Great Works of Literature as Text Messages

This month's edition of Esquire has a fun little feature, "Great Works of Literature as Text Messages" compiled by Mike Sachs and Teddy Wayne. Here they are:

The Catcher and the Rye: u r all phonies except my lil sis n ded bro :(
The Great Gatsby: Rich people r mt
Leaves of Grass: O! Etc.
Animal Farm: Pigs >= other animals
A Tale of Two Cities: bst of tyms, worst of tyms, mostly worse

I must admit that I had to use a text message translator on a couple of these. I used: http://www.lingo2word.com/translate.php .

Peace - Turns 50

This shirt reminds me of my sister. In the early 1970's she had more tie dye and denim than a debutante should ever own. She also had her share of Peace symbols. This was 35 years ago - when the Peace symbol was just a teenager. Time Magazine has created a photographic retrospective on the 50th Anniversary of the Peace symbol. Click on the link to take a look: http://www.time.com/peace . Peace out -

Thanks, AJ and Mark

AJ Jacobs was in town on Thursday. AJ was our Friends of the Libraries Annual speaker. He was gracious, funny and thoughtful...more than anything else, he was funny. This guy looks at the world in a way like no one else. For a sample of AJs writing you can click this link:http://www.ajjacobs.com/content/writing.asp .

This year's Friend of the Year was Mark Olencki. Mark is a local photographer who does an excellent job of preserving Spartanburg's history through photography. He has photographed Library events for many years, and is a true friend.

AJ Jacobs is the Friends' Annual Speaker

AJ Jacobs is the Friends of the Libraries and Dennis L. Bruce Author Series speaker. Jacobs will speak in the Barret Room on Tuesday, April 8 at 7:00.

Jacobs is an editor for Esquire magazine and the author of several books. Recently Jacobs wrote The Know it All. As Jacobs explains, "The Know it All is about the year I spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z (or, more precisely, from a-ak to zywiec). All forty-four million words of it."

Released in late 2007 is The Year of Living Biblically. This book is about Jacob's quest to live the ultimate biblical life. "To follow every single rule in the Bible – as literally as possible."

You may sample Jacobs writing by visiting his website at http://www.ajjacobs.com/ .

People Reading

One of the last components of this past fall's...The Big Read...is the exhibit of People Reading at the Chapman Cultural Center. The exhibit's title: People Reading: Selections from the Collection of Donald and Patricia Oresman.

The exhibit closes on Sunday, March 9th, and may be viewed at the Chapman Cultural Center. Click on the image to view the exhibit online.

jamboread! is Saturday

Click on the logo to read today's Spartanburg Herald-Journal...

Boiling Springs...Finally

We have discussed the expansion of the Boiling Springs Library for several years and we are finally there. We broke ground today and tomorrow the contractor will begin renovating and expanding the library.

Thanks to the Scouts who came back from a Scouting trip to retire the flag. Virgil Page a long time volunteer of the community and library advocate received the flag. We should be in the library in September. In the meantime - we will run a temporary facility at KVC Plaza - on #9.

jamboread! 2008

jamboread! is March 1st at the Headquarters Library in downtown Spartanburg. Head directly to the jamboread! web page for details - click here.

For pictures from last year's event - click here.

It is a great event and has something for everyone. See you there!

Books Meet Art

Nicholas Basbanes will visit Spartanburg on March 5th and 6th. Basbanes, a true bibliophile, will attend the closing reception of the "People Reading" art exhibit at the Chapman Cultural Center on March 5th. The reception is free and open to the public.

Basbanes will speak in the Barrett Community Room at the Headquarters Library on Thursday, March 6 at 7:00pm. From Brasbanes' website:
Well known for writing about books and bibliophiles, Nicholas Basbanes has worked as an award-winning investigative reporter, a literary editor, and a nationally syndicated columnist. His first book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction for 1995, and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

For more information on Basbanes you may visit: http://www.nicholasbasbanes.com/

Coffee Anyone?

The Library Store at Headquarters now sells coffee by the bag. Named "Book Junkies Java" - a bold Sulawesi blend prepared by Little River Roasting Co. in Spartanburg but with our own personal label on it.

It's all about the advertising...

Super Bowl XLII is this next Sunday, February 3 at 6:30. The University of South Carolina is accepting votes on the best Super Bowl commercial. Here is the official word:

Which Super Bowl advertiser will score a touchdown? Visit www.jour.sc.edu/superbowl and vote for your favorite Super Bowl XLII commercial at the end of the game Sunday, February 3, 2008! You have until 10:00 a.m. Monday, February 4, 2008 to submit your vote.

The winner will be invited to the USC campus in April to receive the coveted Cocky Award. Get Pumped! We also invite you to watch QuickTime video replays of the previous USC Ad Bowl Poll winning commercials at www.jour.sc.edu/superbowl.

Understanding the DMCA

My oldest son got an i-pod for Christmas. The first order of business was to load CDs to his new found gadget. Then after he completed loading everything we owned onto his new toy...his sights turned to DVDs. Certainly DVDs will load...no problem! DVDs "look" like CD's. DVDs "act" like CD's.

Then came the inevitable question..."Hey dad, why can't I transfer DVDs to my i-pod."

Then came along a Fox Trot comic strip that put Ben's question into perspective. Go here to take a look at Jason's perspective. Here.

For a more formal explanation...go here:

Library of Congress

UCLA

As helpful as the LOC and UCLA are...I think Jason has explained it quite nicely.

Too funny...

This was in the paper today. My sons relate.

Hello out there!

I am trying to close out the year, and I have not been a very good blogger since The Big Read came to a close. Whhheeeewww! We had a great time, but it has been nice to focus on other things.

This blog thing is fascinating to me. I thought I would provide a few end of the year stats (not completely the end of the year, but close.)
From January 1, 2007 to December 19, 2007:
Visits: 8,345
Page Views: 11,816
Pages per Visit: 1.42
Average time per visit: 1 minute 2 seconds

The most popular post of the year was Farewell to Judge Littlejohn (52 hits in one day). Go here to see April's archive: http://spartanburglibraries.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

The most popular month was October with 707 visitors. This fell within The Big Read - Gatsby About Town.

46 countries visited my blog: #1: United States, #2: Canada, #3 United Kingdom, #4 India, #5 Germany.

48 States visited my blog: #1: South Carolina, #2: North Carolina, #3 Illinois (thanks to my niece - Jenny), #4 Georgia, #5: D.C.

So, I don't know who you are - and that's fine - but thanks for visiting. Best wishes for the holidays, and we will see you in 2008.