Daily Thougts 5/2/2099

Poster by John Cecily Clay 1905

Daily Thoughts 5/2/2009

I walked up to my local library. It is very nice outside. It was refreshing. I picked up a manga by Hideo Azuma called Disappearance Diary. It is about a manga artist who has a habit of wandering off from his family, becoming alcoholic, becoming homeless, and acting a bit wild. The manga won the Grand Prize at the 9th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2005. It reminds me a bit of On the Road in a way and other accounts of wandering artists. I finished reading it tonight and will write a review tomorrow.

I also finished reading Good To Great by Jim Collins. This is a very interesting book. It will take me a while to think through what it says. There are a lot of implications about what it is saying that are quite relevant to what I am doing. I also finished reading the companion monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors

Steven Barnes has a mass market paperback of Great Sky Woman out. The book is about a prehistoric tribe in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. He is an African American writer of science fiction. He incorporates many historical motifs in his novels. Steven Barnes was nominated for the Hugo award for Novelette, The Locusts which he cowrote with Larry Niven. The sequel, Shadow Valley is coming out on May 5, 2009.

I finished watching Sidewalk Stories on dvd by Charles Lane. Charles Lane lent it to me to watch. I found it rather interesting. He acted, produced, and directed in this film. It is a silent black and white film set in New York city. The musical score is what makes the film exceptional. It takes the place of the dialogue. He also lent me another film, True Identity which is a comedy. He both acts in and produces this film.

Web Bits

Thomas Nelson has a book review program for bloggers. They give a free book to people who review their books. http://brb.thomasnelson.com/

Daily Thoughts 4/24/2009

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), Portrait of french writer and film-maker Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), 1916.

Daily Thoughts 4/24/2009

On the train home, I read Look, Speak, and Behave For Men, Expert Advice On Image, Etiquette, and Effective Communication for the Professional by Jamie Yasko-Mangum, C.I.C. Certified Image Consultant. This book was not very deep, however, it did provide a few useful pieces of information. It has some very exact guidelines for how to dress in a business casual environment with pictures of the attire. It also gives tips on how to dress in a creative environment which most books don't cover. There are also some wardrobe suggestions for business casual.

Charles Lane one of our patrons lent me a film which he had produced Sidewalk Stories. It is a silent film with some humor in it set in the 1980s. It looks like it is in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. So far, it is mildly entertaining. It is shots of people walking around doing things. There is a classical score to the film.

Today, I spent more time in the technical processing area sorting through unprocessed books. We catalog some of our government documents. I sorted through these picking out things which needed to be prioritized. I also pulled some more books which needed to be processed for the Job Information Center. I am going to have sort through the books to be mended as well.

I also did some ordering of books. A few graphic novels. They are coming out with a new graphic novel of the forthcoming Star Trek move called Star Trek Countdown. I also selected several plays like Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms, a few poetry books by Kay Ryan the current poet laureate in the United States, the new Pulitzer prize winning novel, Olive Kittredge by Elizabeth Strout, and a variety of other works.

There were a few other miscellaneous minor tasks that needed doing. I filed some law looseleafs, and thought about producing a bibliography for graphic novels. I think I might do this. It would be an interesting thing to do. The other bibliography I might do is books on writing. Sometimes thinking about things sets you on the right track.

Now I am pondering about sleep.