May 2015 – Media Services News

Did you know we have 3D glasses?

While we were rifling through our drawers earlier, we came across a little-known collection that goes along with a few of the DVDs in our collection: 3D glasses! Modern displays and theaters use advanced projection systems to achieve a 3D effect, but a few DVDs in our collection opt for an old-school solution. Apart from … Continue reading “Did you know we have 3D glasses?”

While we were rifling through our drawers earlier, we came across a little-known collection that goes along with a few of the DVDs in our collection: 3D glasses!

Modern displays and theaters use advanced projection systems to achieve a 3D effect, but a few DVDs in our collection opt for an old-school solution. Apart from the classic red-and-blue anaglyph glasses, we also have a set of Coraline-branded magenta-and-green glasses, a reversed blue-and-red pair (pictured, and they’re nauseating), and most interestingly ChromaDepth glasses for a film in our Orphans in Space compilation (DVD 9991).

ChromaDepth is an especially strange technique that corresponds certain hues to different depth levels. Basically, objects towards the blue side of the rainbow appear further, while redder objects appear closer. The short films Galaxies and UFOs use this technique to create an optional 3D effect. If you want to see it in motion, ask to use our ChromaDepth glasses. (We have them, we promise.)

These sorts of freebies and supplements come with many of the DVDs we purchase, though they’re rarely necessary for watching the films like the 3D glasses are. As weird and out-of-the-way as these glasses may be, we’re glad to offer them to give patrons the experience of watching a film in ChromaDepth. Seriously, it’s wild!

Animation fan? Check out hard-to-find shorts from The Animation Show of Shows

Yesterday in our new acquisitions post, we mentioned The Animation Show of Shows (HU DVD 12101 – 12154), a giant collection of world animation we recently added to our shelves. We want to talk a little before about this series; it’s a remarkable showcase of diverse talent that any animation fan should seek out. The … Continue reading “Animation fan? Check out hard-to-find shorts from The Animation Show of Shows”

Yesterday in our new acquisitions post, we mentioned The Animation Show of Shows (HU DVD 12101 – 12154), a giant collection of world animation we recently added to our shelves. We want to talk a little before about this series; it’s a remarkable showcase of diverse talent that any animation fan should seek out.

The Animation Show of Shows is a traveling exhibition of animation from across the globe that began in 1999. The event has emerged as one of the leading showcases of short-form animation, especially as it has hosted many Oscar-nominated shorts. As a supplement to their shows, the organizers also publish DVD box sets of collected animated shorts, many of which were previously unavailable or only in limited distribution.

The complete Animation Show of Shows collection – totaling a whopping 54 discs – includes decades of terrific animated shorts in nearly every conceivable format and from nearly every continent. We previously highlighted the famous Logorama short (HU DVD 12148), but there are 161 other shorts worth your attention in this box set. Highlights include:

Let’s Pollute (HU DVD 12150), a satirical educational video about the benefits of being un-environmental
Harvie Krumpet (HU DVD 12127), a Geoffrey Rush-narrated claymation film about a very unlucky Polish man
Oktapodi (HU DVD 12121), an octopus love story
Ski Jumping Pairs (HU DVD 12102), coverage of the fictional, impossible doubles ski jump Olympic event

If you consider yourself an animation fan (or even if you’ve just felt guilty about never watching anything in the Animated Short Film category), you’ll want to check out at least a disc or two of this collection. Many of these shorts are unavailable anywhere else!

New Acquisitions – May 2015

Apologies for the radio silence on new acquisitions! It’s been a breathless few months, but now that we’ve hit the summer and campus has cooled down, we’ll start giving you more regular updates about what new titles are coming into the library. Since we last updated you in March, we’ve gotten our hands on a … Continue reading “New Acquisitions – May 2015”

Since we last updated you in March, we’ve gotten our hands on a whole slew of new DVDs. We’ve nearly finished our collection of last year’s major award contenders with the additions of Nightcrawler, Interstellar, and Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1. But there are plenty of odder titles in this batch as well. You might want to watch a documentary about the development of the gaming phenomenon Minecraft, the Mr. T-starring local cult hit D.C Cab, Japanese gonzo action flick Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, or the borderline-illegal Sesame Street parody Wonder Showzen.

Most excitingly, you can now check out The Animation Show of Shows, a 54-disc collection of world animated shorts. There’s plenty to recommend in there, including The Cat Came Back and Oscar winner Logorama.

(We’re also currently buying DVD copies of many of our older VHSes; if you see lots of names you don’t recognize, that’s intentional.)

Hit the jump for a full list of what’s new since spring break…

Home Use Collection:

Safe – HU DVD 691
Don’t Look Now – HU DVD 918
Maudits – HU DVD 1227
Housebound – HU DVD 2113
The Last Supper – HU DVD 2262
Fellini Satyricon – HU DVD 2584
Empire of the Sun – HU DVD 4708
Dance Theatre of Harlem – HU DVD 8921
Swan Lake – HU DVD 8926
Il Trittico – HU DVD 8927
Don Giovanni – HU DVD 8928
Kumu Hula – HU DVD 8929
No Maps on My Taps – HU DVD 8930
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – HU DVD 11050
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – HU BLU 11050
Fur – HU DVD 11767
A Kiss Before Dying – HU DVD 11800
Nightcrawler – HU DVD 11809
Jour de Fete – HU DVD 11813
The Liberator – HU DVD 11899
Ronin – HU DVD 11907
The Manchurian Candidate – HU DVD 11908
John Frankenheimer’s The Train – HU DVD 11909
The Young Savages – HU DVD 11910
Ripley: Believe it or Not – HU DVD 11916
Transformers – HU DVD 11918
Lucy – HU DVD 11919
Think Like a Man – HU DVD 11920
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby – HU DVD 11921
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – HU DVD 11922
Planet of the Vampires – HU DVD 11924
I Can Get It For You Wholesale – HU DVD 11925
Let’s Make Love – HU DVD 11926
Bells are Ringing – HU DVD 11927
X-Men: Days of Future Past – HU DVD 11928
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand – HU DVD 11929
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman – HU DVD 11930
Cinema Inch’Allah – HU DVD 11931
The Punk Singer – HU DVD 11936
The Power and the Glory – HU DVD 11939
Miracle in Milan – HU DVD 11940
Il Bacio di Tosca – HU DVD 11941
Some Came Running – HU DVD 11942
Ginger & Rosa – HU DVD 11943
Wu tai jie mei = Two Actresses – HU DVD 11944
The Roaring Twenties – HU DVD 11945
Tricked – HU DVD 11946
The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes on the Life of Nat Hentoff – HU DVD 11947
The Unbelievers – HU DVD 11948
In the Land of the Head Hunters – HU DVD 11949
The Organizer (I Compagni) – HU DVD 11950
La Boheme – HU DVD 11951
The Gunfighter – HU DVD 11953
Rawhide – HU DVD 11954
Garden of Evil – HU DVD 11955
Glacial Balance – HU DVD 11956
The Book of Life – HU DVD 11957
Bonhoeffer – HU DVD 11959
Alive Inside – HU DVD 11960
Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters – HU DVD 11961
The Road to World War II – HU DVD 11980
Interstellar – HU DVD 11981
Interstellar – HU BLU 11981
Limitless – HU DVD 11982
Magic in the Moonlight – HU DVD 11984
Ip Man 2 – HU DVD 11986
Stray Dogs – HU DVD 11988
Into the Woods – HU DVD 11989
Sign Painters – HU DVD 11990
The Company You Keep – HU DVD 11991
Mea Maxima Culpa – HU DVD 11992
Il Ballarino – HU DVD 11993
The Children of Theatre Street – HU DVD 11994
Blind Chance – HU DVD 11995
Ride the Pink Horse – HU DVD 11996
The Beat Generation – HU DVD 11997
Foxcatcher – HU DVD 11998
The Ascent of Man – HU DVD 12006
Unbroken – HU DVD 12007
The Imitation Game – HU DVD 12008
Wild – HU DVD 12009
Top Five – HU DVD 12010
This is Not a Film – HU DVD 12011
Why Don’t You Play in Hell? – HU DVD 12013
D.C. Cab – HU DVD 12015
The Way He Looks – HU DVD 12016
The Zero Theorem – HU DVD 12017
Through the Olive Trees – HU DVD 12018
The Soft Skin – HU DVD 12020
Tokyo Decadence – HU DVD 12021
A Most Violent Year – HU DVD 12022
The Forgotten Plague – HU DVD 12023
Middle of Nowhere – HU DVD 12024
Mozart’s The Magic Flute – HU DVD 12025
Where Love Has Gone – HU DVD 12026
Positive Force: More than a Witness, 30 Years of Punk Politics in Action – HU DVD 12028
The Dragon Painter – HU DVD 12030
Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project – HU DVD 12038
The Baltic Tragedy – HU DVD 12041
Long Journey Home – HU DVD 12042
Little Birds – HU DVD 12044
Citizen Autistic – HU DVD 12047
Minecraft: The Story of Mojang – HU DVD 12050
Why Do These Kids Love School? – HU DVD 12053
La Traviata – HU DVD 12073
Entertaining Mr. Sloane – HU DVD 12074
Cinderella – HU DVD 12076
Maria’s Story – HU DVD 12079
The Animation Show of Shows – HU DVD 12101 – 12154
The Last Lecture – HU DVD 12156
Ancient Civilizations: The Land of the Pharoahs – HU DVD 12157
Ancient Civilizations: Rome and Pompeii – HU DVD 12158
Ancient Civilizations: Athens and Ancient Greece – HU DVD 12159
The Harry Langdon Collection: Lost and Found – HU DVD 12160
Lonely are the Brave – HU DVD 12168

Television:

The Killing, Season 3 – HU DVD 4313
Veep, Season 3 – HU DVD 5979
Game of Thrones, Season 4 – HU DVD 10024
Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp – HU DVD 11917
Sonic Highways – HU DVD 12029
Turn: Washington’s Spies, Season 1 – HU DVD 12039
Wonder Showzen, Season 1 – HU DVD 12045
Wonder Showzen, Season 2 – HU DVD 12046
You’re the Worst, Season 1 – HU DVD 12048
Hannibal, Season 1 – HU DVD 14307
Hannibal, Season 2 – HU DVD 14308
Banshee, Season 1 – HU DVD 14309
Banshee, Season 2 – HU DVD 14310
30 Rock, Season 5 – HU DVD 14315
30 Rock, Season 6 – HU DVD 14316
30 Rock, Season 7 – HU DVD 14317

In-Library Titles:

All That Jazz – BLU 668
Carmen Miranda: Bananas is my Business – DVD 8923
The Witches of Salem: The Horror and the Hope – DVD 8931
The Complete Humphrey Jennings: Volume Three: A Diary for Timothy – BLU 10298
Portrait of Jason – BLU 11677
Turning Dreams into Reality – DVD 11709
American University Orientation 2003 – DVD 11869
Song of the Sea – BLU 11985
Spy Game – BLU 11987
The Photographer’s Eye – DVD 12004
Unbroken – BLU 12007
Rocks in my Pockets – DVD 12012
Primal Mind – DVD 12019
Multicultural Workplace – DVD 12040
Out at Work – DVD 12043
The Parable of the Sadhu – DVD 12049
Code Name: Butterflies – DVD 12051
They Are Their Own Gifts – DVD 12052
Peasant Family Happiness – DVD 12080
Our Job in Japan – DVD 12082
Spaceflight – DVD 12083
Buried Cities: Pompeii and Herculaneum – DVD 12087
The Silent Explosion – DVD 12088
Against Forgetting – DVD 12089
What is the Limit? – DVD 12091
The Business of Hunger – DVD 12092
The Colonel Comes to Japan – DVD 12093
Hong Kon Dresses Up – DVD 12094
Not by Jeans Alone – DVD 12095
One Man’s Multinational – DVD 12096
Perfectly Frank – DVD 12097
Billion Dollar Day – DVD 12098

Music Library DVDs:

Zara Nelsova: Grande Dame of the Cello – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 141
David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 142
Art of the Bow – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 143

Thesis DVDs:

The Strong Force – THESIS DVD 82
Social Media Ruined My Life – THESIS DVD 83
Kate Johnson’s Thesis Reel – THESIS DVD 84
Banu Debre: Editing Thesis Project – THESIS DVD 85
Among the Lost – THESIS DVD 86
Zmarak – THESIS DVD 87
When America Met China – THESIS DVD 88
Homecoming – THESIS DVD 89
Away – THESIS DVD 90
King of the Pages – THESIS DVD 91

Video of The Exorcist hubbub lets you experience terror by proxy

Even beyond its familiar DC setting, The Exorcist holds a special place in cinematic memory as one of the most successful and – just going from anecdotes – most terrifying horror films ever made. It’s difficult to envision any pop culture event today holding the nation’s full attention and enthusiasm, let along a horror movie, … Continue reading “Video of The Exorcist hubbub lets you experience terror by proxy”

Even beyond its familiar DC setting, The Exorcist holds a special place in cinematic memory as one of the most successful and – just going from anecdotes – most terrifying horror films ever made. It’s difficult to envision any pop culture event today holding the nation’s full attention and enthusiasm, let along a horror movie, but The Exorcist came very close on its release in 1973.

We didn’t believe the anecdotes about the enormous turnout and reaction until we watched the above video, an undated and apparently orphaned 20-minute news featurette about the movie’s success and impact. Moviegoers lined down the block to see The Exorcist multiple times, with many apparently leaving mid-screening and returning again to see if they could stomach it a second time. This is astounding footage that demonstrates the central role movie theaters played in American culture life decades ago. And this fervor predates Jaws and Star Wars, generally considered the first blockbusters.

Even something as big as Jurassic World won’t bring out the same neighborhood-spanning queues or inspire visceral reactions from the audience, so this video of the hype surrounding The Exorcist is the closest most of us will get to seeing a movie release of such sensational scale. (The freakouts over how intensely scary it is are just icing.)

With Letterman’s departure, walk back through the old guard of late night

David Letterman ends his late night talk show career tonight. Although he has certainly settled into a curmudgeonly pattern in the last decade or so – and is probably indistinguishable from Jay Leno for many younger viewers – Letterman’s earlier years behind the desk remain some of the stranger and riskier network television ever produced. … Continue reading “With Letterman’s departure, walk back through the old guard of late night”

David Letterman ends his late night talk show career tonight. Although he has certainly settled into a curmudgeonly pattern in the last decade or so – and is probably indistinguishable from Jay Leno for many younger viewers – Letterman’s earlier years behind the desk remain some of the stranger and riskier network television ever produced. He pioneered the use of absurdism and sarcasm in the traditional talk show model, like in an episode where the screen rotated throughout the evening. He’s certainly an institution now, but for many years, Letterman broadcast on the edge of what producers would allow.

Letterman is the last remaining network talk show host who started before the year 2000, and his retirement arguably symbolizes the end of the old guard of late night television. This got us thinking about the history of late night and the older figureheads who defined the genre for earlier generations.

If you want to learn a little about the history of late night talk shows, we found a great documentary, Pioneers of Television, that covers the first twenty years of the format. We’re sure everyone is sick of hearing about Johnny Carson’s borderline canonization, but there’s great bits in there, like the story of host Jack Paar’s sudden disappearance mid-program. This is a streaming video, so you can access it off-campus and watch it at any time.

The talk show has certainly evolved beyond those older shows, with Jimmy Fallon’s energy or Eric Andre’s aggressive surrealism marking the new goal posts for future hosts. But it’s worth a trip back to remember why Letterman’s weirdness mattered in the television landscape.

TCM’s ‘Summer of Darkness” offers free online noir course – and a noir movie marathon!

Turner Classic Movies is preparing for “Summer of Darkness,” a slate of over 100 noir films a commentary that will air throughout June and July. Two months of nearly century-old, dark, black-and-white movies is a hard sell during warm weather and peak movie theater season, but Turner clearly isn’t aiming for a general audience. Their … Continue reading “TCM’s ‘Summer of Darkness” offers free online noir course – and a noir movie marathon!”

Turner Classic Movies is preparing for “Summer of Darkness,” a slate of over 100 noir films a commentary that will air throughout June and July. Two months of nearly century-old, dark, black-and-white movies is a hard sell during warm weather and peak movie theater season, but Turner clearly isn’t aiming for a general audience. Their noir extravaganza is for film nerds – and now TCM has the academic bonafides to back that up.

TCM has partnered with Ball State University to present a free online course, titled Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir, that will examine the history of noir using critical texts, live chats, and the original films. The course includes access to TCM’s archives, which include production photos, trailers, and essays about the films being discussed.

We’ve never participated in a MOOC ourselves, but we have full faith that BSU and TCM can deliver a quality course. If you’ve feeling a little itchy for film criticism now that the semester’s out, this might be the right outlet for you. Best of all, it’s all lectures and no assignments. It’s learning for the sake of learning! You always wanted more of that from your education, right?

Sterling Cooper will go out big – but not bigger than Tool Time

AMC’s breakthrough drama Mad Men ends tonight, eight years after its debut that put scripted basic cable television on the map. Despite the show’s cultural ubiquity(some would argue oversaturation) the final episode likely won’t come even close to breaking records for most-watched finales. This has much to do with the ways we now watch television … Continue reading “Sterling Cooper will go out big – but not bigger than Tool Time”

AMC’s breakthrough drama Mad Men ends tonight, eight years after its debut that put scripted basic cable television on the map. Despite the show’s cultural ubiquity(some would argue oversaturation) the final episode likely won’t come even close to breaking records for most-watched finales. This has much to do with the ways we now watch television compared to decades ago; in fact, when considering the finales that made the greatest cultural impact – The Sorpanos, Breaking Bad, and even The Colbert Report – the most-watched finales in history seem downright silly.

Take a quick look at mental_floss’s list of the ten most highly rated television finales. Somehow, Home Improvement makes the list, with other 35 million people watching Tim Allen’s last turn on as Tim Taylor. That has far less to do with the quality of Home Improvement than the network-dominated media environment that led it to massive popularity.

We don’t mean to rag on the quality of some of these shows. The finales of M*A*S*H and Cheers are certainly all-time classics, but it’s startling to consider any show that would draw an audience of over 50 million viewers. We’re sure Mad Men will bring out a big following, but with current media consumption patterns, we expect most fans to watch it on Netflix or Amazon months later.

Watch a huge chunk of the Criterion Collection for free via DC Public Library

As film buffs know, the Criterion Collection releases the definitive versions of hundreds of classic films, restored and remastered to their original glory. Criterion has recently made much of their catalog available digitally through a subscription database, and we noticed that DC Public Library now provides access to this collection. This is a huge boon … Continue reading “Watch a huge chunk of the Criterion Collection for free via DC Public Library”

This is a huge boon for film aficionados: many of these films are not available in any format except the Criterion-released DVD or Blu-ray. You can now watch Eraserhead, The Battle of Algiers, The 400 Blows, and other classic films with almost no effort. This is useful for personal viewing as well as academics: there’s a good chance that Criterion offers the international film you need to watch too.

If you have a DC Public Library card, you can watch over 300 films in the Criterion Collection for free, instantly! All American University students, staff, and faculty are eligible for a DC Library card if you don’t already have one. For full instructions, check DCPL’s Get a Library Card page. You can get temporary registration online and pick up your official card in person at the Tenley-Friendship Branch, which is only a block from the AU shuttle stop.

You might be out of DC for the summer but already have your library card thanks to one of the events the AU Library ran earlier in the year. In that case, enjoy a summer of free classic films, courtesy of DC Public! If not, look for DCPL in the fall when they’ll likely host another meet-and-greet here at the AU Library.

Faculty members can contact us at libmediaft@american.edu for more information about using Criterion films for their courses.

Help crowdfund Orson Welles’s final unfinished film

In 1970, legendary director Orson Welles began work on The Other Side of the Wind, a film about a filmmaker attempting to fund an experimental comeback film. Welles never intended The Other Side of the Wind to be autobiographical, but his life mirrored the protagonist’s in eerily similar ways. Over the next six years of … Continue reading “Help crowdfund Orson Welles’s final unfinished film”

In 1970, legendary director Orson Welles began work on The Other Side of the Wind, a film about a filmmaker attempting to fund an experimental comeback film. Welles never intended The Other Side of the Wind to be autobiographical, but his life mirrored the protagonist’s in eerily similar ways. Over the next six years of production and the remainder of his life, Welles struggled to finish his film as well, stymied by obstacles including an unconventional improvised script, budget embezzlement, and most bizarrely the confiscation of the negatives by Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iranian Revolution.

Over forty years have passed since Welles started filming The Other Side of the Wind, and at long last, it may finally be released. A group of Hollywood producers have arranged to obtain the negatives and, based on extensive notes left by Welles before his death, edit and remaster the film as he intended.

This is an enormous undertaking with the full support of notable film industry figures, but they understandably need some finishing money to complete this. To finish the job, the production team has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to secure the $2 million necessary to complete the film by early 2016. That seems like a steep price tag, but as the team puts it: “What if Mark Twain lost a manuscript? Or if Mozart lost his sheet music for a final Sonata? Or a lost book of poems by Walt Whitman was discovered hidden away in a dusty attic? Would you want to see that art realized?”

We certainly would. Here’s hoping we can watch Orson Welles’s final film before the next election!