Movies & TV

  • Death Comes Knocking

    Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me. The Carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. -Emily Dickinson A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore is an edge-of-your-seat read. After seeing a man in mint green at his wife’s hospital bedside – a man he shouldn’t be able to see – Charlie Asher’s life… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: More Alternatives to Game of Thrones

    In our never-ending quest to call out readable alternatives to terrific TV series, SPL librarians have been looking for something to satisfy that GOT craving–Game of Thrones, that is. One of our fabulous teen librarians have some suggestions for you for when the series ceases to engage–or if your appetite, once whetted, needs some print… Continue reading

  • Long May You Run

    If the Solstice Parade and Pride festivities have you all worn out and you’re planning to take it easy next weekend, come on over to the Greenwood Car Show! Take a leisurely stroll down Greenwood Ave N. on Saturday, June 30th, where you’ll be able to drool over 1.5 miles of hot rods, collector cars, antique gems… Continue reading

  • LGBT Pride

    June is here, which means LGBT Pride Parades are taking to the streets of major cities, including ours: the Seattle Pride Parade and Seattle Pride Fest take place on the weekend of June 23-24! Names like Ellen, Harvey, Elton, Dan, and Wanda will float about, rekindling our knowledge of famous gays and lesbians throughout our… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Friday: SF Film Fest

    Local science fiction fans may be well aware of the Cinerama’s upcoming Science Fiction Film Fest, but how many of you read the book first? Interestingly, most of the films started out as books of one kind or another, and they are worth a look. Here’s a rundown. Metropolis: no source book for this one, but this… Continue reading

  • Crime: If You Like Boardwalk Empire

    I just finished season one of Boardwalk Empire, Martin Scorcese’s series set in prohibition era Atlantic City, and am dying for more. I love good immersive TV experiences (and saving money with library DVDs), but in the end you’re as bereft as if you’d just finished a satisfying long novel. So I put together a couple of… Continue reading

  • My Favorite Women Writers and Artists

     Advance Weekend Edition for Sunday, April 1, 2012 I’m always amazed at how an artist’s personality and distinctive voice come through in their work, especially with some of my favorite women authors. Case in point: Joyce Kilmer. She’s most famous for her beautiful poem “Trees,” which has also been set to music by Oscar Rasbach.… Continue reading

  • What was on the Tube in 1962

    On the 50th anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair, we look back at that year’s popular books, music, movies and TV shows. This week, what was on TV in 1962. Television looked different in 1962. Nine out of ten American households had TV sets, but they were almost all black & white; Zenith produced its… Continue reading

  • What we were watching in 1962

    On the 50th anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair, we look back at that year’s popular books, music, movies and TV shows. This week’s list in our catalog: what we were watching in 1962. Lawrence of Arabia was the top-grossing film that year (winning seven Oscars), with the star-studded D-Day epic The Longest Day hot on… Continue reading

  • Audio Described Movies

    What is an audio described movie? An audio described movie is a movie with a separate sound track that includes a narrator who verbal describes important visual elements of the film. The narration is interspaced between the movie’s regular dialogue, to create as little disruption to the movie’s main sound track as possible. The audio… Continue reading

  • Crime: The Sherlock Holmes you don’t know.

    Arriving at the D’s in my Alphabet of Crime, I want to pay homage to Arthur Conan Doyle, or more specifically to his greatest creation. Sherlock Holmes is especially hot right now, but as arguably the most beloved series character in the history of fiction, he never really goes out of style. Of course you can… Continue reading

  • A Visit to New Orleans, Part 2

    (Find Part 1 of this post here) “To be engaged in some small way in the revival of one of the great cities of the world is to live a meaningful existence by default.”-Chris Rose, 1 Dead in Attic The third most important is Hurricane Katrina and the toll it left on the city. Even though… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: He Was A Friend Of Mine

    There are some movies that mean more to you because of when you saw them. They can bear repeated watchings because they are just that good or because some combination of story and nostalgia provides a kind of comfort food. One such movie for me is the science fiction sleeper, “Enemy Mine” (1985). Starring Dennis… Continue reading

  • Everything and the Kitchen Sink: Social Realism in post-war Britain

    The rain falls hard on a humdrum town This town has dragged you down And everybody’s got to live their life And God knows I’ve got to live mine… So goes the opening verse of The Smiths‘ classic song, “William, It Was Really Nothing,” a brilliant pastiche of British post-war, kitchen sink dramas. The Manchester… Continue reading

  • The Scarlet Letter Revisited

    “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.”  -The Scarlet Letter What I love most about The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is it’s timelessness. It is just… Continue reading

  • A Different Beauty: Sharing Film with Children

    I vividly remember the first time I saw The Red Balloon as a child. I’ve never forgotten the haunting, stark beauty of 1950s Paris, the unapologetic taking of the child’s perspective, and the power of images with minimal dialogue. As much as I loved, and love, the work of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc,… Continue reading

  • A Month of Uncomfortable Cinema: 31 Disturbing Films

    It is the season of good cheer, so why am I posting a list of 31 of the creepiest, most unsettling movies ever made? Well as we tucked into our turkey this Thanksgiving, my mom mentions that she’s been reading my posts here at Shelf Talk. Aw, thanks Mom. “Do you really like all those dark, disturbing books? Don’t you read anything… Continue reading

  • Finding a Hit Man at your Public Library

    The seasoned professionals at your library pride ourselves on helping our patrons with their every need. We are highly skilled at cleaning up messes and tying up loose ends, at rubbing out your troublesome irritations, and making problems go away. So we have a certain grudging admiration for the skilled operators seen plying their deadly… Continue reading