Arts & Culture

  • Science Fiction for the Rest of Us

    I’ll admit it straight up: I’ve never really liked science fiction.  I’ve never seen a single episode of Star Trek or read a book by Robert Heinlein.  But I’m a librarian, and in order to recommend books to readers of every genre, I have to read outside my comfort zone.  Thanks to a coworker, patrons,… Continue reading

  • What’s Next? David Tennant and Doctor Who

    Oh, David Tennant; you were the only Doctor for me. Over the holidays, the British TV series Doctor Who bid farewell to its 10th Doctor and welcomed a new actor to play the 11th (confused? Think James Bond, but with an explanation for the change). Now that it’s over, how are David Tennant fans to… Continue reading

  • The Men of the BBC

    “I’m not hung up about Darcy. I do not sit at home with the pause button on Colin Firth in clingy pants, okay? I love the love story. I love Elizabeth. I love the manners and language and the courtesy. It’s become part of who I am and what I want. I’m saying that I… Continue reading

  • Standards and Forgotten Gems: Sheet Music Redux

    Many master songwriters from Tin Pan Alley have songbooks devoted to their works. However, though these songwriters may have had very successful careers for, literally, decades and may have written several hundred songs, only a fraction of their output makes it into these songbooks. Publishers generally want to produce material that will sell (go figure!)… Continue reading

  • Let’s get digital

    The Special Collections Department  has added three new digital collections to our resources in the past year.  Going digital takes a great deal of effort but makes these collections available to a much larger audience and also makes them more accessible because of their searching capabilities.  The easiest way to get to them is to go from the home page to… Continue reading

  • The movie made me love the book: Jane Austen

    We all have one (at least) of those books: a book that you had to read in school and weren’t that into, but is hailed throughout the English-speaking world as a masterpiece; a book that you wouldn’t read again because it’s now so fraught with memories and expectations. For me, that book was Pride and… Continue reading

  • All in the Game

                           “Many a tear has to fall,                                   but it’s all,                                               in the game.” Aficionados of oldies music might immediately hear a melody when they see those words. The classic pop song, “It’s All in the Game,” topped the charts in 1958, as sung by Tommy Edwards. What most people don’t realize is that… Continue reading

  • An Unfinished Life

    We all start out so damn sure, thinking we’ve got the world on a string. If we ever stopped to think about the infinite number of ways we could be undone,      we’d never leave our bedrooms.   I’ve had a plethora of women in my life expecting children. Some married, some not, some engaged, some first… Continue reading

  • Check out a documentary

    Movie screens, in the winter months, are typically occupied with fantastical epics like 2012 or Avatar and dramatic fare intended to capitalize on the upcoming award season, like Invictus. But a genre of film that is often neglected and forgotten in this season is the documentary. Documentaries have certainly experienced a revitalization in the past few decades. Michael… Continue reading

  • J-O-B

    Because you had a bad day You’re taking one down You sing a sad song just to turn it around You say you don’t know You tell me don’t lie You work at a smile and you go for a ride… With job classes being offered at a plethora of Seattle Public Library branches and… Continue reading

  • Creative expansion: Movies based on short stories

    There’s always another movie coming that’s based on a novel (raising the eternal question, should you read the book or see the movie first?). I’m currently waiting for the December 11 release of the movie The Lovely Bones, based on the novel by Alice Sebold. But it’s also interesting to think about the process of… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 6)

                                                    (Sixth in a series) I’ve been to Hollywood…                           I’ve been to redwood…                       I crossed the ocean for a heart  of  gold…   I’ve been in my mind,                   its such a fine line…   That keeps me searching                           for a heart of gold… Third stop Vallecito and Redding: 2 days, 2 nights The… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 5)

                             (Fifth in a series) Now I don’t know what I’ll find…           Just want to get in the car and drive… Been living too long this way…                                                It’s getting me down…                I know what I need…                                    What I need…             California sun…      It’s calling me… Next stop Calistoga and Napa: 1 day, 1 night… Continue reading

  • ¡Celebre el Día de los Muertos! Celebrate Day of the Dead!

    So, what is Día de los muertos and why would anyone want to celebrate death? México and other Latin American countries have an intimate and playful attitude towards the life/death relationship. Unlike the sober Memorial Day celebrated in the United States, the dead are invited to return and enjoy costumed parades and personalized altars festooned… Continue reading

  • All Your Bass Are Belong To Us, Part II

    To continue our electronic odyssey began in Part I here are some artists you might find at SPL to plug in to and up the amperage of your playlist. Bombay Dub Orchestra – Take a fully orchestrated Bollywood soundtrack, chop it up, chill it down and this is what you get: a 2-disc set, the second… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 3)

    (Third in a series) You look to the sky…                                 Set your course on into the night… You say good-bye…                                                             You hold your head high…     Wherever you’re goin it’s alright… Second stop was Cannon Beach and Salem: 1 day, 1 night We headed out early morning on a sunny Sunday from Portland to… Continue reading

  • All Your Bass Are Belong To Us, Pt. I

    Back in 1919, when the world was in black and white (I’ve always wondered how they knew the sky was blue and the grass was green but every time I ask a librarian about it they get a funny look, mumble something, and wander away. But I digress … ) Leon Theremin was working for… Continue reading

  • Hmongs New Year Festival

    There is something about other ethnic groups and cultures in American that never fails to fascinate me!  As a child of immigrant parents, I’ve always had a keen interest in other people’s culture, and especially their “immigrant experience”.  A few months ago, I re-read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. This book… Continue reading