While I have been part of social networking for quite some time (almost 8 years on facebook!), I'm very cautious on who I give and/or make public my social networking. Because I am coming towards the end of my graduate career (at least at SJSU), I have created a number of public profiles on social networking sites. I am currently on
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
GoodReads
Last.fm
Pandora
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Book Review
I recently finished Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life. Such a powerful book. I knew it would be an amazing book but I could not imagine how powerful.
Dugard's book recounts her experience as a kidnap and sexual assault victim from the day she was taken to the day she was reunited with her mother and sister. Jaycee was kidnapped at the age of 11 and was not reunited until she was 29. She looks at where she and her daughters who she had without any sort of medical care lived all that time, her daily life, and then after her reunification, how her therapy works.
One thing I really enjoyed was how her therapist uses equines to aid in that therapy. Its such a unique approach and one that does not get much mainstream media but it's a very useful aid to therapy.
Rating: 5/5 - must read!
Dugard's book recounts her experience as a kidnap and sexual assault victim from the day she was taken to the day she was reunited with her mother and sister. Jaycee was kidnapped at the age of 11 and was not reunited until she was 29. She looks at where she and her daughters who she had without any sort of medical care lived all that time, her daily life, and then after her reunification, how her therapy works.
One thing I really enjoyed was how her therapist uses equines to aid in that therapy. Its such a unique approach and one that does not get much mainstream media but it's a very useful aid to therapy.
Rating: 5/5 - must read!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Book Review #2
I knew I would finish this book today and it has been such an interesting book!
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser takes its reader through each wife, how they overlapped and the events surrounding their marriage to King Henry VIII. I wanted to read this book as I am currently about 3 episodes into the final season of the Tudors and I thought it would make a nice compliment to what was being shown on screen.
Never having much English history myself, Antonia Fraser (who herself is of noble blood) provides background on each of the six wives, their connections, and events of and surrounding their marriage to arguably one of England's most famous kings. Fraser brings to life a rich history and makes note of events which many seem to either forget or not know. I found each story interesting but the book was slightly bland. The one thing that I had a hard time with this book was keeping track of how everybody was related and who was related to whom. If I was confused, I'm sure it must have been confusing to those in the 16th century, many of which could not read or write.
Fraser points out in both the preface and epilogue her reasons for writing the book and I feel they are excellent. She wants to put down some of the stereotypes associated with the wives such as Anne Bolynn the temptress. Fraser points out that for the most part, these women were victims of a society in which they were just property. Yes, they may have had some say but at most times they were just pawns in a game played by their fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, and sons.
What was most interesting is what happened to each wife after her marriage to the king ended. Yes, two of them were beheaded, a third died in childbirth, but the other three lived on.
If you don't know the story of Henry the VIII (This book is as much about him as is it about his wives) or the beyond the scenes stuff of his wives, then this book is a must read.
Rating: 3/5
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser takes its reader through each wife, how they overlapped and the events surrounding their marriage to King Henry VIII. I wanted to read this book as I am currently about 3 episodes into the final season of the Tudors and I thought it would make a nice compliment to what was being shown on screen.
Never having much English history myself, Antonia Fraser (who herself is of noble blood) provides background on each of the six wives, their connections, and events of and surrounding their marriage to arguably one of England's most famous kings. Fraser brings to life a rich history and makes note of events which many seem to either forget or not know. I found each story interesting but the book was slightly bland. The one thing that I had a hard time with this book was keeping track of how everybody was related and who was related to whom. If I was confused, I'm sure it must have been confusing to those in the 16th century, many of which could not read or write.
Fraser points out in both the preface and epilogue her reasons for writing the book and I feel they are excellent. She wants to put down some of the stereotypes associated with the wives such as Anne Bolynn the temptress. Fraser points out that for the most part, these women were victims of a society in which they were just property. Yes, they may have had some say but at most times they were just pawns in a game played by their fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, and sons.
What was most interesting is what happened to each wife after her marriage to the king ended. Yes, two of them were beheaded, a third died in childbirth, but the other three lived on.
If you don't know the story of Henry the VIII (This book is as much about him as is it about his wives) or the beyond the scenes stuff of his wives, then this book is a must read.
Rating: 3/5
Book Review!
First book review for this blog, so it's going to be a little rough!
I saw The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway and thought it sounded amazing. It's set during the siege of Sarajevo inn 1992, one of my favorite periods in history. I'm very interested in the Balkans and it's history so I thought it would be perfect story... boy was I wrong! Please note after this there are spoilers for the book so if you intend on reading it, please stop now.
I saw The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway and thought it sounded amazing. It's set during the siege of Sarajevo inn 1992, one of my favorite periods in history. I'm very interested in the Balkans and it's history so I thought it would be perfect story... boy was I wrong! Please note after this there are spoilers for the book so if you intend on reading it, please stop now.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wikis
I will be honest... I am generally not a fan of wikis. I will say that I am probably biased against them due to the fact my undergraduate history professors were quite against wikipedia. This was due to the fact that wikipedia can be edited by anyone and the information is not really checked. However, after this summer in LIBR 246, I really do see the usefulness of them if they're properly managed. That is, having to have people either register to use or in many cases only letting certain people edit the information. It is one of the reasons I really find this Wiki useful! It has an amazing number of resources for finding books to read and/or recommend!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
YouTube!
Here is a video I uploaded to Youtube... It's of my friends swing dancing several years ago:
See Boys don't always have to dance with girls!
Sorry for the dark quality. The place doesn't use a whole lot of light while dancing :)
See Boys don't always have to dance with girls!
Sorry for the dark quality. The place doesn't use a whole lot of light while dancing :)
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Non Archival post!
So this week it was announced official (though there had been rumors of it before) that Hugh Jackman will be playing the role of Jean Valjean in the new Les Miserables movie. Most of the speculation before this announcement was that he would be playing Javert. Now I wouldn't have minded him playing Javert, but the fact that he's going to be singing "Bring him Home"? EPIC. Here is a video of him singing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma!:
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Entertaining the masses
I was reading our chapter for this week (Ch. 4 Podcasts)... sometimes I wonder about things. they write that podcasts can "be accessed via computer or portable media devices (such as iPods...)" (57). Not the truth. iPods, unless they are iTouches cannot access media via the web. You have to download the podcast via iTunes or other media service (like winamp) and put it onto your iPod :)
I think Podcasts for archives, i particular, highlighting a collection would awesome. Explaining the collection, who donated (if allowed to say), whats in it, and maybe why the collection is important. One of my favorite Podcats, is RadioLab from WNYC. They are awesome, funny, and have some great education podcasts and you learn things even though you don't think you are!
Read Chapter 5 (on using Flickr), it's interesting to me why some institutions decide to use Flickr (or other social photo-sharing site) and others don't. The institution I work at, has a rather large digital collection but is not on Flickr. My guess it is due to the adding photos and not enough staff or time to do it. Our collection, though is easily accessed through our main page and is quite searchable.
LibriVox was talked about this and I loved site. However, sometimes the readers have been hit or miss. But it's great to get the old classics to hear (Which reminds I need to listen to Les Miserables!). Another similar aspect as LibriVox is the Gutenberg Project. Which is Free Ebook!
Lastly, a new technology for all those who like some aspects of Foursquare but not the creepy stalking part. I give you GetGlue! GetGlue, from their website is:
I think Podcasts for archives, i particular, highlighting a collection would awesome. Explaining the collection, who donated (if allowed to say), whats in it, and maybe why the collection is important. One of my favorite Podcats, is RadioLab from WNYC. They are awesome, funny, and have some great education podcasts and you learn things even though you don't think you are!
Read Chapter 5 (on using Flickr), it's interesting to me why some institutions decide to use Flickr (or other social photo-sharing site) and others don't. The institution I work at, has a rather large digital collection but is not on Flickr. My guess it is due to the adding photos and not enough staff or time to do it. Our collection, though is easily accessed through our main page and is quite searchable.
LibriVox was talked about this and I loved site. However, sometimes the readers have been hit or miss. But it's great to get the old classics to hear (Which reminds I need to listen to Les Miserables!). Another similar aspect as LibriVox is the Gutenberg Project. Which is Free Ebook!
Lastly, a new technology for all those who like some aspects of Foursquare but not the creepy stalking part. I give you GetGlue! GetGlue, from their website is:
GetGlue is a leading social network for entertainment. Users check-in and share what they are watching, listening to and reading with friends; get fresh recommendations, exclusive stickers, discounts and other rewards from GetGlue partners.For me I think an archive and or library could implement something like this into their social networking. Its a fun site and I've gotten book recommendations of it. Plus who, as an adult, wants to get back to their youth and play with stickers?! GetGlue posts pictures of stuff people have done with their stickers and some of them are pretty amazing!
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