Cycho Librarian

I didn't watch much of the Oscars last night. I only just turned them on briefly as I was going to bed. I did turn it on in time to see something of a surreal moment that Oscar provides every so often. More often than not this is usually the result of the participants having engaged in a little too much pre-show revelry, and I think that may have played something of a role this time as well. Clint Eastwood comes to the podium to present a lifetime achievement award to Ennio Morricone , the composer behind the instantly recognizable and eternally pervasive music to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly among other Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns. Now normally this moment in the show is one surrounded by dignity and solemnity as the academy honors someone who has contributed huge amounts of work to the industry over their lifetime. However, dear old Clint apparently forgot his glasses and thus couldn't read the teleprompter. This led to an oddly rambling speech that clearly was ...

For those of you who are not familiar with the Catholic-based forms of Christianity, this past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent. This is a penitential season, where people are called on to fast, pray, and generally be reflective about their lives and their relationship with God. It is also, oddly, one of my favorite seasons in the church. There is something refreshing about dedicating yourself for 40 days to exploring and understanding the non-physical side of yourself and the world around you. At the end I always feel more connected to myself and more grounded, ready for the new birth of the world. People who don't know me well are often surprised to find out that I am fairly religious person. Apparently, there is still a prevailing belief in our society that one cannot be both an intellectual and religious at the same time, C.S. Lewis's efforts notwithstanding. This is a relatively new phenomenon however. For millenia the on...

Probably one of the most challenging aspects of my job is biting my tongue when I see possibly questionable parenting. I'm sure that these sorts of things have been going on since the dawn of time, and we probably are doing better parenting now than ever before in human history, but that doesn't stop me from cringing when I see parents screaming at kids to shut up, telling kids that if they don't stand perfectly still and not touch anything they can't have a book to read, or any one of a number of other responses to problems that wouldn't exist if they just saw their kids as human beings and tried to talk to them. The other day I had one that ascended to a meta-level of commentary on society. A mom with a very talkative and engaged 6-year-old were standing at the circulation counter trying to decide what movies to get. Since they were taking their time, I continued checking in returns. While I was doing this, the boy saw me check in a copy of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi...

I've started to hold out some vague hope for the next presidential elections. At least, unlike the last time, it looks like I'll have enough choices to make voting in the Democratic primary worth my while. Last time I was so non-plussed with my choices for Democratic nominee that I voted in the Republican primary just so I could have the pleasure of voting against Dubya twice in the same year (which had the unfortunate side effect of putting me on the Republican mailing list. Although I've often entertained the idea of showing up at some of the party events I get invites to just to blow their minds). Don't get me wrong, I like John Kerry just fine. I just think it's an indication of how badly people wanted to get rid of Bush even in 2004 that Kerry did as well as he did. Speaking as a fellow tall, funny-looking egghead, he just wasn't electable. So at this point it looks like it will be Obama vs. Clinton for the Democratic nomination (although lord knows ...

Unexpected events in tomorrow's Super Bowl. 10. The avocado shortage due to the freeze in California will lead to guacamole riots in all major cities. 9. Prince will suffer a wardrobe malfunction during the halftime show, but no one will notice. 8. Advertisements run during the game will consist entirely of homemade ads for local furniture, carpet, and car dealers. 7. Immediately following the coin toss both teams will realize that they have nothing to fight over and will sit in the grass on the 50-yard line making daisy chains. 6. In a surprise guerilla tactic, the makers of the Kill Your Television website purchased all tickets to the game, and no one will show up. 5. Information from an unnamed source will indicate that giant foam fingers are terrorist devices, leading to Homeland Security shutting down the game. 4. Further investigation will show that the unnamed source is a 12-year-old Patriots fan. 3. New advertising consultants hired by the NFL will change the name of the ga...