Sarah's Key

Today's recommendation is a film that brought me to tears tonight. Sarah's Key is a beautiful French film about an American journalist whose research into the deportation of thousands of Jewish residents of Paris in 1942 leads to a very personal story. It's a bittersweet film and one that I would highly recommend. Kristin Scott Thomas is brilliant as journalist and the ever wonderful Aidan Quinn makes an appearance at the end.

Response from North Face

Here is the response I received from North Face:
"Thank you for contacting The North Face! I am sorry, but our manufacturing takes place all over the world, with many of our products being assembled in multiple countries. Some parts of our manufacturing do take place in the USA, such as some of our screen printing and embroidery, etc... However, we do not have any products at this time that are 100% "Made in the USA"."

So they are off my list of potential suppliers for my winter needs. I hate vague answers like this.

Looking for winter coat

Just curious if any major outdoor clothing manufacturer makes anything in the US anymore. In the past I have purchased Patagonia and North Face mostly but was annoyed to find everything imported. From where I don't know but I always assume "Imported" means China. But that is not necessarily true. While I prefer to buy American products I am not opposed to purchasing from other countries as there are items that are not produced here anymore. In fact I would be that there are some items are only produced in China.

So I have sent an e-mail to North Face and Patagonia asking if any of their items are made outside of China. I plan to check with the other manufacturers too before I head to Masada to make my winter purchases.

Shopping online and Ebates

Rediscovering the convenience of shopping on line. Also rediscovering Ebates. I had been a member years ago and actually received a couple of checks from them. Last week I went back on and found that I still had money in the account from something I did years ago. So I'm checking them out again. It just makes sense to get a small precentage back for purchases that I would be doing already online.

If you do decided to join up I'd appreciate a referral:
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=bARr5wQ2DQA%3D

Typing Tutorial

Here's a great typing tutorial that I read about in Swiss Army Librarian's blog. I tried it a few minutes ago and it is addictive. It'll be a great site to visit when I am manning the circulation desk. Besides it'll look a lot better if I am working on my typing than spending the time on Facebook. Thanks Brian.

Check it out.
http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/keyboarding.php

More bad TV

Just came across more bad TV over the past few weeks. The two that top the list are:

My Extreme Animal Phobia on Animal Planet. It's just disgusting and I don't mean because it has "disgusting animals" but it is disgusting to watch people suffer with their fears. I don't care if the "therapist" is "helping" them I think it is cruel to watch people in pain. What type of person enjoys that? I also think it is cruel to subject the animals to this therapy even if "no animals were harmed in the process." Come on Animal Planet. You can do better than that!! Oh wait, Animal Planet is actually owned by Discovery...Never mind, makes sense now.

TLC (the lousy channel) has brought back Ami James from Miami Ink for another boring tattoo show. These tattoo shows would be okay if they focused on the art and the customers. However, these shows focus on the boring workers and their fake drama. Hated Miami Ink, Hated LA Ink, and totally hate NY Ink.

Hey America, are we really this stupid?

Big Savings at Discount Store??

While I was at our local Target store I thought I would grab some cat food. I laughed so hard at this sign that I decided to wait until I got to the grocery store to buy my cat's food. I just could not stand the idea of saving 32 cents!!!! Who would put a sign up saying that the customer would save 32 cents? Target, that's who.

You know?

I hate it when people keeping saying "you know" when they're talking to me. I especially hate listening to people on television using the phrase in almost every sentence. I keep wanting to shout "no, I don't know, that's why I'm listening to you." Thanks Mom for breaking me of that habit when I was a kid.

Stan Rogers

This week a friend from work introduced me to the music of Stan Rogers. If you haven't heard him do yourself a favor and check out his song Barrett's Privateers. It's an awesome shanty. I also love Northwest Passage.

What a great voice and what a great songwriter he was. Unfortunately for us he died too young. He was only 33 when he was killed along with 22 others in that horrible fire aboard the Air Canada Flight 797 on June 2, 1983.

If you love folk music then you will really enjoy Stan Rogers.

Sherlock Holmes pulled from reading LIst

Just read an article about the Albemarle County Public Schools pulling the book A Study in Scarlet , by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from a required reading list because a Mormon Parent complained. Although the article didn't cite what passage the parent found objectionable this passage was quoted:

" (John Ferrier) had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints."

To me this would have been a great teaching moment for this Mormon parent. The book was published in 1886. Utah joined the union in 1896. Didn't Wilford Woodruff, issued the famous 1890 manifesto outlawing the practice of polygamy in hopes of Utah joining the Union? So in 1886 polygamy was the norm in the Mormon church. Women could not attain salvation on their own but had to be "married" to a man.

I sure as hell would not have wanted my daughter to marry a Mormon then and I think it was quite progressive of Doyle to make that comment at a time when women were still considered property. Instead of complaining this Mormon parent should have used this time to teach his or her child about the history of their religion. This parent missed a great teaching moment. Oh wait. We don't teach our children anymore. We train them don't we?

I have to give a grade of F to the school board, to the educational system of Albermarle County and to the person identified as a Mormon parent. God help our children today.

Tallapoosa

My family is from the western part of Georgia, particularly Haralson, Floyd, Polk, and Paulding counties so I have a deep affection for anything dealing with that area. One of my favorite towns there is Tallapoosa located in Haralson County. First off, I love the name. Second, it's a very cute town with friendly people.
One of my favorite things is to explore. I love visiting places and then reading about the history of the area that I have seen. I am currently researching my family and at the same time researching the area where they lived. In doing a little research today I came across a legendary fiddler named A. A. Gray who lived in Tallapoosa. Check out his rendition of Tallapoosa Bound

Big Wheels!

Totally amazed by these tires. What an awesome machine they must fit!

Television: Is it getting worse or are we just stupid?

I will admit that I watch a lot of bad television. In my defense I actually get paid to watch horrible shows like Kate Plus 8, Police Women of insert city or county, and all the incarnations of cake/kitchen boss. Can someone explain to me what is the appeal of these or any show on the channels owned by Discovery Communications. First, it appears that Discovery has four basic scripts for all their programming. Secondly, each these shows seem to have bad editing, bad sound, and incredibly horrid camera work. And finally, these treat the viewers like they are extremely stupid. In almost every show the "talents" will tell the viewer something is going to happen, then if the viewer gets to watch a badly edited version of the action, and finally we have to sit through someone telling us what happened.

Every "cooking show" and motorcycle/car building show has the same script. There is always some huge event for which the shop has to make a special item. Then (what a surprise) there is a tight deadline for the build. Now the worst part is the actual build takes about one fourth of the show. The rest of the show centers around the "employees, owners, etc." and their boring personal life. And heaven help is if it's the dysfunctional motorcycle family who have gone beyond belief with their stupidity.

Another type of show that Discovery seems to love is the multiple children exploitation show. I am so sick of stage struck moms, hypocritical "religious" parents, and spoiled children who try to be cute for the camera. It wouldn't be so bad if the episodes weren't so boring. I have a hard time in general watching parents parade their kids in front of the camera like that. To me it's just disgusting.

Okay, the rant is over. It's time to go back and watch another horrible show. Oh look it's a "cooking show". Wonder what event the cupcake ladies are making a giant sculpture covered with mini cupcakes this episode?

Thoughts from the weekend

Friday: It was so sad that the most awesome performance I've seen by The Packway Handle Band was at the worst venue I've ever seen. Can't say enough about Packway. They are an amazing band who keep surprising its fans. Great job guys. The all-electric set was super and it was made even better when they performed my favorite song, "Outskirts." However, the sound quality was a bit lacking so I was a little disappointed. New Earth is nice if you're looking to hook up but not a great venue if you actually want to listen to music. I look forward to seeing Packway at another venue soon.

Sunday: I love that Cine shows the Oscar nominated shorts this weekend. "God of Love" won the best live action short film and it's hilarious. Check it out. This is the second year that I've caught the live action films at Cine. Next year I hope to see both the animated and live action sets.