We recently received a new book called Translating Hollywood: The World of Movie Posters, which is all about how movie posters get different treatments in different countries. The example here shows the American and Polish versions of the Midnight Cowboy poster from 1969. Because the U.S. focuses on the star-system, it shows Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight looking all fancy and rugged on the street corner, while the Polish version "perfectly encapsulates the lust-filled, androgynous sin that was late 60s New York." Personally, I like the Polish movie posters the best because they became a direct response to the post-WWII government. Basically the government controlled culture (arts), though somehow the movie poster (along with theatre posters) were given some creative freedom, resulting in the best movie posters you've ever seen. I learned that from another book called A Century of Movie Posters: From Silent to Art House. This book has way more information about movie posters from around the world, but it doesn't provide side-by-side comparison like Translating Hollywood does. Another book to definitely check out is Art of the Modern Movie Poster. This book is huge, colorful, and pretty much all-around awesome. I suggest taking a look at these books for the different worldviews, great design, and pretty pictures. Also, if you head back to the PN1995.9.P5 section, you'll find a bunch more books about movie posters.
Results tagged “Staff Picks” from Iwasaki Library Blog
You didn't really think the election would go completely unnoticed by the library, did you? Of course not. I will however, start with a small disclaimer. I speak only for myself and not for the Emerson library staff, and I say this in hopes that neither they nor any readers will be offended. I realize I should probably not be worried about offending anyone, but that's the nature of politics. That being said, why would I even think to write about Obama here in the first place? Because, of course, he's a writer. Obama has written two books, Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope. I've not read The Audacity of Hope, and I have only listened to the audiobook of Dreams, and I can safely say that regardless of political affiliation, it is a well written story about the formation of a captivating individual. Of Audacity, Michael Chabon says, "I found that it gave voice to a feeling about America and its history (and by implication its future) that I had always struggled myself to put into words." High praise from a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. And why is it important that a writer will move into the White House? Again I turn to Chabon:
Ultimately words were all we had; that writing and oratory, argument and persuasion, were the root of democracy; that words can kill, or save us; something along those lines. "You can only say what you can first imagine," as I heard Tobias Wolff (the short-story master, not the Obama campaign adviser) explain to a group of people at an Obama fund-raiser. It was a mark of Obama's fitness to lead, to me at least, that he possessed sufficient natural reserves of imagination to kick oratorical ass.
These quotes come from Chabon's essay in the New York Review of Books following the Democratic National Convention. To read its entirety, which I recommend, check it out here, or you can find it on our periodicals shelves.
Marilynne Robinson's new book, Home was released this week. Read it. Read it now. Read it because Robinson can write, because her last novel Gilead nabbed her a Pulitzer, because her novel before that, Housekeeping, was just as good, because Marilynne Robinson doesn't know how to write a bad sentence, and because darnit you should be reading good books.
Hooray the library is open again! Since people will be trickling in and out, I'm going to go ahead and give you another book recommendation. This time, it's The Complete Essays of Mark Twain. Why should you read this? Because Mark Twain was funny, witty, clever, wore spectacularly dapper white suits, had a killer 'stache, and because without him, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert don't have jobs.
Today's recommended book is The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888-1978. As I've said before, I like pretty pictures, and of course this book is full of them. The best part about this book is what makes it different from most other photography books: like the title says, these photos are snapshots. It's not full of artsy pictures from professional photographers, but instead it shows normal people taking pictures of themselves, their friends, and their families, just like everyone on Facebook and Flickr now. The chapters are broken down by decades, and you can see the cultures changing simply by looking back at these pictures. You'll see it in the clothes the people wear in the photos, and it's even as if you can see the attitudes changing as time progresses. Worth checking out for its cultural eyewitness factor and, of course, lots of pretty pictures.
The ReadyReference collection - those fancy looking shelves behind the Reference Desk and those ultrafriendly librarians - has a shiny gold book just sitting there waiting for someone to open it up. What is this fancy book made of gold? It could be none other than volume 86 of the ADC Art Directors Annual: The Best Visual Communications Around the Globe. You can't check it out, but you can use this book as a resource for fantastic and innovative examples of advertising, design, photography, and illustration. It's all so good that someone decided it was the best. The common theme throughout the examples in this book is that each one uses creative ways to get its message across and make its viewer think differently about the subject being presented. Take a look if you're into good design, creative advertising, and great photography, or if you're just like me and like pretty pictures and shiny things.
Also, another good source for design, advertising, photography, and their creative application is our huge collection of the Communication Arts journals. We have all the way back to 1986 in the periodicals shelves next to all the computers. These however, are mostly bound in dark green covers and aren't quite as shiny.
We just received American Film: A History by Jon Lewis. This book is a sort of one-stop shop for American film. Lewis covers everything from the origins of film to the creation of studio systems, to specific films and filmmakers and their effects on film in general, the star system, film marketing, and of course the best part, lots of pretty pictures.
Are you a news junkie? Are you curious to know what’s been going on in Kyrgyzstan lately? Would you like to know what ordinary people around the world have to say about human rights, music, literature, their governments, and more?
Global Voices Online is the place for you to explore these and other issues not typically covered by English language press. Using an extensive network of translators and dedicated volunteers, this site “seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online –shining light on places and people other media often ignore.”
Exploring the site by country, topic, or author is easy –tag clouds give a sense of who, where, and what is making news in the global blogosphere.
Looking to learn about comic improvisatory theater in Iran? Or political theater in the United States? How about Shared Experience Theater or Five Lesbian Brothers? Or the meaning of deconstruction with respect to drama?
To find the answers to these and a plethora of other questions, turn to The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama! This two-volume work features over 1200 entries on concepts, companies, countries, genres, movements, plays and playwrights from 1860 to the present. The work differs from other reference books on theater in its focus on practice and performance as well as written drama.
Entries have further reading recommendations, so it is easy to find additional materials. And just before the index there is a useful listing of entries by topic or country, making questions like “Who are contemporary playwrights from Malaysia?” a breeze to answer.
And be sure to check out selected entries written by Magda Romanska, Assistant Professor of Performing Arts and Head of Theatre Studies! Look for Denise Boucher. Sarah Anne Curzon, Merrill Denison, Linda Griffiths, Lois Reynolds Kerr and Marjorie Pickthall.