Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Is This Blog Still Active?

Yes

Renovation Celebration on June 1st

This was a fairly low-key event.  I said a few things.  A representative of the Library Friends said a few things.  The City Administrator said a few things.  A Library Board member said a few things.  (My comments were the best.)

The broad in the pink shirt cut the cake for me.
Renovation Celebration

That kid in the blue shirt kept asking if he could have more cake.
Renovation Celebration


Cars and Coffee, June 2nd 

The "fancy car place" downtown hosts Cars and Coffee one Sunday a month.  You can buy coffee and Gelato at Sweet Lips Cafe

Ole Ford coupe.
Cars and Coffee - old Ford Coupe

Ferrari 330
Cars and Coffee - Ferrari 330

Ferrari Dino GT
Cars and Coffee - Ferrari Dino

A little later in the morning, some cars had already left.
Cars and Coffee - June 2, 2013



DVD

Golf's Grand Design: the history of American golf course architecture produced by PBS.  Some sort of golf show.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Music

Melodic Sounds Purposefully Performed and Re-Produced Through Electrical Impulses

Electric by Richard Thompson.  Famed guitarist plays guitar and sings songs.




Son of Rogues Gallery: pirate ballads, sea songs, and chanteys by [various].  A multitude of singers sing old sea songs.




Adam Ant is the Blueback Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter by Adam Ant.  AllMusic.com gave a mixed review that resulted in rating of 4/5. Yes, I did attend his concert in Milwaukee this past winter.  He's playing another date in Milwaukee at the end of the summer.

Barbara Allen's Dirty Poetry

NonFiction

Know Soil, Know Life edited by David L. Lindbo,et al.  A donation from the Soil Society of America. Pretty neat with nice photos, maps, and charts.

Fiction

Antiques Disposal by Barbara Allen.  Max Allan Collins and his wife Barbara Collins perform a Vulcan Mind Meld and the results appear in paperback featuring a fluffy dog and crime solving in Eastern Iowa.  Collins freely admits his first novel was a rip-off of the Parker books (see below).  Collins's Quarry series is sorta similar to Parker novels and the Quarry books are excellent.

Close Is Fine by Eliot Treichel.  Short stories set in rural Wisconsin by a guy who lives in Oregon. Oregon state not Oregon, WI.  I'm going to read this.

Poetry

Sailing to Babylon by James Pollock.  Canadian living in Wisconsin writes poems about Glenn Gould on the Telephone (p. 25).

ROTC Kills by John Koethe.  Former Poet Laureate of Wisconsin still writes poems while

I'm waiting at the bar at Gene's, a place
On West Eleventh Street, just down the street
From the Larchmont Hotel, where I usualy stay
When I'm in New York.  I come to New York a lot
Since I've retired (from what? someone asked).

DVD

True Blood: the complete fifth season starring Anna Paquin, others.  Vampires, death and romance in Mississippi or Georgia.  Oh, wait.  It's in Louisiana.  Is Victor Gischler in this?  People sure do like this show.


Parker starring Jason Staham and Jennifer Lopez.  The latest adaptation of a Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) novel featuring Parker, a thief.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Concert Movie, TV Movie, Sociopaths

DVD

Some Girls: live in Texas '78 by the Rolling Stones.  Filmed in Fort Worth on July 18, 1978. [Insert you own cracks about ticket prices here.]



Abducted: the Carla White story starring Aunjanue Ellis Keke Palmer, Roger Cross.  Girl kidnapped as infant shortly after birth suspects her fake mother is a fake.  [Insert your own Lifetime Network jokes here.]




Audiobooks on CD

Confessions of a Sociopath: a life spent hiding in plain sight by M.E. Thomas.  9 CDs 10 hours.  Sociopath brags.  Sociopath is an accomplished attorney and law professor.  [Insert your own lawyer jokes here.]

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo.  11 CDs at 14 hours.  Oslo policeman Harry Hole investgates the murder of a Salvation Army singer at Christmastime.  Narrated by the excellent and awesome John Lee.  [Insert your own Ole and Lena jokes here.]

Undaunted: the real story of America's servicewomen in today's military by Tanya Biank.  10 CDs at 11.5 hours.  Problems unique to women service members.  [Insert you own shoe jokes here.]

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

20,000 Echoed Dreams

Fiction

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.  Literary novelist writes literary novel.  Something about a couple kids in Afghanistan.

NonFiction

Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams by Theresa Cheung. Dream interpretations from different cultures.  Last night I dreamt my 7-year-old was horribly misbehaving and I woke up angry.  Then the 10-year-old came into the bedroom poking and shoving me and telling me to wake up and I hollered at him.

Town and Country Days Parade

Parade Entry Form by Library Director.  The parade entry form has a section for the parade announcer to read off information on each parade entrant.  Here is my first draft.



The L.D. Fargo Public Library is 111 years old this year and continues to exert it’s dominance over downtown Lake Mills.  Over the past century the library has defeated the fads and threats of telephones, radio, mas market paperbacks, microfilm, motion pictures, television, cable television, cell phones, computers, and the internet.  L.D. Fargo crushes all all competitors with a vicious two handed swipe of brick and mortar.  Bend to our will.

Bring your kids to our Friday morning storytime at 10:30 AM.

Friday, May 17, 2013

More Large Print

See?  More Large Print


More Large Print

Stuff and Nonsense (Tim Finn Free)

Fiction

A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre.  Le Carre was born in 1931.  This book was born in 2013.  A successful counterintelligence operation may not have been a success.

Dead, White and Blue by Carolyn Hart.  The title reminds me of Sheriff Dan Rhodes in Red, White and Blur Murder where Rhodes gets beat up by a woman.  Twice.

Blossom Sisters by Fern Michaels.  I've said my piece about these sister titles.

Bat in the Belfry by Sarah Graves.  Home Repair is Homicide book.  Graves bio on the flyleaf says she lives in a house from 1823.  Was it as uninsulated as my 1890 house is now?

Silken Prey by John Sandford.  The Prey novels are Anthony Neil Smith's newest obsession.  This one has Lucas Davenport investigating thefts of silk worms n Edina.  Maybe.

12th of Never by James Patterson Literary Industries Amalgamated.  ___ _____ __ ___ _____ ___ _____ ____.  The blog post is like the plot.  Just fill in the blanks.

Secretly Smitten by Four Women Whose Names I Don't Want to Check for Spelling.  Three granddaughters find some dog tags in their grandmother's attic.

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris.  One of those vampire things by Harris.

Inferno by Dan Brown.

Dan Brown's New Book Came With A Big Warning.

Best Man by Kristan Higgins.  Paperback romance because people enjoy paperback romances. I don't know if people enjoy having the image of the dog on the front cover flipped and put on the back cover.  I don't enjoy that.  I am always annoyed when a graphic artist flips photos.

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer.  Here is a worst kept secret about Archer: he lied in court and went to prison for it.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Tegan & Sara Mythology Echoes Next Day's Old Sock

Music on Thin, Round, Shiny Things

Set You Free by Gary Allan. Singer sings songs about defense attorneys?



O.N.I.F.C by Wiz Khalifa. Heavily tattooed singer raps songs about acronyms?



To Be Loved by Micahel Buble. Canadian sings songs of longing?



The 2nd Law by Muse. Singers sings songs of "keep and bear arms"?

Old Sock by Eric Clapton. Guitarist sings songs of darning?



All That Echoes by Josh Groban. Singer sings while spelunking?



The Next Day by David Bowie. Singer sings of Thursday?



Heartthrob by Tegan and Sara. Different Canadian singers sing about fellow Canadian Justin Bieber?



Mythology by Celtic Thunder. Irish singers sing about Hercules?

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Renovation Delays Bring Not-So-New DVD

DVD - The John Goodman Edition

Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro.  Guy meets girl.




Looper starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.  Guy meets self.




The Sessions starring Helen Hunt and John Hawkes.  Guy meets sex surrogate.



Django Unchained starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonard CiCaprio.  Guy meets slave.




Flight starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Don Cheadle.  Guy meets liquor bottle.




Argo starring Ben Affleck, Meth Guy, Alan Arkin, John Goodman.  Guy meets spy.




End of Watch starring Jake Welsh Name, Michael Pena. Guy meets gang member.




Stolen starring Nicolas Cage, Danny Huston , Josh Lucas.  Guy meets overacting.  Beware the cursing.

Friday, May 10, 2013

More Large Print? Good Thing We Adjusted the Shelving.

Large Print

Taking Eve by Iris Johansen.  A pai rof black leather boots and a sheave-less knife tucked into a boot buckle.

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer.  Photo of 1930's car has reflection of modern cars in shiny chrome.

Unintended Consequences by Stuart Woods.  Argh.

The Mystery Woman by Amanda Quick. ...carries a derringer under the skirt of her red dress.

Robert B. Parker's Wonderland by Ace Atkins.  Yes, that is the full title.  Bill Crider was a long time fan of Parker and said he would not try the Atkins novels out.  "It's time for me to move on," he said. I do not know if he changed his mind.

I just saw a comment by Big Shot Novelist Lee Goldberg about this book:  Loving @aceatkinsbooks Spenser novel WONDERLAND. It's remarkable how he flawlessly captures Parker voice.

Blossom Sisters by Fern Michaels.  I read a book called Bird Sisters.  We have another book called Weird Sisters. And don't forget:

Blood Sisters
Slither Sisters
Three Sisters
Red Thread Sisters
True Sisters
Gilly Salt Sisters
Snoop Sisters
Daisy Sisters
Satan's Sisters
Zabime Sisters
Between Sisters
Missing Sisters

Saturday, May 04, 2013

More Renovation Photos

New Rear Vestibule



2013 Renovation


2013 renovation


2013 renovation



2013 renovation



2013 renovation



DSC02216


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation

Collins, Cook, Keret, Knopf

Fiction

Seduction of the Innocent by Max Allan Collins.  From modern pulp publisher Hard Case Crime.  Collins sets this among the 1950s comic book scare where comics were blamed for corrupting American youth.  After the murder of [someone not named on the cover] a publisher's troubleshooter starts snooping.

Suddenly, A Knock on the Door by Etgar Keret.  Keret creates a compendium of crazy cats killing caught comatose crayfish quickly carried catty-corner across Cari Click's Cooper Cars.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.  Horror novel.  Hill has a Triumph motobike.  From the author photo it looks to be a new one, not a '60s one.

Point and Shoot by Duane Swierczynski.  The third and final novel in the fast moving and fun Charlie Hardy series.  Swizzlelelteinksi will be at Murder and Mayhem In Muskego at the Muskego Public Library this fall.

Evil In All Its Disguise by Hilary Davidson.  Davidson is Canadian.

Dead Anyway by Chris Knopf.  This came out a few months ago and is supposed to be a very well done thriller.

A Murder of Wolves by Gary J. Cook.  From what I can tell Cook publishes a new novel every 10 years or so.  This had an advert in Library Journal or Booklist.  I looked up Cook's previous work, he had good reviews, I gave it a shot.  Two undercover sheriff's deputies are assaulted by people looking to buy computer chips used in weapons guidance systems.  The deputies escape to the book's cover photo and drive around in a blue Subaru shooting a rifle out the passenger window.

Iscariot by Tosca Lee.  Novel about Judas. Lee has shiny, long, black hair.  Author bio says Lee "makes her home in the Midwest."  Heck, depending on who you ask the Midwest is anywhere from Ohio to west Kansas.  Whom?

Free Fall by Chris Grabenstein.  Another fun mystery novel featuring policeman John Ceepak working the beach resort town of Sea Haven, New Jersey.

Perfect Ghost by Linda Barnes.  "Jacket design by Olga Grlic."

Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French.  Nicci French is Nicci Gerrard and Sean French.  They are Limeys.  They wrote this book about a London psychotherapist who has to interview a psychotic about a dead body.

Monday, April 29, 2013

38.5 Hours of Paris

Audiobooks on CD
 
Paris by Edward Rutherford.  30 CDs at 38.5 hours.  Moving back and forth in time across centuries, the story unfolds through intimate and vivid tales of self-discovery, divided loyalty, passion, and long-kept secrets of characters both fictional and real, all set against the backdrop of the glorious city ...and sidewalks covered in dog poop.

Wedding Knight by Sophie Kinsella.  11 CDs at 13 hours.  This has three narrators.  Woman decides to marry her pal and fulfill their pact to marry at 30 years of age if both are still single.  Woman's family is aghast and try sabotage.  I made a pact with myself to go to lunch at noon.

Uncompressed Versus Compressed

Uncompressed

15.5 inches high


Uncompressed

Compressed

14.75 inches high.

Compressed

Friday, April 26, 2013

The Title Is Descriptive Of How I Feel Hearing It

DVD

Le Miserables starring Two Australians and That Tall Lady.  There are so many things I could write about this, none are complimentary.




Lincoln starring an Englishman, A Texan, and Former-Child-Star-Who-Is-Not-A-Junkie.  Lots of talking and natural light.



Life of Pi directed by University of Illinois graduate Ang Lee.  The book was much better than I expected.  I suppose the flick can be the same.




The Bible starring Dudes With Long Hair, Romans.  "Breathtaking in scope and scale."  Can't everything be CGI'ed into scope and scale? 10 episodes.




Aldo Leopold at Faville Grove by Charles Johannsen.  Renown environmentalist Aldo Leopold started preserving native prairie around Lake Mills in the 1930s.  Johannsen covers the prairie restoration and interviews Leopold's former students.

I think Johannsen, or a pal, did this from downtown Lake Mills featuring local guitarist Paul Filipowicz.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

One Book. One Photo.

Fiction

Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg.  I think Berg is still a best seller.  I've never read any of her books.I have read some sci-fi novels by Elizabeth Moon.  I read three of Moon Vatta's War novels and were decent but Moon seemed to dragging things out to fill in the multi-volume series.  I should read or listen to the fifth and last one, Victory Conditions.

Moon does not have alien characters but there are culture clashes by people from different planets.  Lots of political and corporate espionage and scheming.  Moon well described the tactics and planning used by space ships for faster-than-light maneuvering battles.

Photo

Diverted water from Rock Lake during road and bridge construction.
2013 Main Street closure

Friday, April 19, 2013

Library Re-Opens Tomorrow

Library Re-opens Tomorrow

The rear door is closed to the public.  Enter through the front or East side doors.

Don't Let the Snow Keep You Away


April Snow, 2013

Math and Violence

DVD

The Story of Math presented by Marcus du Sautoy.  I think this is actually two math documentaries, The Story of Math and The Code.




Rust and Bone starring Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts.  I liked the book by Craig Davidson.  This movie has some Europeans using part of the story to make a movie.  The same director made the prison-crime flick ProphetProphet was good, you can borrow it from the library.



The Raid: redemption starring [Indonesian guys you never heard of].  Shoot'em-up in a Jakarta slum.


Easy Money starring [Swedes].  I listened to the audio version of the crime novel and really liked it.  I plugged the novel on the library's Facebook page but I bet no one read it anyway.




Perks of Being a Wallflower starring Logan Lerman, Hermione Granger, Some Other Kid.  I liked this book, too.  I don't care about the movie.


Cleanskin starring Sean Bean.  Not from a novel.  British spy has to find and stop English-born terrorist.


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Main Street Is Still Closed

Main Street

The 100-year-old brick bridge that covers the spillway from the lake started collapsing.  Part of the roadway fell in and Main St. has been blocked for several days.


Looking North on Main Street.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.

Piping to divert Rock Lake water from the dam to the creek.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.

The pip crosses Main Street and goes across a parking lot into the creek.  That blacktop is part of the parking lot.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.

From the wooden foot bridge across the pipes.  Looking East to Main Street.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.

Pipers going into Rock Lake and four generators to run the pumps.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.

Looking South on Main Street.  Drilling next to that building on the left.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.


There has been a lot of rain making this very muddy work.
Main Street Closure for bridge repair.












Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Photos. Again.

Photos

They'll keep coming until the renovation ends.

Children's area is pretty much done.  Hardware is now installed on the bathroom door.
2013 Renovation

Packing up adult fiction and nonfiction then disassembling the shelving
2013 Renovation

New countertop.
2013 Renovation



New Young Adult area just needs some more sawdust.
2013 Renovation

Monday, April 15, 2013

More Renovation

Renovation


Eight Books WIth 2788 Numbered Pages

Fiction

Sleight of Hand by Phillip Margolin.  "A novel of suspense." By an author from Portland.

Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline.  Scottline is wearing hoop earrings and bracelets.  I though Scottoline did mysteries and thrillers.  Yep, she does, this is something new with a guy whose wife dies.

A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde.  Page 305 says, "She saw Ali and Luke standing by the car from some way away."

Dangerous Refuge by Elizabeth Lowell.  Page 255 says, "You're hard."

Unintended Consequences by The Stuart Woods Cooperative for Advanced Thriller Writing.  Cover photo is the Eiffel Tower.




Midnight at Marble Arch by Anne Perry.  Lots of words formed into sentences, paragraphs and chapters.

Secrets From the Past by Barbara Taylor Bradford.  Here is a secret from my past, I ate the last rice krispie on Saturday.

Daddy's Gone a Hunting by Mary Higgins Clark.  AKA November in Wisconsin

Ten Movies, but Fourteen Discs

DVDs

Skyfall starring Daniel Craig and other English.  Super spy guy in the sky.

The Hobbit: an unexpected journey starring Hobbits, Dwarves.  Road trip movie of wacky short guys and a crazy old guy.

Zero Dark Thirty starring That One Guy and That One Gal.  A brave helicopter thinks he can, thinks he can, and thinks he can and then crashes onto a wall.

Friends With Kids starring Actors.  A sad sack adult's only friends are children.

Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep.  Meryl Streep pretends to be a politician. Len Price was not a fan.




Silent Hill: Revelation starring Sean Bean.  Sean Bean and Malcolm McDowell.  Malcolm McDowell? In a horror movie?  Remember Blue Thunder?




Bully starring High School Kids.  Christa Faust wrote that this is good.

Killing Them Softly starring Brad Pitt and a Mossberg shotgun.  Brad Pitt wears lots of hair products and kills people.



Parental Guidance starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, Mairsa Tomei, and That Guy From That Thing You Do and Southland.

21 Jump Street starring Hip Actors.  Hip Actors pretend to be high school students.  Hijinks.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Just Books and AudioBooks

AudioBooks on CD

Utopia Experiment by Kyle Mills.  12 CDs at 13.5 hours.  Thriller in Afghanistan where the U.S. is trying to keep technology secret.  Yeah.  Good luck with stopping technology from changing and growing.

Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card.  10 CDs at 12 hours.  Sequel to the novel Lost Gate.  Aliens living on Earth or something.

Frozen Solid by James M. Tabor.  8 CDs at 9.5 hours.  A novel of the Saylor family and their 120-year-old house with no decent insulation during a Wisconsin winter.

The Highlanders by Gerry Davis.  3 CDs at 3.5 hours.  A Doctor Who novel with the Doctor showing up at the Battle of Culloden between the Scottish and English in 1746.

Large Print

Fuse by Julianna Baggott.  "Book 2 of the Pure Trilogy." Looks like a romance but the flyleaf sounds fantasy-like.

The Woman From Paris by Santa Montefiore.  ...has to watch her step for all the dog poop on the Parisian sidewalks.

Bad Blood by Dana Stabenow.  Novel featuring Alaskan lady Kate Shugak catching killers.

My One Square Inch of Alaska by Sharon Short.  Girl's younger brother wins a square inch of Alaska through a cereal promotion.  She takes him there when he gets sick.

Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.  Picoult is a writing machine.  Beep, whir-whir, beep, ka-chunk.

The View From Here by Cindy Myers.  Woman's husband leaves her and then her long absent father wills her a Colorado gold mine.  Woman goes to CO and has the kind of life experiences that these kind of books love.

The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black.  I'll take the title literally and assume there is a flood.

Good House by Ann Leary.  Alcoholic north of Boston hangs out with someone else and "this darkly comic novel takes a chilling turn."

The Temptation of Your Touch by Teresa Medeiros.  Edwardian romance.  I'm guessing on the "Edwardian" part since no year is listed.

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus.  Dang right, that woman is a trouble maker.

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Another Fun and Fabulous Photo Filled Feature

More Renovation


Dreary, rainy Spring day.

2013 Renovation - new cabinetry and shelving


Shelving being moved inside.
2013 Renovation - new cabinetry and shelving

Cabinets being moved inside.
2013 Renovation - new cabinetry and shelving

Lower level.
2013 Renovation - shelving and cabinets

Cabinet shop drawing.
2013 Renovation - cabinets and shelves

Before cabinet installation.
2013 Renovation - shelving and cabinets

During cabinet installation.
2013 Renovation - cabinets and shelves

Cabinets staged.
2013 Renovation - shelving and cabinets

Lower level shelving installation.
2013 Renovation - cabinets and shelves

Monday, April 08, 2013

Nothing New, No Photos

Nothing New

I placed a media order recently but no items have arrived.

No Photos

No renovation photos.  Cabinets are due for delivery tomorrow.

World's Strongest Librarian

I dislike deadlifts because I always pull a muscle.  I should start a daily stretching regime.  But, I won't.


Friday, April 05, 2013

New Young Adult Room

New Room

The new YA room is almost ready.  We just have to add in some broken glass.


2013 Renovation