Sometimes it’s fun to make lists. Does anyone have a list to share? We want to know.
My top five foreign films:
My top five teen flicks:
My top five movies about food:
My top five documentaries:
The Story of the Weeping Camel
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Given the recent local downpours, it is apropos that tonight The Weather Channel airs The Perfect Storm, the first in a series of Friday night movie showings. (Don’t worry, forecast fans … they’ll still provide the weekend temps on the screen six times an hour.)
The selection is a no-brainer for the cable network, especially considering that today is the 18th anniversary of the brutal Nor’easter that is the subject of the film and the Sebastian Junger book on which it was based. However, future TWC movie showings (March of the Penguins, Deep Blue Sea and Misery) seem less inspired. So check out our own perfect storm of suggestions for wild-weather flicks below:
Twister (1996) And a nation of storm-chasers is born.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Global warming is even more inconvenient than you think.
The Mist (2007) Reduced visibility and … EVIL.
The Weather Man (2005) Okay, it’s not really about the weather. But this offbeat comedy about a Chicago TV meteorologist features a great performance from Nic Cage. Tom Skilling, eat your heart out.
Posted by Annabelle | Posted under Movies & Music Print This Post
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the number of DVDs in our collection, unsure of what’s good and what you feel like seeing next? Try using a map. French graphic designer David Honnorat has ingeniously taken IMDb’s list of the Top 250 films and plotted them as a CTA-style transit map, with intersecting genres and movies standing in for routes and station stops. The resulting diagram is visually arresting, cinematically intriguing and a lot more fun than hopping on the El. For example, you can make it from WALL-E to A Clockwork Orange in four stops, or take a detour at Casablanca and head toward either Glory or Manhattan. A large version of the map is available for download at Vodkaster.com.
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any favorite horror movies??
Back in my days of undergraduate studies, I remember being freaked out by the movie An American Werewolf in London. True, I had mononucleosis at the time & it probably didn’t take much to rattle me. The Library has the original DVD release and the 2009 “full moon” edition with a bonus disc. Take your pick!
More recently, I totally recommend three films directed by Guillermo del Toro: Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, and Pan’s Labyrinth.
For a classic movie and a little beyond, try the 1922 vampire film Nosferatu, the 1979 re-make, and then Shadow of the Vampire.
If you’re feeling musical go with Tim Burton’s – The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.
Last but not least, fun for all ages (i.e. 5-year-olds & kids at heart), I loved the DVD Shaun the Sheep: Little Sheep of Horrors.
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Cross posted from The Radar.
Songza is a Google-esque search engine designed specifically for music. Type in a song title or artist name and it will spit out a list of songs. What makes this site so very excellent is the huge selection of music and just as importantly each song is played in its entirety. No more listening to only 40 seconds of a song and then a fade-out to nothing.
It is possible but not necessary to create and save songs to a profile. The saved songs will become a playlist which you can reorder and shuffle. The profile will produce an RSS feed so friends and/or interested people can receive updates on songs you enjoy. You can follow my song selection @ http://songza.com/chesslibrarian/rss if you want.
Songza is fun but it isn’t perfect. Sometimes the songs lag a little. Unlike Pandora it does not stream new music to you. Songza does not allow downloading of songs.
Songza is incredible for what it is does and I highly recommend playing with it!
Posted by Mick | Posted under Music, Websites Print This Post
Looking for a new mystery? I highly recommend this spin off of the acclaimed Inspector Morse series:
Inspector Lewis (PBS Masterpiece Mystery!)
“Inspector Robert Lewis, protege of the legendary Inspector Morse, and his brilliant new partner, Detective Sergeant James Hathaway, return to the streets of Cambridge and the halls of Oxford University.”
Be sure to check local listings for up to date broadcast dates and times.
In the meantime, reserve the Inspector Lewis DVDs at the Library and enjoy!!
Posted by Sharon | Posted under tv shows Print This Post
Criticker is a new movie recommendation website along the lines of the previously reviewed Clerk Dogs. You submit a review between 0-100 of ten movies and Criticker will match you with other members that have ranked movies similarly. Then it is possible to look at other movies they loved and learn about some new movies. Criticker calls this TCI (Taste Compatibility Index). For example, after inputting my 10 movies I looked at a user with similar tastes. One of his/her top movies was The Life and Death of Peter Sellers which seems like a movie I might really enjoy.
Criticker also has lots of social options such as forums and movie lists.
Try it and let me know what you think.
Posted by Mick | Posted under Movies & Music, Websites Print This Post
The legendary and innovative jazz guitarist Les Paul died August 13, 2009 at the age of 94. He played alongside sophisticated jazz musicians such as Art Tatum, Stuff Smith, and Louis Armstrong. He later collaborated with his wife, Mary Ford, producing such hits as How High the Moon and Tennessee Waltz, where he experimented with multi-tracking recorded voices. The Gibson Les Paul guitar has been worshipped by many more recent legendary rock and roll guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, and Joe Satriani.
Listen to:
Watch:
Read:
The early years of the Les Paul legacy, 1915-1963
Les Paul : an American original
Posted by lee | Posted under Music Print This Post
or do you need another listen without the crowd? 
Try the Library!
Here is a sample of what you can find:
See the official Lollapalooza website for the complete lineup.
Posted by Sharon | Posted under Music Print This Post
A number of us at the Library were all proper children of the 80’s. As a result, it’s impossible for us to estimate the impact filmmaker John Hughes had on our collective coming of age. Titles like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off captured a certain part of teen life that had rarely been portrayed with such empathy. No matter how implausible his films might have been in retrospect, it’s the essence of the lives he tried to show that cements his place in the zeitgeist.
Most of his best-known films were all set in the fictional Shermer, Illinois, a suburb somewhere north of Chicago. As a result, many of the locations can be found in the immediate area. Check out this collection of locations from many of his most well-known scenes. (Bear in mind that it’s an older page, and seems to suffer from a few expired images.)
There’s even a scene from Sixteen Candles that was shot in the parking lot between the Library and the Village Hall:
The scene occurs at about the 41:40 mark, right after the infamous scene with Anthony Michael Hall in the bathroom. The car pulls out of the parking lot, ostensibly en route to Jake Ryan’s party. The library is in the shadows in the top right, and you can see the condominium complex in the center of the frame. After the car pulls out, the camera pans over and you can see Village Hall.
Even though it’s just a few seconds of film, it’s enough to make a strong connection between the Library and Mr. Hughes.
What is your favorite John Hughes memory? Please share in the comments.
Posted by Toby | Posted under directors, favorite scenes Print This Post
