Night of the Living Trekkies

One of the advantages of being the library's acquisitions officer is that I get to see all the new stock as it comes through (it can be an occupational hazard too). So when this title landed on my desk it just screamed out to be read.

Night of the Living Trekkies can be best described as a cross between what goes on at a Star Trek convention (which are pretty strange affairs at the best of times... so I've heard!) and Night of the Living Dead. As the planet (well... Houston, Texas at least) teeters on the brink of being overrun by the living dead, a ragtag group of fanboys and fangirls have to survive the night and get to safety before the government bombs Houston back to the stoneage.

A lurid, but entertaining read.

Disclaimer: the author of this post would like it know that he has never attended a Star Trek convention in his life and only knows them by reputation. He has, however, attended a few Doctor Who ones which are considerably more sedate affairs.

Man bites Murdoch!

Bruce Guthrie has survived tuberculosis and being brought up in Broadmeadows; one of Melbourne's grittiest suburbs (also where Eddie McGuire hails from, but I digress) to become one of Australia's most respected news editors, having worked for both Fairfax and News Limited. He's edited The Herald, The Sunday Age, The Age, Who Weekly and had a stint as a senior editor at People magazine in New York. In February 2007 he was appointed editor-in-chief of The Herald-Sun, the largest selling newspaper in Australia. And then in November 2008 he ran afoul of Rupert Murdoch and was sacked for no reason.

So what did he do? Take on the might of News Corporation and sue for wrongful dismissal? Oh yeah.

Man Bites Murdoch is a fascinating insight into the inner working of one of Australian's largest news gathering organizations.

Edgar Allan Moran?

Yesterday marked the would-be 202nd birthday of poet Edgar Allan Poe.


Anyone else notice a slight similarity between this gothic poet and funny man Dylan Moran?



Just sayin'.

Problem-solving interactive flow chart

Complex but useful web based system for any problem you have in life...worth checking out http://then-be.com/ Warning: Only works properly in the current versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. And it will not work properly in any version of IE.

Author Talk - Elisabeth Storrs

Sydney-based author Elisabeth Storrs will be joining us at our Penshurst branch to discuss her book 'The Wedding Shroud: A Tale of Early Rome'.

Last Bus to Woodstock

In the summer of 1972, Colin Dexter took his family on a holiday to North Wales. It rained (what else is new?). To pass the time he write the first few chapters of a potential detective novel. It was eventually published under the title of Last Bus to Woodstock and introduced the character of Chief Inspector E. Morse (what the "E" stood for was eventually revealed in 1996's Death is Now My Neighbour). And thus one of the great detectives of the modern era was born.

Thirteen novels were eventually published in the series featuring Morse, the grump Wagner and cryptic crossword loving detective, and his faithful (and long suffering) sidekick Sergeant Lewis. At TV series based on the novels began in 1987 starring John Thaw as Morse and Kevin Whately as Lewis. The plots follow the traditional "who dunnit" format of a murder being committed and the detectives efforts to catch the killer. There was false leads and red herring aplenty to keep you guessing right to the end.

The LMG holds a number of Dexter's novels, plus DVD of the TV series. So if you haven't made his acquaintance yet, why not "be arrested" by Morse tonight?

Enter the Cinema: Holiday Activities for Young People

Bring your friends along for an afternoon of distinctly Chinese films. This summer you can chill out in air conditioned comfort with snacks and refreshments and celebrate Chinese New Year with some cool films for free!

Event for 15 - 20 year olds. Call 9330 6142 to book!

Thursday 20 January 2011

From 4.00 - 6.00pm

Hurstville City museum & Gallery

14 MacMahon Street

Hurstville

FREE EVENT

Personal libraries - Karl Lagerfeld

Best known as the current head designer and creative director for fashion empire Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld is a man of many faces. Well, not really. The same dark-bespectacled eyes and white hair have dominated the fashion industry since the 1980's. However, Lagerfeld is well known for one of his other great loves, books.




This mish-mash of titles may be lacking in any organisation (Ever heard of the Dewey Decimal system, Karl?)however it seems to make the books even more striking and beautiful!
Have you seen pictures of your favourite celebs personal library? Who's is it and why is it your fave?

Back open.

Hurstville City Library has officially reopened after our carpet installation! Check out these photos that one of our librarians snapped of the first Saturday back open..

Doctor Who : The Writer's Tale

The blurb on the cover calls it "The definitive story of the BBC series" and that it is.

Containing email correspondence between head writer Russell T. Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook, the first half of the book concentrates on the production of the 4th series of Doctor Who's rebirth. The second half concentrates on David Tennant's last year as the Doctor leading up to his final episodes. Along the way you get a glimpse of storylines that didn't make it to production (including Penny, the companion who never was), find out the day-to-day dramas of bringing Doctor Who to the screen, learn about the politics of the BBC and experience David Tennant's final days on set. You also get Russell's muses on life, the state of television in the UK and everything.

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale is a must. Not just for Doctor Who fans, but for anyone with an interest in television production.

Morning sessions: Sufan Stevens

Every morning I try to ensure my daily grind to work has a soundtrack. Something new. Something I have not yet heard. Naturally it is something from the Hurstville Library CD collection! Todays pick is a track called Futile Devices from Sufjan Stevens new album titled The Age of Adz. Epic album and a lovely opening track.

Sufjan Stevens - Futile Devices Music Video

Carpet Installation - Day 10?

We're almost ready to reopen on the 15th of January here at Hurstville City Library. Today we've been busy cleaning up the shelves and testing the wonderful new carpet.

Check out all our shenanigans on the LMG Flickr

New DVD Titles Coming Soon

There are still lots of DVD and CD titles arriving in 2011 and are free for library members to take out on loan. Examples are below of a small selection of titles that will be on our DVD stand in the coming weeks.

• Animal Kingdom -written and directed by David Michod. Starring Jacki Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Luke Ford, Sullivan Stapleton and James Frecheville. An Australian movie which received 18 nominations for 2010 Australian Film Institute Awards, the winner of Sundance Film Festival and Jacki Weaver has been nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a motion picture.
  
• Get Him To The Greek - starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. A comedy about an aspiring music executive who has 72 hours to deliver Aldous Snow a wild rock legend to perform in a comeback concert at the world famous Greek Theatre.
  
• Convict Australia - a documentary hosted by Ian Wright and includes visits to locations where convicts lived and worked with talks to historians and descendants of convicts. It also looks at the impact of it had on the Aboriginal people.
  
• Powderfinger Sunsests Farewell Tour - a two disc set containing the concert and Sunsets the documentary.
  
• Marmaduke -a family comedy film about Marmaduke a lovable Great Dane who moves to a new neighbourhood where he doesn't fit in. Listen out for the voices of Owen Wilson, George Lopez, Kiefer Sutherland and Fergie.

Next month the focus will be on new music CDs. If you have any suggestions for titles for us to look at purchasing for DVDs and music CDs post them here.

Computer Classes - 2011

Computer classes here at the LMG are starting back up again! Come and learn how to use Facebook or if you're still a beginner, learn basic keyboard and mouse skills.
All our classes are detailed here:

Chairs.

This morning in the LMG has involved a whole lot of moving! One of our wonderful librarians Matt came in super early to start and the rest of the staff have been busily helping him in order to get the chairs clean and spiffy for our reopening!

Check out all the action as always - via our Flickr

Carpet installation - Week 2.

The second week of the carpet installation has begun at the library. You can check out all the latest photos on our flickr but here's a sneak peek of what's going on..

Nutty's Carpet Adventures.

Nutty was anxious to help out with the carpet installation in the library. It's not like him just to sit by and watch! Here are some of the pictures we quickly snapped while Nutty was working hard.



Spot the nutty!


Out with the old, in with the new.


Nutty addressing the masses!


Even Nutty deserves a break every now and then.

Follow all of Nutty's adventures on our Flickr

Junior Art School at the MCA

The Museum of Contemporary Art has done it again! Check out the results of the school holiday workshop Junior Art School: Pixellation Creations for 5 - 7 year olds this January at the MCA! These are some talented little kids.

Day 4 of the carpet install.

It's day four of the carpet installation here at Hurstville City Library. Everything is going well with contractors rolling out the new carpet and stacking the old carpet in the entrance. The dust is flying around, the commercial radio is blaring, but work is progressing nicely.

Solaris the movie: Orginal vs George Clooney

Recently I stumbled upon the original russian version of Solaris by Tarkovsky in Hurstville Library's Russian DVD collection. The movie is based on a space station orbiting a mysterious planet called Solaris as terrified crew members experience strange phenomena, including weird visitors who are too human. Between you and I, it is a far superior version then the 2002 remake of Solaris directed by Steven Soderbergh and featuring George Clooney. Do not tell that to some of our staff members but, going by some of the paraphernalia on peoples desks, there seems to be a bit of George fan club going on in the work room.

Who wants to be an outlier? Malcolm Gladwell tells us how ...

In his book, Outliers : the story of success, Malcolm Gladwell tells us that a high IQ is not enough. We need our family, friends, culture, hard work (the 10,000 hour rule) and even a bit of luck in order to become an extraordinary successful person, an outlier.

Is he just stating the obvious? Rather, I think it is his impassioned plea to the community to look after each other. The individual just cannot make it alone.

Writing as a "pop social psychologist", he is at once controversial, but immensely popular with the mass reading public. If you want to read about his contrarian views on success, you probably need to reserve his book - it's always on loan - or save the reservation fee and read his eAudiobook. His two other runaway bestsellers, Blink and Tipping Point are also available from Hurstville eLibrary 24/7 to download.

Carpet Installation - The Beginning!

Work never ceases at the LMG! While all the librarians and co. are stuck in the office working their fingers to the bone, the library floor is a hive of activity. The books and shelves are being rearranged and the old carpet is being ripped up to accommodate the newer, faster, shinier carpet that will be taking it's place. We'll keep you updated here during this process, here's some photos from the first couple of days.


You can check out more photos on our flickr