New Acquisitions – December 2012

As the university gets ready for another month of hibernation, we’re working through the last of our new acquisitions for 2012. We’re ending the year on a high note with big new blockbusters (Cabin in the Woods, The Dark Knight Rises), some old favorites (Risky Business), new seasons for popular television shows, and a slew … Continue reading “New Acquisitions – December 2012”

As the university gets ready for another month of hibernation, we’re working through the last of our new acquisitions for 2012. We’re ending the year on a high note with big new blockbusters (Cabin in the Woods, The Dark Knight Rises), some old favorites (Risky Business), new seasons for popular television shows, and a slew of high-quality documentaries that you might’ve read about recently. Consider it our present to you in this Capitalist Wintertime Gift-Giving Season.

The university is closed starting on Saturday, December 22 until Wednesday, January 2. The blog will go dark until then. Enjoy the break! Read on for a full list of our newest titles.

Home Use Collection:

War Requiem – HU DVD 566
What’s Love Got to Do With It – HU DVD 658
The Three Musketeers – HU DVD 3175
Josef and Anni Albers: Art is Everywhere – HU DVD 4546
Shadow Company – HU DVD 4547
About a Boy – HU DVD 4548 Requested!
My Best Friend’s Wedding – HU DVD 4549
Alaska Gold – HU DVD 4550
Old Partner – HU DVD 4551
Give Up Tomorrow – HU DVD 4552
The Queen of Versailles – HU DVD 4553
Somewhere in the Night – HU DVD 4554
Mars Attacks! – HU DVD 4555
Something New – HU DVD 4556
Violeta – HU DVD 5408
What Lies Beneath – HU DVD 5795
Eastbound & Down – HU DVD 7043
Rumble in the Bronx – HU DVD 7771
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – HU DVD 7773 Requested!
Gerhard Richter Painting – HU DVD 7774
Free Men – HU DVD 7775
Dropout Nation – HU DVD 8158
The Chicago Maternity Story – HU DVD 9063
Lilies – HU DVD 9922
Little Women – HU DVD 9923
Big Sky, Big Money – HU DVD 9925
The Fugitive – HU DVD 9926
The Million Dollar Hotel – HU DVD 9927
The Man in Grey – HU DVD 9928
Madonna of the Seven Moons – HU DVD 9929
The Wicked Lady – HU DVD 9930
The X from Outer Space – HU DVD 9931
Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell – HU DVD 9932
The Living Skeleton – HU DVD 9933
Genocide – HU DVD 9934
Son of Man – HU DVD 9935
Fear and Desire – HU DVD 9936
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present – HU DVD 9937
Taking Woodstock – HU DVD 9938
Keep the River on Your Right – HU DVD 9939
Scott of the Antarctic – HU DVD 9941
The Dictator – HU DVD 9942
The Dictator – HU BLU 9942
Savages – HU DVD 10090
Savages – HU BLU 10090
The Story of Film – HU DVD 10120
Love Addict – HU DVD 10668
La Genèse = Genesis – HU DVD 10673
Robert Whitman: Performances from the 1960s – HU DVD 10684
Mission: Impossible – HU DVD 10697
Mission: Impossible II – HU DVD 10698
Mission: Impossible III – HU DVD 10699
Disclosure – HU DVD 10714
Sleepy Hollow – HU DVD 10716
Notting Hill – HU DVD 10717
From Dusk Till Dawn – HU DVD 10718
Dark Horse – HU DVD 10719
Singles – HU DVD 10720
Rude – HU DVD 10721
The Ambassador – HU DVD 10722
The Campaign – HU DVD 10723
The Cabin in the Woods – HU DVD 10724 Requested!
The Dark Mirror – HU DVD 10749
The Mask of Zorro – HU DVD 10750 Requested!
Corpo Celeste – HU DVD 10751
Gas, Food Lodging – HU DVD 10752
Space Cowboys – HU DVD 10753
Kukushka = The Cuckoo – HU DVD 10754
The Cotton Club – HU DVD 10755
The Pyx – HU DVD 10756
The Lawnmower Man / Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War – HU DVD 10757
The Man from London – HU DVD 10758
Scanners – HU DVD 10759
The Dead Zone – HU DVD 10760
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom – HU DVD 10761
The Guatemalan Handshake – HU DVD 10762
The Spectre of Hope – HU DVD 10763
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview – HU DVD 10764
The Raw and the Cooked – HU DVD 10765
The Three Musketeers – HU DVD 10771
The Four Musketeers – HU DVD 10772
Last Call at the Oasis – HU DVD 10773
Conspiracy Theory – HU DVD 10775
The Clay Bird – HU DVD 10776
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz – HU DVD 10777
Monster from the Id – HU DVD 10778
Love & Human Remains – HU DVD 10779
Risky Business – HU DVD 10780 Requested!
Celestial Clockwork – HU DVD 10781
Scared Sacred – HU DVD 10783
Purple Noon – HU DVD 10785
True Lies – HU DVD 10786
The Firm – HU DVD 10787
Two Films by François Truffaut – HU DVD 10788
The Window – HU DVD 10789
The Dark Knight Rises – HU DVD 10792
2 Days in Paris – HU DVD 10793
Whisky Romeo Zulu – HU DVD 10794
White Men Can’t Jump – HU DVD 10795
Zou Zou – HU DVD 10796
Winter in Wartime – HU DVD 10797
Winter in Wartime – HU BLU 10797
This is Cinerama – HU DVD 10798
This is Cinerama – HU BLU 10798
The Magic Flute – HU DVD 10799
Underworld – HU DVD 10810
The Last Command – HU DVD 10811
The Docks of New York – HU DVD 10812
A Delicate Balance – HU DVD 10816
Butley – HU DVD 10817
Luther – HU DVD 10818
In Celebration – HU DVD 10819
The Man in the Glass Booth – HU DVD 10820
Galileo – HU DVD 10822
Maids – HU DVD 10823
The Homecoming – HU DVD 10824
Jacque Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris – HU DVD 10825
Lost in the Stars – HU DVD 10827
Ice Station Zebra – HU DVD 10828
Lon Chaney Collection – HU DVD 10831
Twenty-Four  Eyes – HU DVD 10833
After Kony: Staging Hope – HU DVD 10835
Jew Süss – HU DVD 10836
Afghanistan Revealed: The Unknown Story of a Land – HU DVD 10837
Zero Patience – HU DVD 10838
Límite = Deadline – HU DVD 10839
The Kremlin Letter – HU DVD 10842
Moonraker – HU DVD 10843
Terror in a Texas Town – HU DVD 10844
Daughters of Darkness / The Blood-Spattered Bride – HU DVD 10845
My Trip to Al-Qaeda – HU DVD 10847

Television:

Mad Men, Season 5 – HU DVD 4545
Parks and Recreation, Season 2 – HU DVD 9222
Parks and Recreation, Season 3 – HU DVD 9223
Parks and Recreation, Season 4 – HU DVD 9224
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 1 + 2 – HU DVD 10766
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 3 – HU DVD 10767
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 4 – HU DVD 10768
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 5 – HU DVD 10769
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas – HU DVD 10770
Doctor Who, Series 2 – HU DVD 10802
Doctor Who, Series 3 – HU DVD 10803
Doctor Who, Series 4 – HU DVD 10804
Doctor Who, The Specials – HU DVD 10805
Doctor Who, The Animated Specials – HU DVD 10806

In-Library Titles:

Free Men – DVD 7775
The Boy Game – DVD 8955
Sext Up Kids – DVD 9924
Julian Bond: Reflections from the Frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement – DVD 10618
Africa’s Last Taboo – DVD 10619
A Wild Idea – DVD 10631
The Hungry Tide – DVD 10632
It’s a Girl – DVD 10633
Cape Spin!: An American Power Struggle – DVD 10647
1910, Buffalo Bill – DVD 10704
1927, Lindbergh’s Atlantic Crossing – DVD 10705
1934, The Assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia – DVD 10706
1937, Crash of the Hindenburg – DVD 10707
1944, De Gaulle in Liberated Paris – DVD 10708
1946, A-bomb Tests on Bikini – DVD 10709
1954, Marilyn Monroe in Korea – DVD 10710
1955, Tragedy Strikes Le Mans’ 24 Hours – DVD 10711
1963, John F. Kennedy’s Funeral – DVD 10712
1969, Live from the Moon – DVD 10713
Harvest of Empire – DVD 10715
The Gate of Heavenly Peace – DVD 10735
The Light in Her Eyes – DVD 10782
Antonia Pantoja, ¡Presente! – DVD 10807
Scarlet Road – DVD 10808
Waging Peace – DVD 10809
The Iceman Cometh – DVD 10814
Rhinoceros – DVD 10815
Three Sisters – DVD 10821
Philadelphia, Here I Come! – DVD 10826
The Quarrel – DVD 10846

Music Library:

Absolute Beginners – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 336
La Bamba – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 339
Great Balls of Fire – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 340
The Runaways – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 341
Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 342
It Might Get Loud – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 343
Backbeat – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 344
Sing Faster: The Stagehands’ Ring Cycle – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 345
The Buddy Holly Story – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 346
Wattstax – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 347
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 348

National Film Registry adds new films for 2012

The National Film Registry, a subset of the Library of Congress, preserves a collection of American films deemed culturally or historically significant. Each year, the NFR adds 25 new films to their archives, ranging from major recent hits to silent shorts from the 19th century. The Library of Congress has released this year’s batch, and … Continue reading “National Film Registry adds new films for 2012”

The National Film Registry, a subset of the Library of Congress, preserves a collection of American films deemed culturally or historically significant. Each year, the NFR adds 25 new films to their archives, ranging from major recent hits to silent shorts from the 19th century.

The Library of Congress has released this year’s batch, and their diversity streak continues. New inductees include The Matrix, A Christmas Story, a silent adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a documentary about the 1939 World’s Fair, and an early experimental color film test. See the National Film Registry for the rationale behind their picks, or read on for a full list…

Hot Docs: The Witches of Gambaga

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. The Witches of Gambaga (DVD 10635) exposes the town of Gambaga in northern Ghana where women are branded as witches and forced to live in exile. Hundreds of “witches” now live in this town. Their stories are harrowing. This documentary hopes to show … Continue reading “Hot Docs: The Witches of Gambaga”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

The Witches of Gambaga (DVD 10635) exposes the town of Gambaga in northern Ghana where women are branded as witches and forced to live in exile. Hundreds of “witches” now live in this town. Their stories are harrowing. This documentary hopes to show this social atrocity to the world at large and drive this practice to an end.

Official description from the film’s website:

The Witches of Gambaga is the extraordinary story of a community of women condemned to live as witches in Northern Ghana. Made over the course of 5 years, this disturbing expose is the product of a collaboration between members of the 100 strong community of ‘witches’ and women’s movement activists determined to end abusive practises and improve women’s lives in Africa. Painful experience and insight come together to create an intimate portrait of the lives of women ostracised by their communities. Told largely by the women themselves, their incredible stories and struggles are conveyed to a wide range of audiences by the director’s narration.

Hot Docs: abUSed: The Postville Raid

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. abUSed: The Postville Raid (DVD 10615) examines what happens to immigrants after a wave of mass deportations. The city of Postville, Iowa heavily relied on undocumented workers for its well-being; when the federal government arrested those workers, the town’s economy dropped into a … Continue reading “Hot Docs: abUSed: The Postville Raid”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

abUSed: The Postville Raid (DVD 10615) examines what happens to immigrants after a wave of mass deportations. The city of Postville, Iowa heavily relied on undocumented workers for its well-being; when the federal government arrested those workers, the town’s economy dropped into a freefall. This documentary reveals the government’s perceived overreach of power and the aftershocks felt throughout the disintegrating Postville community.

Official description from the film’s website:

Presents the devastating effects of US Enforcement Immigration policies on communities, families and children. The film tells the gripping personal stories of the individuals, the families and the town that survived the most brutal, most expensive and largest immigration raid in the history of the United States and serves as a cautionary tale of government abuses.

Hot Docs: Syria: The Assads’ Twilight

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. Syria: The Assads’ Twilight (DVD 10636) tells the story behind the ongoing crisis and Syria and the end of the legitimacy of the Assad presidency. The situation in Syria is only now becoming a major story in American news media, but the current … Continue reading “Hot Docs: Syria: The Assads’ Twilight”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

Syria: The Assads’ Twilight (DVD 10636) tells the story behind the ongoing crisis and Syria and the end of the legitimacy of the Assad presidency. The situation in Syria is only now becoming a major story in American news media, but the current conditions did not start spontaneously. This documentary recaps four decades of oppression and social unrest that is now exploding into a dangerous, destabilizing war.

Official description from the publisher’s website:

During the 1970s, Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad, turned Syria into one of the world’s most secretive and repressive dictatorships. But Bashar was supposed to be different. A doctor who had lived in London, he vowed to fight corruption and embrace globalization in his inaugural address as president. He was supposed to be a modern, liberal leader.

Just over a decade later, the Assad regime is reeling. It has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of its citizens—protesters no longer willing to accept repression and insisting on the same freedoms that other nations have gained through the revolutions of the 2011 Arab spring.

What happened?

SYRIA: THE ASSADS’ TWILIGHT is a history of the Assad regime, from its origins to its teetering, possibly final days in 2011.

Hot Docs: The Light Bulb Conspiracy

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. The Light Bulb Conspiracy (DVD 10648) is less about conspiracy than a shrewd, deceptive business model. For decades, companies have been manufacturing products with planned obsolescence. That is, they are designed to fail after a time and need replacement. This documentary discusses light … Continue reading “Hot Docs: The Light Bulb Conspiracy”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

The Light Bulb Conspiracy (DVD 10648) is less about conspiracy than a shrewd, deceptive business model. For decades, companies have been manufacturing products with planned obsolescence. That is, they are designed to fail after a time and need replacement. This documentary discusses light bulbs, which can last for hundreds of years of properly designed, but also newer technologies that are designed to be repurchased and that contribute to our growing electronic waste problem.

Official description from the publisher’s website:

The Light Bulb Conspiracy uncovers how planned obsolescence has shaped our lives and economy since the 1920’s, when manufacturers deliberately started shortening the life of consumer products to increase demand. The film also profiles a new generation of consumers, designers and business people who have started challenging planned obsolescence as an unsustainable economic driver.

Hot Docs: The Hungry Tide

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. The Hungry Tide (DVD 10632) makes us think about global climate change from the perspective of those who might be the most affected. We may still be estimating the realistic chances of those coastline projections from An Inconvenient Truth happening, but for the … Continue reading “Hot Docs: The Hungry Tide”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

The Hungry Tide (DVD 10632) makes us think about global climate change from the perspective of those who might be the most affected. We may still be estimating the realistic chances of those coastline projections from An Inconvenient Truth happening, but for the people of Kiribati, the threat of rising coastlines is immediate and frightening. The film uses a personal approach, telling the stories of a few specific people affected by climate change rather than pure science.

Official description from the film’s website:

The central Pacific nation of Kiribati is one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change.  Sea level rise and increasing salinity are threatening the lives of  105,000 people spread over 33 atolls in this remote corner of the Pacific.  It’s the same ocean, which for generations has sustained the country that is now the source of its destruction.

[…]

The latest prognosis for climate change appears grim.  Pledges made by industrialized countries at the Copenhagen and Cancun Climate Change Conferences to cut carbon emissions have fallen far short of their targets.  Scientists currently predict temperature increases of between 3 and 6 degrees, and sea level rises of well over a metre, by the turn of the century. Only decisive global action will save Kiribati and its culture from disappearing.

Hot Docs: The Greenhorns

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. The Greenhorns (DVD 8957) challenges conventional wisdom about agriculture during a time when few are considering careers on farms. The documentary, which was produced as part of an awareness program for agricultural reform, follows the lives of new, young farmers becoming acquainted with … Continue reading “Hot Docs: The Greenhorns”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

The Greenhorns (DVD 8957) challenges conventional wisdom about agriculture during a time when few are considering careers on farms. The documentary, which was produced as part of an awareness program for agricultural reform, follows the lives of new, young farmers becoming acquainted with their chosen… fields. (Sorry, the pun was far too easy to make.)

Official description from the film’s website:

The Greenhorns documentary film, completed after almost 3 years in production, explores the lives of America’s young farming community – its spirit, practices, and needs. It is the filmmaker’s hope that by broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, we can build the case for those considering a career in agriculture – to embolden them, to entice them, and to recruit them into farming.

Hot Docs: Cape Spin!

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. Cape Spin! (DVD 10647) covers the ongoing battle over the installation of wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod. The issue resulted in one of the oddest political battles in recent memory, dividing political coalitions and forming alliances between unlikely partners. Cape … Continue reading “Hot Docs: Cape Spin!”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

Cape Spin! (DVD 10647) covers the ongoing battle over the installation of wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod. The issue resulted in one of the oddest political battles in recent memory, dividing political coalitions and forming alliances between unlikely partners. Cape Spin has no qualms about its roots as an environmental film but does justice to this most unusual situation.

Official description from the film’s website:

Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle tells the surreal, fascinating, tragicomic story of the battle over America’s most controversial clean energy project. Cape Wind would be the U.S.’s first offshore windfarm…But strange alliances formed for and against: Kennedys, Kochs, and everyday folks do battle with the developer and green groups over the future of American power.

With full access to both sides, a commitment to impartial storytelling and fueled by a satiric ‘revolutionary’ soundtrack, Cape Spin!  is “a gripping and entertaining study of eco-capitalism and grassroots democracy”. “It proves that environmental films can be crowd pleasers, and not at all just about the environment.”

Hot Docs: Call of Life

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection. Call of Life (DVD 10345) tackles the hot subject of declining biodiversity. Across the world, thousands of species are going extinct as a result of human global development. This documentary examines not only why so many creatures are disappearing but the effect they … Continue reading “Hot Docs: Call of Life”

Hot Docs highlights interesting new documentaries we’ve recently added to our collection.

Call of Life (DVD 10345) tackles the hot subject of declining biodiversity. Across the world, thousands of species are going extinct as a result of human global development. This documentary examines not only why so many creatures are disappearing but the effect they may are having on physical, cultural, and psychological levels.

Official description from the film’s website:

All over the world species are becoming extinct at an astonishing rate, from 1000 to 10,000 times faster than normal. The loss of biodiversity has become so severe that scientists are calling it a mass extinction event.

Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction is the first feature documentary to investigate the growing threat to Earth’s life support systems from this unprecedented loss of biodiversity. Through interviews with leading scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and indigenous and religious leaders, the film explores the causes, the scope, and the potential effects of the mass extinction, but also looks beyond the immediate causes of the crisis to consider how our cultural and economic systems, along with deep-seated psychological and behavioral patterns, have allowed this situation to develop, continue to reinforce it, and even determine our response to it.

Call of Life tells the story of a crisis not only in nature, but also in human nature, a crisis more threatening than anything human beings have ever faced before.