Shelf Check

My third or so time around on Facebook I'm happy with the many good and interesting folks and sites I've found.

There is that snarky saying going around that Facebook is the people you went to school with and Twitter is the people you wish you went to school with. Silly Tweeters. Facebook seems more like a community, whereas Twitter still reads like an often nonsensical newsfeed.

I recently found a library comic called Shelf Check on Facebook.

The subtitle under the profile picture is "May you work the reference desk in interesting times". Amen to that, brother (sister, whatever). The times don't get more interesting than these at the reference desk.

In just a few panes, the cartoonist captures the utter absurdities that we deal with from all fronts. It makes me feel better to know that BIZARRE THINKING IS GOING ON ALL OVER.



I found this on Facebook but there is a blog for Shelf Check where the cartoons appear if you don't want to show your fannishness on Facebook. Hmmmm she uses the comic strip creator Toondoo. I thought I recognized the style. She uses it far better than I can though. Nice work!

Song stuck in head...

This has been stuck in my head for several days :(




There Was An Old Woman
There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,
How absurd! to swallow a bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cat,
Imagine that! to swallow a cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a dog,
What a hog! to swallow a dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a goat,
Just opened her throat! to swallow a goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cow,
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a horse,
She's dead—of course!

Thank goodness I find myself humming Ray Price's Heartaches by the number this morning instead.

Sketch Cast with recorded voice

Here is experiment number two with Sketch Cast. I hoped to do a short tutorial and treat the Sketch Cast screen as if it were a chalkboard for writing in main points. I have a headset for recording and it picks up the tapping of the keys quite well.

That knocking noise that sounds like someone wrapping on a coconut? I must have been hitting my coconut-like head against something. No idea.

Think of this as a rough draft, an exploration of possibility, something like that....

Sketch Cast

Sketchcast lets you draw a simple drawing on a page which is animated upon playback. You may add voiceover which would help a great deal in truly trying to explain a concept.

Drawings are more effective than words since the stylus does not make for tidy printing or writing.

You could use this as you would a single slide, or for advertisement of an event, or for a cartoon which would draw itself before your eyes.

Here is my second effort (I deleted the first which was all scrawling text.)



Translation:

Potato

Cut into pieces

Plant eyes up

In a trench

Cover

Water

Grow

Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time

From the few reviews I read before going to see the movie, I expected it to be pretty badly done. Still, if you grew up watching every Science Fiction "B" movie you could as I did, you'd expect to like the film anyway. Your enjoyment of films, as with anything in life, wil be dependent on what you bring to it. I bring with me a huge love of adventure, fantasy, and good story.

I thought Prince of Persia was wonderful. It had elements of Arabian Nights stories and films, and it was true to the game world from which it came. Some games don't adapt well to other mediums. I think this film has all the elements that are enjoyable in the games, but the world is deeper and richer, and more time is spent on character.

The basic story: a street rat is brought to live as a son of the king after the king witnesses the boy rescuing another boy with great flair and acrobatic derring do. Dustan enjoys a good life with his family and is loved by his father and brothers.

When they are grown and on the road, they get word that the holy city of Alamut is making and selling swords to their enemy. They conquer the city and Dastan comes into possession of a dagger which can turn back time one minute. Having this does not stop his father from being murdered and Dastan getting blamed. Soon he is on the run from his own people with the princess Tamina in tow.

As they flee, Tamina reveals there is more than just the dagger at stake, and they must return to Alamut before the invading forces find the secret beneath the city that can stop time altogether.

I found Jake Gyllenhaal to be a fine Prince. If you've ever played the games, he is just the sort of easy going, smart talking character that I'd expect. He handled the amazing leaps and bounds across rooftops and along walls in pure princely fashion. He was charming with the princess and their banter was alot of fun.

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is full of action and romance but I also really liked the emphasis on family, honor and doing the right thing.