Reflections on 27 Things

My favorite discovery was blogging and RSS. Blogging was interesting and we got to practice it extensively over the course of these last few months, it's become a habit and I already miss looking at my coworkers blogs to see how they're doing w/ Learning 2.o.

This program has pushed me to embrace all that Web 2.o has to offer and more. It has dramaticaly opened up my perspective on what I can do and how I can communicate through the web other than just email and im.

I would recommend everyone participate and finish KCLS 27 Things as it has relevance not only to libraries but to personal and social life of most people living in our time.

Podcasts

I like podcasts much better than emails. I think that should be the next best way to explain something new in a mini presentation instead of typing an email. We all learn better visually, right?

I added a podcast Rss of a Rock and Roll librarian to my bloglines account:

http://skalogy.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

My favorite - YouTube

Well I don't have to make myself familiar with YouTube, I've been a fan for a while now. I watch music videos, fashion commentary, short films, soccer clips, and other fun stuff.

I think KCLS could post storytime videos or have librarians make intro videos talking about the programms and services offered @ the local library for teens.

Web 2.0 award winners

I looked under the category of Social News and checked out Digg, which is an interesting mix of both useful and totally funny, maybe not so useful content. For example I found and article about the Spice Grils comeback next to an article from TreeHugger about zero emission urban taxis. But overall this is a good way to get some laughs along with some noteworthy news.

Spice Girls Comeback story:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1999615.ece

Digg:
www.digg.com

Google Labs

I really liked looking at Google Trends, there were some very unlikely results, mostly of names, popular icons and the like.

Google Music Trends was interesting to see as well, tells a lot about Google users, I would guess mostly under 25 years old.

Google Web Alert seems promising too and there is also a Google feeder reader that seems to go along with Web 2.o.

Google Docs and Zoho

Both providers of online applications share the same principle of having documents available anywhere and to anyone online. This is great in application for students working on a group project, academics doing research and in commercial use for businesses.
No need to save to a floppy or sending files through email.
Opens up a world of possibilities.
Although I think I'm used to Microsoft apps this will be something I'll have to try when I'm back in school.

Library 2.0

Dr. Wendy Schultz presents us with an elaborate vision of a future library in an article titled “To a Temporary place in time… “ where she illuminates how the library world will transform from a 1.0 to a 4.0 experience. It’s interesting to look forward into the future of libraries in this way seeing it as a virtual interface. Although it’s not hard to imagine a world like this one, with a holographic librarian, since it’s been described and depicted in books and films for some time now, it still seems somewhat farfetched, at least in the immediate future. The ideas presented in these articles on Library 2.0 are very compelling and it will be interesting to see how they will be expanded and incorporated in more depth.

Search Engines

I preferred the Google Custom Search Engine, it seems to give more search results and has a format that is easy to work with since I’m already familiar w/ Google and use it often. Rollyo, however, has sponsored links right in the search results, which can be somewhat distracting.

This can be a great tool for a librarian or anyone doing research that has to be restricted to certain sources or can be helpful in narrowing down the sources of information from the very first steps in researching a topic.

Link to my search roll called "Movie Search":

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004049467478362935956%3At_yjnjvxsls

Image Generator

Wikis

Wow, I had no idea that wikipedia was a collective community posting site, I've been going to them for info for a while, just to view a simple and short explanation of something. I had a notion that it was quite informal in some parts but now I know what a wiki is and therefore I can appreciate wikipedia so much more, while of course being more cautious of the content.

Library Success: A best practices wiki took me on an interesting journey. I looked at how many different library systems are doing programs similar to our Game On and read about different ways of implementing such programming. This is definitely a great forum for librarians. I even stumbled upon some interesting research about the current concept of “information literacy.”

Library Thing!

This is really intense. I like discussion groups and having this at my fingertips is like magic. I can talk to people about books I’ve read or plan to read. It also allows for new ways of creating an online book club. I’ve got just a few of my books cataloged and I’m overwhelmed with how many thousands of people have done this. Although one of my favorite books has not been cataloged by anyone yet, I’m first.

Here is a link to my catalog:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/agnesbkw

Del.icio.us

I didn't realize the scope of the possibilities involved in tagging. At first it seems somewhat useful but when you really explore it in more depth the possibilities look endless. Especially in education, research and academic collaboration it would create a communication tool like no other before.

To have a peer group doing research on the same topic and tagging many different items in del.icio.us, would open a great research forum available for the whole group to view and access without having to communicate the details of where an article was found or what it was about. This is a great tool for academic and other research pursuits.

Since I'm going to be in Germany...

I can recommend a great German director - Wim Wenders.

In his works he explores American culture in some very interesting ways like his last two films were Land of Plenty (2004) where he takes on America post 911 and Don't Come Knocking (2005) is a story of a washed out western movie star.

He is also connected with the music world quite a bit; through his documentaries about American Blues - The Soul of a Man (2003) produced by our local Paul Allen, and Cuban music - Buena Vista Social Club (1999) you can get quite an intimate portrait of these amazing artists.

A good intro to his work is Paris, Texas (1984) or the amazing Wings of Desire (1987) later remade in Hollywood under the title City of Angels (1998) w/Nick Cage.

Bye bye for a little while...

I'm going on a trip to Europe and will miss everyone very much.
In less than 48 hours I'll be landing in Germany, then I'm off to Poland to see relatives and maybe in the last week we'll go to Greece.

I'll try to do some posting while I'm traveling, so stay tuned...

But it's a black comedy...

This is a great black comedy! It was made by the Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea whose last film was a great satire of contemporary life in Cuba called Guantanamera (1995).

Death of a Bureaucrat (1966) reminds me of the long lines I had to stand in with my mom back in Poland during the 1980s. You couldn't really take care of business unless you had connections or gifts for any type of bureacrat even to get an appointment at the dentist. The protagonist in this film tries to avoid and even beat the system at its own game but of course as with any bureacracy there are complications...

MySpace/Social Networking

I realize the enormous impact that MySpace has had in the past few years and it doesn't seem like a fad it looks like it's sticking around. I have a MySpace page but have not spent too much time developing or expanding it. It's more fun just to look at other things like music videos or other profiles and I'm a part of several groups.
I think libraries and other institutions should take advantage of this medium because it appeals to young patrons and can add a new positive perspective to MySpace. See video clip below.


I found this video on LibraryBytes it has a lot to do with Learning 2.0, so check it out!
It's aimed at educators but we have a lot to do with this stuff too.

http://www.librarybytes.com/2007/04/worth-view.html

Bust A Keaton... "The Great Stone Face"

"I have called Keaton the most silent of silent film comedians without quite explaining why. The silence was related to another deeply rooted quality -- that immobility, that sense of alert repose, we have so often seen in him. Keaton could run like a jackrabbit and, in almost every feature film, he did. He could stunt like Lloyd, as honestly and even more dangerously. His pictures are motion pictures. Yet, though there is a hurricane eternally raging around him, and though he is often caught up in it, Keaton's constant drift is toward the quiet at the hurricane's eye."
-- Walter Kerr,The Silent Clowns

Popular legend has it that one day before a vaudeville performance, a very young Keaton was walking down a flight of stairs, but tripped and fell down the entire flight and broke his nose. Keaton got right back up, and upon seeing this the famous magician Harry Houdini, who was in the performance, said to Keaton's mother that he was quite the little buster. It is more likely, however, that the nickname was given by a fellow vaudvillian, whose name has been lost to history. Although Houdini did tour with the Keatons, he did not join up with them until Keaton was well beyond infancy. Regardless of the source, however, the name 'Buster' was acquired in his youth, and used ever since.

-- from Wikipedia

OK, here’s some comedy…

I like to laugh, really!

So is it Charlie Chaplin

or Buster Keaton?

I open this question up for debate so I'm waiting to hear who's your favorite and why?

As far as humor goes I lean toward British humor: Monty Python & Mr. Bean etc.

The French also have Louis de Funès with his twisted slapstick comedy.

A more recent subtle but funny French actor is Daniel Auteuil. He was very funny in films like The Closet (2001) and Après vous... (2003).

I found some feeds.

I really liked the Feedster Blog of the Day and ended up adding two interesting blogs from this feature. Topix.net was interesting to explore as well, I found some interesting news from Europe.

My topic feeds were on film and I found them w/the help of a wonderfully nice coworker (you know who you are :-)) on Google Blog Search:

http://www.twitchfilm.net/

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/

RSS

Wow, what fun...

I found some pretty cool RSS feeds like the Daily Show videos. There were a lot of librarian and library related feeds, which I will have to check out in more depth. Oh, I even found a movie buff one, but it doesn't seem all that interesting.

Check out the Daily Show videos at:
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml?rsspartner=rssBloglines

Flickr - Color Pickr

I really liked this fountain of color in so many different images. These pictures are so saturated and intense it sure makes black and white photography look inferior. But I'm guessing the depth of these colors must be enhanced with computer editing. When I took a photography class a few years ago, we didn't have Flickr, but it must be fun to post your own pictures to be viewed and reviewed by other photographers worldwide.

How about horror?

I can’t believe that horrors are still popular. What is it about this genre that keeps it going? It seems like the same old thing…

Oh, John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) didn’t look like the same old thing though. I saw it for the first time last week – what a chilling spectacle.

Another horror I saw recently was Lady in White (1988) with the very talented actor Lucas Haas. (CH you would know him from Brick, he was “King Pin” – 2005, a thriller with a Shakespear-like slang dialogue).

But the most horrifying of them all is the latest one - The Descent (2005). I don’t recommend this one for everyone especially if you’re a fan of caving expeditions.

Western anyone?

I'll never forget Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969), a late western with elaborate shooting sequences that are so well constructed, going from one side of the gunfight to the other, with piercing close-ups in between. Fast action!

Lately I saw a new western that happens in our times, it’s full of irony, showing our reality through the eyes of a character who acts like an old time cowboy. It’s called Down in the Valley (2005) featuring a great performance by Edward Norton.

The sea can see...

This is my favorite real spot in Poland - Morskie Oko (Sea's Eye) in the Tatra Mts. It's a lake at the bottom of the highest peak in Poland known for its vibrant blue color. I walked along that trail on the right side of the water. The picture is again from Flickr.

My Flickr Photo

This is the "cement jungle" that is my hometown in Poland, where I was born and grew up until I moved to the US when I was fifteen. Those tall buildings are residential flats, small apartments/condos that most Polish people live in (did I mention they're very small). I found the picture on Flickr and was amazed at some of the other cool images of Poland.

Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game (1939)

I don't have a favorite movie...

b/c I think it's impossible to select just one. So what movie should I mention first?

Well I just recommended a great Renior film to a coworker - Rules of the Game (1939), it's a tangled farse with a lot of characters running around on the screen and Renoir does a great job of keeping all the plotlines together while the camera manages to keep up with the action in great shots.
Oh, the hunting scenes...

... well see for yourselves and I'd love to read any comments you might have about this timeless classic.

Welcome to my Blog!

Read my blogs about the latest film/movie I've seen (if you care to, of course). I like to make comments about movies, it's something I learned in film class and it kind of stuck with me since then.

I already talk about movies most of the time, this will be yet another outlet for endless movie blogging.