The Studio

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.

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.

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.

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!