from Coca-Cola: The Real Story Behind the Real Thing Thirty years ago today, Coca-Cola unveiled New Coke, a Pepsi-like formula that replaced the original Coca-Cola in stores. In retrospect, this is regarded as one of the worst marketing decisions in history. Fans considered the change a betrayal and stockpiled the classic Coke in an act […]
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Happy Earth Day! Say hi to Mother Nature with environmental films
Happy Earth Day, one and all! The AU Library and Media Services take pride in our commitment to sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, and we hope our patrons learn about sustainability and green living too. If you’re looking for some entertaining eco-conscious film choices for Earth Day, we have a resource for you! Last year, […]
Continue readingCaught up with The Jinx? Watch these investigative crime documentaries
HBO’s true-crime documentary series The Jinx ended in shock this week when the show’s subject, real estate magnate Robert Durst, confessed to multiple murders over an open microphone and was subsequently arrested. No spoiler warning on this one: Durst’s arrest made international headlines. After all, how often does a documentary change the course of the […]
Continue readingHappy Fair Use Week!
By the declaration of the Association of Research Libraries, this week is Fair Use Week! “Fair use” is one of the most important exemptions in copyright law that allows educators, artists, and journalists to create new works from copyrighted content. Fair use provisions have allowed everything from students editing films for academic assignments to supercuts […]
Continue readingDid you miss Whiplash? Have a bladder of steel? See every Best Picture nominee in a row on Saturday
via icanhasgif.com You hear the same refrain every year about Oscar nominations: if only those movies had been in theaters for longer. You might not have gone to see The Imitation Game on its own accord, but now that it’s in contention for some major awards, it would be nice to see it in the […]
Continue readingA radical proposal: what if the Oscars removed nominations?
The Oscars are this Sunday, and although we’re as excited as every year, there’s a certain level of predictability in every ceremony. A few months ago, the current Oscar race was considered one of the most competitive of all time, but the past weeks of tertiary award shows have made it clear who will win […]
Continue readingRevisit SNL for its fortieth anniversary
Saturday Night Live doesn’t really turn 40 until next October, but the folks at NBC decided that now was the right time to celebrate four decades on the air. SNL is indisputably one of the biggest and most important comedy programs of all time, having weathered constant changes in style and quality and producing some […]
Continue readingMaking sense of Birth of a Nation, 100 years later
Today is the 100th anniversary of D. W. Griffith’s Civil War epic Birth of a Nation, perhaps one of the most troubling films in the history of the medium. On the one hand, Birth of a Nation is one of the most significant visual works of all time; it was perhaps the first feature-length movie […]
Continue readingDig into net neutrality in Barbershop Punk
Only a few hours ago, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler announced his proposal to reclassify Internet services as “common carriers,” a major victory for net neutrality and the prospects of an open Internet. We’ll come right out and say that this is fantastic news. The American Library Association has made it clear that open and unfettered […]
Continue readingAlternative programming: The art of healing
Super Bowl XLIX is imminent, and the NFL is under arguably greater scrutiny than ever over many of its policies and behaviors. Some of the greatest continued focus is reserved for the league’s treatment of concussions and injuries, which we covered during last year’s Super Bowl. This is still a big topic, but we discovered […]
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