Uncategorized: October 2006 Archives
Halloween themed television programming seems to be on the rise. Forty years after "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" first aired, the television classic has become synonymous with Halloween - while other programs are trying to attain the same cult status. TVGuide.com has compiled their list of all-time favorite Halloween themed programs, and TV Squad has even identified all of the 2006 Halloween themed specials airing from about dinnertime on October 31st into the first of November.
C|Net has compiled a list of the worst political websites, noting the most ridiculous, poorly crafted, and the just plain bizarre. From websites without content or images to those with broken links, embarrassing grammatical errors, questionable graphics, and even those with unusual features, such as Texas Rep. Kay Granger's recipe for "killer margaritas," C|Net exposes the lengths political candidates will go to demonstrate their strength, character, and courage - even if it means posing as Indiana Jones.
The TU Libraries' Special Collections Department is sponsoring a rare book viewing and informal discussion of William Morris' 1896 Kelmscott Press edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's Works on Wednesday, November 8th at 4:00pm in the Special Collections Reading Room of Paley Library.The viewing is free and open to the Temple community.
To learn more about William Morris' life and works, see the following.
- William Morris Society
- William Morris: An Overview (from The Victorian Web)
- Kelmscott Chaucer (from The British Library)
- The Print and The Book: The Kelmscott Chaucer
- Chaucer Metapage
- Harvard's Geoffrey Chaucer Website
- Luminarium's Geoffrey Chaucer Website
- Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse: The Cantebury Tales
- Studies in the Age of Chaucer (SAC) Bibliography
- Chaucer Concordance
- The Chaucer Review (via Project Muse)
- New Chaucer Society
Call for Papers: Computers & Writing 2007 Conference, "Virtual Urbanism"
"The conference theme juxtaposes computers and writing with contemporary city life, representations of the urban, and the virtual encounters we create when technology and textuality are introduced into our places of work, study, and pleasure."
Proposal topics may address the following:
Conference Date: May 17-20, 2007
Conference Location: Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
"The conference theme juxtaposes computers and writing with contemporary city life, representations of the urban, and the virtual encounters we create when technology and textuality are introduced into our places of work, study, and pleasure."
Proposal topics may address the following:
- What are the relationships between place and digital writing?
- What are the places we write in and communicate within?
- How has the urban changed, maintained, complicated understandings of technology?
- What are the new writing spaces for pedagogy and research?
- What do we mean by virtuality or space?
- How has the university become or not become a virtual space of learning?
- What kinds of virtual pedagogies can we imagine for our future work in the profession?
Conference Date: May 17-20, 2007
Conference Location: Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Literature Online (LION) has recently added 62 new and revised author biographies, bringing the total of author biographies provided within the database to well over 3,700. Examples of new and revised author biographies include:
- Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- US historical writer William Bradford
- English poet and critic John Heath-Stubbs
- Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh
- Scottish novelist Susan Ferrier
- Elizabethan sonneteer Lady Mary Wroth
- African-American children's writer Virginia Hamilton
- Feminist novelist Erica Jong
- Booker-shortlisted author of Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
- Nineteenth century American writer Elizabeth Stoddard
- Author of The Outsider 'cycle' Colin Wilson
- Author of Night-Thoughts Edward Young
- English Decadent poet Theodore Wratislaw
- African-American novelist and dramatist Shay Youngblood
Two new journals have been included within Project Muse to make them available online. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies focuses on the study of the history, culture, social structure, politics and economics of both traditional and emerging diasporas -- from Armenian and Jewish to African-American and Caribbean-British.
Italian Culture includes articles in comparative literature and cultural studies, in addition to focusing on topics such as linguistics, history, literature, cinema, politics, philosophy, folklore, popular culture, migration, and the influence of Italy on other cultures.
TU Libraries is currently trialing a new electronic resource, Lexicons of Early Modern English (LEME).LEME is a historical database of over 150 monolingual, bilingual, and polyglot dictionaries, lexical encyclopedias, hard-word glossaries, spelling lists, and lexically-valuable treatises surviving in print or manuscript from the beginning of printing in England to 1702.
The trial ends on November 20th.
Questions or comments about the resource can be directed to devoek@temple.edu.
TU Libraries is currently trialing a new electronic resource, Book Review Index Online Plus.Book Review Index Online Plus is a comprehensive database consisting of over 5 million review citations plus over 634,000 full-text reviews from thousands of publications, including books, refereed journals, newspapers, books on tape, plus electronic media. The database also includes the entire backfile from the original print edition of Book Review Index, which dates back to 1965.
Users can search for reviews in multiple ways: by known title, known author, or by general topic/subject areas.
The trial ends on November 16th.
Questions or comments about the resource can be directed to devoek@temple.edu.
TU Libraries is currently trialing a new electronic resource, Black Women Writers.Black Women Writers is a far-reaching full-text database devoted to black women writers from Africa, North America, Europe, and the Caribbean, spanning over 200 years. Containing popular and hard-to-find collections of fiction and poetry, as well as narratives and essays by famed and lesser-known authors, the texts present snapshots of black women’s struggles through time as they encounter slavery, colonialism, and racism.
The trial ends on November 30th and is password-based. Questions about the password or comments in general can be directed to devoek@temple.edu.
The MacArthur Foundation has recently launched the Digital Media and Learning Project, a study exploring how new media technologies are changing the way young people "play, socialize, and engage in civic life." Some of the questions the study hopes to answer are- Are young people fundamentally different because of their exposure to technology?
- What environments and experiences capture their interest and contribute to their learning?
- What are the implications for education?
Over 8,000 Britons have contributed to an online project aimed at creating an account of a day in the life of the country. The mass weblog diary will be archived and stored by the British Library as a historical record of Britain's national life.
To learn more about the project, see One Day in History.
To learn more about the project, see One Day in History.
Learn about different Latino literary heroes ranging from the classics to today's top Latino best-sellers, and get a taste of poetry defining Latino identity.
When: Wednesday, October 18th, 7-10pm
Where: Student Center, room 200B
Part of Latino Heritage Month.
When: Wednesday, October 18th, 7-10pm
Where: Student Center, room 200B
Part of Latino Heritage Month.
International Programs is sponsoring its annual travel writing contest. Open to all Temple students, submissions may be in the form of an essay or short story related to international experiences.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, October 27th. To learn more, view the contest rules.
Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk has been awared the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature for writing that has "become known for its play with identities and doubles," said the Stockholm-based Swedish Academy. The author's novels include Snow, My Name is Red, and Istanbul.
In a deal uniting the Internet search engine giant with an equally popular consumer media company, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.YouTube, a video sharing and viewing website, launched in February 2005 and now shows more than 100 million video clips a day.
Pew Internet & American Life Project survey charts increased use of Web for political information, finding that "On a typical day in August 2006, 26 million Americans were using the Internet for news or information about politics and the upcoming mid-term elections. That corresponds to 19% of adult Internet users, or 13% of all Americans over the age of 18."
In comparison, in July 2002, approximately 11 million Americans, or 13% of online users, said they got some news or information about politics and the campaign from the Internet on the average day. The August 2006 number is nearly two-and-a-half times larger than the mid-summer 2002 figure.
To learn more, read the full report.
The Pew Internet Project is a non-partisan, non-profit research center that examines the social impact of the Internet.
In comparison, in July 2002, approximately 11 million Americans, or 13% of online users, said they got some news or information about politics and the campaign from the Internet on the average day. The August 2006 number is nearly two-and-a-half times larger than the mid-summer 2002 figure.
To learn more, read the full report.
The Pew Internet Project is a non-partisan, non-profit research center that examines the social impact of the Internet.
TU Libraries is currently trialing a new research database, Eighteenth Century Journals II.Eighteenth Century Journals II includes an impressive collection of 70 eighteenth century newspapers and periodicals, digitally scanned for full-text searching and viewing. Titles included have been carefully screened against EEBO, Early English Newspapers, and ECCO so that there is no duplication. Rare materials - not even held by the British Library - are also included. The collection includes a valuable range of literary and literary-related publications, as well as metropolitan publications.
Topics covered are wide-ranging and include: the writings of Sir Isaac Newton; the French Revolution; reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe; political debates; religion and philosophy, plus coffee house gossip and discussion.
The trial will last until October 23rd.
The Poetry Foundation has named Jack Prelutsky the first Children's Poet Laureate. Citing a need to inspire a love for poetry in children as a driving force behind the new award, the Poetry Foundation recognized Jack Prelutsky for his many poems and books that have enraptured children for years. Mr. Prelutsky received a Children's Poet Laureate medallion and a two-year appointment that will include major public readings, and advisorship to the Poetry Foundation on issues relating to poetry for children.Read "Poetry Foundation Names Jack Prelutsky First Children’s Poet Laureate" to learn more.
An unpublished poem by celebrated New England poet, Robert Frost, has been rediscovered. "War Thoughts at Home," a tribute to a friend killed during World War I, first emerged in 1918 when Frost inscribed it in a copy of "North of Boston," his second collection. The poem was not seen again until a graduate student at the University of Virginia, Robert Stilling, recently spotted "War Thoughts" while looking through some Frost papers.Read "Between Friends: Rediscovering the War Thoughts of Robert Frost" to learn more.