Let's Get Physical...

I think this picture pretty much speaks for itself...


...a pink speedo, Robin? Reading Terra Incognito from Marv Wolfman & George Perez, a prequel to The Judas Contract, which I just ordered off Borders.com

To Summer Read or Not to Summer Read

While it’s still early February, it will be largely unsurprising to fellow public librarians that my thoughts have turned to a little thing we like to call Summer Reading.

Summer Reading is an initiative that most public librarians ascribe to as a way to push books over the summer while students may fall complacent over the three months that they aren’t enrolled in school. This started a long time ago, but has largely taken on a life of its own; most public libraries around the country now have some form of a Summer Reading program, one that usually revolves around booklists and programs that make the library a youth-friendly and fun place from June to August.

Dreams of Sundance / Going Kaboom

Anyone who has ever met me in real life has probably experienced what I like to call, "The Excitable Ryan." Just like Tinkerbell, I often have the emotional capacity to only feel one emotion at one time. Not with every single feeling, mind you, but when I get excited about something? It's hard to feel anything else. This year, just before Christmas, there was one thing I was so excited about I could hardly think about anything else.

It was the thought of going to the one, the only Sundance Film Festival.

I've been a long and often quiet admirer for many years of Sundance. While working at the Nashua Public Library, I was exposed for the first time to the joys of independent cinema. Going to places like The Wilton Town Hall Theater and later Coolidge Corner in Boston only strengthened this newfound interest. While living in Boston, I had the opportunity to watch the IFC Television Channel, which I'll admit, sadly got kind of obsessed with. I would say about half the films on my Netflix list (when I still had it) were independents; I was clearly hooked.