Diaily Thoughts 6/9/2009

Prang's Fine Art Books, Poster

Daily Thoughts 6/9/2009

I watched some of The Battle For Algiers on dvd. It reminds me of many things which are happening in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a classic film about terrorism, colonialism, and change.

I am standing at the main library of Queens Public Library. One of the things which Queens Public Library does is not create special reference collections for books on library management. I will be taking three books on librarianship out; Guide to Developing A Library Music Collection by R. Michael Fling, Fundamentals of Technical Services Management by Sheila S. Intner with Peggy Johnson, and The Thriving Library Successful Strategies for Challenging Times, Edited by Marylaine Block. One of the things I was looking for was books on managing non-print materials. We have lots of information on selecting books, but not enough information on selecting dvds and cds.

I also picked up two graphic novels, Drinky Crow's Maakies Treasury by Tony Millionaire. This book is irreverent, gross, violent, and funny. Maakies is a comic strip printed mainly in alternative newspapers. It features a drunken crow (Drinky Crow) and drunken monkey (Uncle Gabby) who often sail around on a sailing ship. It draws a little bit from the early strips like Krazy Kat or other early animal funnies. The other book which I selected was Conan and The Jewels of Gwahlur by P. Craig Russell. P. Craig Russell is known for his opera adaptations like Parsifal and the Ring of the Nibelung. http://www.pcraigrussell.net/

I am standing here using the computer at the library. It has no printer attached to it. Nobody minds if I continue to use it for a few extra sessions because everyone wants to print something. I also used the self-checkout machine. It was rather interesting. All you had to do was place your card on top of a plate and it was read automatically. Then you placed all your books on top of the plate in a stack and it read the barcodes automatically and gave a printout of what you had checked out. Queens Library is using radio frequency identification self checkout. http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_nm=Annual_Report05_RFID

I read Maakies on the bus home. It was grossly funny. They even had a few people showing off their tattoos of Drinky Crow in some of the comic strips which was very outrageous. This is a link to the comic strip on the web. http://www.maakies.com/archive/index.html

I enjoyed reading the Conan story. It was very true to the original character who is a charlatan, trickster, and thief in his early years. Conan is off to steal some jewels and become rich. This is not a story of constant fighting, but treachery, intrigue, and cunning with a beautiful woman and some monsters thrown in for good measure.

The art work is beautiful. In addition to the story, there is a sketch book after the story which includes drawing from Barry Windsor Smith and Roy Thomas of Conan. P. Craig Russell is trying to keep the feel of the earlier comic versions of Conan. Despite this, it does not feel like a traditional Conan story. It is much more dramatic than most Conan stories. There is also more background story and art.