funds.

In a new book entitled, The quants : how a new breed of math whizzes conquered Wall Street and nearly destroyed it, author Scott Patterson introduces use to Thorp, as well as to a new breed of stock brokers who relied on empirical data versus intuition to guide them to great fortunes and financial ruin.

Books by Ed Thorp:

Beat the dealer: a winning strategy for the game of twenty-one: a scientific analysis of the world-wide game known variosly as black jack, twenty-one, vingt-et-un, pontoon, or van-john

Beat the market; a scientific stock market system

Similar titles:

Confessions of a Wall Street analyst : a true story of inside information and corruption in the stock market

Blood on the street : the sensational inside story of how Wall Street analysts duped a generation of investors

Stock market wizards : interviews with America's top stock traders

The pied pipers of Wall Street : how analysts sell you down the river

American Artifact

Tonight, there's going to be a nifty little documentary showing at the Alamo Lake Creek. It features some hometown guys, Frank Kozik and Lindsey Kuhn. Of course, I'm talking about rock poster artists. I blogged about this topic back in March 2008 and I'm still a fan.

This documentary is called American Artifact, and the director lays out the timeline of the modern rock poster, from the 1960s to the present. From the clips, it looks pretty interesting, lots of great interviews and shots of posters actually being made.

Tonight's showing will also feature a little Q&A with the director. Geoff Peveto, Rob Jones and Jay Ryan will also be on hand to answer all your burning poster questions.

The Library has got some great rock poster books. Along with the titles I mentioned in 2008, we've got some new books that are just as exciting. If you want to see some actual work, go to a Flatstock, or both the Center for American History and Austin History Center have very rich poster collections.

Art of the Modern Movie Poster: International Postwar Style and Design -Jeutka Salavetz

Gig Posters. Volume 1, Rock Show Art of the 21st Century - Clay Hayes

Vicious Intent: the Rock 'n' Roll Art and Exploitation of Stainboy Reinel -Stainboy Reinel

Picturing America

On the second floor of the main library, hanging along the north cubicle walls on the west side of the building, has been on display for more than a year an exhibit from the National Endowment for the Humanities called Picturing America. It’s a set of big, glossy photos of North American art from as long ago as 1100 ce, and includes architecture, paintings, sculpture, silverwork, baskets and pottery, stained-glass, and quilts depicting American icons: native-American designs, missions, portraits of founders, and land- and cityscapes.

If you like colorful oversized art books, you might want to come downtown to see these nicely printed Picturing America posters. And if the exhibit whets your appetite for more information about the artists and more reproductions of their work, look for them here:

Indian pottery and baskets
American painters
missions
sculpture
N. C. Wyeth
John James Audubon
photography
architecture
quilts

First American-born Black Communist

The theme for this year's Black History Month is The History of Black Economic Empowerment which coincides with the centennial anniversary of the National Urban League. The National Urban League was founded in New York in 1910 as a collaboration between the city's most prominent professionals, businessmen and reform leaders of both races. It would forego the crusade for civil rights to focus on the needs of individuals as seven hundred thousand blacks migrated north between 1910 and 1920 looking for work. A more radical empowerment movement for blacks is described in Defying Dixie: the Radical Roots of Civil Rights 1919-1950. Yale historian Glenda Gilmore's researches the Southern communists, socialists and expatriates who challenged Jim Crow during the three decades following the Bolshevik Revolution. Gilmore argues that the decades between the wars were not a prelude to the more prominent struggle for black equality in the 1950s and 1960s, but instead represent a more complex campaign that had as its goal a fundamental reordering of American society. Liberal and radical Southerners waged an improbable struggle on behalf of civil liberties and labor rights. The civil rights movement's later demand for "jobs and freedom" was, in the end, nothing new.

Gilmore focuses on the first American-born black Communist, Lovett Fort-Whiteman, who died in a Siberian gulag. A native Texan and a Tuskegee graduate, he became very involved in radical politics. After witnessing the Mexican Revolution in the Yucatán and then agitating for socialist causes in Harlem, party officials summoned him to Moscow to teach him about the true nature of the struggle in the American South. There, before an audience that included Joseph Stalin and Ho Chi Minh, he tried to convince them that an interracial coalition of Southern workers would be impossible to achieve. He was overruled by the party leaders, and, for a time, he accepted their vision over what he knew was true. Fort-Whiteman embraced the Soviet Union as a paradise, where Russians would bend over backward to prove their racial egalitarianism. When he returned to the United States, he wore a Russian peasant blouse and knee-high felt boots, his head completely shaved. But he soon returned, in his words, "home to Moscow." Tragically, as Gilmore relates, his new home would prove to be as cruel as the old. In the end, Fort-Whitemn was swept up in the Stalinist purges and sent to a Siberian labor camp where he died a broken man in the winter of 1939.

J.D. Salinger, 1919-2010

As I'm sure most of you know by now, Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger died of old age on January 27th at 91 years old. This notoriously reclusive author, who had not done an interview since 1974 and had not made a public appearance nor published anything since 1965, is most famous for his novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger was not particularly prolific, having only published a number of short stories, most of which appeared in The New Yorker. However, Salinger's infamous novel gave him far more fame than he desired and is still required reading for most American students.

The Catcher in the Rye was one of the first books I was ever assigned to read that I actually enjoyed. I read it when I was 14 or so and, like many, I identified with the angsty, unhappy Holden Caulfield. Within the biographical info I found on Salinger, one website called Catcher "an authoritative depiction of teenage angst." Caulfield thinks most people are "phonies" and has disdain for the majority he encounters. A New Yorker article pinpoints Holden's attitudes as Weltschmerz, meaning "the unhappiness of eternal disappointment in life as it is", or, as quite nicely put in this Wikipedia article, "the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind." It is interesting to me that we still get kids to read this book considering Caulfield's seemingly dismal outlook, but perhaps that's the point. While I wouldn't necessarily use the words "eternal disappointment" to describe my life attitude at age 14, I was certainly jaded and becoming fairly distrustful of the authority figures around me - not unlike many at this age. Maybe as adults we know teens should read this so they feel less alone in their angst-ridden adolescence? Perhaps it is just the literary merits of the book and/or Holden's precociousness that make it required reading? What do you think?

The library can provide you with everything you need to come to your own conclusions, or simply to learn a little bit more about this legendary author:

BOOKS
At Home in the World: A Memoir

The Catcher in the Rye

Dream Catcher: A Memoir

Franny and Zooey

In Search of J.D. Salinger

Letters to J.D. Salinger

Nine Stories

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters; and, Seymour: An Introduction

Salinger, A Biography

With Love and Squalor: 14 Writers Respond to the Work of J.D. Salinger

WEBSITES and ARTICLES
Biography Resource Center
The Resource Center is an excellent, authoritative source of biographical information that often include extensive bibliographies. You will need your APL card, if you'd like to access it from home.

Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger
From The Onion. A good sense of humor is key to enjoying this particular article.

Catching Salinger
"A search for the elusive writer." A few guys go on a road trip in search of Salinger. They video documented the journey on this blog.

Dead Caulfields
"A site dedicated to the life and work of J.D. Salinger"

Holden at Fifty: 'The Catcher in the Rye' and What it Spawned

J.D. Salinger Biography (with great bibliography!)

J.D. Salinger, Literary Recluse, Dies at 91

Salinger Biography, Jewish Virtual Library

Wes Anderson on J.D. Salinger

Finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards

The National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for its 2009 awards. I especially like these awards. While some of the finalists come from major publishers, the NBCC scours regional and university presses to highlight the truly great books of each year. Beyond discovering great new books, I like to use the finalists list as a barometer for how well the Austin Public Library is doing in providing a robust collection. We’re doing well this year. All but one nominee is already in the collection or on order. Me, on the other hand? I have only read one of the finalists: Eula Biss’ Notes from No Man’s Land: American Essays. It is incredible. Bess examines the world in a manner that I admire and writes with a deftness that leaves me jealous.


Autobiography
Diana Athill’s Somewhere Towards the End
Debra Gwartney’s Live Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love
Mary Karr’s Lit
Kati Marton’s Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America (on order)
Edmund White’s City Boy

Biography
Blake Bailey’s Cheever: a Life
Brad Gooch’s Flannery: a Life of Flannery O’Connor
Benjamin Moser’s Why This World: a Biography of Clarice Lispector
Stanislao G. Pugliese’s Bitter Spring: a Life of Ignazio Silone
Martha A. Sandweiss’ Passing Strange: a Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line

Criticism
Eula Biss’ Notes from No Man’s Land: American Essays
Stephen Burt’s Close Calls with Nonsense: Reading New Poetry
Morris Dickstein’s Dancing in the Dark: a Cultural History of the Great Depression (on order)
David Hajdu’s Heroes and Villains: Essays on Music, Movies, Comics, and Culture (on order)
Greg Milner’s Perfecting Sound Forever: an Aural History of Recorded Music

Fiction
Bonnie Jo Campbell’s American Salvage
Marlon James’s The Book of Night Women
Michelle Huneven’s Blame
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall
Jayne Anne Phillips’ Lark and Termite

Nonfiction
Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: an Alternative History
Greg Grandin’s Fordlandia: the Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
Richard Holmes’ The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
Tracy Kidder’s Strength in What Remains
William T. Vollman’s Imperial


Poetry
Rae Armantrout’s Versed
Louise Gluck’s A Village Life (on order)
D.A. Powell’s Chronic
Eleanor Ross Taylor’s Captive Voices: New and Selected Poems, 1960-2008
Rachel Zucker’s Museum of Accidents

Evil Unadorned

I read an article recently that I wished I hadn't. I happened upon it by chance at a local pharmacy while waiting for a prescription to be filled. The article is ultimately an interview with a man convicted of a crime who's horror and senselessness are beyond measure. In the aftermath, I find myself searching for ways to cope with the knowledge that these things happen with chilling frequency. Below I've listed some resources that attempt to explain this darkest side of humanity.

Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding Our Darker Selves

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Evil: Inside Human Cruelty and Violence

Speaking with the Devil: A Dialogue with Evil

New Romance in Every Style

Romance, in every flavor and style, is the hottest trend in books. Some argue that the sales of romance novels are up due to the recession - the numbers are up, but there's no real proof. Romance writers write of obstacles to love and love’s triumph in tales of the paranormal, the West, Victorian England, and today’s cutthroat corporate world in the following 2009 list.

Always Look Twice.
Geralyn Dawson
Mark and Annabelle are on the verge of divorce until someone goes after their former military unit.

Angels' Blood
Nalini Singh
Nalini Singh introduces readers to a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires.

Basketball Jones
E Lynn Harris
Blackmail, intrigue and double-crosses heat up a love triangle involving an NBA player.

Bending the Rules
Susan Andersen
Sexy, feel-good contemporary romance starring down-to-earth Seattle artist Poppy Calloway and handsome but rigid police detective Jason de Sanges.

The Bridegroom

Linda Lael Miller
Lydia will do anything for her great-aunts, but does she really have to marry the town’s gross, greedy banker?

A Duke of Her Own (Avon Historical Romance)
Eloisa James
Leopold Dautry, the notorious Duke of Villiers, must wed quickly and nobly.

Hot Flash

Kathy Carmichael
Delightful romantic comedy, sous-chef Jill is beset with troubles, from her husband’s desire to be a woman to family chaos, but her loyal friends help her navigate the twisting, turning road to love.

Immortal Outlaw (Immortal Brotherhood Novels)
Lisa Hendrix
Only her kiss can save this cursed Viking warrior.

Kiss Of A Demon King (Immortals After Dark, Book 7)
Kresley Cole
Spellbinding story of a demon king trapped by an enchantress.

Laced with Magic

Barbara Bretton
Chloe, owner of a popular knitting shop and mayor of the supernatural village of Sugar Maple, Vermont, continues to battle evil forces in Bretton’s poignant and magical story of love and sacrifice.

Practice Makes Perfect

Julie James
Two rivalrous attorneys at a prestigious Chicago law firm find romance in James’ sophisticated legal romance, rich in suspense and charmingly arrogant and ambitious characters.

So Enchanting

Connie Brockway
Victorian-era tale of a scandal-plagued widow, a young woman with strange powers, and a suspect lord in this sexy and bewitching battle of wits and wiles.

Straight from the Hip

Susan Mallery
Blinded in an explosion, Izzy is taken to Nick’s ranch to recuperate.

What Happens in London
Julia Quinn
When Olivia Bevelstoke is told that her new neighbor may have killed his fiancee, she doesn't believe it for a second, but, still, how can she help spying on him, just to be sure?

Computer Viruses for all Tastes

If you have a computer, you probably have already experienced what it is like to have a computer virus make your life miserable or to lose valuable information because of an electronic bug. Sorry for bringing back those bad memories you wanted to forget! But as long as we use computers, we are at risk of getting a virus anytime, which is something we need to always be aware of and be vigilant about.

Despite the headaches computer viruses can cause, there are some recent bugs that will make you chuckle and forget for a little while the problems they are creating in your system; here are some examples:

• “Harry Potter” virus or Samal A: even though this virus doesn’t have any relation with Harry Potter in any way, once your computer is infected there is a pop up window that says “You haven’t said the magic word” after multiple attempts typing different words, another window will open saying something like “Samael has come, this is the end”
  
  
• Ramsom K: who created this virus was a novice in the area of computer viruses but his idea was pretty interesting. This virus will block important files on your computer and it will ask you to pay $100 to unblock them. The problem for its creator is that this virus is very easy to clean. So it doesn’t represent a real threat.
  
  
• Whizz.A: this virus pretty much transforms your computer into a discotheque. It decorates the background of your desktop with different colors while windows with advertising start popping up and some music from different radio stations plays in the background. Call that an entertainment center!
  
  
• OSX.Loosemaque: this virus appears to be a simple computer game. Your goal is to kill some aliens in space. The problem: every alien is linked to a random folder on your computer, every time you kill an alien, that folder will be deleted. What is scary is that people play this “game” even when they know their risk of damaging their computer system. Yikes!!!
  
  
• Newton virus for Macs: the company Troyka released a while ago a virus for Macs that will break the menu bar in half and all the icons in the desktop fall to the bottom of the screen as if they are affected by gravity. If you move your infected laptop and put it upside down, the pieces of menu bar and all the icons will fall to the bottom of the screen depending how are you holding your computer. It actually looks pretty neat! Some people on electronic forums wondered how to get the virus to see it in action.

If you want to stay up to date not only about viruses but computers in general, remember that the Faulk Central Library subscribes to the following magazines: Computerworld, Eweek, Geek Monthly, Government Technology, Macworld, PC World Mexico, and Wired.

Some titles about this topic that might interest you are:

Bug-free computing : stop viruses, squash worms, and smash Trojan horses

The art of computer virus research and defense

PC magazine fighting spyware, viruses, and malware

Buffer overflow attacks [electronic resource]: detect, exploit, prevent (To access it remotely, please have your library card number handy)

Finally, just a word of advice: keep your antivirus software up to date and go to your antivirus provider’s website to look for more information about virus threats periodically.

I Love the Library

And you should too. If you read our blog, you're probably already a fan of libraries. But, do you know what the Austin Public Library can offer you? There is a long list of things the library provides other than just books, and here are just a few.

1. Well, obviously, other than books, we have magazines and journals too. Sometimes, you just want to sit down and look at a People magazine and zone out. Or, you're looking for that recipe your mother told you to find in Southern Living. There are also lots of crafty magazines, I, personally, love looking at them all. Maybe, to save some money, you canceled your subscriptions but still want to read your favorites, come to the Library. You can do a search for your favorite magazine or journal here. You'd be surprised at the selection of titles we have.

2. One of my go-to links on the Library's homepage is the "Research Tools", especially the "Research Guides". The reference librarians at Austin Public Library have worked tirelessly to put together some very special tools to help you in your research. There are guides for those who are trying to open up their own business, discover copyright issues, to guides on how to find reliable health information and literary criticism.

3. If you have a library card with us and know that UT or the San Antonio Public Library has a book you want to check out, you can get a Texshare card and go to those libraries, among many other hundreds of Texas libraries, and check it out! The Texshare program is a fabulous way to take advantage of the availability of materials that other libraries in Texas have. It's free and all you need is a library card with us.

4. Interlibrary loan. This program is older than I am and is still a great way to get very special items, or those not so special items. If you're looking for a small-town newspaper that isn't published anymore, but the library in Kalamazoo has it on microfilm, you can request that film through interlibrary loan (ILL). You can get anything you want through the ILL department, just ask.

5. Music. You won't believe what we've got at the library music department. We've got CDs and LPs you haven't seen or heard in years right along with all that new stuff. From Animal Collective and Lady Gaga to the Beatles and Frank Sinatra. If you know what you're looking for search our catalog and select "music on CD" or "vinyl record" in the material format drop down box. If you just want to browse, head to any Austin Public Library and check out the music section. CDs are everywhere, but the collection of LPs are the largest at Central.

6. My favorite part of the library: the databases. Our databases make the library a billion times bigger than what's in the brick-and-mortar buildings (maybe a slight exaggeration, but pretty close). Along with the typical newspaper and journal articles, you can find anything from your great aunt's phone number in Philly (ReferenceUSA) to a biography on the father of baseball, James Naismith (Biography Resource Center). You can get the repair diagrams for almost all makes and models of cars in the Chilton Library; look up family history from our list of genealogy databases; and get that final primary resource for your paper that's due tomorrow from our list of primary sources databases! And an always popular request for those who are needing a little help with tests, our test preparation databases. There are so many databases, it could make your head spin. So, browse through the subject guide and see what you can discover. You can look at almost all of these databases from home with your library card!

7. Finally, just ask. The reference librarians are just sitting and waiting for you to ask a question. Well, not really, we're doing lots of other things too, but our favorite is to help you find the answers. We can talk to you in person, over the phone, via email, we even chat! Don't be afraid, we're here to help you. If we don't know the answer, you can bet we can find out who does.

The Lacuna and Frida Kahlo

I just finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and, despite some fairly minor issues, I really enjoyed it. It's a work of historical fiction whose main character, Harrison Shepherd, is a sort of observer among some extremely well-known people including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Lev "Leon" Trotsky. Like the meaning of the word lacuna, the book of Shepherd's journal entries, newspaper clippings, and letters has a few gaps, leaving the reader to his/her imagination to fill them.

The book has been a top seller since its release and, other than Kingsolver's reputation and the success of The Poisonwood Bible, I think part of the reason for that might be the inclusion of Frida Kahlo. In fact, Kahlo's appearances were my favorite parts of The Lacuna; Kingsolver characterizes and writes dialogue for Kahlo very closely to how I've imagined her. In the novel, Kahlo is strong-willed, defiant, and intelligent, but Kingsolver also manages to write in those more elusive Frida qualities that I've never been able to define or pinpoint. Perhaps it is these qualities that contribute to her being such a huge celebrity today. Her artwork is obviously revered, but, for me, it is her personality, so central to her paintings, that have kept me enamored with her.

Some of the best biographical sources on Frida can be found in books at the library or via our online databases accessible to anyone with a library card. Of course, there are a few good resources courtesy of Google too, vetted by this librarian and recommended for your reading and viewing pleasure.

BOOKS AND DVDs
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Portrait

Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo: Song of Herself

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo (DVD)

DATABASE ARTICLES
*Require an Austin Public Library card, if accessing from home

JSTOR
(With an internet connection and a library card, you can access JSTOR from the comfort of your own home. Use the titles to do a search for the two excellent articles below. Need assistance? Ask a Librarian!)

• "Fashioning National Identity: Frida Kahlo in 'Gringolandia'" - Very interesting article on Frida's indigenous style of dress and national identity
  

• "What Frida Kahlo Thought of the Suicide of Dorothy Hale, 1939" - Frida's thoughts on Dorothy Hale's suicide and her painting of it

"I Made a Picture of My Life - A Life From the Picture: The Life of the Body in the Pictures and Writings of Frida Kahlo"

WEBSITES
Frida Kahlo Bibliography
"The most complete Frida Kahlo bibliography on the web"

Frida Kahlo Corporation

Frida Kahlo: The Complete Works
All of her paintings on one website

Kahlo Fakes Flood Into Mexico
Over the past few months a number of articles have been written about a rise in Frida forgeries. This article addresses that as well as the new book, Finding Frida Kahlo by Barbara Levine, in which a newly discovered Kahlo archive is on display; however, a number of Frida experts question the authenticity of the archive. Check FindIt in a few weeks for Finding Frida Kahlo - it's on order for the library.

The Real Frida Kahlo
Excellent article from smithsonian.com

Miep Gies, R.I.P.

If we were to write a remembrance to every notable person who has passed on, this blog would quickly become a memorial section. We do not want that. However, for each one of us there are some folks’ passing that hit extra hard. For me, one of those folks passed away Monday. Her name was Miep Gies. She worked tirelessly to hide and provide for Anne Frank and the others sheltered in an Amsterdam canal warehouse. I wrote about Ms. Gies last August. That post can be found here.

Ms. Gies refused to be considered a hero. In recent years she told school children "I don't want to be considered a hero. Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary." Her humility coupled with her bravery truly mark her a hero, even if that made her uncomfortable.

Miep Gies’ Anne Frank Remembered is a great companion to Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.

I would also like to highlight a World War II memoir I read over the weekend: Hans Erich Nossack’s The End: Hamburg 1943. Mr. Nossack fortuitously was in the countryside surrounding Hamburg during the nights it was destroyed by aerial bombings. The End is the incredible account of his emotions, fears, and thoughts upon entering his devastated city.

The Mathematician's Lament

The Mathematician's Lament started out in 2002 as a 25-page document that circulated somewhat erratically within the mathematics education community. The author, Paul Lockhart , who teaches high school math in Brooklyn, challenged everyone with its subtitle: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art.

The document has now been published as a book: The Mathematician's Lament, 510.71 Lo. He opens the book with a musician waking from a nightmare, where students are taught music beginning with music notation, moving to fixed rules, harmony, scales , then competency tests. Not until college do the students actually hear or play music. Lockhart says this is exactly the way math is taught to students, and the only people who know something is wrong are the students, who are right when they complain that math class is stupid and boring.
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New Year's Resolution - Read the New Yorker

The January 4 New Yorker had three articles that directly related to me as an Austinite, and another one that was about the world's most popular artist, Van Gogh. You can read articles in the New Yorker online using the Library's databases, or read selected articles at the New Yorker website. You can also read the magazine at Faulk Central, which has a print subscription. You might have read about these topics elsewhere, but the New Yorker is known for its exacting standards for journalism, and the articles are a delight to read.

Articles I read in the January 4 issue:

Protest Studies - Students and faculty at the University of Caliornia at Berkely are angry at Mark Yudof, the school's president, who once was UT's president.

School of Rock - Vampire Weekend, which played at ACL in 2008, is a group of upper-middle-class boys channelling Third World musical traditions.

Food Fighter - Story of Whole foods and its founder John Mackey, who does not eat a lot of what Whole Foods sells.

Van Gogh's Ear - Maybe he really didn't cut it off.

To read New Yorker articles using the Library's databases:

-Go to the Austin Public Library homepage.
-Select Research Tools from the menu on the left hand side.
-Select ejournal finder; you will need to enter your Library card number.
-Enter new yorker in the search box, click search
-Select Literary Resources from Gale.
-You will see the articles in chronological order.
-Or search Factiva, which has the full-text of all the articles.

Boris Vian: a French Renaissance Man

Boris Vian was one of those interesting people that had the wonderful capacity to be brilliant in more than one field. He was an engineer, musician, poet, journalist, writer, translator, actor, singer and critic. As a musician, he was a trumpet jazz player and he put together his first jazz band when he was 14 years old. He also played a harp guitar for his compositions (click here for a short video). He is the author of the song “The Déserteur ” or “The Deserter” that has been translated in more than 40 languages and was interpreted by Joan Baez during the Vietnam War. But his musical work wasn’t limited only to jazz, he also wrote and interpreted rock and roll, opera and was the author of many music scores for films.

As a writer, Boris Vian signed his works using Vernon Sullivan as a pen name. His works have been also translated into many languages and made into movies and graphic novels. In the engineering field, he designed wonderful bridges that minimized the use of gas.

Sadly, Boris Vian’s life was very short. He died when he was only 39 years old but his work is considered by many as some of the most influential in French arts and culture.

Austin Public Library has some of his works for your enjoyment:

Books

Heartsnatcher

I spit on your graves

La hierba roja (in Spanish)

Music
Jazz: a Saint-Germain

Defining moment

If you look back over the last decade, what one thing stands out among everything else to you? Many people have died, many people were born, natural disasters, historical political moments, technological advances, but those are insignificant when compared to the one defining moment of the history of the United States in the 2000-2009 decade. Of course, I'm talking about 9/11. Everyone who is old enough to remember, knows exactly what they were doing when they heard the horrific news. I, myself, was going to the dentist.

Eight years have passed since that fateful day and many words have been written, in books, magazines, newspapers and digitally. The event still strikes a chord in each and every one of us. We remember it vividly, as if it happened yesterday.

The library has many books on 9/11, from children's fiction to adult graphic novels. There are also many websites archiving the digital world of what happened on that day. Take the time to remember this historic moment.

Thoughtful websites:
The September 11 Digital Archive

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

Library of Congress September 11, 2001 Documentary Project

Books available at the library:
Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

The Test of our Times: America Under Siege - and How we can be Safe Again by Thomas Ridge

Ground Zero: a Repairman Jack Novel by Paul Wilson

14 Cows for America by Carmen Deedy

The Commission: the Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation by Philip Shenon

Touching History: the Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11 by Lynn Spencer

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer

The 9/11 Report: a Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson

Magazines and newspapers:
A variety of articles on September 11, 2001 are available at MasterFile Premier (you'll need your library card number handy)

Albums of 2009

Like Liblairian said in his previous post, this is the time of year to be bombarded with "best of" lists and I've got another one for you on this New Year's Day. Raised in this great music city, I love music and listen to it constantly. If the library didn't exist, I really don't know what I would do - I rely heavily on APL to buy the music by the bands I'm interested in, so I can give it a listen before committing to a purchase. True, I can just go to Waterloo and listen away anytime I want, but not for 3 weeks at a time like when I check out a CD from the library.

The below list is of albums the library owns that were released in 2009 that I really enjoyed (and am still enjoying). I'm going to go ahead and temper this list by mentioning that I have been accused of only listening to indie rock and having a feminine taste in music. In response to the first accusation, I'd say, yes, but that does not mean it is lacking in variety. In response to the second, if really enjoying a number of female artists makes one's taste "feminine", then so be it. Either way, I think there may be something in the list for everyone.

On a side note, feel free to Suggest a Title via FindIt, the library catalog, if we do not own the music you're looking for. And, if you don't know how to place a hold already, Ask a Librarian how you can get something sent to the branch of your choice and notified by email when it is available.

Around the Well - Iron & Wine
Samuel Beam, the man behind Iron & Wine, resides just outside of Austin, TX and only gets better each album he releases with his folky, lovely tunes. Read reviews and take a listen.

Blood Bank - Bon Iver
This is just a 4-song EP, not a full album, but the song "Woods" made it hard for me not to put on the list. Read reviews and take a listen.

Dark was the Night: A Red Hot Compilation - David Byrne
David Byrne is the man: lead singer of the Talking Heads, author of a new book, and the creator of this excellent compilation including music by artists such as Spoon, Arcade Fire, Blonde Readhead, Stuart Murdoch, and Conor Oberst. Read reviews and take a listen.

Hazards of Love - The Decemberists

Decemberists songs are like novellas set to music, and, considering Colin Meloy's (the lead singer) creative writing background, I guess this isn't surprising. This album is one long story complete with ghosts, a beast, a fair maiden, and an evil queen. Read reviews and take a listen.

Kingdom of Rust - Doves

I haven't dug a Doves album since The Last Broadcast released in 2002, but this new effort reminds me of why I like them so much and makes me wonder why more people aren't familiar with them. Read reviews and take a listen.

March of the Zapotec/Holland - Beirut

Zach Condon's previous work reflects a European influence, but this double EP is a bit different as it includes influences from Oaxaca, Mexico where Condon recently visited. It's still heavy with his Serge-Gainsbourg-like vocals and European riffs, but it all comes together into another great effort. Read reviews and take a listen.

Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

I love this band and I'm not sure I would have really gotten into them if the library didn't have their albums. This one is their most accessible, but it is actually my least favorite; however, don't let that get in your way because it's still freakin' awesome. Read reviews and take a listen.

Middle Cyclone - Neko Case

Neko Case has the clearest, most lovely voice and, for me, is singer-songwriting at its best. Read reviews and take a listen.

My Maudlin Career - Camera Obscura

I love the style of pop Camera Obscura is so great at delivering. Their new album is no exception, though, my favorite is still their previous effort, Let's Get Out of this Country (watch a video of one of those tracks here). Read reviews and take a listen.

Noble Beast - Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird writes and sings, plays violin, and whistles like it's nobody's business. Read reviews and take a listen.

Tight Knit - Vetiver

Often referred to as part of the "freak folk" movement (and, indeed, they have done a lot of collaborating with Devendra Banhart), if you like Iron & Wine, you'll probably love Vetiver. Read reviews and take a listen.

Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

More psychedellic folk-pop, this album is my favorite from the band so far. Read reviews and take a listen.

AUSTIN BANDS

How could I leave you without some Austin bands? Here are 3 of my favorites from 2009 that you can find at the library:

The Century of Self - ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
If you haven't heard of Trail of Dead by now and you've been living in Austin for 5 years or longer, I'd say you've been living under a rock. Get with the times and check out their new album. Read reviews and take a listen.

Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away - Slaid Cleaves
I initially stumbled upon Slaid Cleaves via the jukebox at the Horeshoe Lounge (the album Broke Down). His 2009 album does not disappoint and Cleaves still proves to be an amazing songwriter. Read reviews and take a listen.

Tell 'em What Your Name Is - Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

Have you seen Black Joe Lewis live yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Read a review and take a listen.