Mike the Librarian

Ah-hem

2005-10-18T20:14:00.000-04:00

I know I promised quite some time ago that this would become a movie review site as well as political commentary.... Unfortunatly, things have come up that prevented it. First, I wrote a review of Army of Darkness and had it all ready to post here when promised. Then my desktop decided that it would be a good time to give me the Blue Screen O' Death. Permenantly. I have not been able to recover any of my files from that computer, which made things a bit more interesting for me in my classes. So, for almost a month, I had no reliable internet access that would allow me to post things to blogger. After about a month, I was able to save up enough money to buy a new laptop. Then, of course, I got back my first exam grade. 51%. Ai ya! Not good, especially if I want to graduate in December. So, school work took center stage. In fact, instead of doing this, I should be studying for my Greek Culture final tomorrow morning. I just wanted to say this in case anyone wonders where I've been. I'll get that review (or one like it) up eventually....

Change of Topic

2005-08-31T00:37:00.000-04:00

This blog hasn't been updated in quite some time, and I apologize. A few things came up that prevented me from continuing here. First, I became extremely busy with classes, and as much as I love blogging, school simply MUST come first. Second, I've become a bit bored with constant politics, which is what this blog was. I have a bit more time on my hands now, so I'm going to resume my blogging at MikeTheLibrarian. Its not going to be a political blog anymore, however. From now on, this is mainly a review blog. I will be reviewing movies, TV-shows, books, and whatever else catches my interest. I'm still pretty conservative though, and this will undoubtedly influence my reviews. I'm also a geek with a bit of a strange sense of humor. I'll also probably post a few political items when I feel the need. Tune in tomorrow when I review one of my favorite movies, "Army of Darkness."

Damn Molemen!

2005-06-28T14:24:00.000-04:00

"According to the defendant, he was afraid they were going to put him in cargo and ship him to China to be eaten."

http://www.courttv.com/trials/news/0605/24_krause_ctv.html#continue

It is tragic when a mental illness results in the death of another person. However, I think in this case they REALLY have to take into account his history of drug abuse. It more than likely has something to do with his actions.

English Papers

2005-06-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

Writing English papers usually has one of two results for me. First, I come to loath the piece of work, and for a time actively wish that great harm would come to the author. The poems of William Carlos Williams are an example of this. It’s been ten years since I wrote that term paper, and I still hate the poems. Second, I come to a deeper understanding of the work, where I love it and it really becomes a part of me. Shakespeare’s “Richard III” is an example of this, although much of that comes from the fantastic Ian McKellen movie. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Sadly, as I sit here trying to bash out a paper on one of my favorites, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” it is quickly turning into the loath it category. When I’m done here, I should probably go watch the Kevin Kline movie of it… see if that helps….

Update: Paper is done at 3:30am and its pretty good. Now the only trouble is staying awake. If I fall asleep between now and when class starts at 9:15am, theres no way I'll make it. I guess I'll go watch that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" now....

Update: Watched "Star Trek: First Contact" instead. I think in my sleep deprived and addled state its even better.

What A Way To Honor Him

2005-06-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

On Thursday the UGA newspaper "Red and Black" honors First lieutenant Noah Harris who died in Iraq. Harris was a former UGA student and Cheerleader. And how does "Red and Black" honor him? They run a political cartoon that has a ribbon that says "Support Our Gulags." Nice guys, real nice.

Geena Davis, POTUS

2005-05-08T22:12:00.000-04:00

I just read on Drudge that Geena Davis will be playing the President of the United States on an upcomming tv series. I'm willing to bet that they make some comment about Republicans never accepting a female president. Sadly, they are right. Republicans could never even entertain the notion of a female president. The only things worse would be an African-American female president! No Republican would ever suggest that, right?

*Proud Supporter of Mr. Condoleezza Rice in 2008*

Busy!

2005-05-06T17:16:00.000-04:00

Busy! Busy! Busy! School! Graduation at the end of the summer! BUSY! AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

James Bond

2005-03-23T23:41:00.000-05:00

In a way, its quite refreshing to watch a James Bond movie like "Octopussy." The Russian communists are the bad guys, and while there are some who are honorable, others very clearly have the destruction of the West as their goal. I much prefer this more realistic view to the one of "they all just had their people's best interests in mind" that I frequently encounter on campus.

Oook Oook

2005-03-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things to read is the Weekly World News which is one of the funniest and strangest "newspapers" around. From their December issue comes the story of a practical test of the old monkeys and typewriters saying. Also, note the mention of blogs, heh heh.

Book Game

2005-03-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

I got this from Happy Catholic
Grab the nearest book

Open the book to page 123
Find the fifth sentence
Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!

The closest book happened to be "The Nitpicker's Guide For Next Generation Trekkers Volume II" by Phil Farrand. The episode entry is for "The Big Goodbye".

"When first entering the holodeck, Picard makes a log entry detailing the working of the holodeck. Given a total suspension of disbelief, one must ask, "Exactly who will review this entry? Are there twenty-fourth-century Starfleet individuals who do not understand what a holodeck does? (Acutally we professional nitpickers call this sort of thing a "cabbageism.")"

Yes. I'm a geek, so what's your point?

Dean Chairman.... Or Is It Chairman Dean? I Can Never Remember....

2005-03-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

Howard "The Duck" Dean spoke in front of a crowd at Liberty Hall the other day. He said that the Democrats need to appeal to the Conservatives more, which really is the only way that they will survive as a party of force. In a daring move sure to win him a great deal of support among the right, he accused Conservatives of being evil. "This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good” said Chairman Dean. Conservatives are not allowed to call Liberals un-patriotic, but calling Conservatives evil is ok. Well, at least its in keeping with his usual tactics of wild-eyed insanity.

Update: I have received an e-mail asking why I refered to him as "The Duck." Three reasons, really.
1) "Howard The Duck" was the title of an awful movie that annoyed me so much that whenever I hear the name Howard, I am reminded of it.
2) That strange, cartoon duck like yell of his from the primaries.
3) He is a doctor (Quack). This last one is rather mean, but I'm not overly fond of being called "evil."

I'm A Gnome!

2005-03-01T11:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I took the test that She Who Will Be Obeyed has posted a link to.... and I'm a gnome mage. Heh heh.

I Am A: Lawful Good GnomeMage

Alignment:
Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs.

Race:
Gnomes are also short, like dwarves, but much skinnier. They have no beards, and are very inclined towards technology, although they have been known to dabble in magic, too. They tend to be fun-loving and fond of jokes and humor. Some gnomes live underground, and some live in cities and villages. They are very tolerant of other races, and are generally well-liked, though occasionally considered frivolous.

Class:
Mages harness the magical energies for their own use. Spells, spell books, and long hours in the library are their loves. While often not physically strong, their mental talents can make up for this.

Deity:
Mystra is the Neutral Good goddess of magic. She is also known as the Lady of Mysteries. Followers of Mystra wear armor and carry shields with her symbol on them. Mystra's symbol is a ring of stars.

Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail)

Busy Busy Busy

2005-03-01T11:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting these last few days, and I'm sorry about it. Unfortunatly, I have several english papers due later today, so I have been working on them constantly.

Book Review: Mr. Bun Bun Goes to the Circus

2005-02-26T11:14:00.000-05:00

Good book. Pretty pictures.

This review is in honor of Michael Gorman, the head of the ALA who believes that "blog people" are not in "the habit of sustained reading of complex texts". Of course, one of the authors thats very popular with bloggers (not blog people, Mr. Research) is Neal Stephenson. His book "Cryptonomicon" comes to 1168 pages, and is loaded with math, cryptography, and World War II history. There are three more books in the series, each of which is a similar length, but much more complex.

Google and the ALA

2005-02-25T11:02:00.000-05:00

There is a rather dismissive article by the head of the American Library Association, Michael Gorman, in the Library Journal called “Revenge of the Blog People!”. Apparently, Mr. Gorman got a bit of criticism over a previous article called “Google and the God’s Mind” in which he reacts to Google putting a large number of books online. This criticism of him, of course, is a terrible thing, since he is the head of the ALA, and therefore knows more about doing research than anyone else. Nonsense. How long has it been since he did any kind of serious research? I’m betting it was before Google, since he apparently has no idea just how useful a tool it can be. I’ve found key pieces of information for patrons on Google countless times. Of course, this almost always leads me to a (a-hem) “reputable source” such as MLA, the Library of Congress catalog, or Worldcat. You know, when these online sources of information first came out, there were complaints that they too, were a bad idea. That they would be “an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs.” There were even complaints that electronic inter-library loans would be a bad idea since they didn’t put the article/chapter in its proper context, and that physically shipping the book was the only way to insure that the integrity of the information be retained. Of course, these became standard tools of reference and research work. Is Google books perfect? Of course not! What database is? Even the hallowed Library of Congress is wrong on occasion. However, Mr. Gorman should know that thanks to MLA, Worldcat, Lexis Nexis, and, yes, even Google, information that took days or weeks to get is now available in minutes or seconds.

Book Review: World of Deep Space Nine Volume 3

2005-02-24T16:55:00.000-05:00

They really did something interesting with this trilogy of books. Each book contains two stories, each one describing the events on a different world. This one covers Ferenginar and the Changling homeworld. In the Ferenginar story, Rom’s position as the new Grand Negus is seriously threatened while his wife Leta prepares to give birth. Quark, Nog, and Ro Laren travel to Ferenginar at his request to try to save him. Written by the always enjoyable Keith R.A. DeCandido, it has a lot of humor, including a few really funny in-jokes. What really stuck me about this trilogy is that each of the stories gives tremendous insight into these alien worlds that we had heard mentioned or seen once or twice but not gotten a real sense of the world (with the notable exception of Bajor, in Vol. 2, but even there we see things that make the world more real).

With the Dominion story, we learn about the Changelings’ history, philosophy, and even their theology. The author struggles a bit, trying to explain the thoughts of such an alien species as the Changelings, but use Odo, himself an outsider, to help relate. Outsiders are another thread running through all six of the stories, since so many of the characters on Deep Space Nine didn’t really fit in with their homeworld. All in all, if you were a fan of Deep Space Nine, I highly recommend this book. One thing though, its part of the Deep Space Nine re-launch, a collection of books taking place after the series. They are high in continuity, so you should REALLY start with Avatar Book One, which is the first book in the re-launch (although a pivotal character first appeared in The Battle For Betazed).

Books

2005-02-23T17:29:00.000-05:00

Due largely to the influence of Julie D. over at Happy Catholic, I'm now listing the books that I've recently read. I'll even try to post reviews whenever I'm able.

This Congressman Needs a Swift Kick

2005-02-20T22:33:00.000-05:00

From Little Green Footballs, via Wizbang....

"Yesterday Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) hosted a community forum in Ithaca, New York, on The Future Of Social Security.
An LGF operative was present in the audience and happened to be recording as Rep. Hinchey launched into a barking moonbat conspiracy rant worthy of Democratic Underground, telling the audience he believed the fake CBS memos were planted by Karl Rove to discredit Dan Rather, and divert attention from President Bush’s “draft dodging.”

When our operative asked Hinchey if he had evidence for these charges, he first said, “Yes, I do,” but when asked a second time he admitted he did not.

Our operative pressed the issue, “Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to make charges like that?” Hinchey replied, “No, I don’t, I think it’s very important to make charges like that ... I think it’s very important to combat this kind of activity in every way that you can, and I’m willing, as most people are not, to step forward in situations like this and take risks.”"

I think its very important to make the charge that Congressman Maurice Hinchey regularly eats Irish babies in a feast of Swiftian proportions. I think its very important to combat this kind of heinous activity in every way that we can, and I'm willing, as most people are not, to step forward in situations like this and take the risk of being eaten by this ravenous politican. Now, I don't have any actual PROOF, but isn't just the CHARGE of it enough?

I didn't have to wear the suit...

2005-02-20T09:18:00.000-05:00

My grandfather died on Friday. He had polio as a child, and wasn’t expected to live past 40. He lived for nearly 40 years LONGER than any doctor thought he would, even though he had to wear a brace on his leg most of his life. He’s in a better place now, and not in any pain. More than that, he can run. He was a great man, who was always there for me, although I hadn’t seen him as often as I’d have liked in the past few years. Eight months ago, he was in the hospital and wasn’t expected to last the night. I went out to George Gibson’s and bought a complete suit for his funeral. He survived, mainly by force of will. The only way I can think about this that won’t make me break down is that I didn’t have to wear that suit for eight months.

Free Speech

2005-02-18T10:15:00.000-05:00

God, I love the free speech you can only find in a University English Department. [ed. No, I'm afraid you'll have to rephrase that.] Ok, Lord, I [ed. No.] Non denominational entity, I [ed. Now your just being silly.] Fine. Well, I love [ed. No, you can't say love this close to Valentine's Day. It might offend those who aren't in a non-judgemental relationship.] Well, I am fond of the free speech [ed. Say something about non judgemental there.] What? Why? Ok, ok. Well, I am fond of the free, non-judgemental, non-hate speech you can only find in a University [ed. No, thats judgemental speech again. What about people who have been disenfranchised and are unable to attend a University?] Know what? Fie upon the University, and fie upon the English department! [ed. Hey! Thats hate speech!] Bite me.

Michael Jackson's Illness

2005-02-17T09:17:00.000-05:00

Well, there’s one up side to all that plastic surgery that Michael Jackson has had done to him. It means that his nose can’t grow when things like this happen.

Valtentine's Day

2005-02-15T12:18:00.000-05:00

Wow, after reading a bunch of blogs yesterday, I got the impression that Valentine’s Day is an evil day full of annoyance, anger, and frustration. Come on, people, can’t we just be happy for the people who have someone? I mean, I’m single, and I don’t feel anger that those annoyingly happy, lucky, bast…. I mean, those people who have someone….

*sigh*

Thank god its Tuesday….

Captain Howard Dean

2005-02-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

Well, my friends, now that Howard Dean is the Chairman of the DNC the Democrats' ship has finally come in..... unfortunatly its the Titanic....

For Sale: The Origins of Cyberspace

2005-02-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

There’s a very interesting lot up for auction at Christie's in New York. Called "The Origins of Cyberspace" it includes mathematics papers from the 1600s, letters and first editions from Charles Babbage, journal articles by Alexander Graham Bell, and many many other fascinating, EXPENSIVE, documents and items from computing history. My favorite though, has to be a first edition of Karel Capek’s “R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots” with an inscription to his mother in law on the inside cover.

Update:
Actually, this is pretty darn cool too.

2005-02-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I’m afraid that I owe a HUGE apology to all of the liberals who I have mocked in the past. You see, all this time I thought they were comparing Bush and all of us conservatives to Nazis, the fascist rulers of Germany from 1933 to 1945. How wrong I was…. You see, driving into work today, I saw an SUV with the following written in the dust on the back window. “Bush is a Nasi” They weren’t comparing us to brutal tyrants! They were comparing us to the Malaysian national dish, Nasi Lemak! Of course, this leaves me even more confused than before. However, I cannot stay angry at people so mentally deranged that they compare us to a foreign dish at every chance.

I don’t even like prawns…..

Science Fiction Preferences and Political Affiliation

2005-02-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

In a recent conversation with some friends of mine, I noticed that the science fiction they liked tended to correspond with their political affiliation. This has me interested, and I would be grateful if visitors to this blog would answer the following questions in the comments section.

1. What is your political affiliation (Conservative, Liberal, Libertarian, Etc…)

2. What country are you from? If United States, what state?

3. Which is a better book? “The Hobbit” or “Lord of the Rings”?

4. Which Star Trek series is the best? (Original, Animated, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise)

5. Which Star Wars movie is the best? (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones)

6. Which is better, “Alien” or “Predator”?

7. Which is better, science fiction or fantasy?

8. Which is better, board games or computer games?

9. Who is the better hero, Han Solo or Luke Skywalker?

10. Who is the better captain? Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer?

11. True or False? An author is capable creating a believable character or world that has morals they do not agree with.

12. Heinlein is: A) A great author B) An ok author C) A bad author D) A fascist

13. Do you find The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy funny?

14. Do you find the Discworld books funny?

15. Are you able to enjoy a book/movie even if it has ideas and morals that you do not personally agree with?

16. Do you play online role playing games?

17. If so, do you play a human? A non-human? Why?

18. Do you play a good character or an evil character in such games?

19. PC or Mac?

20. Do you treat library/public property with the same respect that you would your own property? More respect? Less?

I want to thank everyone who answers these questions. I will tally the answers and post the results when enough responses have come in.

We Must Be BETTER Than Them!

2005-02-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

In Friday’s “Red and Black” (the student newspaper of the University of Georgia) there is a letter from a student Democrat reporting that people have been ripping the bumper stickers off of his car. This is wrong, people. I am well aware that this is happening on both sides, but we must be BETTER than they are. We cannot allow ourselves to be reduced to damaging their property. This is the type of thuggery that we as responsible conservatives must condemn. We stand for order, not anarchy, and need to act the part.