A Wandering Eyre

A fun link that Jessamyn put up this morning: I give you…Longmire does Romance Novels. If this does not make you snort into your coffee, then baby nothing will.

–Jane, chortles

It seems like there are always interesting things to write about after the weekend has passed us by. Mine was very nice, filled with relaxation and friends.

Library News
One last post from Karen Schneider which basically sums up how I feel about the whole Michael Gorman thing.

“…belittling bloggers and making insupportable comments about Google didn’t make bloggers look bad; instead, it made ALA look like the backward organization many of us secretly worry it is, a mausoleum of 19th-century librarianship, and it did it at a time when popular pundits with free pots of ink could respond, and respond, and respond.”

Walt Crawford, who has graced this page with his presence, is considering a blog himself and has asked the readership of LisNews for suggestions. I think I will have to think long and hard on this query. You have until March 12th to come with something witty.

College Basketball
John Cheney, head coach of Temple University, is facing some serious criticism and has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season after sending Nehemiah Ingram in to be a “goon” against St. Joseph’s. The result being that one of St. Joseph’s players, John Bryant, has a broken arm and will be out for the rest of the season. Here is one story from ESPN, but there are more which are easy to locate. Cheney has apologized, but, as they say, the damage has been done.

In related news, Matt Klabo of Valley City State is facing charges for a particularly nasty elbow he gave to a South Dakota School of Mines and Technology player.

What is going on here? I like college basketball, though I rely on Mr. R for technical information, I have to wonder if there is something rotten in the state of Denmark. Am I getting old or is basketball getting more violent?

–Jane, walks off

If I had any doubts that Michael Gorman’s comment on blogs was going to stay within the library blogsphere, they have flown out the window. Michael Schaub at Bookslut puts in his two cents and there is a link to Metafilter in the post as well. Dang. This mostly means that the flame war is not isolated to librarians, but we are now airing our dirty laundry to the rest of the world. Wonderful. People can have yet another reason to make fun of librarians. Crap.

–Jane, eats lunch and wonders at the state of the world

The arguments about blogging continue, but this time they are focused around something the President-elect of ALA, Michael Gorman, has written. Librarian.net has a nice round up of all the responses going on and an initial post on the beginnings of the arguments here. I respect Gorman and his vision for ALA, but I am irritated by this part of his statement:

Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts.

Excuse me? I am not claiming that my blog, tiny and inconsequential, is the best discourse out there, but I am not striving for a Jonathan Swift or Spectator level here. (See Mr. Gorman, I read old and complicated things, from beginning to end, and I understand them!) Steven Cohen is incensed, as are others, but I particularly liked his response to the above quote as well.

Steven said,”There you go, generalizing again. We’re all stupid and couldn’t parse a sentence if our Master’s degrees depended on it.” (emphasis in original text)

I am going to read some other responses to see what my fellow bloggers have said. Read for yourself and decide. I still respect Mr. Gorman, but I wish he would be a little more open minded about blogs and what they have done for the library community.

–Jane, is disappointed

Why? Why, all that is merciful in heaven, do the drug companies make it so hard to get into the little packets that contain the medicine for migraine headaches? I have to fold that little strip, then tear, then dig around in that huge cavernous pouch for a tiny pill? Do they not know I can barley focus, control my motor functions, hear correctly, or use the synapses in my brain? A pox on them!

–Jane, slithers off to a meeting

Kudos to the person who can tell me even the story line and the season in which that quote is (hint) repeated hilariously.

I have held out this long, but I think no longer. My breaking point came at the beginning of the week. I turned on TNT, which shows Angel from 7-8 in the morning. They are currently on season 5. I cried the last 10 minutes of the episode. It was the one where Conner comes back and Angel is the only one who knows about this strangely strong kid. It reminded me of why I loved season 5 so much. Great stories. Great writing. Great. Great. Great. It also reminded me of how I spent almost every Wednesday night: balling my eyes out in from of the television. I was either crying because a) the episode was sad or b) I knew they were canceling my favorite show and this episode was really good, see how great it is, even when there are puppets for Pete’s sake!, but will soon be no more, damn those bastards at the WB and Fox I can’t believe they are keeping Charmed and not Angel, Grr Arg!!!! By the by, there was no exaggeration there, I really feel that way… and still do, thanks.

As I said, the breaking point. I am ordering Angel Season 5 on DVD today. Amazon has it for a nice price and I need it to live. Much like air.

–Jane, hearts Angel

update: My friend and co-worker L, was the first to point out that the title of this post is from the episode in which Cordelia must go to the Muses and ask for them to lift the violence ban from Caratos. Hilariosity.

If I had to choose a contemporary author’s body of work for my favorite, I would choose John Irving every time. I have read many great books, but something about the way Irving paints his characters makes you want to laugh, cry, and scream, usually at the same time. The fist novel of Irving’s that I read was A Prayer for Owen Meany, then The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, The Fourth Hand, and lastly A Widow for One Year. I know there are others I have yet to read. The Austin Chronicle (link from Bookslut) has an interview with Irving about his works and his upcoming novel Until I Find You. It will be released July, 12,2005. John Irving is the kind of writer who makes you forget what the real world is like. He has never disappointed me.

–Jane, “keep passing the open windows”

Those that know me, know what I think about skiing. I think skiing is what they make you do in hell (if snow was unmeltable, which in hell, it would be) along with running. Though Dooce has changed her mind due to a great snowboarding experience, her first reaction could have been mine.

And then you have to wait in line in the bitter cold to hurl your body down a slippery piece of hillside without any way to stop your fall except by using various body parts, risking death or at least full-body paralysis. IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. I DO NOT GET IT.

Why not just drink tequila and stay in bed?

Next time I go skiing, I am taking along a few bottles of “medicine”.

–Jane, has only been skiing once and once was enough mister

Some people want to take all the fun out of drinking games.

–Jane, hiccups

Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak, is the guest columnist at Moby Lives. He responds to attacks by the Right over some political comments in his book.

This country’s chief signifier is our staggering capacity to isolate ourselves from the effects of our political and lifestyle choices. This is the reason, for instance, that so many people can vote for a party that believes gays are sub–human but still watch “Queer Eye For the Straight Guy,” (because fags are so darn funny!). It’s also the reason liberals can drive around in SUVs, while decrying policies driven by oil–dependency.

He is right. People often refuse to believe that their lifestyle should reflect their politics. We can not say we love out fellow man and then turn our backs to them in the next breath. You can read the whole column here.

–Jane, wonders why she is not in charge of the world