Month: April 2016

The future of film preservation is… DNA?

Not that you need any kind of mental stress during finals, but our media librarian passed along this mind-blowing update from the world of film preservation. The best-preserved filmstrips and digital backups will still deteriorate overtime, but the folks at Technicolor (yes, the Wizard of Oz Technicolor) think they’ve developed a foolproof technique for keeping … Continue reading “The future of film preservation is… DNA?”

Not that you need any kind of mental stress during finals, but our media librarian passed along this mind-blowing update from the world of film preservation. The best-preserved filmstrips and digital backups will still deteriorate overtime, but the folks at Technicolor (yes, the Wizard of Oz Technicolor) think they’ve developed a foolproof technique for keeping films stable and format-neutral for thousands of years.

Basically, Technicolor converts a film into code, then – with science indistinguishable from magic – encodes that into DNA. DNA is absurdly dense storage: your phone might hold 32 gigs, but DNA can store about tens of billions times more data in a single gram. Technicolor can bottle millions of copies of this DNA in a small water vial, where it will remain safe probably through the apocalypse.

We have to be a little skeptical just because this is the bleeding edge of film preservation technology, but Technicolor says they’ll have it down-pat in a year. Imagine being able to store the entire history of film in a rain barrel. It’ll be pricey, but we’re astounded.

If you’re seeing a movies in the 1910s, kindly remove your hat

Finals week has arrived, folks. In deference to your stress levels, we’ll be sharing some light, entertaining things this week. Firstly, we wanted to show you these great old “lantern slides” that were once displayed in movie theaters at the turn of the 20th century. In the days long before FirstLook and movie theater radio … Continue reading “If you’re seeing a movies in the 1910s, kindly remove your hat”

Finals week has arrived, folks. In deference to your stress levels, we’ll be sharing some light, entertaining things this week.

Firstly, we wanted to show you these great old “lantern slides” that were once displayed in movie theaters at the turn of the 20th century. In the days long before FirstLook and movie theater radio stations, theaters still used the empty screen between movies to explain theater policies and advertise. Apparently in 1912, wearing a hat to the movies was the equivalent of using your phone. (We’re sure 1912’s AMC briefly considered the idea of a hat-friendly theater.)

You can see a whole bunch of these in the Library of Congress’s collection. The world of 2016 would probably benefit from a “Don’t forget your umbrella” slide.

(Thanks to film critic Manohla Dargis for pointing these out!)

See The Terminator with artificial intelligence experts – free!

Tomorrow, AU takes a day-long study break before final exams begin. Use this time wisely if you need it, and don’t forget about the library’s Final Perk event! But suppose you’re off-campus, have time on your hands, and want something film-y to do. Slate‘s Future Tense has you covered. Tomorrow, the web magazine’s futurist column … Continue reading “See The Terminator with artificial intelligence experts – free!”

Tomorrow, AU takes a day-long study break before final exams begin. Use this time wisely if you need it, and don’t forget about the library’s Final Perk event!

But suppose you’re off-campus, have time on your hands, and want something film-y to do. Slate‘s Future Tense has you covered. Tomorrow, the web magazine’s futurist column will host a free screening of The Terminator at 6:30pm at E Street Cinema downtown. The screening will be accompanied by a discussion from robotics and technology experts Kevin Bankston and Sean Luke about the concept of “killer artificial intelligence.”

We hope the robot uprising won’t happen for many years, but expert testimony and a great movie on the topic are a great way to spend the evening. See the linked article for details about how to attend; you’ll need to RSVP via email.

See local film shorts, featuring the AU Library’s Christina Floriza!

We have a special film screening recommendation today: the AU Library’s own Christina Floriza is starring in Rendezvous, a new independent short film playing at the NOVA Film Festival tomorrow in Fairfax, VA. The film looks like a small-scale dinner date dramedy, filmed on location at a restaurant in Tysons Corner. We haven’t seen it … Continue reading “See local film shorts, featuring the AU Library’s Christina Floriza!”

We have a special film screening recommendation today: the AU Library’s own Christina Floriza is starring in Rendezvous, a new independent short film playing at the NOVA Film Festival tomorrow in Fairfax, VA.

The film looks like a small-scale dinner date dramedy, filmed on location at a restaurant in Tysons Corner. We haven’t seen it and can’t much it or its merits, but we’ll gladly encourage you to go see it to support Christina!

The NOVA Film Festival continues tomorrow, April 25th at 7pm at the Angelika Film Center in Fairfax. Tickets for the two-hour block featuring Rendezvous cost $11 – not a bad price for a bunch of local shorts. Purchase them through the NOVA Film Festival website.

Congratulations to Christina for her theatrical debut!

Movies don’t get worse than watching them on Videodisc

Occasionally, we have a laugh about some of the obsolete media formats we keep stocked behind the desk. We still have a large number of VHS tapes and a handful of LaserDiscs – and even an extremely unloved U-matic player that looks like part of the Space Shuttle. But there’s a format even clunkier than … Continue reading “Movies don’t get worse than watching them on Videodisc”

Occasionally, we have a laugh about some of the obsolete media formats we keep stocked behind the desk. We still have a large number of VHS tapes and a handful of LaserDiscs – and even an extremely unloved U-matic player that looks like part of the Space Shuttle.

But there’s a format even clunkier than all of those. Behold, the CED Videodisc.

The video by retro technology group Techmoan, embedded above, explores this horrible media format. CED Videodiscs combine the impracticality of listening to music on vinyl, the blurry quality of VHS tapes, and the short running time of LaserDiscs. Discs only half an hour on each side and need to be flipped halfway through a movie. And if a Videodisc had any damage or particles stuck on the surface, it would skip wildly; many older discs are almost unwatchable.

We don’t have any Videodiscs in our collection, probably because the format was dead by 1984. You’ll have to make do with this video if you want to experience the absolutely worst way to watch a movie. Skip to about the 20 minute mark to see it in action.

Want to be a media librarian? Kino Lorber’s here to help

Allow us to toot the horn of our own profession for a second. If you’re interested in becoming a librarian who works with film, the American Library Association has a scholarship with your name on it. ALA has partnered with classic and art house film distributor Kino Lorber to offer an annual $1000 award for … Continue reading “Want to be a media librarian? Kino Lorber’s here to help”

Allow us to toot the horn of our own profession for a second. If you’re interested in becoming a librarian who works with film, the American Library Association has a scholarship with your name on it.

ALA has partnered with classic and art house film distributor Kino Lorber to offer an annual $1000 award for a prospective library science Masters degree student interested in “work[ing] professionally as a media librarian in an academic institution.” The scholarship includes a paid trip to New York City to learn about film distribution at a festival from the Kino Lorber folks – a great hands-on opportunity that uniquely fits the media librarian sub-profession.

We’re glad to see Kino Lorber giving back to the library world. Richard Lorber himself shares in anecdote in ALA’s press release about how librarians helped him find films to use for his teaching. We certainly hope the AU Library’s collection and librarians have been so helpful, and this scholarship is a little boost to keep those sorts of services going in the future.

Browse the history of the small screen in our new television filmography

We recently added dozens of television shows, bringing our collection total to nearly 400 television show. The time seemed right to assemble a formal list of every series in our collection, so after weeks of hard work and formatting from our staff, we bring you our new Television Shows filmography. In addition to the master … Continue reading “Browse the history of the small screen in our new television filmography”

We recently added dozens of television shows, bringing our collection total to nearly 400 television show. The time seemed right to assemble a formal list of every series in our collection, so after weeks of hard work and formatting from our staff, we bring you our new Television Shows filmography.

In addition to the master list of shows, we’ve broken up our television collection by genre and, most importantly for television studies, the era the show was released. For the most part, that means distinguishing them by decade (80s shows were very different from 90s shows), but the filmography also sets space aside for the two “Golden Ages” of television in the 50s and 2000s. If you just want to study or watch post-war Leave It to Beaver-type sitcoms, you can now find what we have in stock much more easily.

(It might seem bizarre to put Reno 911! in the Second Golden Age of Television, but it rode the same wave as other critically acclaimed scripted shows!)

We hope this filmography makes your research in television just a little easier. If you’re looking for something similar in the realm of film, we have a separate section of films by subject area.

Koyaanistocksi is filmmaking out of balance

Here’s a fun one to start off the week: Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi is a striking experimental film that uses footage of nature, people, and technology to convey our often dissociated relationship with the world. It’s an unusual, groundbreaking work that, along with its outstanding Philip Glass soundtrack, has become a touchstone for awe-inspiring cinema. Koyaanisqatsi … Continue reading “Koyaanistocksi is filmmaking out of balance”

Here’s a fun one to start off the week: Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi is a striking experimental film that uses footage of nature, people, and technology to convey our often dissociated relationship with the world. It’s an unusual, groundbreaking work that, along with its outstanding Philip Glass soundtrack, has become a touchstone for awe-inspiring cinema.

Koyaanisqatsi is also more than the sum of its parts, as demonstrated in the hilarious new video embedded above, Koyaanistocksi. Jesse England recreated the trailer for the 1982 film entirely with stock footage, and his cut matches the original shot-for-shot. It also clearly isn’t as good as the original, which makes it a great example of how compelling filmmaking is distinct from just putting together a string of images.

Filmmaking lessons aside, Koyaanistocksi is hilarious for people who will recognize the shots. Life is so out of balance that the sorts of shots that used to be terrifying commentary on society are now packaged and sold by iStock as filler videos.

Hollywood’s big new technology is 90 years old

As movie theaters search for new technology to drag people into theaters, the latest promise comes from Barco Escape, a three-screen technology designed for “immersive cinema” with a panoramic view or, potentially, action on three different screens at once. But as Dennis Duffy once said, technology is cyclical. These ideas have come up before – … Continue reading “Hollywood’s big new technology is 90 years old”

As movie theaters search for new technology to drag people into theaters, the latest promise comes from Barco Escape, a three-screen technology designed for “immersive cinema” with a panoramic view or, potentially, action on three different screens at once.

But as Dennis Duffy once said, technology is cyclical. These ideas have come up before – in spectacular fashion.

Back in the 50s, the Cinerama format had a similar concept, using three projectors on a wide-angled screen to create a broader picture. The technique seemed so unusual at the time that the first Cinemera film, This Is Cinerama, is basically a commercial for the format; it opens with an educational lecture about the history of film to prepare viewers for what will come next. Flicker Alley released This Is Cinerama on Blu-ray a few years ago, complete with a fake curved screen. (Available from the AU Library under HU BLU 10798.)

Other movies have used multiple projectors to show several scenes at once, maybe none more famously than the 1927 silent film Napoleon. The 5-hour-long behemoth of a movie includes a sequence with three different projectors running at once. Because of the changing size of the screen and length, Napoleon is nearly impossible to watch correctly at home. You’ll have to catch one of the rare theatrical screenings, held only 14 times since the 1930s. (A Blu-ray will also come out later this year.)

Or maybe, if Barco Escape catches on, you can watch Napeleon there. Everything old is new again!

New Acquisitions – April 2016

As promised, as part of our year-end push, we’re continuing to add huge volumes of classic television shows to our collection. Frasier, The Jeffersons, Get Smart, The Golden Girls, and other famous sitcoms are now available to check out from the library, either for research purposes or just for fun. Huge thanks to our staff … Continue reading “New Acquisitions – April 2016”

http://aulibmedia.blogspot.com/2016/04/new-acquisitions-april-2016.html

As promised, as part of our year-end push, we’re continuing to add huge volumes of classic television shows to our collection. Frasier, The Jeffersons, Get Smart, The Golden Girls, and other famous sitcoms are now available to check out from the library, either for research purposes or just for fun.

Huge thanks to our staff for processing hundreds of DVDs so quickly. This is a staggering volume to turn around in half a month, especially considering how many custom cases had to be created and processed. Kudos to all!

If you’re not interested in checking out The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, we’ve also added several Oscar-contending films from last year. Steve Jobs, Trumbo, and The Big Short are all available too.

Hit the break for a list of everything now in stock…

Home Use Collection:

Perfect Strangers – HU DVD 5401
4 Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle = 4 Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle – HU DVD 11138
Fargo, Season 2 – HU DVD 11557
The Look of Silence – HU DVD 12786
Meet the Patels – HU DVD 12788
Erreur de la Banque en votre Faveur = A Bank Error in your Favor – HU DVD 12888
Daniel Boone and the Opening of the American West: The Legend – HU DVD 12998
Advanced Style – HU DVD 12999
La Bohème – HU DVD 13001
Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas – HU DVD 13003
Partie de Campagne = A Day in the Country – HU DVD 13005
The Spirit of Samba: Black Music of Brazil – HU DVD 13006
Deep Web – HU DVD 13008
A Path Appears – HU DVD 13012
Best Men – HU DVD 13013
America’s First D-Day: Washington’s Crossing – HU DVD 13014
Steve Jobs – HU DVD 13015
Masai Women – HU DVD 13017
The Kayapo: Indians of the Brazilian Rain Forest – HU DVD 13018
Deaf Culture Lectures: Cultural Differences – HU DVD 13019
Variations V – HU DVD 13020
Shotguns and Accordions: Music of the Marijuana Growing Regions of Colombia – HU DVD 13022
Trumbo – HU DVD 13023
Balanchine Essays: Arabesque – HU DVD 13024
The Black Panthers – HU DVD 13025
Cookie – HU DVD 13026
Stalin ; Assassination Tango – HU DVD 13027
Süleyman the Magnificent – HU DVD 13029
Paris was a Woman – HU DVD 13030
Sense and Sensibility – HU DVD 13031
The Beggar’s Opera – HU DVD 13032
Lost Kingdom of the Maya – HU DVD 13033
The Day of the Triffids – HU DVD 13034
Home for the Holidays – HU DVD 13035
The Front Page – HU DVD 13036
Street Scene – HU DVD 13037
Il Barbiere di Siviglia – HU DVD 13038
Homicide – HU DVD 13039
Mirch Masala – HU DVD 13040
Swan Lake: Ballet in 4 Acts – HU DVD 13042
Border Radio – HU DVD 13046
The Petrified Forest – HU DVD 13049
I Married Joan – HU DVD 13050
Rick and Morty, Season 1 – HU DVD 13051
A French Village, Season 1 – HU DVD 13055
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Season 1 – HU DVD 13056
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Season 2 – HU DVD 13057
Get Smart, Season 1 – HU DVD 13058
Get Smart, Season 2 – HU DVD 13059
The Jeffersons, Season 1 – HU DVD 13062
The Jeffersons, Season 2 – HU DVD 13063
The Bernie Mac Show, Season 1 – HU DVD 13064
Room 222, Season 1 – HU DVD 13067
Murphy Brown, Season 1 – HU DVD 13069
The Golden Girls, Season 1 – HU DVD 13070
The Golden Girls, Season 2 – HU DVD 13071
Prisoners of War, Season 1 – HU DVD 13072
Prisoners of War, Season 2 – HU DVD 13073
ER, Season 1 – HU DVD 13074
ER, Season 2 – HU DVD 13075
Invisible Adversaries – HU DVD 13076
Lie to Me, Season 1 – HU DVD 13077
Lie to Me, Season 2 – HU DVD 13078
Lie to Me, Season 3 – HU DVD 13079
Show Me a Hero – HU DVD 13081
The Big Short – HU DVD 13094
Haute Cuisine – HU BLU 13095
Blossom, Seasons 1 and 2 – HU DVD 14419
Maude, Season 1 – HU DVD 14420
Maude, Season 2 – HU DVD 14421
Maude, Season 3 – HU DVD 14422
Maude, Season 4 – HU DVD 14423
Maude, Season 5 – HU DVD 14424
Maude, Season 6 – HU DVD 14425
I Dream of Jeannie, Season 1 – HU DVD 14426
I Dream of Jeannie, Season 2 – HU DVD 14427
I Dream of Jeannie, Season 3 – HU DVD 14428
I Dream of Jeannie, Season 4 – HU DVD 14429
I Dream of Jeannie, Season 5 – HU DVD 14430
All in the Family, Season 1 – HU DVD 14431
All in the Family, Season 2 – HU DVD 14432
All in the Family, Season 3 – HU DVD 14433
All in the Family, Season 4 – HU DVD 14434
All in the Family, Season 5 – HU DVD 14435
All in the Family, Season 6 – HU DVD 14436
All in the Family, Season 7 – HU DVD 14437
All in the Family, Season 8 – HU DVD 14438
All in the Family, Season 9 & Bonus Disc – HU DVD 14439
Bewitched, Season 1 – HU DVD 14440
Bewitched, Season 2 – HU DVD 14441
Bewitched, Season 3 – HU DVD 14442
Bewitched, Season 4 – HU DVD 14443
Bewitched, Season 5 – HU DVD 14444
Bewitched, Season 6 – HU DVD 14445
Bewitched, Season 7 – HU DVD 14446
Bewitched, Season 8 – HU DVD 14447
Saturday Night Live, Season 3 – HU DVD 14450
Saturday Night Live, Season 4 – HU DVD 14451
Saturday Night Live, Season 5 – HU DVD 14452
Frasier, Season 1 – HU DVD 14453
Frasier, Season 2 – HU DVD 14454
Frasier, Season 3 – HU DVD 14455
Frasier, Season 4 – HU DVD 14456
Frasier, Season 5 – HU DVD 14457
Frasier, Season 6 – HU DVD 14458
Frasier, Season 7 – HU DVD 14459
Frasier, Season 8 – HU DVD 14460
Frasier, Season 9 – HU DVD 14461
Frasier, Season 10 – HU DVD 14462
Frasier, Season 11 – HU DVD 14463

In-Library Titles:

Damiana Kryygi – DVD 13007
Stop – DVD 13009
Pack of Lies – DVD 13041
Tales from Arab Detroit – DVD 13047
3 by Martha Graham – DVD 13048
Voices of Muslim Women from the US South – DVD 13085
Connections – DVD 13086