We are a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library located in Highland Park. Keep yourself updated on our doings here...
Monday, September 30, 2013
Read for the Record…
Join us on Thursday (10/3) at 5:00 for a
storytime event. There will be stories
and arts & crafts and general fun for all.
Everyone is welcome so spread the word. (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/read-record)
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Events for the Week of September 30…
Things going on at the library during this week include:
- Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (10/2) at 10:30
- STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
- STAR Reader on Thursday (10/3) at 3:00
- Read for the Record program (storytime) also on Thursday at 5:00
- Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (10/4) at 3:30
Friday, September 27, 2013
TOW (& Answers)...
Let’s answer this
week’s Moby Dick questions…
1. What is the first
ship the 'Pequod' meets?
Albatross. Named after the bird of ill fortune, it is the first of many bad omens for the 'Pequod'.
2. What does Ahab
temper his new harpoon with?
Blood. Specifically, the blood of the harpooneers. And Ahab howls over it, 'Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!'( I baptize thee not in the name of the Father, but in the name of the devil!)
3. What was the ship
that rescued Ishmael?
Rachel. Still looking for the captain's son, the 'Rachel' '...only found another orphan.' Ishmael.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
History of Highland Park…
This one page brochure (http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/10/520285.pdf)
provides a quick thumbnail overview of the History of Northeast Los
Angeles. Here you’ll find a couple of
paragraphs on early settlers and a brief list of places of note. It appears to be some kind of advertising
flyer. Anyway, take a look.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies
The book Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies reads like a blog. It is by Chris Kluwe
who (self-reportedly) is a football player for the NFL. I don’t follow sports AT ALL - & if I
did football would be the last sport I followed - so I have not run into this
man before. The book itself consists of
a number of essays on a variety of topics.
They vary from sports related, to social or political commentary, to
memories of the author’s life.
Truthfully I expect the author has a blog and has just been convinced to
publish his entries. While it’s not a
bad book, it is terribly repetitive.
The best bits are when the author lets his love of science fiction
tropes show through & pens an essay on a modern topic from that
perspective.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Trivia of the Week...
More Moby Dick
Trivia:
- What is the first ship the 'Pequod' meets?
- What does Ahab temper his new harpoon with?
- What was the ship that rescued Ishmael?
Monday, September 23, 2013
The 7th Moby Dick Event….
Mark your calendars and plan to head down to the library
next Saturday (9/28) at 3:00 for the seventh & last of our Moby Dick
events. The Arroyo Book Club will be
meeting to discuss Moby Dick (of course).
Join us and share your thoughts on this classic American novel. Everyone is welcome.
For details about Moby Dick events city wide be sure to
check out the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ website (www.whateverhappenedtomobydick.org). Look at my earlier blog entry (http://arroyoseco5.blogspot.com/2013/08/whatever-happened-to-moby-dick-or-la.html)
for specifics about programming at the Arroyo Seco Branch.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Events for the Week of September 23…
Things going on at the library during this week include:
- Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (9/25) at 10:30
- Computer Basics Class also on Wednesday at 12:00
- STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
- STAR Reader on Thursday (9/26) at 3:00
- Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (9/27) at 3:30
- PSAT Practice Test on Saturday (9/28) beginning at 10:00
- Arroyo Book Club discussion of Melville’s Moby Dick also on Saturday at 3:00
Friday, September 20, 2013
TOW (& Answers)...
To answer the
Queequeg questions:
- Where did Queequeg come from? Kokovoko which is “...not down on any map. True places never are.”
- What little idol does Queequeg worship? Yojo.
- What American president does Ishmael compare Queequeg to? Washington. “Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.”
Thursday, September 19, 2013
B.U.G. (Big Ugly Guy)
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The 6th Moby Dick Event….
Mark your calendars and plan to head down to the library
next Saturday (9/21) at 3:00 for the sixth of our Moby Dick events. We will be enjoying a chat on the topic of
the Physical and Meta-Physical in Moby Dick.
The chat is presented by Occidental Professor Daniel Fineman and should
be very interesting. Everyone is
welcome to join us.
For details about Moby Dick events city wide be sure to
check out the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ website (www.whateverhappenedtomobydick.org). Look at my earlier blog entry (http://arroyoseco5.blogspot.com/2013/08/whatever-happened-to-moby-dick-or-la.html)
for specifics about programming at the Arroyo Seco Branch.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
What the Cat Saw
If you’re looking for a nice mystery you can’t do worse then
What the Cat Saw by Carolyn Hart. Our heroine arrives in
small town Oklahoma to substitute for her sister while she’s off on vacation
only to fall head first into a mystery involving vandalism, maliciousness, and,
of course, murder.
Monday, September 16, 2013
The 5th Moby Dick Event…
Mark your calendars and plan to head down to the library
next Thursday (9/19) at 5:30 for the fifth of our Moby Dick events. We will be celebrating Moby Dick & Talk
Like a Pirate Day. This is a story time
craft event. We will read tales of
whales & tales of pirates. Make our
own pirate hats & try our hands at some games. There will be booty.
Everyone is welcome.
For details about Moby Dick events city wide be sure to
check out the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ website (www.whateverhappenedtomobydick.org). Look at my earlier blog entry (http://arroyoseco5.blogspot.com/2013/08/whatever-happened-to-moby-dick-or-la.html)
for specifics about programming at the Arroyo Seco Branch.
Trivia of the Week...
This week's trivia is a series of questions about the character Queequeg from Melville's Moby Dick.
- Where did Queequeg come from?
- What little idol does Queequeg worship?
- What American president does Ishmael compare Queequeg to?
Sunday, September 15, 2013
The 4th Moby Dick Event…
Mark your calendars and plan to head down to the library
next Wednesday (9/18) from 6:00-7:45 for the fourth of our Moby Dick
events. We will be enjoying a classic
telescope night with the Sidewalk Astronomers.
Join us for a look through the telescope at the moon and whatever other
objects of astronomical interest can be found.
We will experiment with a homemade quadrant as well and learn how
sailors determined latitude at sea.
Everyone is welcome.
For details about Moby Dick events city wide be sure to
check out the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ website (www.whateverhappenedtomobydick.org). Look at my earlier blog entry (http://arroyoseco5.blogspot.com/2013/08/whatever-happened-to-moby-dick-or-la.html)
for specifics about programming at the Arroyo Seco Branch.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Events for the Week of September 16…
We’ve got a busy week this week. Things going on at the library include:
- Moby Dick movie screening on Monday (9/16) at 5:30
- Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (9/18) at 10:30
- STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:30
- Telescope Night (celebrating celestial navigation & Moby Dick) also on Wednesday starting at 6:00
- STAR Reader on Thursday (9/19) at 3:00
- Moby Dick & Talk Like a Pirate Day Stories and Crafts also on Thursday at 5:30
- Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (9/20) at 3:30
- The Physical & Meta-Physical in Moby Dick a chat by Occidental Professor Daniel Fineman on Saturday (9/21) at 3:00
Friday, September 13, 2013
The 3rd Moby Dick Event…
Mark your calendars and plan to head down to the library
next Monday (9/16) at 5:30 for the third of our Moby Dick events. We will enjoy a movie. While I’m prohibited by our movie licensing
agreement from advertising the title it is the obvious movie for Moby
Dick. Everyone is welcome.
For details about Moby Dick events city wide be sure to
check out the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ website (www.whateverhappenedtomobydick.org). Look at my earlier blog entry (http://arroyoseco5.blogspot.com/2013/08/whatever-happened-to-moby-dick-or-la.html)
for specifics about programming at the Arroyo Seco Branch.
TOW (& Answer)...
This week’s
question was when did Moby Dick begin to gain a reputation as a
masterpiece? To quote from our
reference source:Moby Dick had some initial critical appreciation, particularly in Britain, but only since the 1920s has it been recognized as a masterpiece, an epic tragedy of tremendous dramatic power and narrative drive.
The article had a
number of other interesting points to make, including:
Both Ahab and Ishmael seek knowledge, but while Ishmael learns love and humanity ”monomaniacal Ahab” pursues a demonic God behind the “hooded phantom” or “unreasoning mask” of the symbolic whale.
The question (& answer)
were taken from pgs 667-668 of The Oxford Companion to English Literature edited by Margaret Drabble. The book was published by the Oxford
University Press in 1995.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
The 2nd Moby Dick Event…
Head on down to the library this Saturday (9/14) at 3:00 for
the second of our Moby Dick events.
Arts & Crafts is the theme and Scrimshaw is the focus. Scrimshaw is a type of ivory carving that
was popular among whalers as well as other groups (hence the Moby Dick
connection). Join us as we practice
scrimshaw using Ivory soap instead of, well, ivory. Everyone is welcome.
For details about Moby Dick events city wide be sure to
check out the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’ website (www.whateverhappenedtomobydick.org). Look at my earlier blog entry (http://arroyoseco5.blogspot.com/2013/08/whatever-happened-to-moby-dick-or-la.html)
for specifics about programming at the Arroyo Seco Branch.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The Story of Spanish
Well my look at the history of language continues with The Story of Spanish by Jean-Benoit Nadeau & Julie Barlow.
This book tells the story of Spanish from a historical &
sociological viewpoint. Basically we
follow the course of the Spanish language over time as it began in the “land of
the rabbits” and was changed by the people & places it found itself. This is not a book that explores grammar or
vocabulary at all & is in fact more history oriented then most books of its
type that I have read.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
Every now and then I like to look at books that look at the
history of language from one standpoint or another. In Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue John McWhorter takes a look at the “untold history of English”. He explores the origins of the language and
how circumstances changed it to what we know today.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Trivia of the Week...
Well now that it's September (aka Moby Dick Month) well clearly the trivia needs to come from that book. So this week's question is:
When did Moby Dick gain a reputation as a masterpiece?
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Websites of Interest (musing on Moby Dick division) w/ Added Program…
Well we have a scrimshaw based arts and crafts day coming up
on 9/14 at 3:00 so I thought I ought to make sure everyone is up on what
scrimshaw actually is...
- Start with the basics by taking a quick peak at this wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimshaw).
- Then swing through a Google Image search on scrimshaw for a lot of gorgeous examples of it.
- Finally, check out this artist’s website (http://www.gustavus.com/heidi/scrim.html) for a brief description of the art form from the perspective of a practitioner.
Now that you know a bit about scrimshaw, join us to
make your own (ivory soap though… not the real ivory).
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Events for the Week of September 9…
Things going on at the library during the week include:
- Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (9/11) at 10:30
- STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:30
- STAR Reader on Thursday (9/12) at 3:00
- Desktop Publishing Basics also on Thursday at 6:30
- Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (9/13) at 3:30
- Scrimshaw Art & Craft Program (Part of our Moby Dick Series!) on Saturday (9/14) at 3:00
Friday, September 6, 2013
TOW (& Answer)...
This week’s
question was the somewhat awkwardly worded how long did the longest surviving
artificial heart transplant patient survive for? The answer is 7 years 5 months and 5 days. The patient was Peter Houghton of the UK and
the transplant surgery took place in 2000.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Websites of Interest (Musings on Moby Dick division)…
I found this website browsing around the Library Foundation
of Los Angeles’ Moby Dick webpage (http://lfla.org/mobydick/). It is a web entry discussing a book by Matt
Kish called Moby Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page. The neat thing about it is it displays a
number of the indicated pictures; enough of them to make you want to get the
book for yourself. Take a look and see.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Down These Strange Streets
If you’re looking for an anthology of stories that mix urban
fantasy (of the magic & witches kind) with hard core noir detective work
then Down These Strange Streets is the anthology for you. The
anthology, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, features stories
from Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Diana Gabaldon, and Simon R. Green
among others. I always like a good
anthology because even if you don’t like one of the stories odds are good
you’ll like another so you can count on getting something out of the book.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Trivia of the Week...
This week’s question
is: How long did the longest surviving artificial heart transplant patient
survive for?
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