The Other Side of Sports

Sports fans! Get your game on with our sports-themed how-to and documentary films.

Sprint upstairs to the second floor educational DVDs for mixed martial arts and wrestling titles and more. Need to coach your team more efficiently? Hope Bruce Weber can teach you how to dribble a bball? Want to relive classic football or baseball games? Do you thrill to the jostling elbows in roller derby? Is NASCAR your thing? Are you a marathoner? If so, we have the DVD(s) for you!

But the library also has sports documentaries that have a more serious bent.

You can take home ESPN's collection 30 for 30. (In two parts of 15.) This acclaimed documentary series contains 30 films covering the sports world from 1979-2009.The filmmakers used their own points of view to create very personal features about athletes, teams and issues prominent in those three decades. Films like The Two Escobars, about soccer in Colombia; or Without Bias, detailing the effect of basketall player Len Bias' cocaine overdose ; or Into the Wind, celebrating amputee Terry Fox's run across Canada.

 ESPN released another documentary late last year--Unguarded. Chris Herren of Fall River, Massachusetts, was the quintessential home-town hero--a superb basketball player recruited by many colleges. But his glory days ended. Drafted by the NBA's Boston Celtics, Chris found it impossible to conquer his addiction habits. He bounced from team to team to the end of his career til he hit bottom. During Unguarded, three years sober, Herren seeks redemption by sharing his story, unvarnished and explicit, in hopes that other won't follow his path.





In What Happened, Dad? young high school quarterback Max slips into a coma during a football game, having suffered a concussion earlier due to a faulty helmet. What have schools and coaches done to protect their students from the dangers of contact sports? Here's an online clip where Max's dad talks about helmet certification.

Coming soon--Blood Equity--a film about the heavy toll of playing pro football.

These and many other DVD tales and how-tos of sports are available for you to enjoy at The Urbana Free Library. Place a hold online, or contact the adult services librarians at 367-4405 or reference@tufl.info

Listing Fiend

Listen--I lack the patience to go through my past blog posts in order to verify this, but I'm pretty sure that I once blogged about Goodreads.com, and perhaps Library Thing and Shelfari, as good tools to help you remember what books you want to read as well as what you've read [1]. You remember better than I do, because it likely inspired you to create a Good Reads account right there on the spot. I'm charismatic.

I'm also a listing fiend. I love being able to make note of something I want to read, and later to look over that list of possibilities as a approach the end of a book--gotta have the next one available for when I hit that back cover. I'm neurotic.

I'd been wanting a comparable tool for movies, and had tried a few, but hadn't hit on any that stick. So, last week, I was thrilled to discover that the Internet Movie Database had created "Watchlists." Finally, I can remove the bung from my mental movie inventory and let it flow onto IMDb's servers [2].

No longer will I have that experience where I remember on my way out of the library that I don't have any DVDs to watch at home, then cruise over to our DVD collection, and then stand there spinning, a lighthouse attempting to warn away all the movies I don't want to see in order to reveal the ones that I do. Why can I never remember anything I've been wanting to watch when I need something to watch? Someone call Malcolm Gladwell to investigate [3].

But now I don't have to, because as I sit at a computer and recall the title of something I want to see, I go to IMDb.com. I log in to my account and I search for the film. Once I've got the film's page up, I click the "Add to Watchlist" button. While writing this post, I remember that I've been wanting to see David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, starring Viggo Mortenson and Naomi Watts [4]. Look, here's proof:

How do you like that, eh?

I know I'm irrationally excited about this. I'm aware of that. And if you don't get it, just pass it by. But to those of you who do get, and I know some of you compulsive list makers are irrationally excited with me, pass it on to our brethren and sistren. They'll be happy you did.

What follows is a list of links referenced in the above

1. Library Thing - good site for maintaining a catalog of books you own

    Shelfari - good site for book-reading list makers who like virtual bookshelves

    Good Reads - Imho, the best site for tracking books read, being read, or to be read. I'll be brave and offer you the chance to check out my Good Reads list, so long as you promise not to stalk me.

2. IMDb - THE Internet Movie Database. If this is the first time you've heard of it, welcome to the information superhighway.

3. Malcolm Gladwell - He really is the sort of guy who would go talk to behavioral psychologists and write an interesting article about why we can't remember, say, what we need from the grocery store while standing in the cereal aisle. I'm sure stores like this tendency as I suspect it results in more liquor purchases. Anyhow, you owe it to yourself to read a Gladwell. Blink is about our gut instincts and subconscious thought processes, and it's fascinating. The Tipping Point is about, well, the tipping point--little things with big impact. Outliers considers whether geniuses are born or made. 

4. Eastern Promises is about a London woman who has the diary of a young Russian woman who dies in childbirth, as well as the child. She cannot read Russian, but serendipitously meets a Russian man who can read it to here. Serendipity's not all it cracks up to be as the Russian is a driver for the same crime family that has connections to the newborn's dead mother. Check it out from our collection, or learn more at IMDb.

blpost

Who doesn't like Felicia Day?

"Felicia Day"by -seek- used under CC permission

Excuse my tardiness, but I didn't notice Felicia Day until I saw Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which I first watched last year--some time after its initial hype [1]. I guess I've been hearing about The Guild for awhile, too, but since the plot involves a World of Warcraft-style MMORPG, I haven't checked it out [2]. No offense to WoW-ers, but I haven't played and know little to nothing about it. But then, it is just a fantasy world populated with magic-wielding creatures battling evil, right?

Anyhow, it looks like the show takes place in reality, where some folks who've met in this virtual world decide to meet in person. So, my fear of watching dwarves battle orcs outside of the context of destroying the one ring is calmed.

I've also avoided The Guild because it's a web series [3]. So, when I would hear about the show, I'd think, "eh, it's a bunch of short shows, probably not that good. What's IMDb say?" assuming that IMDb would back me up, reinforce my decision not to add it to our library collection. And what does IMDb say? As of this moment, 2,043 people have rated the show an average of 8.8 of 10 stars. That does not reinforce my no-buy decision at all.

The last barrier to my ordering of The Guild for the library is that it is available to watch for free online. In the end, I didn't think that was a good enough argument. Fans who watch the series online will be interested in all the extras on these DVDs [4]. People who have no experience with the series may discover it in our library collection.

We'll see how it goes. If people like checking out Seasons 1 & 2 of The Guild here, we'll likely get the rest of them [5]. If not, we'll likely stop after this first set, like we did with Strongbad_email.exe [6].

How's that for transparency in government?

Connecting...
1. If you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, I highly recommend it. Request it from the library, or learn more about it at IMDb.

2. "MMORPG what?!" you're thinking? If so, MMORPG stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which is a game in which players assume the role of an imaginary character (dark elf wizard, for example, of private detective even, perhaps in a different, non-high fantasy game), develop that character's skills and personality, in an online environment with a bunch of other people doing the same thing. Wikipedia probably puts it better.

3. You can watch The Guild online on the official website.

4. The DVD Talk review goes into specifics on The Guild Seasons 1&2 DVD extras.

5. Request The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2 from the library

6. Strongbad Email was a weekly web cartoon on the Homestar Runner website. You can request our DVD if you like.

Ebertfest 13 Scarcity-Based Recommendations

"Ebertfest Audience" by rexb, used under CC license

If you're anything like me, you woke up tired yesterday. And then, during breakfast, you saw the list of films to be shown at Roger Ebert's Thirteenth Film Festival, and the excitement energized you a bit [1]. Then you remembered that it was a work day, flopped on your bed next to your cat, and whined a bit about how you ought to call in tired.

I did come in to work, and I'm here to provide you with recommendations of what films to see at Ebertfest. Assuming you do not have a pass and are perhaps cash-strapped, you'll likely pick and choose which individual films to attend. You can read reviews as well as I can, and if you're trying to choose which to see based on quality, go on over the the Ebertfest site and read what's been written about each [2].

I'm basing my recommendations on scarcity. The more rare the experience of seeing a film at Ebertfest, the higher I'd recommend seeing it--if Ebertfest appears to be your only opportunity to see a film, I'll recommend it over others. What follows is a good chunk of discussion and then my recommendations--feel free to skip to the recommendations if you're in a hurry.

Of the twelve films to be shown, the library currently owns four, but I've ordered a couple others that are available. We own The Complete Metropolis, Umberto D, Leaves of Grass, and I Am Love [3]. Coming soon are Only You, and Me & Orson Welles, both of which can presently be requested from other libraries in the system [4].

The other six films are currently touring festivals or being shown on television some time in the future--I'm confident that most of them will be distributed on DVD eventually. The animated My Dog Tulip, which features the voices of Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave, and Isabella Rossellini, is based on a memoir by J.R. Ackerly. Look for the memoir in the library in a couple of weeks--it's in my order to go out next week.

With all of the buzz that Tiny Furniture is still generating, I'm sure it'll see a DVD release after it's finished racking up festival accolades.

"On Stage" by rexb used under CC license

A Small Act and Louder Than a Bomb, this year's music film, have both been picked up for television. A Small Act has already had it's TV premiere, but will air again on HBO 2 Saturday, March 26 and Monday, March 28. As an HBO documentary, I'm hopeful it'll be available for our collection eventually. Louder Than a Bomb will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network. With the awards and acclaim it's picked up, I'd also bet on it hitting our shelves down the line.

The two films I'm less certain about being available to you from the library are Life, Above All and 45365. Life, Above All is a South African film in German, distributed theatrically in the US by Sony Pictures Classics. The V.P. of SPC was on last year's Ebertfest panel for Synecdoche, New York, and noted that SPC looks for "evergreen films," being those of a quality that would stand out over time. My uncertainty of a US DVD release rests on the film's being 1) in a language other than English, and 2) not so well known in the US (overlooked, if you will). In the film's favor are it's being 1) South Africa's Academy Award entry for the Best Foreign Film category and 2) an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

45365 is a documentary that sounds fantastic--pardon my lack of experience in film-watching by only being able to compare it to Wisconsin Death Trip in style. 45365 is the zip code of Sidney, OH, and the film shows snapshots of a contemporary day in the life of the townsfolk (see? Death Trip-y in that snapshot style, not the emphasis on the abject). That's not going to work for people who need all stories to be narratives, whom I cynically see as the majority of movie viewers. So I worry, despite the awards, acclaim and Independent Lens premiere, that 45365 will have difficulty finding its way to our library.

So, what to see at Ebertfest a la carte?

Recommendations:

"Roger Ebert Blvd." by rexb used under CC license

See both 45365 and Life, Above All, as you either may not have the opportunity or a really long wait to see either again. Adjust based on your preferences for documentaries or subtitles.

After that, see the restored Metropolis. Yes, you can already watch the DVD in the comfort of your own home, but you will not have the live Alloy Orchestra in your living room--at times, they're as much fun to watch as the film they're scoring.

Next, based on anticipated wait until you have another opportunity to see a film, check out in order My Dog Tulip, Louder Than a Bomb, A Small Act, and Tiny Furniture.

For films already on DVD, it's up to you.

Now adjust for fanaticism. If you're big on Norman Jewison (Only You), Richard Linklater (Me & Orson Welles), Tilda Swinton (I Am Love), Tim Blake Nelson (Leaves of Grass), or any of the other festival guests who will come out for a panel discussion following the film for which they shared responsibility, make their films a higher priority. How many times will you be able see your favorite filmmaker discuss their work in a relaxed environment and receive a golden thumb?

 Make your prioritized list. Put it away and look at it again tomorrow. Make changes. Review again in a week. Be confident in your decisions by April Fool's Day and relax over that weekend. Individual tickets go on sale the following Monday, April 4th. Call The Virginia and order your tickets, and note the lack of regret or uncertainty [5].


They're all gonna be good. It's not like any is a bad choice.


Concessions:
1. Roger Ebert's Film Festival official site

2. To see the write ups on a film, just click on its title on the festival schedule.


3. Check out the films you can get at the Urbana Free:
    The Complete Metropolis
    Umberto D
    Leaves of Grass
    I Am Love

4. Check out the films you can get from other libraries until our copies arrive:
    Only You
    Me & Orson Welles
    Btw, Me & Orson Welles is based on this novel by Robert Kaplow that you may borrow from us.

5. The Virginia Theater's number is 217 356-9063.
blpost

Bellydance: Hot Cultural Fitness

My wife has been bellydancing for a few years now. She was in a group fitness class at the University that met three times a week, and now she teaches the class. Out of that class, there were a group of students who made up a bellydance troupe, Trikhala [1]. She joined and now leads that Trikhala. Despite the pattern she exhibits of getting into things and then taking charge, she's not a bossy wife.

There are two reasons I'm bringing this up right now with all of you. First, you can see Trikhala and other bellydance troupes from around the region perform live this Saturday, from 7-9 at The Highdive in downtown Champaign at Bellies for Life, a benefit for Network of Strength, an organization that provides education and support to those afflicted with breast cancer [2,3,4]. That's right, you donate money to a good cause and watch talented bellydancers do their thing.

I would feel guilty (and maybe get in trouble) if I didn't mention that bellydance is not all about the hotness. For those confused among you, bellydancers are not strippers, but you can hire a troupe or individual to dance at your bachelor party, Mediterranean restaurant, or fund raising barnyard rave. You may see skin, but you do not throw dollars.

Here's a taboo you may not be aware of: bellydancers do not touch themselves or each other. You are not witnessing a dance for either your or their arousal. You are witnessing their talent, exemplified by the level of control they have over their bodies, the product of learning to isolate individual muscles for the purpose of moving synchronously with their troupe for your amazement.

Be amazed:


It can be hot, but that's not the point.

The second reason I'm noting this here is because you ought to know that you can learn to do this as well. If you're affiliated with the University, you can attend the group fitness class at CRCE [5]. If you're not, Pangaea, the troupe that organizes Bellies for Life (and Bellyboo in the fall), offers classes, presently held at Evolve Fitness [6]. The Urbana Park District offers Bellydance 101-103 classes [7], and I know I've seen notices of other workshops and classes offered around town.

If you're self-conscious, averse to paying for classes, or whatever, I'd also like to note that you can borrow some instructional DVDs and get the feel of things in your living room. There's a selection of DVDs available to you through the Lincoln Trail  Libraries System, giving you a choice of experience levels and styles, including the tribal fusion style performed by Trikhala [8].

Let's review: go to Bellies for Life this Saturday, see how cool bellydancing is while donating to a good cause, decide to learn for the exercise and the looking cool, and check out our DVDs or take some local classes. See you at The Highdive.

Outside eight:

1. Trikhala's website features photos and videos from past performances.
2. Here's a map, so you have no excuse for not knowing how to get to The Highdive.
3. Ticket prices and more info on the Bellies for Life benefit
4. More info on the former Network of Strength, now Y-Me Breast Cancer Support and Awareness Network
5. UIUC's group fitness site, where you can find class schedules and descriptions
6. Pangaea classes
7. The Urbana Park District lists its bellydance classes in the current Leisure Guide on page 38. Of course, this guide runs through April, and the offerings may change for summer, but they have offered bellydance classes for a few years now.
8. You can see all of the belly dance DVDs available in the Lincoln Trail  Libraries System, or just the ones we have at the Urbana Free Library (plus books and music). It's your click.
blpost

Patton Oswalt's Weakness is Hilarious

Patton Oswalt is really freaking funny, if his stand-up CD/DVD set My Weakness is Strong is any example [1].  His is adult humor, so be sure to alter your expectations if you pick this up.  He's not the family-friendly guy from the King of Queens, nor the child-friendly Remy the rat that he voices in Ratatouille when he does his stand-up. Is there some raunch?  Maybe a little--everyone's got different sensibilities.  One man's raunch is another man's belly laugh.

Oswalt hits a variety of topics in this routine--from getting ready for parenting to interrupting an orgy while visiting houses with his realtor, from grocery store check out robots to how Ratatouille ruined Halloween, from not believing his wife about the existence of a giant rat in the back yard to believing his wife about the existence of a giant rat in the back yard.  His observations and anecdotes are great for producing suffocating, tear-filled laughs.

He recently published a book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, that I'm looking forward to reading [2].  While I wait for a copy to come available, I'll check out Big Fan, a film Ebert gives 3.5 outta 4 stars [3].  To end this post on one of those newspaper-headline style pun-cliches, Oswalt's made himself a big fan with me.

Set list:
1. Check out Oswalt's My Weakness is Strong (includes DVD and CD)

2. Hop on the Zombie Spaceship Wasteland wait list with me!

3. Check out Big Fan, and if you've never heard of it, check out Ebert's review.
blpost

Catch up on Ebertfest Films You've Missed

In fewer than 11 days, on November 1, Ebertfest 2011 passes go on sale.  The worst part about getting a pass is knowing you have months until you get to use it.  "The waiting...the waiting"  Wasn't that from My Winnipeg?

My Winnipeg was shown at Roger Ebert's 11th Film Festival in 2009.  If you had your copy of Ebertfest: The Checklist handy, you could see that for yourself.

Ebertfest: The Checklist is exactly what it sounds like.  Organized by year and listing the films in the order that they were shown, the checklist provides, 1. helpful boxes for you to check out the films you've seen, and 2. the call numbers of DVDs so you can easily find them in our collection.

I do need to make an appeal to you devoted patrons of the Urbana Free and fans of Ebertfest.  In the Checklist, you'll also notice that some of the titles have no call number.  We cannot obtain these films because they either have never been distributed on DVD or they are out of print and sold at high prices among collectors.

We would love to be able to offer the entire slate of Ebertfest-screened films to our patrons, so if you're feeling generous, please consider seeking out some of titles we're missing and donating them to our collection.  Be sure to note that they are to fill this need and that they should go straight to me, Brian Looker, as I manage our entertainment DVD collection.

Now, how can you get your copy of the Checklist?  You can come to the library, where we have them freely available for the taking.  If you're out-of-state, as many Ebertfest fans are, you can print (double-sided) and staple your own copy from the PDF on our website--the call numbers may not help you, but you have to admit it's a good-looking list. 

The online version of the list is up on our site, and we are working to add in links to each DVD record in our catalog.

Separate from the Checklist, I have created a cheat code for our catalog so that you may search and find all of the Ebertfest titles we currently own.  Go to our library catalog, and in the Author search box, type and search for Roger Ebert's Film Festival--the result should be a list of DVDs showing not only call number, but availability, AND, as always, you can place requests on titles with your library barcode and PIN.

Scary DVD Picks for October

Around this time of year, we get bunches of requests for horror movies.  Unfortunately, folks don't come up to ask for a good horror movie--they tend to ask for whatever over-produced Hollywood slasher garbage from the last year or so has stuck in their minds.  So, eschewing the regular staff picks, this month I'm recommending six horror movies in order of least to most scary, on a subjective scale, of course.

Coincidentally, these are mostly movies I've seen for the first time in the last year. I wonder how that happened...

Pontypool
A radio DJ and station staff in a relatively small town receive reports of strange behavior and attacks, but valiantly stays on air.  Employs a unique concept in a traditional sort of horror film, and is enjoyably campy.



Sauna
This Swedish film follows a group of Swedes and Russians as they travel, mapping out the border between their two countries after the end of the Russo-Swedish War.  They come to a town not found on the map.  The sauna will cleanse them of atrocities they committed.  As an added bonus, this film looks so good--the photography, editing, costuming, and use of (or lack of) color add so much.



The Orphanage (El Orfanato)
A creeptastic Spanish film in which an adopted child's imaginary friends are perhaps less imaginary than originally thought.  Another great looking film with unique story elements that take this beyond being a mere haunted house film.




Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi's story of a cursed young lady who is tormented by demons and must shake the curse before she is, well, dragged to hell.  Includes a bit of Raimi's characteristic horror humor--you've been on edge, waiting for the tension to break in the inevitable scary moment and Bang!,  you're laughing instead. If you're a horror fan, you've already seen this, but if you're the sort of once-a-year horror person, you may have forgotten this one.

I'd love to put the trailer here for your convenience, but "the man" won't let me.  It's on IMDb, though.

Paranormal Activity
One of those movies that unwinds from footage provided by the characters.  A young couple has been hearing strange noises in their house and sets up a camera to document the fun.  I had low expectations for this one, but I was impressed.



[REC], or for the subtitle-averse, Quarantine, the US remake
All the Spanish of The Orphanage with all the characters-film-the-movie of Paranormal Activity.  A TV host and camera-man are filming a night in the life of the fire department, and go out to answer an emergency call at an apartment building.  There's no fire, but a terribly ill tenant, who turns out to have a sort of fast-spreading super-rabies.

 

True Grit

This is how the phone call went with my mom, who's a fan of westerns (although she prefers the frontiersman/pioneer type to the new sheriff in town, meet me outside at noon tomorrow sort).  I told her that the Coen brothers have a newly adapted film of True Grit coming out.  She tells me it was a John Wayne movie that they're remaking.  No, I tell her, they're shooting from a new script they've adapted from Portis's book.  It's not a remake.

That is how every other conversation I've had about the film has gone as well.

So, what do we do?  I'm thinking, first read or reread the book [1].  Then, check out or re-check out the John Wayne film [2].  Then, on or after Christmas, go see the Coen brothers film [3].  Write that down.



1. How do you like to read True Grit?  Paperback? Hardbound?  Large Print?

2. I reckon you'll want to watch the John Wayne version on DVD.

3.For more info on the forthcoming True Grit film, mosey over to IMDb.

September Staff Picks DVDs

I know I'm late with these this month, but I think I missed noting the August picks entirely.  They were really good picks, too.  I'm sorry you missed them, assuming you didn't visit the analog staff picks DVD board, which is located by our DVD collection, right next to the two computer catalogs in that area.  Wow, and I mean wow, August, what picks.

September's not bad, either.  I got one last recommendation from John Dunkelberger, my retiring supervisor.   There will be a party, in case you hadn't heard already.  Anyhow, his final pick is the Oscar-winning Czech comedy, Closely Watched Trains, which we recently acquired from the Criterion Collection.  Actually, maybe we'll get some emeritus picks from him after he's retired, too.  He'll have plenty of time for DVD viewing.

Check out Closely Watched Trains   -   IMDb page for Closely Watched Trains

Pat, IT Guru, recommends The African Queen, starring Bogart and Bacall.  Fight you for it? 

Check out The African Queen   -   IMDb page for The African Queen

Elaine recommends Son of Man, a re-imagining of the life of Jesus set in contemporary South Africa.  Ebert notes that this film shows the contemporary world's reaction to Jesus would be to consider him a "dangerous political leader."  It sounds fascinating.

Check out Son of Man   -   IMDb page for Son of Man

Mary WT picks The September Issue to highlight from the educational DVD collection on the second floor.  It's a documentary about the Vogue editor's preparation of the 2007 issue on Fall fashion.  This is one of those films you would have made a mental note to check out and perhaps forgot about, so cheers to Mary for reminding us.

Check out The September Issue   -   IMDb page for The September Issue

Carol  recommends Jellyfish, and Israeli film by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen.  If you missed the screening and discussion of the film hosted by the Cohen Center on campus, featuring Keret and Geffen, well, at least you can check out the film here.

Check out Jellyfish   -   IMDb page for Jellyfish

I've blogged my pick before, so I won't write much about it.  Train Man, the Japanese romantic comedy about a nerd's fortuitous encounter with a girl on a train and what becomes of them.

Check out Train Man   -   IMDb page for Train Man

Check out the trailer at YouTube

In this picks posts, I also like to note the new release from Film Movement.  This month, they've sent us Bomber, a comedy from the UK about an older couple finally taking that trip to Germany that they've been planning with the unplanned addition of their adult son coming along.

Check out Bomber   -   IMDb page for Bomber

July Staff Movie Picks

Before noting the staff picks, I'll mention the new title from Film Movement for the month, Jaffa.  In the Israeli city of Jaffa, Reuven is the owner of a garage which also employs his daughter, son, and a young Palestinian man, Toufik.  Toufik love Mali, the daughter, and they are making secret plans to get married, but Meir is openly prejudiced against Arabs.  This tense melodrama was an official selection at the Cannes and Toronto International Film Festivals.



And now, the picks!

Brian L picked the political comedy In the Loop.



Brian R selected John Woo's action-packed The Killer, starring Chow Yun-Fat.  FYI, this trailer is filled with explosions and shootings and other intense action, so maybe don't watch it if that's not your thing. 



Carol's pick is the nonfiction Busted: The Citizen's Guide To Surviving Police Encounters, which provides info on how to appropriately assert your constitutional rights should you need to do so in an interaction with the police. While I don't have a trailer for this film, you can check out some clips on Flex Your Rights's YouTube channel.

John G picked David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, starring Viggo Mortenson and Naomi Watts as handsome and beautiful people who wind up tangling with the Russian mob.



Finally, Pat has made Apollo 13 his choice for the month.  I was surprised to see it was sitting on the shelf, as those films that collect Academy Award nominations like bottle caps tend to check out soon after they've returned.

It Might Get Loud

New this week at The UFL--It Might Get Loud, a documentary featuring three iconic rock 'n roll guitarists. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (The White Stripes) reveal how they achieved their unique styles and sound, and give us quite a bit of their rock history, too. These are men driven by their music and creativity.

Best of all, the three come together in a guitar summit and jam, blending their three perspectives into extraordinary music. A highlight of the film for me was the closing credits, where the three collaborate on an acoustic version of The Band's classic, The Weight.

Intrigued? Place a hold or call us at 217-367-4405, and we'll add you to the list.

Here's the trailer, to hold you through until your turn. Play it loud!

Plastic Bag

You may have been treated to an unscheduled short film called Plastic Bag at this year's Ebertfest.  It's 18 minute length likely kept it secret.  It was shown because it is the collaboration of two directors who've been guests at the festival,   Ramin Bahrani (director of Chop Shop and others) and Werner Herzog (director of Invincible, among many other films), and Ebert helped to facilitate their meeting one another.  Bahrani directs the story of a plastic bag searching for meaning, while Herzog provides the internal voice of the bag.  It was noted that no special effects were used in making the film, which, once you see it, will invoke some awe.

While you can watch it online (I've posted it below), I'm happy to say you can also pop it into your DVD player thanks to Wholphin No. 11.  I've mentioned Wholphin before, but it's worth mentioning again.  If you're looking for quality short films, the Wholphin series is a great place to start.  Each disc offers such a mix of fiction, documentary, foreign, and animated films that there's no way you won't find a short you enjoy.

June DVD Picks

New from Film Movement: Only When I Dance, a documentary about two aspiring ballet dancers living in, and trying to escape, Brazilian favelas.



We also have six (six!) staff picks this month.

Brian L's pick: Millions, directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire), about two young brothers in Ireland who find a bag of British pounds days before the adoption of the Euro.



Brian R's pick: You're Gonna Miss Me: A Film about Roky Erickson, vocalist and guitarist of the 13th Floor Elevators, and a pioneer in psychedelic rock music.



Carol's pick: Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, the life and times of the author and activist, who died this past January.  First Run Features hasn't posted a trailer, but they have posted several clips.



John D's pick: L'auberge espagnole, starring Audrey Tautou, of Amelie fame, among other great films.  International students share an apartment in Spain, building friendships and, according to the trailer, generally having a good time.  If the poor video quality of the trailer bothers you, try this one at IMDb.



John G's pick: Delicatessen, co-directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, also of Amelie fame, in addition to other great films.  A dark comedy set in a future where cannibalism is no longer taboo, and a new assistant in the butcher shop could feed the tenants of the whole building.

 

Mary WT's pick: Good Hair, Chris Rock's documentary about the lengths to which African American women (and the industry that serves them) go for those fantastic 'dos.

Peace through music: Playing for Change

If you saw any films at Ebertfest this year, you may have also been treated to a secret short from Peace through Music: Playing for Change.  Filmmakers traveled the world, recording artists performing the same song, and edited the sound and video clips together to produce unique music videos.  The performers also gather on stage to perform together in other parts of the film.

Stand by Me was the first of the clips shown at Ebertfest, and it's amazing.

The Messenger Out Tomorrow

A new DVD of a film with some buzz is coming out this week. The Messenger stars Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, and Jena Malone, and is about the moral struggles of an American soldier who's become involved with an officer's widow. The film received two 2009 Academy Award nominations, for Best Supporting Actor (Woody Harrelson) and Best Writing, Screenplay Directly for the Screen (Alessandro Camon, and director/co-writer Oren Moverman).

Secret DVD Bonus Level

I'm sure you keep at least a mental list of movies you want to see when you come into the library. Maybe you write it down or use a web service like Flixter or even IMDb to keep track of them so you don't forget. However you do or don't keep track of movies you want to see, I'm sure you've wound up in our DVD section baffled and irritated, knowing there are titles you wanted to grab, but you can't remember them, you forgot to bring your list, or possibly they're all checked out.

If you do find yourself lost and looking for guidance, checkout some of our DVD staff picks. Hiding in the alcove with the two library catalog computers in the audiovisual area is a bulletin board that we update monthly. It includes the latest release from Film Movement, a fantastic series of independent and international films, one of which, Munyurangabo [IMDb, Ebert's Review], was shown at this past Ebertfest.

We also put up 4-6 staff picks, and we try to pick out titles that may not be at the front of your mind. Past picks have included everything from Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing to the Cool and Crazy on the Road documentary about the Norwegian vocal group.

Assuming that you reading this means you aren't in the library, here are the current staff picks, with trailers when possible.

From Film Movement, The Wind Journeys


Anne's Pick, La Historia Oficial

The only trailers for this online are in Spanish without subtitles. Perhaps it would interest you to know that this film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1986. What if I told you Ebert liked it? Anne liked it, and that should really be enough for you.






Brian L's Pick, Poster Children: Zero Stars
Sadly, there's no trailer for this one, but it adds fun to the typical concert movie with some humorous clips from road trips. You can find some clips from the film on YouTube, but check out the DVD for better quality. Also, it's the Poster Children.

Caleb's Pick, Sauna
(I'll warn you--it's kinda scary, so maybe watch it after the kids are in bed)


Carol & Mary WT's simultaneous without collaboration Pick, Outrage


John G's Pick, Hidalgo

Donation Adds More Mystery! DVDs

Good news for PBS Mystery! fans. The fantastic friends and family of Margaret "Peggy" Henderson donated to the library in her memory. Mrs. Henderson was a devotee of Mystery!--it was strongly preferred that no one call or otherwise interrupt her once that Edward Gorey animation started rolling.

Thanks to the generosity of her friends and family, the library has recently ordered and acquired the following DVD collections:

Inspector Lewis: Series 1 & Series 2
Inspector Morse Dead on Time collection set
The Complete Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes Series: Volume 1 & Volume 2
Midsomer Murders Set 1, including Beyond the Grave, Blood Will Out, Death's Shadow, Strangler's Wood
The Moonstone
Mrs. Bradley Mysteries
P. D. James The Murder Room (still on order at the moment)
Poirot: The Classic Collection (Sets 1-4, 5-8, 9-12)

This is an excellent addition to our DVD collection, and should especially please those of you who've wanted us to replace our Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes VHS tapes.

Thanks again to those who donated in memory of Peg Henderson, and made more materials available to the Urbana community.

Easier with Practice

I just cataloged the DVD Easier with Practice [imdb], which has been getting some under-the-radar buzz online.

What struck me as interesting about this was learning that it's "based on a true story by Davy Rothbart." Wait, the Found Magazine guy? Yes, according to the A/V Club review, it's based on Rothbart's "autobiographical GQ article 'What Are You Wearing?'" (found in Aug2006, Vol. 76 Issue 8, p94-103, in case you wanted to read it--our GQ holdings only go back 3 years, sadly).

In case you're not familiar with Found Magazine, or you forgot about the Dada wonder of lost objects when you discovered the more compelling Post Secret project, I'll explain Found. It publishes/posts pictures of lost things that others have found, like old photographs, to-do lists, letters, etc., that for we like to look at for some reason. We've got the compilations Found and Found II, if you'd like to check them out.

I've gotten away from Easier with Practice, and I'm sorry for that. Here's the trailer to help me back on topic. I should warn you that I can't hear the audio on the reference desk, and as the subject matter relates to a relationship by phone, it may be too erotic for gentle library blog readers.

Food Inc. on WILL-TV

Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

This Academy-Award nominated documentary will make its broadcast debut on the PBS series POV this coming Wednesday, April 21. Tune in to WILL-TV at 8:00 p.m. CDT on your local cable or broadcast channel.



Food, Inc. will be accompanied by Notes on Milk, a short documentary which highlights little known facts about a favorite American beverage.

Interested in learning more about the film? Watch the trailer. Or, visit the movie's official website or the PBS POV website.

If you can't catch the POV screening on TV, you have other options to watch this significant and unsettling documentary. View Food, Inc. in its entirety online with streaming video for a limited time--April 22 through April 29, 2010.

The Urbana Free Library owns four copies of Food, Inc. on DVD. Place a hold and we'll notify you as soon as the film is available for you to take home.

You also can check out a print participant's guide: Food, Inc. : how industrial food is making us sicker, fatter, and poorer-- and what you can do about it, edited by Karl Weber.