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Defenders of Secrets, Unite! - New York Times

Defenders of Secrets, Unite! - New York Times.

Defenders of Secrets, Unite!
By Motoko Rich, Published: June 26, 2007

They have waited two long years, and now they have only 24 days to go. As the diehard fans of Harry Potter count the minutes until they can get their hands on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final installment in the monumentally successful series by J. K. Rowling, they are engaging in a frenzy of speculation and rumor-mongering about what will happen to their beloved characters.

Predictions are flying across the Web and out of bookstores, where titles like “Mugglenet.com’s What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7,” “The End of Harry Potter?” and “The Great Snape Debate” spew theories about who will die, who will get together with whom, and who is really good or evil.

TV has become the superior creative medium | ScrippsNews

TV has become the superior creative medium | ScrippsNews.

TV has become the superior creative medium television
By ROB OWEN, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wednesday, June 27, 2007

While laughing my way through a Saturday-night showing of the big-screen comedy "Knocked Up" a few weeks ago, it occurred to me that just about everyone on-screen was from a TV show. Primarily, two TV shows: "Freaks and Geeks" (1999-2000, NBC) and "Undeclared" (2001-02, Fox).

"Knocked Up" director Judd Apatow cut his teeth on these series, presumably grew frustrated when each show got canceled after a single season and moved on to the movies, where he's directed the blockbuster hits "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (with TV star Steve Carell of "The Daily Show" and "The Office") and "Knocked Up."

While Apatow's company of actors from "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared" is a relatively unusual fraternity, it's worth noting that the female lead in "Knocked Up" is also a TV star, Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy."

Where once television took its cue from movies and was considered the inferior medium, TV has achieved parity. Actually, TV has become the superior creative medium.

I happen to agree with Rob here, it is now the most creative visual medium, *except* for special effects.. there's still the CGI and extras that film can *afford* (in most cases) that give film a technological edge that translates into a creative edge.. but, the distance is closing.. look at "Battlestar Gallactica" today; it's good or better than most space sci-fi we've ever had.. I just finished the first season of "The Tutors," and mixed with history was real drama, characters, and a fantastic acting cast - equal to any film "cast"... what do you think?

The library fix | Salon.com

The library fix | Salon.com.

The library fix
When politics gets mean and dumb, you can cheer yourself up by walking into a public library.
By Garrison Keillor, June 27, 2007

Consumer confidence was down in June, and so was mine, though for other reasons. I see politics stuck in a spiral of dumbness and the Republican candidates -- the Cavalcade of Unhappy White Men -- leading the way. The other day, Mr. Giuliani came out against "putting government in a situation where government is in charge of so many different things," and a short time later he called for the government to build a fence the length of the Mexican border, "a technological fence," which I guess means something fancier than a mud fence, possibly using kryptonite.

And shortly thereafter, he and his fellow Republican candidates arm-wrestled to see who could be more in favor of torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques," as it's called now.

When politics gets mean and dumb, you can cheer yourself up by walking into a public library, one of the nobler expressions of democracy. Candidates don't mention libraries -- they're more likely to talk about putting people behind bars and no coddling or shilly-shallying with appeals and that judicial nonsense, just throw them in the dungeon and stick their heads in the toilet and do what you gotta do -- and yet when I walk into the library near my house and see a couple hundred teenagers studying, most of them Hmong or Vietnamese, I see the old cheerful America that Washington has lost touch with, the land of opportunity.

The library is the temple of freedom. Growing up, we kids were aware of how much of our lives was a performance for adults. In school, at church, in Scouts, adults were watching, cueing you, coaching, encouraging, commenting; but in the library, you didn't have to perform for the librarian. She simply presided over an orderly world in which you had the freedom of your own imagination. The silence was not repressive but liberating: to allow your imagination to play, uninhibited by others.

I hear Garrison sang a library or librarian version of "America the Beautiful" at the closing session of the ALA Annual Conference.. one can only hope there's a YouTube god or goddess somewhere who filmed this.. anyone know of a video or audio file for this, please let DrWeb know...

LITA Blog » Blog Archive » The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?

LITA Blog » Blog Archive » The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?.

The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?
June 26th, 2007 by jbauder

Hello LITAblog readers! I’m Julia Bauder, a student in the MLIS program at Wayne State and one of the LITA conference bloggers. I’ll be blogging three sessions this weekend. First up is The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?, featuring Andrew Pace of North Carolina State University as the moderator, Joseph Janes of the University of Washington, Karen Schneider of Florida State University, and Stephen Abram of SirsiDynix.

Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of this panel. There are two Renaissance Hotels hosting ALA programs, I discovered today about five minutes before this discussion was due to start, and the Renaissance Hotel hosting this program was not the one right across the street from the convention center—it was the one two Metro stops away. When I got there, they were discussing the Maricopa County Library branch that shelves its books bookstore-style, rather than by Dewey. Karen noted that, despite all of the uproar in the library community over this non-Dewey library, they have not had one single complaint from the public about the shelving system. All of the complaints have come from other librarians.

A blog report on one of the more fascinating discussions from the just-ended ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC.. I hear there's a possible podcast of this coming up, so I'll post that link when it becomes available.. what do you think, do libraries innovate?

PLA Blog » Blog Archive » The Hollywood Librarian World Premiere

PLA Blog » Blog Archive » The Hollywood Librarian World Premiere.

The Hollywood Librarian World Premiere
Friday, June 22nd, 2007, by Andrea Mercado

The world premiere screening of The Hollywood Librarian: A look at librarians through film, left me with very mixed feelings. The film does an excellent job of using clips from movies like Desk Set, The Music Man, Love Story, Party Girl, and others, to juxtapose the image of librarians in film against the realities of librarianship, including clips from an awesome black-and-white vocational film, as well as interviews with myriad librarians from all corners of librarianship, many of whom were brought on stage after the screening to be recognized. The movie obviously moved the audience and instilled a sense of vindication, with good reason, and I believe that the film does have the potential to give new and different perspective to “civilians” who don’t really understand the library world.

After the screening, writer and director Ann Seidl explained her interesting distribution method for the film. The film has been moved into the finals for an independent film festival (if you know the name of the festival, please comment here and let me know, I can’t find it), so it will get some exposure. But, rather than sell the film to a distributor, Ann would like to grant rides to show the distribution DVD, as well as a package of comprehensive marketing and discussion materials, so that interested public libraries can show screenings themselves.

What she asks in return is that libraries charge money for the screenings, with 1/3 of the fee going to her production company, 1/3 of the fee covering distribution costs, and 1/3 of the fee going to the library showing the movie. Her idea is to use the library, which, according to the movie, provides more points of service than McDonald’s, to get the word out about the movie and its message. Sign ups for this distribution program begin tomorrow at Booth #4207 in the Exhibit Hall, where you can ask questions and give your feedback about the film.

I haven't yet seen the film, and will try to view it sometime.. there's a link to the trailer on the article.. several comments I've seen so far are talking more about the charges to show the film than about the film itself, which is a shame.. nothing's free, but maybe there's alternative ways to get the film to recover its production costs...

Library Technology Guides: SirsiDynix Introduces SirsiDynix Symphony as New Integrated Library System

Library Technology Guides: SirsiDynix Introduces SirsiDynix Symphony as New Integrated Library System.

Press Release: SirsiDynix [June 23, 2007]
SirsiDynix Introduces SirsiDynix Symphony as New Integrated Library System

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2007 -- SirsiDynix, the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries, is introducing SirsiDynix Symphony, the company's new integrated library system that blends the best features of SirsiDynix Unicorn® and SirsiDynix Horizon 8.0/Corinthian to offer the most impressive array of library and consortium management solutions available to the library community.

SirsiDynix Symphony is the culmination of Project Rome, which SirsiDynix announced in March 2007 as part of the company's strategy to create a single, holistic library technology platform. This announcement is being made during the American Library Association 2007 Annual Conference here in Washington, D.C.

Symphony from Rome? I'm not sure of the musical metaphor, but it will be interesting to see what the real product does, and what features it supports.. stay tuned...

TV Tonight: "Studio 60" | BuzzSugar - Movies, TV, Music.

TV Tonight: "Studio 60" | BuzzSugar - Movies, TV, Music..

TV Tonight: "Studio 60"
Thu, 06/21/2007 - 3:30am by BuzzSugar

What a strange road it's been for "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the show that started as a buzzed-about pilot, became a critical disaster, and is finally slinking to a conclusion. In a year full of high-profile television flops ("The Black Donnellys," "The Nine," "Six Degrees"), this was certainly one of the biggest.

This has been a great show, takes time to grow on you, but it has a wonderful realistic and yet humanistic comedy touch, with fascinating characters and witty, intelligent dialog.. I really hoped it would survive low ratings until it could build an audience.. I am TiVoing the shows as they wrap things up...

Finale Reaction - Sopranos Ending - New York Times

Finale Reaction - Sopranos Ending - New York Times.

TV Writers Were Also Watching ‘Sopranos’    
By BILL CARTER, Published: June 12, 2007

After he completed the final episode of “The Sopranos,” David Chase told publicity executives at HBO that he was leaving for France and would not take any calls asking him to comment about the ending of his classic television series.

He also said that he had instructed all of his writers and producers to turn down any requests for information about the decisions that had gone into shaping the show’s last chapter.

The reason for his resistance became clear on Sunday night when “The Sopranos” ended, not with a moment of final summation, but with a literal blank. The reaction to the stunning last shot of an empty screen has been a mix of outrage among some fans at being left sitting on the edges of their seats, where they had been perched for much of the show’s last batch of episodes, and awe among others who have always regarded the show as the most ambitious and unconventional of television series.

Included in the latter group were many people in the same line of work as Mr. Chase, storytellers in the entertainment business. Damon Lindelof, one of the creators of the ABC hit show “Lost,” another series whose viewers have high expectations about quality, said: “I’ve seen every episode of the series. I thought the ending was letter-perfect.”

Way to go, Damon.. from my fave show, "Lost".. yes, it was the most transcendent existential moment we've had in years, from television.. "letter-perfect" indeed...

PC World's Techlog: Why Safari For Windows? Why Now?

PC World's Techlog: Why Safari For Windows? Why Now?.

Why Safari For Windows? Why Now?
Monday, June 11, 2007 9:02 PM PT, Posted by Harry McCracken

Boy, how times change. A few years ago, when Windows users seemed doomed to live in a world in which Internet Explorer was the only viable browser option, the arrival of Safari for Windows might have been a gigantic deal. Or think back to late 2006--if Apple had announced that it had struck a deal to bundle Firefox with OS X and was discontinuing Safari development, it would have been newsworthy but not a stunner.

But this is 2007. Thanks to Firefox, browser competition is alive and well in Windows. And with Safari sitting at the heart of the iPhone, it's clear that it's a Really Important Piece of Apple Technology, not anything the company is going to axe anytime soon.

So as far as users are concerned, Safari for Windows is...well, yet another browser. A perfectly nice one, to be sure. But not one with a long list of clear advantages over the browsers Windows users already have to choose from, unless A) Steve Jobs' claims of it being really fast are true; and B) you're dissatisfied with the speed of your current browser.

Great post, and good comments.. why is Apple so good these days, and growing more assertive, and letting cats out of the bag like Safari for Windows (SFW).. I think it's about the iPhone and future Apple technological innovations.. if they still have a big lab at Apple, like when I was up in Cupertino the last time, it's humming, and we can hear the sounds.. a better model for the Googleplex than Redmond is Cupertino's campus of Apple Computer.. but, you already knew that...

Finale: The Sopranos: One Last Family Gathering - Television - New York Times

Finale: The Sopranos: One Last Family Gathering - Television - New York Times.

The TV Watch
One Last Family Gathering
Finale: The Sopranos: One Last Family Gathering - Television - New York Times

HBO / James Gandolfini and Edie Falco in "The Sopranos," which ended its storied run Sunday night on HBO. [photo caption]

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY, Published: June 11, 2007

[left; article screenshot]

There was no good ending, so “The Sopranos” left off without one.

The abrupt finale last night was almost like a prank, a mischievous dig at viewers who had agonized over how television’s most addictive series would come to a close. The suspense of the final scene in the diner was almost cruel. And certainly that last bit of song — “Don’t Stop Believing,” by Journey — had to be a joke.

After eight years and so much frenzied anticipation, any ending would have been a letdown. Viewers are conditioned to seek a resolution, happy or sad, so it was almost fitting that this HBO series that was neither comedy nor tragedy should defy expectations in its very last moments. In that way at least “The Sopranos” delivered a perfectly imperfect finish.

I sat there watching, the TiVo still humming along, wondering.. is that all there is? Fade to black? Yes, it was perfect for me, and the series' finale.. I'd worried all week about the forebodings, and there were endings, and a grand decaping of Phil, but it was mostly like the real Sopranos, not racing to meet their maker or their end or their finale.. it was more like Life, and it makes you reflect more on the series, the characters, who they are, what is America, what did we learn in this journey? ..to those who wanted finality and perfect closure, I understand.. but, you will have to watch something else (now) to find that false comfort zone.. thanks to Chase & Company for no easy way out, ba-da-bing.. I will miss the Sopranos, the show and the people who inhabited that world, and the characters.. it was an original...

Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South - Roy Blount Jr. - Books - Review - New York Times

Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South - Roy Blount Jr. - Books - Review - New York Times.

Sunday Book Review | New York Times
The Mind of the South
By CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, Published: June 10, 2007

I had to stop reading this book in public. I laughed out loud too often and too uproariously for the company in a bus or plane or cafe. What was worse, if I tried to explain myself my Southern accent, usually kept in check when I’m traveling in the North or abroad (where I live), came back like kudzu after a summer rain. “Y’all got to read this,” I heard myself saying to an older couple staring at me on a flight to Rome last month. (They were Americans, as I knew by their Bermuda shorts.) I don’t normally say “y’all” except when I’m making my annual pilgrimage to South Carolina, and then only for a couple of weeks — although I always do, it is true, feel better about myself when I’m drawing out my vowels.

LONG TIME LEAVING
Dispatches From Up South.
By Roy Blount Jr.
383 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $25.
Related
First Chapter: ‘Long Time Leaving’ (June 10, 2007)

But enough of that, let’s talk about this book of essays, “Long Time Leaving,” and its author, Roy Blount Jr., whose pieces sometimes read like the monologues of a stand-up comic, which is perhaps unsurprising because he calls himself a humorist, lectures a lot and appears on those few radio talk shows one might call civilized. (Blount should take Don Imus’s old slot; he’d certainly be more sensitive when talking about a women’s basketball team. But civilization and sensitivity probably aren’t good for ratings.)

Snapshots That Do More Than Bore Friends - New York Times

Snapshots That Do More Than Bore Friends - New York Times.

Practical Traveler | Sharing Photographs
Online Snapshots That Do More Than Bore Friends
By MICHELLE HIGGINS, Published: June 10, 2007

FEW sentences in the English language are more dreaded than this seemingly innocent offer: “Oh, I must show you the pictures from my vacation.” Who wants to see endless shots of a friend lounging by a pool or in front of a monument, or — worse yet — their kids doing the very same things?

But, of course, those very same shots can be extremely useful when researching your own trip. How big is that pool? What, exactly, does the room at that five-star hotel you’re thinking of booking look like? What’s the crowd like at the so-called hot restaurant? It’s good to have documented evidence from someone who has been there.

And recently, photo-sharing sites like Yahoo’s Flickr.com and SmugMug.com have begun to let users add another dimension to their travel photos. Through a technology called geotagging, users can add G.P.S. data to their pictures, which can then be plotted on a digital map. This not only allows users to see exactly where a photo was taken, but, when uploaded to an Internet map, users can also quickly browse a trove of photos that were taken nearby, providing a kind of scattershot collage of a place.

SignOnSanDiego.com > Sports > High Schools -- University City wins first baseball title

SignOnSanDiego.com > Sports > High Schools -- University City wins first baseball title.

High Schools
University City wins first baseball title
UNION-TRIBUNE, 6:58 p.m. June 6, 2007

University City defeated St. Augustine 8-6 Wednesday to win the San Diego Section Division III baseball championship at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium.

It is the first section baseball title for University City (22-11), which opened in the early '80s. The surprising Centurions, not among the top seeds in Division III, won five of six playoff games in the double-elimination tournament.

Ed Kalankiewicz led University City, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and pitching the final inning.

Way to go Centurions, first baseball title.. great traditions in sports at UCHS, but this is a major first.. congratulations to the team, the great coach, and all at UCHS...

John Battelle's Searchblog: Ask Morphs: A New Approach to The Interface

John Battelle's Searchblog: Ask Morphs: A New Approach to The Interface.

June 4, 2007 8:10 PM
Ask Morphs: A New Approach to The Interface

Ask today launched Ask3D, which, according to documents sent to me by Ask, "synthesizes the best of our technologies across the three dimensions of search: Expression, Results and Content."

All this is based on a new algorithm called Morph, which according to the reviewer's guide, is "a new content-matching and ranking algorithm that literally transforms the entire page according to your unique query, presenting the right information, from the right sources, in the right place, at the right time. Morph, which deep-dives hundreds of structured databases, takes into account not only relevance based on source signals, but also previous user behavior for your query. Ask.com owns the patent on using click behavior to improve search relevance (via the DirectHit acquisition in 2000)."

Let me summarize it for you this way: This is Ask, a perennial 4th place player in an increasingly one player market, doing what only a 4th place player can do: Throwing caution to the wind and betting on a new interface, one that abandons the "ten blue links" approach that has dominated search for so long.

Exciting new interface from Ask.com.. see also this item from ResourceShelf and Gary Price (affiliated with Ask).. I'll hopefully have time to write a mini-review of these changes this weekend...

YourTube - Forbes.com

YourTube - Forbes.com

Digital Media
YourTube
Andy Greenberg, 05.31.07, 3:00 PM ET

Until now, YouTube has been a one-way street. Users could upload video clips to the site, but they couldn’t download them--only view them momentarily through a browser.

Now RealNetworks (nasdaq: RNWK - news - people ) says it is trying to change those rules. The newest version of the company’s RealPlayer software will allow users to download streaming video clips and collect them on their hard drives--an option that will please users but may draw the ire of media companies.

Source: YourTube - Forbes.com

I like this idea, especially since more streaming media are coming online.. and I like the argument that this is no different to an individual viewer or user than TiVo or my VCR of old.. I will be interested in trying out this new Player from RealNetworks...