A E I O

"Libraries aren’t in the real world, after all. They’re places apart, sanctuaries of pure thought."

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:14:30 -0700

“Libraries aren’t in the real world, after all. They’re places apart, sanctuaries of pure thought.”

- Paul Auster (via picadorbookroom)

I wonder if Paul Auster has been to one recently, though.

Libraries have actually become, in the US at least, de facto homeless shelters and centers for the mentally ill, as well as a resource for those needing childcare as well as the unemployed seeking work. There’s now signs on some of them in New York barring people from bringing ‘large packages’ which basically means ‘homeless people cannot bring their life’s belongings in here’—but they allowed it for almost a decade as homelessness in New York reached epic proportions. There’s actually very few places in American life so of this world, more than a library. Most public libraries are where you can see what is really going on for most Americans in a way you won’t ever see on the news or in a television show, or even in most fiction or nonfiction. And it is to the credit of most librarians that they continue to operate, despite budget cuts, the outlandish depravity of austerians and privitization mongrels. So, let’s not treat libraries like delicate flowers or temples withdrawn from the concerns of the world. They’ve shown themselves to be much tougher than that. Let’s instead make them what they should be, a better thing than what they’ve had to become—and look to what has been laid at their feet as a map to what our country really needs from its government services.

(via alexanderchee)

hedwig-dordt: Two weeks untill season 3!

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:13:44 -0700

hedwig-dordt:

Two weeks untill season 3!

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:40:36 -0700

publisherfails: A cautionary tale. Gpoy circa 1978.

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:22:43 -0700

publisherfails:

A cautionary tale.

Gpoy circa 1978.

hedwig-dordt: reapergrellsutcliff: languageek: Languages...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:21:58 -0700

hedwig-dordt:

reapergrellsutcliff:

languageek:

Languages ranked from easiest to hardest for English speakers - Infographic found here.

((One of the hardest languages in the world to learn is not on this list, Basque. They say: “The Devil tried to learn Basque for seven years and gave up.” ))

I’ve tried Arabic and found it incredibly difficult.

abandonedography: Thonis-Heracleion (the Egyptian and Greek...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:19:20 -0700

abandonedography:

Thonis-Heracleion (the Egyptian and Greek names of the city) is a city lost between legend and reality. Before the foundation of Alexandria in 331 BC, the city knew glorious times as the obligatory port of entry to Egypt for all ships coming from the Greek world. It had also a religious importance because of the temple of Amun, which played an important role in rites associated with dynasty continuity. The city was founded probably around the 8th century BC, underwent diverse natural catastrophes, and finally sunk entirely into the depths of the Mediterranean in the 8th century AD. (via)

converse-universe: Just realised that the British currency does...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:10:00 -0700

converse-universe:

Just realised that the British currency does this. Mind. Blown.

jlbrady: Star Trek facepalm appreciation post.

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:22:35 -0700

jlbrady:

Star Trek facepalm appreciation post.

Photo

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:21:51 -0700

"I want to stress this again: In many, many parts of the country right now, if you want to go to see..."

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:14:13 -0700

“

I want to stress this again: In many, many parts of the country right now, if you want to go to see a movie in the theater and see a current movie about a woman — any story about any woman that isn’t a documentary or a cartoon — you can’t. You cannot. There are not any. You cannot take yourself to one, take your friend to one, take your daughter to one.

There are not any.

By far your best shot, numbers-wise, at finding one that’s at least even-handedly featuring a man and a woman is Before Midnight (on 891 screens) so I hope you like it. Because it’s pretty much that or a solid, impenetrable wall of movies about dudes.

Dudes in capes, dudes in cars, dudes in space, dudes drinking, dudes smoking, dudes doing magic tricks, dudes being funny, dudes being dramatic, dudes flying through the air, dudes blowing up, dudes getting killed, dudes saving and kissing women and children, and dudes glowering at each other.

Somebody asked me this morning what “the women” are going to do about this. I don’t know. I honestly am at the point where I have no idea what to do about it. Stop going to the movies? Boycott everything?

They put up Bridesmaids, we went. They put up Pitch Perfect, we went. They put up The Devil Wears Prada, which was in two-thousand-meryl-streeping-oh-six, and we went (and by “we,” I do not just mean women; I mean we, the humans), and all of it has led right here, right to this place. Right to the land of zippedy-doo-dah. You can apparently make an endless collection of high-priced action flops and everybody says “win some, lose some” and nobody decides that They Are Poison, but it feels like every “surprise success” about women is an anomaly and every failure is an abject lesson about how we really ought to just leave it all to The Rock.

”

- At The Movies, The Women Are Gone : Monkey See : NPR

The whole article is fantastic, as is pretty much everything Linda Holmes writes.

(via kdhart)

amoredemori: looking back on some old work when i used to do...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:57:36 -0700

amoredemori:

looking back on some old work when i used to do Amore de Mori adornments full time. here is a mouse tea party hat i made on commission for Ascot. although i think these mice are charming i cant believe how much my taxidermy skills have come on since then!

Every year, the science museum where I volunteer has a tea party. I’m tempted to try for something like this for the next one.

Summon my architect. I require this immediately.

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:56:19 -0700

Summon my architect. I require this immediately.

wild-nirvana: lizthefangirl: blua: Candida Hofer - Libraries...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:37:18 -0700

wild-nirvana:

lizthefangirl:

blua:

Candida Hofer - Libraries (published 2005)

tHIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE

THINK OF THE CHILDR EN

•my spiritual world•

This whole photoset made me a little short of breath.

visioluxus: Print Sale! Because I am a doofus, I double ordered...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:48:02 -0700

visioluxus:

Print Sale! Because I am a doofus, I double ordered 8x10 prints of the Night Ocean series and am now drowning (hehe, pun intended) in them. SO, from June 11th to the 16th, they are HALF OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$16 each print

All prints are made on pearlized archival photography paper which gives the print a soft opalescent sheen.

The image is 6 inches by 9 inches with a white border for a final print size of 8 by 10 inches for easy framing, signed.

$3 shipping to USA, $5 shipping Canada, $9 shipping EU

Email me at visioluxus@hotmail.com with the image number(s) and address. I will confirm your order and send you a final dollar amount.

Payment accepted through PayPal only!

If you are a fan of octopi, Lovecraft, Erika Moen, or naked women, here is your opportunity to own all of those! Please spread the word, and the tentacle love!

Thanks!

hedwig-dordt: moriartea-cup: I like how the motto of Hannibal went from “Eat the rude” to “SOMEONE...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:47:06 -0700

hedwig-dordt:

moriartea-cup:

I like how the motto of Hannibal went from “Eat the rude” to “SOMEONE PLEASE FUCKING HELP WILL GRAHAM”

I do too, and I have yet to see the show.

Pillow fort architect..PILLOW FORT ARCHITECT.

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:36:08 -0700

Pillow fort architect..

PILLOW FORT ARCHITECT.

Photo

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:31:06 -0700

thebooksmith: explore-blog: The very first recording of Allen...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:35:32 -0700

thebooksmith:

explore-blog:

The very first recording of Allen Ginsberg (who once mistook Patti Smith for “a very pretty boy”) reading his epic poem “Howl,” 1956.

Pair with the reading list for Ginsberg’s class “The History of the Beats.”

this is so amazing.

we had the distinct honor of being invited to Ginsberg’s photography exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. It was kind of like looking at Ginsberg’s instagram, and we highly recommend it.

It spans about 30 years of his life, and features intimate portraits of Burroughs, Kerouac, and Bob Dylan (to name a few). The pictures are ruminative, sentimental, and quite striking. They really show another side of one of San Francisco’s most beloved poets.

10/10, would go see again.

teachingliteracy: From one looking glass through another (by...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:45:36 -0700

teachingliteracy:

From one looking glass through another (by Sharon LuVisi)

"If you send a reference librarian to the store with a Boolean list of ‘sugar’ AND ‘flour’ AND..."

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:35:57 -0700

“If you send a reference librarian to the store with a Boolean list of ‘sugar’ AND ‘flour’ AND ‘eggs,’ you will get a cookie.”

- Reference and Information Services (An Introduction)

Came across this in my reading today, and had to lol.

(via qristina)

And that’s how it’s done.

(via silencewhippersnapper)

OH MY GOD, CAN I DO THIS TO OUR REFERENCE STAFF FOR COOKIES?
(via reasonsimsinglealsobutts)