Well-loved movies

I've never worked in a video store, so I don't know what kind of statistics they ordinarily rack up, but here at the public library we have been tabulating which of our VHS films have seen the most use (we figure that the tapes themselves are now used enough to need replacing, and the titles popular enough to justify a permanent place in the collection). The results may surprise you:

1. Being There, starring Peter Sellers. 522 checkouts
2. Hearts of the West, starring Andy Griffith. 507 checkouts
3. A Boy and His Dog, starring Don Johnson. 456 checkouts
4. The Big Easy, starring Ellen Barkin. 452 checkouts
5. Strictly Ballroom, starring Tara Morice. 448 checkouts
6. The Treasure of Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart. 444 checkouts
7. Dr. Strangelove, starring Peter Sellers. 441 checkouts
8. Pathfinder, starring Mikkel Gaup. 435 checkouts
9. The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn. 433 checkouts
10. Broadcast News, starring William Hurt. 430 checkouts

Alas, some of these titles (Pathfinder, for instance) are not currently available in DVD format. But some of these extremely popular films are now available for you to check out on DVD, so if your VHS player ended up at the landfill years ago, you can still enjoy a good flick.

Sita sings the blues

Every once in a while we get a movie that is completely fascinating, but defies categorization. Sita Sings the Blues is an animated retelling of the classic Hindu epic, the Ramayana, with a soundtrack of 1920's jazz tunes.
It is a (kinda) love story between Rama and his wife Sita, who gets kidnapped by the evil Ramana. Rama turns out to be a weak, suspicious and unsupportive husband, despite Sita's enduring love for him. If you are interested in the ancient culture of India or Hindu legends, then this is a great film for you.
The story is retold through different layers of animation: Indonesian shadow puppets, modern comic-style characters (Rama and Sita look like something from a Cartoon Network show), digital animation reminiscent of video games, and images in the style of Mughal paintings. The visuals are a beautiful mash-up of ancient and modern, and if you are interested in art and animation this is a great film for you.
The soundtrack has some wonderful Indian hip-hop music, which gives the movie a slight Bollywood flavor (as do Sita's dance sequences), and it is also liberally sprinkled with 1920's jazz tunes from Annette Hanshaw. If you are a true music lover with diverse tastes and a good ear for a beat, this is a great film for you.
Layered over the entire story is a modern autobiographical parallel, in which a husband leaves his wife behind in San Francisco to work in India for a year, extends his stay in India, and when she leaves America to join him, sends her back home and terminates their marriage. If you like sad relationship films, this is a great film for you.
It's January in Ketchikan and everything is wet, cold and rotting. The TV networks are showing the same old reality garbage, Hollywood is churning out the same special-effects blockbusters, and this is the dullest time of the year. If you want an eye-popping dose of energy, beauty and color, this is a great film for you...

Not exactly a boon to productivity

Are you looking for a way to goof off during the day, but your employer's Internet filters won't let you surf YouTube? Why not slack off in a more hands-on fashion? Check out Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: build implements of spitball warfare by John Austin. Whether you're a budding engineer, an inverterate tinkerer, a 10-year old boy or someone who hates to throw anything out, this book will suck up hours of your time.
Start out easy, with a bow-and-arrow made from a bendable plastic ruler, a rubber band and the cartridge of a ball-point pen. Work your way up to a crossbow of #2 pencils and rubber bands, and finish up with a paper-clip trebuchet. Make darts from the ends of old shoelaces, use deflated balloons and toilet-paper tubes to make a coin shooter, or a water bomb using a simple piece of paper.
The fact that the book starts with a long list of safety precautions (ear protection for making the minibombs, and eyeware protection for everything) will clue you in that this is not a book you hand to your 9-year old and walk away. This is an excellent introduction to physics and engineering with adult supervision, and what a totally cool way to bond with a kid that can't seem to let go of the DS (if you don't know what a DS is, consider yourself lucky to have dodged that parental bullet).
This is also a great gift idea for Father's Day.

It's just a popularity contest

As we wind up 2009 (we will be closed on Thursday and Friday, by the way), let us take a brief moment to see what items here at the public library caught your eye the most:
In the Adult Library Section -
Novel: The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
Graphic Novel: Watchmen by Alan Moore
Nonfiction: Spirit!: historic Ketchikan, Alaska by compiled by June Allen
Magazine: People Weekly
CD Audiobook: Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
Playaway: Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
Movie: 24, Season Six
CD: Rubber Soul by the Beatles

In the Children's Library Section -
Picture Book: Bunny party by Rosemary Wells
Juvenile Novel: Diary of a wimpy kid: Rodrick rules by by Jeff Kinney
Young Adult Novel: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Graphic Novel: Dragon Ball Z by Akira Toriyama
Nonfiction: Guiness Book of World Records
Audiobook: Harry Potter and the deathly hallows by J.K. Rowling
Movie: Star Wars, the Clone Wars
Young Adult Music: Fearless by Taylor Swift

A last gasp for the holidays

The Ketchikan Public Library will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas, but before we close our doors to enjoy the holiday with our families, there is still time to come in and stock up on DVDs, music, magazines and books for the long weekend. A couple of our holiday-themed items have just come in:

You Better Not Cry: stories for Christmas by Augusten Burroughs. This autobiographical (really?) collection of short stories is not your holiday typical heart-warming. It's much more along the lines of David Sedaris (Holidays on Ice), and if your humor runs towards the sarcastic and irreverent (as mine does), Burroughs will have you chuckling. By the same token, his memories of Christmas in an alcoholic fog, dealing with a loved one dying of AIDS, and his mentally-unstable mother give the book a bit of an edge.

Knit the Season: a Friday Night Knitting Club novel by Kate Jacobs is available in both book and audio format, and is the third Knitting Club story in our collection. A gentle story about friendship, family and growing up, it will appeal to anyone who likes stories about relationships and personality. And you don't even have to know how to knit!

Scandinavian cooking

I was unable to get to the Lutheran church this year for the fishcakes at the Christmas bazaar, but thanks to one of our latest titles, The Scandanavian Cookbook, by Trina Hahnemann, I can make my own "fishcakes with herb remoulade and dill potatoes". Or perhaps some "Swedish Lucia breads" to celebrate the season.
If you've been particularly successful this hunting season, you might want to try the "Moose tournedos with kale salad and cowberry (cranberry) compote" or the "Venison with anise and pepper, potato-celery root gratin, and Brussels sprouts".
Once the weather turns a little warmer, there's "Rhubarb trifle" and "Baked trout with new potatoes and smoked-cheese cream". If you're looking for something different this Easter, try "Mint, apricot, and celery stuffed lamb with spinach and minted roast potatoes".
Until then, you can fall back on the goodies you have stashed in your freezer: "Salmon burgers", "Jumbo shrimp with herb mayonnaise", "Cod with mustard sauce" and "Gravlax with sweet mustard sauce".
Speaking for myself, however, I found my taste buds were most tantalised by the goodies: Glögg, Medaljer cookies, apple trifle, Kartoffelkage pastries and crisp vanilla Danish butter cookies (just like the ones that come in the blue tins, only better). Top the whole thing off with a steaming mug of hot chocolate, and I'm there!

Christmas novels

As if the constant barrage of holiday shopping ads, Christmas carols, TV specials, Santa photo ops and twinkling light displays weren't enough, we are adding to the Christmas cacophony by putting out a slew of new holiday novels:
Matchless: an illumination of Hans Christian Andersen's classic 'the Little Match Girl' is Gregory Maguire's latest take on a traditional fairy tale. I've always found this to be the most depressing of the fairy tales, but Maguire introduces a new thread into the story and changes it from a tale of sorrow into one of continuity. Maguire's pen-and-ink illustrations are lovely, and he has a beautiful dedication at the beginning of the book. (For another short Christmas story sure to make you cry, try Frank McCourt's Angela and the Baby Jesus).
The Gift, by Cecelia Ahern, is a Christmas redemption story in which a career-driven executive is made to see the treasure he already has - his family - by a homeless man (guardian angel?).
Merry, Merry Ghost is a mystery by Carolyn Hart. A wealthy woman is murdered before she can alter her will in favor of a newly discovered grandson, and it's up to ghostly Bailey Ruth Raeburn (she really is a ghost, I'm not being metaphorical) to discover the identity of the killer.
Winter of secrets, by Vicki Delany, is the third Constable Molly Smith novel. Set at a British Columbia ski resort (I like to think Smithers, but it's probably more like Whistler), this story involves "sexual predators, recreational drugs, privilege and high-living". Ho, ho, ho.
The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page is a new entry in her popular Faith Fairchild mystery series. (I'm not sure why the holiday season is so inspiring to mystery writers...are we all more prone to murderous rages at Christmas?)
Of course, we also have plenty of Christmas-time romance, if you prefer books that are less likely to make you cry or lock your doors. So take a break from shopping, baking and wrapping and settle down with a good holiday read and a hot cup of cocoa.