Elizabeth Skene

Three things today.

1 – I brought my camera to work yesterday & took pictures of the archive. You can see them all at the RBSCL Facebook page [become a fan while you're at it!]. I’ll be taking pictures of the library & reading room soon.

Not posted is an ultra nerdy picture of me in the archive, wearing my UM archives shirt. #irule [hash tag revolution!]

2 – The band that Joel has been playing with for a few years now is releasing their new album this weekend, but you can listen to the entire thing online for free right here!

3 – I’m debating if I should read the Harry Potter series this summer. In 2003, I read book 5, but nothing since & I really don’t remember what happened in them. And I think I maybe saw the first 2 movies? Everyone seems pretty into them & it’d give me a boost in my 50 books in 2010 challenge. Thoughts??

This forth thing is a bonus, since I don’t want to un-alliterate the title of this post.

Book shelf porn! The archive view is best, for full screen action:

Now I’m going to go take a bath & continue reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Today has been full of fun & inspriational things from libraries & archives.

First is the “Librarians Do Gaga” video.
A clever take on Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface”, some students at the University of Washington iSchool created a parody called “Catalog.”

Secondly, I was listening to an episode of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on the bus ride home today [it's amazing how those familiar NPR voices can make me feel better] & their Bluff the Listener section was about libraries. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, each of the three panelists tells a story relating to the topic, but only is true & a contestant who has called in has to guess the right answer.

This is the introduction to the March 15 show: “These are tough times for libraries, what with the e-readers, the video games and our brains turning to soft, gray pudding. But some libraries are not going to go quietly. This week, we read about a library that decided to do what it must do to stick around.”

You can listen to the episode or read the transcript here – see if you can guess the true story [I did!].

Lastly, Rebecca, over at Derangement & Description, has sent out the call for a response. She already has lyrics for an archivist  ‘Pokerface’ and is looking for volunteers to create the video. She’s already created a wonderful parody of “Gangster’s Paradise” called “Archives Paradise.” Check out the clever lyrics & the wonderful rapping at her blog.

So many reasons to be excited about the profession I’m going into!!

On Sunday I took myself to the zoo & spend a lovely afternoon wandering around, looking at animals & feeling relaxed. The zoo was surprisingly large & pretty crowded, but I enjoyed watching all the families there. I didn’t see any other foreigners & I don’t think I attracted too much attention, so it was nice to feel inconspicuous for a while.

As always, many more pictures on my Flickr page.

My friends’ band, Natural Monuments, just came out with a few digital singles. Their first album, For Sanity’s Sake, quickly became one of my favorites & got a lot of play. It now brings back vivid memories of driving around Jackson, MI in the summer, windows down, singly loudly.

You can download the new songs for free from this website & check out some of their older stuff on their Myspace.

Here’s the press release they’ve written up:

On their first release since 2007′s For Sanity’s Sake EP, Natural Monuments have added a slight punk edge to their summery pop hooks. The drumming is still precise and quirky, but their guitars have upped the amount of chime and jangle ala R.E.M., The Feelies and The Byrds, creating a sound somewhere between classic Kinks and Slumberland Records bands

I’m lucky to have such talented friends!

Back in January, I made a challenge to myself – read 50 books in 2010. Excited, I made a Twitter account for reviews, complied a long “to read” list, began winter semester & promptly stopped reading.

Well, now that I’m here all alone in Egypt, I’ve started reading quite a bit – 5 books in the two & a half weeks I’ve been here so far! My total is up to 7, which is a long ways off track, but I’m hoping to have 25 books read by the end of July. It’s a lot, but I have a significant amount of time on my hands, so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Lastly, I’m not sure I ever put up pictures of my newest tattoos. A lovely birthday present from my husband, my half-sleeve is nearly complete. I added a skull, another book & some flowers. It truly has become an “information sleeve” – a card catalog representing libraries, a skull & book representing archives & birds from a book representing dissemination of information.

All of it’s been done by Frank at Depot Town Tattoo – I high recommend you check out the shop if you’re ever interested in getting tattooed, they’re all amazing artists & wonderful people!

Break time’s over – back to work!

xoxoxo

This week has been like living in poetry.
Beautiful.

Here’s another Andrew Bird solo video. There’s something about watching him, or anyone for that matter, be absorbed in the music they’re making. It’s beautiful. Part of me wants to get an oboe & begin playing again [I found one for $200 on Craigslist today...]

Peter Gabriel covers Aracde Fire [& many other great bands]. I wish he was touring this somewhere in Michigan.

Tonight we’re heading to East Lansing – the band Joel plays is has a show there.

My toes have been tapping to this song all week:

Some friends made feathered headbands as Christmas gifts this year. I’m wearing mine today – it’s makes me feel a little silly, but happy.

feathered friday

This morning, like every Friday morning, I met with a few classmates at a local coffeeshop, to work, collaborate, share and hang out. We started meeting last semester to work on a project together, but we had such a good time we decided to continue the Friday morning meetings.

getting things done

Now it’s work, then off to North Campus for the GROCS meeting.

I have coffee jitters & feel happy & chatty, despite the concrete grey outside.
Hopefully you’re having a similarly delightful day.

Well here we are – the last day of the decade.
Not only is it Joel‘s birthday, but it’s the day I post the rest of my decade album lists. How exciting!

You can log into Lala with a Facebook account to listen to all the songs. Or sign up for a regular account.

Here it goes:
My top 10 albums of the decade.

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