Randall Munroe’s What If?, one of the most popular new books of the year, scientifically guesstimates the answers to absurd hypothetical questions. Usually these involve pushing the laws of physics to their breaking point, but once in a while, they just deal with situations of absurd, immeasurable scale. After spending a lazy afternoon browsing the […]
Continue readingMonthly Archives: September 2014
See Men, Women & Children, then grab the T-Shirt!
As we head into October, we’re leaving behind summer blockbusters and heading straight into the prestige season, when award-contenders and major dramas are released for the discerning public. One of the more conspicuous debuts this week is Men, Women & Children, the latest film by director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno, Young Adult). […]
Continue readingA eulogy for the Saturday morning cartoon
Yesterday marked the largely unheralded end of a television tradition: the Saturday morning cartoon. For nearly fifty years, network channels devoted a significant portion of their Saturday programming to children’s animated programs, but with the end of The CW’s “Vortexx” block, no major broadcast networks is airing cartoons on Saturday anymore. After years of criticism […]
Continue readingNo more lasers? PBS takes on the realism of movie space combat
We might criticize special effects for overstaying their welcome on occasion, but without CGI and crazy miniature work, we wouldn’t have space battles. Watching spaceships shoot lasers and blow up is among the greatest, basest pleasures of movies. Even the Star Wars prequels, superfluous as they may be, have a few entertaining space fights. Color […]
Continue readingNew Acquisitions – September 2014
Everyone settled in for the semester? We haven’t brought you a new batch of titles since July, mostly because we’ve been working through our enormous backlog. By our count, we’ve cataloged over 150 new items since last time, including a good number of new and returning television shows. In the interest in promoting a wide […]
Continue readingDig into television and film corpuses with Bookworm Movies
One handy tool for cultural analysis is to measure how often words are used within a given set of texts, whether that’s transcripts from Congress or every document ever written. It’s much easier to search through the written word for obvious reasons, leaving audio-visual media left out of the content analysis process. Luckily, a very […]
Continue readingTop 10: Scotland, On Screen and Behind the Camera
We’re proud of the variety and depth of the Media Services collection. In the interest of bringing you some highlights and deep cuts from our shelves, we’ll be posting unusual and interesting Top 10 lists of some of our favorite DVDs. Today, Scotland heads to the polls to vote on whether to declare independence. Even […]
Continue readingSimon Pegg fan? See Hector and the Search for Happiness THIS THURSDAY
We’ve been posting a ton about free film screenings recently, but there have just been a great number happening in the last few weeks. That’s certainly not a bad thing, especially if you enjoy quality entertainment for minimal price. But it’s been a while since we brought you an advance screening of an upcoming movie. […]
Continue readingAU Library begins late Friday hours with 22 Jump Street
The AU Library has traditionally always closed on Friday at 9pm, but this semester, we’re trying something different. Starting this Friday, September 12th, the library will be open for late-night hours, but not just so you can study. We’re planning a series of Friday events, including game nights and free movies. We’re kicking off our […]
Continue readingMark the fortieth anniversary of Watergate with a free screening of All the President’s Men
August marked the fortieth anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation and the culmination of the biggest scandal in American political history. The legacy of the Watergate scandal is still alive in part because of All the President’s Men, the Academy Award-winning film about the Washington Post‘s investigation of the break-ins. Its depiction of real, hard-hitting, grounded […]
Continue reading