Month: May 2014

See The Fault in Our Stars TOMORROW!

John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars is one of the most celebrated young adult novels from the last few years. Ask anyone who’s read it, and they’ll probably shed a tear remembering the story of two cancer patients who find love. It’s no surprise, then, that the upcoming film adaptation starring Shailene Woodley and … Continue reading “See The Fault in Our Stars TOMORROW!”

John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars is one of the most celebrated young adult novels from the last few years. Ask anyone who’s read it, and they’ll probably shed a tear remembering the story of two cancer patients who find love. It’s no surprise, then, that the upcoming film adaptation starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort is among the most highly anticipated of the summer.

If you’re looking forward to The Fault in Our Stars, you’d normally have to wait until June to see the movie. How about tomorrow instead?

We have free passes to see The Fault in Our Stars tomorrow, May 13th at 7pm at the Regal Gallery Place 14. To attend this special advance screening, visit this link and print out your pass.

As usual, screenings are intentionally overbooked, so you will need to show up early to get a seat.

We hope to see you there! We hope you’re excited for this big movie, and we look forward to (hopefully) getting more advance passes over the summer!

New Acquisitions – May 2014

Adios, spring semester. Hello, summer! As we wrap up the academic year, the last of our new acquisitions are trickling in. That’s not to say we don’t have some fantastic new items. Among our favorite items are popular Mexican dramedy Instructions Not Included, debauchery anthem The Wolf of Wall Street, acclaimed Danish political series Borgen, … Continue reading “New Acquisitions – May 2014”

Adios, spring semester. Hello, summer! As we wrap up the academic year, the last of our new acquisitions are trickling in. That’s not to say we don’t have some fantastic new items. Among our favorite items are popular Mexican dramedy Instructions Not Included, debauchery anthem The Wolf of Wall Street, acclaimed Danish political series Borgen, and a Martin Scorsese-approved collection of world cinema.

We’ll be around all summer for students taking summer classes. If you’re around, stop by and check out one of these great films! Find the full list after the break…

Home Use Collection:

Clear History – HU DVD 11217
Lodz Ghetto – HU DVD 11218
Cine a Contracorriente – HU DVD 11219
Fail Safe – HU DVD 11220
Instructions Not Included – HU DVD 11221
Funny Ha Ha – HU DVD 11222
Winter of Discontent – HU DVD 11223
Switching Channels – HU DVD 11225
Ethel – HU DVD 11227
In a World… – HU DVD 11228
The Amityville Horror – HU DVD 11230
The Attack – HU DVD 11231
Stripes – HU DVD 11232
Buying Sex – HU DVD 11234
Inside Llewyn Davis – HU DVD 11235
The Grandmaster – HU DVD 11236
The March: The Story of the Greatest March – HU DVD 11237
The Best Intentions – HU DVD 11238
Photo: A History from Behind the Lens – HU DVD 11239
The Learning Tree – HU DVD 11240
The Forest for the Trees – HU DVD 11241
The Hireling – HU DVD 11242
The Debt – HU DVD 11244
The East – HU DVD 11245
The Other Dream Team  – HU DVD 11246
The Armstrong Life – HU DVD 11249
The Nasty Girl – HU DVD 11250
The Big Clock – HU DVD 11251
Paradise: Hope – HU DVD 11252
The Place Beyond the Pines – HU DVD 11253
The Knack and How to Get It – HU DVD 11254
Our Nixon – HU DVD 11255
Heleno – HU DVD 11256
Disco & Atomic War – HU DVD 11257
Tango: Our Dance – HU DVD 11258
A Time to Kill – HU DVD 11259
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer – HU DVD 11260
Spies of Mississippi – HU DVD 11261
The Woman in Black – HU DVD 11262
Gorilla Murders – HU DVD 11269
China Today: Issues that Trouble Americans – HU DVD 11273
Vietnam War Stories – HU DVD 11275
The Long Day Closes – HU DVD 11277
The Long Day Closes – HU BLU 11277
Shameless, Season 1 Disc 1 – HU DVD 11278
Connected – HU DVD 11279
Miracle at St. Anna – HU DVD 11290
David Copperfield – HU DVD 11291
Welcome to the Machine – HU DVD 11292
The State of Arizona – HU DVD 11293
How to Make Money Selling Drugs – HU DVD 11294
Frozen – HU DVD 11298
August: Osage County – HU DVD 11301
The Wolf of Wall Street – HU DVD 11302
American Hustle – HU DVD 11303
American Hustle – HU BLU 11303
Borgen, Season 1 – HU DVD 14054
Square Pegs, The Like, Totally Complete Series– Totally – HU DVD 14141
The Uncle Floyd Show – HU DVD 14142
Treme, Season 4 – HU DVD 14150

In-Library Titles:

Touki Bouki/Redes – BLU 11208
A River Called Titas/Dry Summer – BLU 11209
Trances/The Housemaid – BLU 11210
Touki Bouki – DVD 11202
Redes – DVD 11203
A River Called Titas – DVD 11204
Dry Summer – DVD 11205
Trances – DVD 11206
The Housemaid – DVD 11207
Infinite Secrets: The Genius of Archimedes – DVD 11224
Bittersweet Roots: The Chinese in California – DVD 11229
Lucia – DVD 11233
Where Heaven Meets Hell – DVD 11243
One Day After Peace – DVD 11263
Choco – DVD 11270
The Age of Fear: Psychiatry’s  Reign of Terror – DVD 11274
California State of Mind – DVD 11276
Global Oneness Project Vol. 1 – DVD 11284
Global Oneness Project Vol. 2 – DVD 11285
Karma Has No Walls – DVD 11296
Sex Crimes Unit – DVD 11299

We’re green-certified!

As we decompress from the end of the spring semester and gear up for summer sessions, we want to take a second to celebrate one of our little accomplishments. Last month, the AU Library Green Team held an internal green certification program for our service desks and employees. We’re very happy that the Media Services … Continue reading “We’re green-certified!”

As we decompress from the end of the spring semester and gear up for summer sessions, we want to take a second to celebrate one of our little accomplishments.

Last month, the AU Library Green Team held an internal green certification program for our service desks and employees. We’re very happy that the Media Services desk has been awarded silver-level certification! We have made a point of implementing sustainable practices, such as reusing scrap paper, reducing printing, using eco-friendly office supplies, and putting rechargeable batteries in our remotes.

(And best of all, we got brownies!)

Create a Compelling Infographic

New courses on Lynda.com include Design an Infographic. An intensive two hour course on how to turn your data into an easily understandable infographic. Learn how to use Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Excel together to analyze and chart the data, plot locations on a map, and build a timeline that simply details a complex sequence … Continue reading “Create a Compelling Infographic”

New courses on Lynda.com include Design an Infographic. An intensive two hour course on how to turn your data into an easily understandable infographic. Learn how to use Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Excel together to analyze and chart the data, plot locations on a map, and build a timeline that simply details a complex sequence of events.

Topics include –
Building the grid
Choosing colors and typefaces
Creating a map and diagram key
Creating a pie chart
Modifying stock images
and much more.

As a current AU student, faculty or staff, you have access to all of Lynda.com’s tutorials and resources. First, go to www.american.edu/lynda and log in with your AU credentials. Enjoy.

Overrated movies: A statistical approach

When discussing film quality, people often resort to declaring popular movies overrated and defending their favorites as underrated gems. These are common defenses, especially in the face of critical drubbing or universal acclaim. And sometimes, that makes it hard to figure out if movies were ever actually beloved or hated to begin with. Intrigued by … Continue reading “Overrated movies: A statistical approach”

When discussing film quality, people often resort to declaring popular movies overrated and defending their favorites as underrated gems. These are common defenses, especially in the face of critical drubbing or universal acclaim. And sometimes, that makes it hard to figure out if movies were ever actually beloved or hated to begin with.

Intrigued by this notion, informatician Ben Moore has wielded the statistical powers of film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to create a graph of what movies audiences loved but critics hated (and vice-versa). Moore found that, for the most part, critics and audiences do tend to agree on ratings. But there are notable outliers.

The most statistically underrated films tend to be crude comedies (Grandma’s Boy and Super Troopers) and niche audience programming (such Tyler Perry’s films and evangelical movies). This makes some sense, as mainstream reviewers generally tend to dislike these types of movies. On the other hand, overrated films mostly include prestige dramas (Greenberg) and children’s movies (Babe and Spy Kids). In the case of the latter category, Moore theorizes that children’s opinions are understandably left out Rotten Tomatoes user ratings.

Unfortunately, Moore did not include his complete data set. It would have been fascinating to see which other films flaunted the critical consensus. He does include recommendations for future studies in case anyone wants to try their own hand, but we’re content knowing that there is apparently a sizable audience for Step Up. (Also, who hates Babe? Really?!)

UPDATE: An interactive version of the chart is now available here. Other highlights include audiences enjoying Mulan II but hating 101 Dalmatians II.

Music Library Sez: 20 Feet from Stardom

We have a lot of music-related films and documentaries in our collection. Our friends over at the Music Library love them too, and they occasionally write reviews for their favorites. In our first post in this series, Music Library part-timer Jesse writes about the recent Academy Award-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom (HU DVD 11199). … Continue reading “Music Library Sez: 20 Feet from Stardom”

We have a lot of music-related films and documentaries in our collection. Our friends over at the Music Library love them too, and they occasionally write reviews for their favorites. In our first post in this series, Music Library part-timer Jesse writes about the recent Academy Award-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom (HU DVD 11199).

Hello, readers new and old! If you’re reading this on the Media Services blog, my name is Jesse, nice to meet you! If you’re on the Music Library blog, you know me. Either way, it is my great honor to provide you with a review of a new DVD at Media Services: 20 Feet From Stardom.

20 Feet, released in 2013, is a documentary delving into the history, psychology, and philosophy of background singing. Unique for focusing on background talents rather than the usual camera fodder (the stars), it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in March, giving director Morgan Neville his first Oscar!

The film follows the careers of several background singers who have performed and recorded with a jaw-dropping amount of famous artists and helped shape the sound of popular music, often without realizing it. Singers such as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer and quite a few more have spent their entire lives in the industry, and the documentary weaves their stories into the fabric of American music history. Judith Hill, a contemporary singer who represents the new generation of background singers, is also heavily featured.

In using the singers’ lives as a narrative, 20 Feet reveals a great amount of intensity. These are stories of a constant struggle with identity; the ups and downs of the industry, the conflict between simply surviving and striving for art, and the ramifications of trying to break out as a solo artist. I was surprised at how emotional it got when the singers spoke about their highest highs, lowest lows and the love of their art that kept them going.

While the idea behind 20 Feet is great, its execution is tremendous. The film features interviews with dozens of background singers, as well as with stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder. It mixes these interviews with incredible archival footage of the likes of Ray Charles, Phil Spector, David Bowie, George Harrison, Talking Heads, and many more. And, in perhaps my favorite aspect of the film, the singers were brought into L.A.’s legendary Ocean Way studios to sing together, and the footage of their recording sessions is downright inspiring.

Anyways, I’m gushing here. If you’re passionate about singing, music, or pop culture in general, then you should be rushing towards Media Services as I type, student ID in hand. 20 Feet From Stardom will scratch that itch in the best of ways.