Too bad but if you look at the list, it basically looks like the ALA's “100 Most Challenged Books of the Last Decade” list, that's probably not a surprise. My guess is that the more likely story is that she tried to a few books that didn't conform to her religious views.
“When I was very young, my half-sister Jenny died tragically. She was
a teenager, and it was the 80's. She left behind a wardrobe of brightly
colored clothes, rainbow stickers, life-size paintings, doodles on
lined paper, and hundreds of tapes. These constitute most of my
memories of her. It's sad for me to look at these things, and usually I
don't. But a couple of summers ago I found a tape of hers with a
startling cover photograph – this was Footloose. I couldn't
stop listening: it was a portrait of 80's love, desire, pain, freedom,
and frenzy; of being a teenager in a time of change. By listening, I
could step into Jenny's shoes, see things from her vantage point. I
could be emancipated by rock and roll and walkmen, just as she had
been. We could listen together.”
I start my new job tomorrow and so it's the usual mix of nervousness and excitement today. But to be honest, I'm more excited than nervous for this one and the biggest thing I'm worried about is whether I should take the bus or drive followed closely by “what should I take for lunch?” since I'm not going to get home for lunch everyday like I did in Weyburn.
Besides that cutting edge sense of fashion of course?
Both are mainstream artists who have chosen to release their latest works online. Moore's new movie, “Slacker Uprising” will be available for download on September 23.
It sounds more like a home movie/travelogue than one of his more full-formed commercial works but this is still pretty innovative and may lead others to follow suit as was the case with Radiohead's release of “In Rainbows”.
“The movie is basically a document of Moore’s tour through 62 US cities
in swing states during the 2004 U.S. presidential election; obviously,
it didn’t work out as well as Moore intended it, so now he’s hoping he
can recycle it for another go.”
“A new library in Casanera, Colombia shows us what humankind might have
built with sticks and stones if they'd never discovered bricks, steel,
and electricity. The Villanueva Public Library was built on a modest
budget, designed by a bunch of university students in Bogota. And
instead of importing fancy, expensive materials, builders used local
timber and stones from nearby rivers to lower transportation costs.
Then, instead of hiring experienced construction workers, they trained
local people to build it.”
(via Reddit)
On another topic, a question for all of you MacVangelists out there. If you were to buy a new MacBook, which one would you go for? Is the MacBook Pro worth what seems to be a substantial extra cost? Do any of you run Parallels or other software to run Windows for PC-only apps? Any other thoughts somebody looking to possibly convert should consider? I'm just kicking tires here but with a new laptop in my near horizon, I want to check out all the options.
There's a difference between lists of “Books I'm Reading” and “Books I Have Out From the Library”. This is because I tend to take out a lot of books that sound interesting or I've heard about via various sources (Internet, magazine articles, friend recommendations, publisher catalogues) but usually only get around to reading a few of them in the end.
What I do instead is use the library books I have out as a “mini-library” where I can pick out a new book as I finish a different one. (I've just finished “Shush…Dispatches From A Public Library” and “Parking Lot Rules and 75 Other Ideas For Great Parenting” – neither of which really blew me away by the way and am currently reading “X Saves The World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking” which I'm quite enjoying.)
Here's what's on my Library Bookshelf right now… “Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy “Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library” “Armageddon in Retrospect” – Kurt Vonnegut “The Nasty Bits” – Anthony Bourdain “Obama: From Promise to Power” “Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs” – Dave Bidini “I Sold My Soul on Ebay” An assortment of five or six children's board and easy books A couple paperbacks for Shea A couple parenting books – one on play, one on helping your child sleep A few magazines – Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Wired
What's that quote? “If you want to know a man, take a look at his bookshelf?” There's truth to that although I would argue that our bookshelves are often compiled to reflect the public persona we wish to present to the world, not necessarily so that they reflect who we really are. (How many people own copies of some “literary classic” that they've never read and never will? How many people conveniently store their copy of the latest King/Steele/Clancy/Grisham away from their bookshelf to keep it from judging eyes?)
So is my library bookshelf the public me or the private me? (I'll resist the urge to say “it has to be 'public you' since you're blogging about it, dumbass!”) Well, to my credit, I didn't “forget” to list any books I have out right now (honest) although there are times when I probably would have.
But when I mentioned the two most recent library books I'd read earlier, I did neglect to “mention” the third last book I read, a cultural studies survey of professional wrestling for example. So probably a mix of both depending on the day, the time and who's looking at it.
“Privacy is dead – get over it [part 2]
is a talk by private investigator Steve Rambam. It's a talk he has been
giving for a number of years where he shows how privacy is being taken
away, not by sinister plots but because people are giving it away. With
people putting up everything and nothing on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter
and so on, as well as a growing quantity of data held in private
databases, he shows how easy it is to find out enormous amounts of data
on just about anyone.”
It's a 3-hour speech so I haven't watched the whole thing yet. But I thought I'd pass it along since I'm sure some of you are interested.
