News
from the AV Library
by Mary Lou Neighbour, AV Librarian
When you now visit the AV Library, you may find that things have
changed a bit – familiar items have moved to new places! We
have new shelving which allows us to display nearly all of the circulating
collection. Signs are up, showing you where the new locations are,
and, of course, please do not hesitate to ask the AV Library staff
for help in finding what you need from our newly expanded shelving.
Quotes:
“Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times
per second.”
Jean-Luc Goddard, in Lettres Francaises,
Jan. 31, 1963.
“Good actors are good because of the things they can tell
us without talking. When they are talking, they are the servants
of the dramatist. It is what they can show the audience when they
are not talking that reveals the fine actor.”
Cedric Hardwicke, Theatre Arts, February
1958.
New Cinematic Films:
Over the summer, we have acquired a number of new titles on DVD,
some of which were brought to the fore during the Oscar competition
this past year. If you haven’t seen them yet, come to the
AV Library to check them out for stimulating and enjoyable viewing.
About Schmidt. DVD 311
In this film, Jack Nicholson excels in the title role as a newly
retired insurance executive, Schmidt, who learns in a few days more
about the important things in life than he has garnered in his entire
60-plus years. His journey is one of humor and poignancy. Unlike
Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,”
Schmidt recognizes how futile and stultifying his life has been
thus far and has the opportunity to change his life for the better
in the future.
Adaptation. DVD 300
Nicholas Cage plays twin brothers who are screenwriters in search
of a story in this off-beat film, which also stars Meryl Streep
and Chris Cooper.
The Gangs of New York. DVD
320
This film, a huge production directed by Martin Scorsese, takes
you back to mid 19th century New York, to the violent days of gang
warfare between the “native Americans” and the Irish
immigrants in the Five Points area. The story also features the
social milieu of the times, politics in the era of Boss Tweed, and
the revenge a young Irish-American man takes on the man who killed
his father. Before or after seeing the film, watch Video
Tape 3984, Five Points, to put the cinematic film in context.
Five Points examines the events surrounding the outbreak of a bloody
riot on July 4th, 1857 in the Five Points area of New York City,
the neighborhood populated by poor Irish immigrants. The incident
is viewed through the eyes of a fictitious Irish family, the Mulvahills,
and a New York reformer, the Reverend Pouis Pease. Their contrasting
viewpoints present the riot as a symptom of larger social and cultural
tensions. Five Points is one part of the award-winning “Who
built America” series, which explores the central role working
men and women have played in key events and developments of American
history. The documentary was produced by the American Social History
Project at the City University of New York.
The Hours. DVD 312
Based on the book of the same name by Michael Cunningham, The Hours
intertwines the stories of Virginia Woolf in the England of the
1920s; a housewife in America of the 1950s; and, in New York of
the present day, a poet, dying of AIDS, who is cared for by a friend.
The three stories, all with powerful themes and complex characters,
are brilliantly interwoven and acted. Features of the DVD include
interviews with the actresses, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and
Julianne Moore; the director, Stephan Daldry, and the author, Michael
Cunningham.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding. DVD
276
This funny and delightful film portrays what it is like for a young
Greek-American woman to marry outside her own culture. She struggles
to get her family to accept her fiancé while coming to terms
with her own heritage.
The Pianist. DVD 301
This film is based on a true story which takes place in Poland prior
to and during World War II. A brilliant Jewish pianist, Wladyslaw
Szpilman, struggles to survive the increasingly inhuman treatment
of the Jews by the Nazis, the loss of his family, and, finally,
the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Talk to Her. DVD 302
This is the latest film written and directed by Spanish director,
Pedro Almodovar. Two women, Lydia and Alicia, both in comas in a
private clinic, bring together Begnigno (Alicia’s nurse) and
Marco (Lydia’s boyfriend). A complex story is revealed slowly,
using flashbacks. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Other new films:
Merci Pour le Chocolat. DVD
297
In French with subtitles. With the incomparable actress, Isabelle
Huppert.
Mostly Martha. DVD
273
In German with subtitles. A delightful film in which food and its
preparation are
major characters!
Rabbit Proof Fence. DVD
292
A touching story based on true events in Australia concerning the
separation of Aborigine children from their parents.
New Informational Films:
American Writers. Video Tape
4001-4039
This series originally aired on C-Span. It covers 46 American authors
on 39 videotapes. The series begins in the colonial era with writers
such as William Bradford, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine, and
goes through the 19th century with Sojourner Truth, Emerson, Thoreau,
Black Elk, and Twain, and into the 20th century to Booker T. Washington,
W.E.B. Dubois, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Kerouac, James
Baldwin, and Betty Freidan, just to name some of the authors. Each
program, which runs over 2 hours, is filmed at a location related
to the writer. Here experts discuss the writings and importance
of the various American authors.
About Pennsylvania:
Historic Pennsylvania: A Journey to America’s Past.
Video Tape 4040
This program examines the significance of Pennsylvania's historic
places including Independence Hall, the home of William Penn, Washington's
headquarters at Valley Forge, the Gettysburg Battlefields, the Amish
countryside, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the anthracite
coal region.
Pennsbury Manor: The Country Home of William Penn. Video
Tape 4044
This short documentary program provides an introduction to Pennsbury
Manor, William Penn's country home and the seat of his provincial
government. The program also explores Penn's life, his beliefs,
and his lasting contributions.
Landis Valley: Pennsylvania German Heritage 1750-1940.
Video Tape 4041
This short program visits the Landis Valley Museum which explores
the culture and traditions of Pennsylvania German society, especially
its folk traditions, trades, decorative arts, agricultural methods,
and language.
Oil: The Power of Pennsylvania Petroleum. Video
Tape 4042
This program explores the discovery of oil in northwestern Pennsylvania
in 1859 and the emergence of the modern petroleum industry. The
program features photos of the boomtown and a visit to the Drake
Well Museum, the site of the first well drilled for oil. The program
also examines how the oil industry affects our lives in the plastics
we use, the gasoline we burn, the medicines we swallow, and the
clothes we wear.
Other new videos on Pennsylvania:
The Legacy of Joseph Priestly.
Video Tape 4043
The Battle of the Brandywine.
Video Tape 4045
Anticipating Paradise: An Introduction to Ephrata Cloister.
Video Tape 4046
Music in the AV Library and
the BBC Music Magazine:
Quotes:
“Music must rank as the highest of the fine arts –
as the one which more than any other, ministers to human welfare.”
Herbert Spencer, Essays on Education,
1866
“In music the passions enjoy themselves.”
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886
In the AV Library, we have a growing collection of music on compact
disc (CD). The collection contains music of all types -- classical,
jazz, world music, rhythm and blues, pop, country, gospel, and rap.
Every year we add the Grammy Award winners in a number of categories
to the collection. The majority of the collection, however, is classical
and jazz.
One of the best tools we use for expanding the collection is
BBC Music Magazine. This superb periodical,
published monthly by the British Broadcasting Corporation, offers
a wealth of information to the music lover as well as to those of
us who build a music collection for the College. The subscription
comes with a music CD, which we add to our AV collection for you
to borrow, and the issues of the magazine are available to you in
Periodicals on the main floor of the Library.
The magazine features a listening guide to accompany the CD, which
is sometimes an enhanced CD. The enhanced CD plays as a regular
music CD, but also has visuals and information about the recorded
music which you can access via computer. From the guide in the magazine
and on the CD, itself, you can find out fascinating facts about
the nature and history of the works – details on the movements,
the composers, previous performances, soloists, etc.
The rest of the visually sleek periodical is devoted to classical
music on the international scene – the orchestras, singers,
soloists – and topics within music, such as lieder singing,
musical instruments, or recording formats. Then, come the numerous
reviews of classical recordings, world music, jazz CDs, music on
DVD, and books about music. There is also an “International
Guide” to concerts and opera in North America, Canada, and
Australasia. The July 2003 issue features the Marlboro Festival
in Vermont, and then goes on to list musical events for the month.
We invite all of you music lovers out there to come to the AV Library
to sample the fascinating information in BBC
Music Magazine and to check out the accompanying
CDs!
