Thousand Oaks Librarian

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

tolibrarian — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:40:45 +0000

I’ll be making some changes to this site during the next few days, so it might look a bit off. Right now this is a free blog on wordpress.com, but I’m going to move it over to my remote server and install wordpress.org software. I’ve done this once before and it took me forever to figure out since everything I know and do with my websites is self-taught. Hopefully this time, things will go a lot smoother and it won’t take long before my new and improved site is up…*fingers crossed*

Early look at ALA Annual

tolibrarian — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:36:27 +0000

The preliminary program for the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC is now available. Jenny Levine has highlighted some lib/web 2.0 – related programs. I cannot wait to get to this conference!

Books, books, and more books!

tolibrarian — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:03:16 +0000

Used Book Sale sign

Originally uploaded by tolrich7.

I stopped by the Friends’ used book sale this past Saturday morning. Arriving shortly before the doors opened, I was surprised to see just a small group waiting to get in. Later, I heard from a Friend that most of the serious book sellers and collectors showed up the night before, which makes sense. Apparently there were about 200 people Friday night and over 40% of the books on sale were sold. Still, I found a lot of interesting stuff on Saturday morning and came home with four nice books for the grand total of $5! By the time I left, around 10:40am, there were quite a few people there. The next time the Friends have a big book sale, I’ll definitely try to get there on the first day and take pictures of the madness

Used Book Sale aka “madhouse”

tolibrarian — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:16:30 +0000

There will be a 2-day used book sale, sponsored by the Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library, this Friday from 6-9pm and Saturday from 10am-3pm. Held three times a year, these used book sales have a reputation of having some great finds for serious book collectors as well as the casual reader. They also have a reputation of getting pretty rowdy as people compete for the best books. I imagine the scene to be something like a toy store a few days before Christmas, only instead of crazy parents searching for the best toys there will be no-nonsense bibliophiles and bookworms searching for the rarest (and cheapest) books. I’m going to try to make it to the book sale after work on Friday or early in the morning on Saturday to see the madness up close and personal! One colleague has advised me to wear body armor…

Pre-Oscar Party recap and my Oscar predictions/picks…

tolibrarian — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 05:24:13 +0000

We had our pre-Oscar party at the library today. Over 60 people attended so it was a great turnout! We had popcorn, candy, and drinks and it really seemed like people enjoyed the event. After starting things off with a little Oscar trivia (2 lucky winners went away with a nice Thousand Oaks Library bag stuffed with candy), we got to the main event, which was the screening of some 2005 Academy Award nominated short films. I think the audience enjoyed most of the films, but the one that actually received some applause was the winner for best animated short film, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation. Both before and after the event, many people came up to me and told me how happy they were that the library was putting on this event. I was asked repeatedly about future film programs at the library, so I know people are looking forward to seeing more interesting films at the library. I now know that there is definitely a community of movie lovers in Thousand Oaks. We even had an influx of Oscar contest submissions today, many of them probably coming from people here for the screening. I think there were around 25-30 new ballots submitted today. I’m anxious to see who wins the prizes. Maybe I can get the winners to pose for a quick pic and post it here

So, I’ve been thinking about this year’s Oscars and I think I pretty much have my predictions and personal picks decided for most of the major categories. I wish I could comment on some of the other categories like editing and cinematography, but I haven’t seen enough of the nominees in those categories so I’ll just stick to the ones where I’ve actually seen a good number of the nominees.

Best Actor

Will win: Forest Whitaker
Should win: Forest Whitaker

I’ve been a fan of Whitaker for a long time (a personal favorite is his role in Ghost Dog) and he’s amazing in The Last King of Scotland.

Best Actress

Will win: Helen Mirren
Should win: Helen Mirren

Mirren made you forget that you were actually watching an actress playing a role. And to do that while playing a real person who’s still alive is even more impressive.

Best Supporting Actor

Will win: Eddie Murphy
Should win: Mark Wahlberg

Murphy was good in Dreamgirls, but can an Oscar really go to the man who just made Norbit?! Mark Wahlberg stole every scene he was in and he did it while sharing the screen with the best of the best. On a side note, I heard Djimon Hounsou was terrific in Blood Diamond, but I could not get myself to go see that movie because of Leonardo’s accent. When I first saw the trailer to that movie, I knew immediately that I would not pay money to see it the second Leonardo started speaking.

Best Supporting Actress

Will win: Jennifer Hudson
Should win: Rinko Kikuchi

Everyone’s talking about Hudson and I’m not sure why. I’ll admit that she was good, but most of her “acting” in the movie was simply standing there and singing, which she did on “American Idol.” Kikuchi was absolutely haunting in her role and I think she deserves the Oscar.

Best Director

Will win: Martin Scorcese
Should win: Paul Greengrass

I will be happy to see Scorcese win it because I love his movies, but I’m not sure Departed was much a departure (sorry) for him. I wish he would tackle different types of stories…like Kundun, which is one of his best films in my opinion. As for Greengrass, I’ve loved every film he has made, including one that’s on my all-time best films list, Bloody Sunday. He probably won’t win it this year, but I think he’ll win one sooner rather than later.

Best Film

Will win: The Departed
Should win: Babel

This is a difficult category to pick. I haven’t seen Letters from Iwo Jima, but I have seen the other four nominees. I liked all of them, but I especially found Babel powerful in its storytelling and filmmaking. It definitely kept my attention during them movie and it stayed with me afterwards.

Managing traffic

tolibrarian — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 17:43:23 +0000

Last night, as I was leaving the library to go home, I noticed that there were traffic lights installed on the intersection of the library entrance and Janss Road. I had heard that they were coming, but it still surprised me since I’m so accustomed to not seeing them. I’m very happy that they are there, though, because trying to make a left turn on Janss Road out of the library used to be very tricky at times!

In other traffic news, the city council recently approved several changes to help with the Lynn Road problem.

Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes

tolibrarian — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 19:14:58 +0000

The Machine is Us/ing Us

More on the new high school campus

tolibrarian — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:38:50 +0000

Here’s another article from the Star about the possibility of a new high school campus being built across the street from the Library.

New neighbor for the library?

tolibrarian — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:25:53 +0000

According to an article in the Ventura Star today, there are possible plans of a new high school campus to be built across the Thousand Oaks Library on Janss Road. This new site might also be used as a satellite location for Moorpark College. If this happens, I imagine that it would considerably increase the library’s usage. The library already gets a fair amount of Moorpark and CLU students who come to use the library’s excellent research resources. Personally, I think the library could use some new neighbors. It would be nice to see some more development in the area surrounding the library…maybe some restaurants, coffee shops, and small businesses. I’d like to be able to walk outside and grab a sandwich for lunch

And the Oscar goes to…

tolibrarian — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:21:29 +0000

First, sorry for the lack of posts recently. It’s been over a week now since the Bears lost the Superbowl and I’m just now coming out of my cave.

And now, onto some exciting library-related news… I’m pleased to announce that there are two upcoming Oscar-related programming opportunities for the T.O. community. First, the library is running an Oscar contest in which people are asked to make their Oscar predictions to win some great prizes. The first place prize is $50 in video rentals from the library. The second place prize is a pair of movie tickets from a local theatre. The third place prize is a $10 gift certificate to the Library Foundation store. All you need to do is fill out an entry form and ballot (pdf file) and turn it in at a reference desk at either the Thousand Oaks Library or the Newbury Park branch library.

The second Oscar program is a Pre-Oscar Party at which the library will screen a group of academy-award nominated short films from last year. On Saturday, February 24, from 2-4pm, we’ll show five films, including the winner for best live action short film, Six Shooter, as well as the winner for best animated short film, The Moon and the Son. We’ll also have some light refreshments and play some movie trivia (with some small prizes). For more information, click here for our flyer. Registration is not required, but it is encouraged. Call (805) 449- 2660 ext. 204 to let us know that you’ll be attending.

Hopefully this is only the beginning of many cool film programs at the library. I’ll be doing whatever I can to bring a nice collection of mainstream feature films, independent films, documentaries, and foreign films to the library. If you’re reading this and think you’d be interested in attending a film screening at the library, tell me what kind of films you’d like to see. Or, if you have any topics/periods/genres/filmmakers you’d like us to highlight (maybe bringing in an expert on film), please leave a comment here.

Btw, if you’re not sure how to comment on this site, it’s extremely easy. Just click on the main heading of the entry you want to comment on, scroll all the way to the bottom of that next page, write your comment in the comment box, give your name and email (don’t worry, your email won’t be published), and click “Submit Comment.” You don’t need to fill out the “website” field unless you have your own website that you want to let me know about.