UW Libraries Media Center Blog

Films From The Vaults (1/25 from 12-1pm)

2012-01-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

Rare Piet Mondrian & Franklin Watkins films to be screened/digitized tomorrow (1/25), from 12-1 in Allen Auditorium: http://bit.ly/x6DyeY

Films From the Vaults, Nov 2 - Native American Films

2011-10-30T21:11:00.001-07:00

Join us this Wednesday, November 2, from 1-3 as we digitize films at our 2nd Friends of the Libraries funded Films From the Vault screening. November is Native American Month, so we will be selecting rare films of import to Native American and American Indian Studies. Can't make it in person to the Odegaard Conference Room? Tune in live here.

Screening schedule includes...

Quillayute Story

----- color ----- 25 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Shows ways in which the Quillayute Indians of Washington have adapted themselves to their environment. Illustrates their handicraft activities, sports, festivals, games, dances, fishing, agriculture and religious worship. (The film is dated in its attitude.)
Topics: (American Indian Studies, Pacific Northwest)

Treaties Made, Treaties Broken

1970 ----- color ----- 17 min ----- 16mm
(North American Indian series, Part 3) The Treaty of Medicine Creek, made in 1854, which guarantees the Indians of Washington State the rights of fishing, hunting, gathering roots and berries and pasturing for their animals is now in hot dispute. To many Indians this dispute exemplifies, in part, the continuing abrogation of treaties on the part of White America in its dealings with the Indians. Includes comments by members of Indian tribes, as well as testimonies by the Department of Fish and Game official concerning the demonstration at Frank's Landing.
Topics: (American Indian Studies, History: American, Pacific Northwest)

Zaculeu

1961 ----- color ----- 20 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Explains how archeologists were sponsored by the United Fruit Company for the purpose of restoring the highland city of Zaculeu in Central America. Compares shrines, temples, dance platforms and ballcourts in 1946 and after their restoration in 1949. (Restricted to use on University of Washington campuses only)
Topics: (Archaeology, Latin America)

Timber and Totem Poles

1949 ----- color ----- 10 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Southeast Alaska, land of timber and totem poles. Tongass National Forest timber waiting to be harvested. Native Alaskan Indians, in ceremonial garb, restore and copy their totem poles.
Topics: (American Indian Studies, Art: Tribal, Pacific Northwest)

Totems

1950 ----- color ----- 10 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Against a background of tribal chants historical and interpretive facts concerning the totem poles of coastal British Columbia tribes are presented.
Topics: (American Indian Studies, Art: Tribal, Canadian Studies)

Seminoles of the Everglades

1950 ----- color ----- 20 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Seminole Indians of Florida and the great swamp area in which they live: the problems of the tribe in changing world and what the U. S. Government is doing to help them in the realm of education and health economy. Includes some advertising of tobacco products.
Topics: (American Indian Studies, Art: Tribal)

Films From The Vaults: NW Architecture & Structures

2011-10-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Media Center has been awarded a Friends of the Libraries grant to simultaneously screen, digitize, and broadcast several hundred orphaned films from the Educational Media Collection. The project, called Films From The Vaults, begins this October 19 (in OUGL 220, from 9-Noon) and will focus on NW architecture and structures. Esteemed Built Environments Librarian Alan Michelson will be on hand to offer pithy insights and critiques in those awkward silences that crop up between films. Can't make it in person? Tune in live for an even grainier experience here. This is our inaugural (1st of 18) screenings, so check back here periodically for updates on future dates and themes.

Screening schedule for the 19th:

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure - 1964 - color - 21 min - 16mm - Photographs showing the construction and opening day ceremonies and then the movements of the bridge that led to its collapse. Scale models made later by the Engineering Experiment Station at the University of Washington show the identical movements when subjected to stresses duplicating those which caused the bridge collapse. Topics: (Civil Engineering, Engineering, Pacific Northwest)
Newsreel 1940, Includes Tacoma Bridge Collapse - 1940 - b & w - 10 min - 16mm - Events of 1940 including: The Battle of Britain, the military draft in the United States, President Roosevelt defeating Wendell Wilkie and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsing in the wake of heavy winds. Topics: (Communications, History: American, Pacific Northwest)
The Space Needle Story - 1965 ----- b & w ----- 14 min ----- 16mm - Contains historic footage of the erection of the needle from the foundation in which the center of gravity is below ground level, to the 50 foot spire at its' top rising over 600 feet in the air. Topics: (Building Construction, Civil Engineering, Pacific Northwest)
The Rebuilding of a Port - 1972 ----- color ----- 12 min ----- 16mm - In 1960 as a result of a television documentary exposing the inadequacies of the Port of Seattle, the city presented a bond issue to the voters. Subsequently the improvements in the ability of the port to handle the new container mode of shipped goods has made Seattle the third largest port in the United States and the sixth largest in the world, just behind London. Together with the massive rebuilding of the waterfront facilities, the port undertook the complete modernization of the Sea-Tac International Airport. Topics: (Pacific Northwest, Transportation, Urban Planning/Restoration)
Fountain/Sculpture - 1975 ----- color ----- 18 min ----- 16mm Documents the step by step fabrication of a major fountain/sculpture commission by George Tsutakawa. Starting with the design of the model, the evolution of the work is followed through to the final installation at the 1974 World's Fair, Spokane, Washington. The artist discusses his approach and philosophy. Mr. Tsutakawa has completed over 50 major fountain/sculpture commissions during the past 17 years. Topics: (Artists, Landscape Architecture, Pacific Northwest, Sculpture)
The Kingdome - 1977 ----- color ----- 17 min ----- 16mm - Chronicles the construction of King County's multi-purpose, domed stadium. Traces the stadium project from ground-breaking to completion. Reference to Pioneer Square and the history of the stadium site is included. Film of the inaugural ceremonies and dedication on March 27, 1976, is interwoven with construction scenes in a series of flashbacks. The arrival of the Seattle Sounders, the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners provides an additional dimension and meaning to the Kingdome and this presentation. Topics: (Engineering, Pacific Northwest, Urban Planning/Restoration)
Ports: The Peoples' Business - 1979 ----- color ----- 29 min ----- 16mm - From 1852 when the first cargo of logs was shipped out of Seattle to San Francisco, ports around the Puget Sound have been an increasingly complicated issue. In 1910 the railroads covered the entire length of Seattle's waterfront. Yet the Port of Seattle is a public industry--a servant of the people--providing more than 60,000 jobs in the Greater Seattle area. (Produced by the Washington Sea Grant Program). Topics: (Cities and Towns, Economics, Pacific Northwest)

Libraries Dance Party!

2011-09-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

What? UW Libraries Dance Party
When? September 27, 2011 - Noon to 4pm
Where? Odegaard Library' on UW's Red Square
$? Free

Why?
Experience a postmodern pastiche of music and sounds at the first annual UW Libraries Dance Party. Nerdy (but welcoming) archivists will be on hand, playing tunes and spinning vinyl from UW Libraries' audio holdings. Come to dance, listen, and learn more about the Libraries' unique holdings, such as the Crocodile Cafe and Kearney Barton collections. Visit us online for more information:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/media

Sponsored by the UW Libraries Media Center

Contact John Vallier for more info: vallier "at" uw.edu

American documentary filmmaker Ken Burns at MOHAI

2011-08-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to attend a preview for Ken Burns’ upcoming 3 part documentary, Prohibition, at MOHAI. Although it was only a ~15 minute clip, it intrigued me to say the least. I do not recall seeing any of Ken Burns’ other works, such as The Civil War or Baseball, so I was not sure what to be prepared for. It turns out that he seems to be a very traditional documentary filmmaker. He strives to be very historically accurate and to take an objective stance on the subject mater. Burns combines historical footage and interviews with historians and authors to further this accuracy.

I cannot help but compare him to Errol Morris, another documentary filmmaker (Have you seen The Thin Blue Line?), who is not as traditional. Morris seems to be more interested in allowing the audience to go through the facts and choose how they feel about the topic. He chooses to use reenactments of an event; however, changes them as actual testimonies are being told. Quite the opposite of Ken Burns, I would say.

I appear to be a fan of both filmmakers and would recommend Ken Burns’ Prohibition (airs in October on KCTS) and Errol Morris’ recently released film, Tabloid (I have only seen the trailer, but ended up researching it further, and it looks super interesting! And also my professor said it was great), and The Thin Blue Line if you have yet to see it (we have it in the Media Center).

22 Documentaries Online

2011-07-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

UW community! Watch 22 docs online and for free. From The Most Dangerous Man in America to Barbie Nation, look for New Day Films here: http://bit.ly/n7T8VI

The complete list of docs includes...

The Double Burden
What is it like to grow up in a family where mothers have always worked outside the home?

Barbie Nation
The new Barbie Nation Collector's Edition DVD plumbs the cult of the Barbie doll, revealing attitudes about sexuality, body image, gender roles and creativity. Starring Barbie creator Ruth Handler.

Becoming American
A Hmong refugee family resettles in the United States: Culture shock, prejudice and gradual adaptation.

Daddy and Papa
A story of gay fathers in America

Downside Up
What happens when a poor, working-class town decides its best hope for survival is contemporary art? A personal and family story about MASS MoCA, America's largest museum of contemporary art.

Golden Venture
The epic tale of 286 Chinese immigrants on a freighter that ran aground off New York in 1993. With immigration dominating political debate, the fate of the Golden Venture passengers is more relevant than ever.

Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street
Holding Ground is at once a cautionary tale of urban policies gone wrong and a message of hope for all American cities.

Home Economics: A Documentary of Suburbia
As mortgage market "meltdowns" and the environmental crisis bespeak its wider consequences, HOME ECONOMICS bursts the bubble of the American Dream of homeownership and reveals the deep human costs of suburbanization and automobilization.

Homeless in Paradise
The intimate profile of four homeless people.

It's Elementary
The ground- breaking documentary that has inspired thousands of schools to pro-actively address anti-gay prejudice by by incorporating age-appropriate lessons into K-12 curricula.

It's Still Elementary
Ten years after the original "It's Elementary" the filmmakers investigate the impact on the original students who were filmed learning about LGBT people. A riveting story about the impact of documentary film and activism.

Let's Get Real
An in-depth look at name-calling and bullying in middle schools today, told entirely from a youth perspective.

Letters from the Other Side
Post-NAFTA immigration stories from the Mexican women left behind.

No Dumb Questions
Uncle Bill is becoming a woman in this funny and touching exploration of gender and sexuality through the eyes of 6, 9 and 11 year old sisters.

Power and Control
"Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America" is a comprehensive and timely exploration of the shocking persistence of domestic violence in our society.

Straightlaced - How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up
With a fearless look at a highly charged subject, Straightlaced unearths how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens.

That's a Family!
A poignant, funny, and crucial documentary in which children were asked what they would like other kids to know about their diverse family structures.

The Last Atomic Bomb
Age ten and hiding in a Nagasaki shelter near ground zero when the bomb dropped, Sakue Shimohira survived to wage a personal campaign — joined by student activists — to abolish all nuclear weapons.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Penta
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concludes that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world.

Red Pines
A pioneering Japanese American community perseveres.

Union Maids
A vivid history of women organizing in the 1930's

View from a grain of sand
Three Afghan women tell how international interventions, war, and the rise of political Islam has stripped Afghan women of rights and freedom over the last 30 years.

Media Center Awarded Friends Grant

2011-06-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Media Center has been awarded a grant to simultaneously screen, digitize, and broadcast orphaned films from the Educational Media Collection. The project, called Films From The Vaults, will begin in the Fall Quarter, 2011. Check back to this site for more information about the project, including a schedule of films to be screened and digitized.

In the meantime, here's more information from the grant proposal:

A. OVERVIEW: Archives are rarely sexy. There's dust, mold, metadata conventions, and copyright entanglements. And each format we aim to archive brings with it a unique mash-up of preservation ills. In the world of vintage 16mm films, we find vinegar syndrome, color dye fading, warping, and shrinkage.

Though rarely sexy, some archival collections do emanate historical significance, not just clouds of vinegar-scented off gassing. The Educational Media Collection (EMC) is such an example. Its holdings cover a broad array of rare and deteriorating 16mm titles, many of which were produced by UW departments.

With this project the Media Center is asking for funds to hire a student to digitize and simultaneously screen dozens of EMC films. We will use an existing telecine—which converts the film signal into a video signal—to project the film onto a screen in Odegaard 220. We also take the video signal from the telecine and plug it into an existing portable computer, where we digitize and later burn it to DVD-R for access through the Media Center.

Since 2009 the Media Center has hosted four of these “Films from the Vaults” sessions. Each one allowed us to preserve and make accessible rare films, while also performing outreach to community members on and off campus. With the last one, in conjunction with Poetry Month and Preservation Week, we also webcasted the screenings live via Ustream.tv. As we had more people watch the screenings via Ustream.tv than we had show up in person, we expect to webcast all 18 events proposed here.

We have given the issue of copyright considerable thought in regards to this project. Section 108 of the Copyright Code allows libraries and archives to preserve unique and rare materials for preservation purposes. Therefore, digitization of the films raises no copyright issues. In terms of screening the films, we will only choose films that we have explicit permission from the copyright holder to screen or are orphaned works (i.e., works for which a copyright holder cannot be identified). We have already identified numerous orphaned films in the EMC. These await digitization.

This project supports the following three criteria:

· Research and Scholarship: Many researchers and scholars—from UW and beyond—have already expressed interest in many of the films in the EMC. There is simply nowhere else to get this material. It will be lost without digitization. A small sampling of the EMC films we have already digitized is available on the Media Center’s Youtube Channel.

· Teaching and Learning: As many UW instructors have used EMC films in their classrooms, we still receive requests to make these films available on DVD. By supporting the digitization of these films, more titles will be available for these and future instructors. Additionally, the digitization process itself provides a learning opportunity for screening participants. On several occasions participants have asked about the process and we have provided a step-by-step overview of how we project, digitize, and make accessible these relics.

· Engagement and Sustainability: This project has a key outreach component and is, therefore, focused on engaging community members both in-person and online. Furthermore, since this project is also a preservation project, it is committed to the long-term sustainability of the knowledge and heritage captured in these films.

B. GOALS: We expect to digitize and screen—both in person and online—dozens of films over the course of 18 sessions. If we are able to do this and also make the digital files accessible via the Media Center’s collections, we have succeeded.

C. WORK PLAN: In order to raise maximum awareness about the project, we will coordinate all 18 of these screening/digitization sessions (6 per quarter) with AC Peterson, Libraries Communications Officer. Each session will be 3 three hours in length and will enable us to digitize anywhere between 2 and 8 films per session (depending on the length of the films). The student hired to complete this work will also spend an equal amount of time prepping the films prior to the sessions and processing them for access following the sessions. John Vallier—Head, Distributed Media—will coordinate and be responsible for the work. No other units will be impacted by this work.

Ruins - "Burning Stone" (CD SHIMMY 001)

2011-06-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

This early-90's release from Japan's premier complexi-core duo, Ruins, takes the listener on an unpredictable sonic journey. Like being blindfolded and put on a psychotic roller coaster ride, bandleader/drummer/singer Tatsuya Yoshida and bassist/singer Ryuichi Masuda toss the listener about by throwing hairpin-turn changes and free-fall melodic dementia into the mix. Driving polyrhythmic drumbeats, a heavily processed bass guitar, and vocal lines that dip into the operatic, comedic, and ominous characterize the tunes on this CD. Though the vocals sound and are meant to be nonsensical, their phonetic renderings are written down in liner notes in case you want to try following along.

Check it out from the Media Center today: Call # CD SHIMMY 001

June's New DVDs, VHS, and CDs

2011-06-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

What's new for June 2011 @ the Media Center? 211 new DVDs (see below), 85 "new" VHS tapes, and 13 CDs. Check them out!

DVDs

2 mums and a dad
2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle
8 seconds
10:30 p.m. summer
13 years of UMNO & Barisan Nasional rule of Sabah
20 straws: Growing up gay
2501 migrants: Ajourney
Adventure in Sahara
Alam-i Islam par maghribi yalghar ke mukhtalif pahlu aur Pakistan ke dakhli aur ilaqa'i alat
Antichrist
Art of Spain
Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel, ratlos & Die unbezähmbare Leni Peickert
Au revoir les enfants
Backfire
Bad timing
Bande à part: Band of outsiders
Les bas-fonds: The lower depths
Bawang Puteh, Bawang Merah
Beneath clouds
Beni kujaku
Beyoglu beyoglu 1
Bez svidetelei: Without witness
Biker boys of the dirt island
Black narcissus
Blue valentine
Bluegreen
Boyhood shadows
Brutal beauty: Tales of the Rose City Rollers
Buffy, the vampire slayer: The complete fourth season
Bulletproof salesman
The burning plain
Büyük oyun: A step into the darkness
Can yue
Car bomb
Carrington
Cary Grant: The early years
The children's war: Life in Northern Uganda
A Chinese ghost story: Chien nü yu hun
Classe tous risques
Cocaine angel
Connected
Cornered
Cracking the colour code
Crime in the streets
The Crimson kimono
Cronos
Darkness on the edge of town
David Hockney: A bigger picture
Deng dai Geduo, En attendant Godot, Waiting for Godot
Devi Dutt's Masoon: Masuma
Les Diaboliques
Disebalik propaganda Hindraf
Disfigured
The edge
Edge of darkness
The Elephants' dream of peace
Der Fangschuss
Fight club
Finding Christa
Fish out of water
Four seasons lodge
Four stories of St. Julian
The friends of Eddie Coyle
Fröken Julie
Fue fuki doji
Fukushusuru wa ware ni ari;Vengeance is mine
Gegege no nyobo
Gempur: 5010 sertai
Glee
Goodbye boys
Grace under fire
La graine et le mulet
The great dictator
La haine
Hand Of Death
Hassan and the graduates
Hayashiya Sanpei monogatari
Heinrich Himmler: Anatomy of a mass murderer
Hi no tori
Hibakusha: Sekai no owari ni
How to become a president
Yesterday, today and tomorrow
The illusionist
Infernal affairs
Innovation in irrigation: 6 case studies from across Australia
The Iron giant
Iskwaterpangk;Squatterpunk
Isse Ogata, the best of best collection
It happened in Hollywood, or, once a hero
Jamiah-yi Hafsah aur Lal Masjid par tabsarah
Janji Anwar
Kaali saladus
Kabhi kabhie: Love is life
Kagemusha: Kagemusha (the shadow warrior)
Kanki no uta
Karol: A man who became pope
Kawaita hana
Kenka erejii: Fighting elegy
Kes
Khayal Darpan;a mirror of imagination
Kibera kids
Kitaro ga mita gyokusai;Mizuki Shigeru no senso
Kluzap: Nima-yi nazdik
Koi zora: Sky of love
Lacombe Lucien
L´éon Blum: For all mankind
A lesson of Belorusian
The little mermaid
Looting the seas
Magnificent obsession
Magnum P.I: The complete first season
Make me young: Youth knows no pain
The man who stopped the desert
Manuela y Manuel
The mayor's dream
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Metropolitan
Whisper of the heart: Mimi o sumaseba
La Mission
Modern times
Moments of truth
The silent world
Monsoon wedding
Monsters and madmen
Much ado about nothing
Musashi;Musashi
My first day at school
Naked
The Naked gun 2 1/2: The smell of fear
The Naked gun 33 1/3: The final insult
The naked gun: From the files of Police squad!
The naked kiss
Nanatsu no chikai
Never enough: A documentary
The night of broken glass: The November 1938 pogroms
Nisab-i ta lim men mubayanah raushan khayali ka paivand
No dumb questions
The Norman conquests
El norte: The north
Le notti bianche
Nottingham lace
The oath
Oblomov
Oceans of plastic: Des Oceans de plastique
Off and running: An American coming of age story
Once more removed
One night
Pakistan aur Islam
Pakistan me zalzalah: afat ya azab.
Passchendaele
Patiala house
The Phenix City story
Piat vecherov
Las poquianchis
Power of the press
The president's dilemma
Qian shou guan yin
Qun zhong yan yuan;Extras
Raba liubvi
Raihan (karaoke)
Reclaim the condom
Reel injun
Reline
Rewers
Ride with the devil
Rio breaks
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Rock prophecies
Romanzo criminale;la serie.
Saifudin Nasution, Jelutong
Le salaire de la peur: Wages of fear
Salt of the earth
Scandal sheet
Scent of the street
Seeta aur Geeta: Sita aura Gita
Sen hiç atesböcegi gördün mü
Seniman bujang lapok: The nitwit movie stars
Seri melati ghazal Johor Bahru
Shiranui kengyo: The secrets of a court masseur
Shockproof
Shokudo katatsumuri
Silk ceiling
Silsila
Soliaris
Sorie K. and the MDGs
Soul Kitchen
Spain's multicultural past
Straw dogs
Sud'ba cheloveka
Sukai kurora: The sky crawlers
Supesharu dorama Sakano ueno kumo: Kanren dokyumentari
Sweet smell of success
Tahzibon ka tasadum
Tanzträume: Jugendliche tanzen Kontakthof , ein Stück von Pina Bausch
Tapestries of hope
The thin red line
Tirez sur le pianiste
Tokyo godfathers
Topsy-turvy
Tout va bien
Trawler girl
Two: A film fable
The unborn
Understanding calculus: Problems, solutions, and tips
Underworld U.S.A.
Utomlennye solntsem: Burnt by the sun
La voie lactée: The milky way
Walkabout
Wu jian dao II: Infernal affairs 2
Yan mo

DIVE! Free Screening on 5/5/11

2011-05-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

College Greens UW, is holding its 2nd annual three-part film/speaker series dedicated to issues of environmental and social justice.

At this event they will be showing DIVE! (Media Center DVD COMPE 001), a film about 'dumpster-diving' as a means of raising awareness to food waste and justice. Following the film, UW graduate student and CHID instructor David Giles will lead a discussion about how we can engage food waste and justice issues here in Seattle.

It's a free event and open to the public.

"Free yummy food will be provided at the showing!" Liberated from a dumpster? Not sure.

What: DIVE!—Living Off America’s Waste
Website: http://www.divethefilm.com/
When: Thursday, May 12th @ 5:30pm
Where: Smith 120
Speaker: David Giles

Film Description: Inspired by a curiosity about society’s careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food–resulting in an eye-opening documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action.

Speaker Bio: David Giles, a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Washington, is teaching an advanced special topics CHID course about everyday experience in the shared spaces of the city. The course, titled The Vagaries of Home: Vagrancy, Value and the Abject, encourages students to examine the unknown and unnoticed cultural, political and ecological histories of the city, “from the desks of city planners and politicians to the alleys and interstices written in between the lines of their decisions and the homeless who sleep there.” After the film screening, David will speak about the political and cultural aspects of hunger and waste in Seattle.

New Audio & Video Guide

2011-05-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Check out the new audio & video guide. It's designed to help you find music CDs, audiobooks, movies, TV shows, copyright information, links to music and film criticism resources, and more.

Audio - Listen to music, plays, books, speeches, sound effects & more.
Video - Watch films, TV shows, documentaries, news, arts & much more.
Copyright - Learn about copyright & how it impacts your use of av.
Criticism - Find scholarly criticism on music, cinema, TV, video & more.

New Movies and Music!

2011-05-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Check out new movie, music, and spoken word recording titles for April and May.

Movie highlights include:

Music highlights include:

Surrealestate's Lacunae
Beach House's Teen dream
LCD Soundsystem's This is happening

Spoken word recording highlights include:

Langston Hughes African American Film Festival

2011-05-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

LANGSTON HUGHES AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL (LHAAFF) CONTINUES THIS WEEK - The 8th annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival kicked off this past weekend and will run through Sunday, May 8. The films screened so far have done well, with last night's showing of local film 23rd and Union selling out (an additional screening has been added for tonight, May 4 at 9 PM). You can catch all the films at Central Cinema with the exception of the closing day schedule, which will screen at Garfield High Schools' Quincy Jones Theater. Make sure to see some of the great films at LHAAFF this week while you can. Highlights include the Seattle soul documentary Wheedle's Groove, a brunch event with filmmakers at the Northwest African American Museum, and the closing night film Butterfly Rising (directed by True Blood actress Tanya Wright). Filmmakers will be in attendance at most screenings. Check out the full schedule here.

Poetry Films from the Vaults

2011-04-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Attention poetry film fans. In celebration of National Poetry month and this year's Common Book (You Are Never Where You Are), the Media Center will screen 3 rare poetry films this Wednesday (April 27) from 11am to 1pm, in Odegaard 220. While being projected in all their deteriorating analog glory, we will simultaneously digitize the films for preservation and access.

Can't make it in person? Tune in live @
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/uwlibs

Films include...

Leopold Sedar Senghor (1967 ----- b & w ----- 29 min ----- 16mm)
Introduces Leopold Sedar Senghor, his poetry and the environment that his poems reflect. Discusses his philosophy concerning the blending of the African and the Western cultural traditions. Describes Senghor as the poet laureate and President of the Republic of Senegal and presents, in English, a reading of five of his poems. Held by UW and NYPL.

Tagore (1961 ----- b & w ----- 53 min ----- 16mm)
A documentary-biography of the great Bengali poet, Rabindranth Tagore, made for the centenary of his birth by India's foremost director, Satyajit Ray. Includes news footage, sketches, photos and a dramatization of his early life. Reveals the poet, novelist, philosopher, composer, painter, rebel and educational reformer, one of the great and noble men of this century. Held by UW, UC Berkeley, University of Texas, & Library System of Lancaster County (PA).

W. B. Yeats: A Tribute (1951 ----- b & w ----- 20 min ----- 16mm)
Ireland's greatest poet--his life in Ireland and the inspiration he drew from the Irish landscape. Held by UW, San Francisco State University, Florida International University, State Library of New South Wales, & the National Film and Sound Archive (Australia).

Library Snapshot Day @ the Media Center

2011-04-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

April 12th was "Library Snapshot Day" at the UW. It was a typically busy day for us in the Media Center: nearly 1,200 audio and video items accessed, 1 unique music recording and 1 unique film digitized, and dozens of ILL requests filled. Nonetheless, we managed to carve out a bit of time to make this noir-inspired video-trailer, documenting some of the things we were up to.

Kearney Barton in the Stranger

2011-04-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

Check out the featured article in the music section of this week's The Stranger: Planet of the Tapes: The Incredible Life and Sounds of Studio Wiz Kearney Barton
It's a an overview of the collection your Media Center has been working with this past year, thanks to a grant from the American Music Partnership of Seattle. You can see some of the work we have been up to by visiting this page.

Streaming Reserves Consolidated @ Media Center

2011-03-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Beginning Spring Quarter 2011 the Music Library will partner with the Media Center in centralize streaming audio and video reserves services.

What does this mean for UW faculty?

*Audio Streaming for School of Music: The Music Library will continue to accept streaming reserve request forms and audio materials to stream. Audio materials with forms will be delivered by student courier to the Media Center weekdays at 10:30 and 2:30. Audio materials with forms may also be dropped off directly to the Media Center. NOTE: In order to allow for your streaming audio requests to be processed, we request that you drop off materials one week prior to the date that you need them made available online. Materials will be processed in the order they are received.

*Print and Electronic Reserves for School of Music: The pilot will not effect School of Music related print reserves, electronic document reserves, and media materials physically on reserve in the Listening Center. They will continue to be processed and available in the Music Library.

*Streaming Videos: If you are interested in having videos streamed for your class, please email
medialib@uw.edu or visit this page: http://tinyurl.com/uwvideoreserves

47 Ronin (Media Center DVD IEF 039)

2011-03-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

Weighing in at just over 4 hours in length, Kenji Mizoguichi 's 47 Ronin tells the story of 47 lordless samurai (or ronin) dead set on avenging the death of their master. They succeed about 3 hours in--sorry to spoil it for you--and by doing so restore the honor of their master, as well as their own as samurai.

A fact-inspired story, Mizoguichi's epic is a black and white cinematic exploration of heroism and self-sacrifice. If you are looking for a blood soaked samurai action film, 47 Ronin is not it (try this one instead). Yes, there is a lot of harakiri, but 47 Ronin is more about the long (very long) shot and dialogic expanses. It is a tragic paean to the samurai code (bushido). And that's why Japanese censors allowed Mizoguichi to release it just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. OK, but why are American censors allowing Keanu Reeves to star in a remake come 2012?

Pacific NorthWest Film Collection (Updated

2011-03-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

We're working on putting together a list, and then later a collection, of films shot in the Pacific Northwest including Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska by local Directors/Writers/Producers.

So far ( ...and this is very much at the early stage of progress and compilation...):

AMPLIFIED SEATTLE 2010 Seattle, WA

ASK NOT 2008

AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND 2006

BACK TO THE GARDEN 2009 WA

BASS ACKWARDS 2010 WA

BOOK OF STARS 1999 Seattle, WA

BOOKENDS 2003 Edmonds, WA

BUTTERFLY DREAMING 2008

CHIHULY FIRE & LIGHT 2010 WA

CLOTHES 2001 Edmonds, WA

COMING OUT... 2004 WA

CREATIVE NATURE 2008

CRIMES OF THE PAST 2009 Seattle, WA

DANCING ACROSS BORDERS 2008 Seattle, WA

DARK HORSE, THE 2007

DAY MY PARENTS BECAME COOL, THE 2009 Burien - Seattle, WA

DEAR LEMON LIMA 2010 Seattle, WA / Fairbanks, AK (?)

FAREWELL TO HARRY 2002 Bainbridge Island - Port Townsend - Seattle, WA

FINDING BLISS 2008 Spokane, WA

GIRLS MAKE MEDIA THAT MATTERS 2005 WA

GOOD FOOD 2008

GREAT SPEECHES FROM A DYING WORLD 2007

GRRL X-ING 2006 WA

HUMPDAY 2009 Seattle, WA

ICONS AMONG US 2009 WA

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF LITTLE DIZZLE, THE 2009 Seattle, WA

INDEPENDENT AMERICA: RISING FROM RUINS / THE TWO LANE SEARCH FOR MOM AND POP 2008 Yelm, WA

IT TAKES A CULT 2008 Queen Anne - Seattle, WA

JUNK 2011

JUSTICE FOR ALL: A PUBLIC HEARING 2003 Seattle, WA

LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER, THE 2009 WA

MIX IT UP: YOUTH & RACE 2005 WA

MR. BIG 2007

MORNING 2010 Seattle, WA

MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE 2008 Seattle, WA

A NOT SO STILL LIFE 2010 Seattle, WA

OUTSOURCED 2006 Seattle, WA

PENITENT MAN, THE 2010 Des Moines - Mill Creek - Seattle, WA

PERFECT 10 2010 WA

PERFECT SPORT 2008 Vashon Island, WA

REEL GRRLS TV 2009 2009 WA

RELATIVE THING, A 2003 Bainbridge Island, WA

SEATTLE WOMEN IN FILM 2008 WA

SECONDHAND HANGOVER: THE EFFECTS OF ADDICTION 2006 WA

SENIOR PROM 2010 Mountlake Terrace - Seattle, WA

SMOKE SIGNALS 1998 ID, WA

STORY TIME 2008 WA

SWEET CRUDE 2008

SWEET THING 2008

TRIMPIN: THE SOUND OF INVENTION 2009 Seattle, WA

TRUE ADOLESCENTS 2009 Seattle, WA

UNFINISHED NOVEL, THE 2004

VISIONEERS 2008

WHALE WARRIOR, THE: PIRATE FOR THE SEA 2008

WHEEDLE’S GROOVE 2009 Central District - Seattle, WA

WHOLE TRUTH, THE 2009 Seattle - Tacoma, WA

WINK AND A SMILE, A 2008

WORLD'S GREATEST DAD 2009 Wallingford - Seattle, WA

YEAR OF THE GRRL DIRECTOR 2010 WA

ZMD: ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION 2008 Port Gamble, WA

-Alex

Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead

2011-02-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

Radiohead is back with a new album, and if you pre-ordered your purchase you get to download the album a day early! Strawberry Radiohead Surprise!

We have Radiohead o'plenty at the Media Center including:

7 Television Commercials (2003) -Radiohead
Collection of music videos
DVD CAP 001

Bends, The - CD CAP 127
Hail to the Thief - CD CAP 105
In Rainbows - CD TBD 001
Kid A - CD CAP 124
OK Computer - CD CAP 073

Watch the video for the new song "Lotus Flower" from "King of Limbs" on YouTube here.

-Alex

Romantic Comedies at the Media Center - RomComs for V-Day

2011-02-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Grab a guy or grab a gal, and spend a little time on the couch with a Romantic Comedy from the Media Center. We've selected a few of our favorites, but you can browse and search all 390 Rom-Coms at our website by clicking this link.

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999) - DVD BVHE 178
Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (2009) - DVD TCFHE 332
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel

AWAY WE GO (2009) - DVD UNIV 053
John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1993) - DVD MGM 032
Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell

GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) - DVD SONYHE 110
Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell

HIGH FIDELITY (2000) - DVD BVHE 007
John Cusack, Jack Black, Based on Nick Hornby book

I LOVE YOU, MAN (2009) - DVD PARA 243
Paul Rudd, Jason Segel

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) - DVD CTHV 030
Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert

IT'S COMPLICATED (2009) - DVD UNIV 261
Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (2007) - DVD TCFHE 225
Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson

PALM BEACH STORY, THE (1942) - DVD UNIV 238
Claudette Colbert, Dir. Preston Sturges

PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE (1940) - DVD WHV 039
Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart

THEY ALL LAUGHED - DVD HBO 098
John Ritter, Audrey Hepburn, dir. Peter Bogdanovitch

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) - DVD MGM 275
Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan

What are your favorite Romantic Comedies?

Follow the #RomCom conversation at our Twitter - @uwmediacenter.

-Alex

New on DVD, VHS and CD at the Media Center - February

2011-02-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

Every month we post a list of films and CDs that are new to the Media Center. Some of the films are new releases, some are award winners, and some are older films that haven't made it to DVD yet but we have them on VHS for the first time.

Click the following links:
New on DVD at the Media Center
New on VHS at the Media Center
New on CD at the Media Cent er

-Alex

Football Films at the Media Center

2011-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Get ready for Super Sunday with some films that show there is more to the game off the field than there is between the sidelines.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999) – DVD WHV 044

Hollywood pro football film with Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, and Jamie Foxx.

BIG FAN (2010) – DVD VIVE 004

Patton Oswalt as a NY Giants fan whose life spirals into total disaster.

BLACK SUNDAY (1977) – VHS PHV 8855

Terrorists attempt to blow up a Goodyear blimp at the Super Bowl.

BLIND SIDE, THE (2010) – DVD WHV 520

Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her performance.

EASY LIVING (1949) –VHS THE 015

Politics. Football. Money. Lucille Ball…? Yes, Lucille Ball.

GO, TIGERS! (2002) – DVD NVG 034

Massillon, OH – Where high school football is religion (documentary).

HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29 (2008) – DVD KINO 196

11-23-1968, an unforgettable, baffling contest between two undefeated teams (documentary).

HORSE FEATHERS (1932) – DVD UNIV 143

Marx Brothers. College. Football. Hilarity.

HUSKY BAND ROSE BOWL SHOWS (2004) – DVD UW 002

Start getting excited for next year’s Husky Football season, or re-live the gameday experience.

KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL-AMERICAN (1940) – VHS MGM 400555

Story of legendary Notre Dame football coach.

MONDAY NIGHT MAYHEM (2002) – DVD WHV 134

John & Nick Turturro explore Monday Night Football (Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Don Meredith) in this made-for-TV film.

TILLMAN STORY, THE (2011) – DVD SONYHE 158

Documentary about NFL player who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.

Search for and request the films here.

-Alex

Pixar: Happy 25th!

2011-02-03T12:36:00.000-08:00

Pixar is turning 25 and you should celebrate by coming to the media center and checking out some of our 17 Pixar related films including:

A Bug's Life - DVD BVHE 222
Cars - DVD BVHE 166
Finding Nemo - DVD BVHE 078
Incredbles, The - DVD BVHE 117
Luxo, Jr. - VHS DCL 011
Monsters, Inc. - DVD BVHE 066
Pixar Short Films Collection - DVD BVHE 259
Ratatouille - DVD BVHE 203
Toy Story - DVD BVHE 001
Toy Story 2 - DVD BVHE 018
Toy Story 3 - DVD BVHE 267
Up - DVD BVHE 056
WALL-E - DVD BVHE 226

http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/

-Alex

Egypt: Culture, Society, Politics and Current Events - films at the Media Center

2011-02-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

These six films are a selection from our collection that reflect the culture and society of Egypt that are worth taking a look at as the politics and culture of the nation have taken a place on the world stage. Come to the Media Center in Odegaard and explore the culture of Egypt through film! Or click the links of the call numbers to request the film through our library website.

“A VOICE LIKE EGYPT / UMM KULTHUM” (1996) – DVD AFD 030

Documentary film about Egypt’s legendary superstar singer-performer Umm Kulthum (Om Koultoum) and her influence across levels of Egyptian society. Narrated by Omar Sharif and Directed by Michal Goldman.

“AN EGYPTIAN SALAD / SALATA BALADI” (2008) – DVD WMM 039

Egyptian filmmaker Nadia Kamel directs this documentary look at a family whose cultures include Jewish, Italian, Christian, Islam, Turkish, Ukranian, and Egyptian. The film explores the cultural fears and prejudices between these cultures, religions, and nationalities.

“DRIVING AN ARAB STREET” (2002) – VHS AFD 012

This documentary follows Egyptian taxi drivers as they navigate the streets of Cairo and share their diverse perspectives on both American and Egyptian society, culture, politics and the relationship between these civilizations [-from film box]. Directed by Arthur Hurley.

“GARBAGE DREAMS” (2009) - DVD CG 080

This documentary explores the way of life of the Zaballeen, Egypt’s ‘garbage people,’ who live in a ghetto on the outskirts of Cairo collecting trash and turning 80% of what they collect into recyclable materials. The film follows three teenage boys over four years as their way of life is taken over by globalized garbage disposal companies.

“SHAYFEEN.COM: WE’RE WATCHING YOU” (2007) – DVD CG 065

This documentary film is a look at President Mubarak’s new democracy. Three women activists film the election process exploring violence and voter fraud.

“THE BAND’S VISIT” (2007) – DVD SONYHE 124

Winner of over 35 international film awards, this film follows an Egyptian police band arriving in Israel to play at an Arab Cultural Center, but they take the wrong bus and end up in a desolate Israeli village.

***We have 254 feature films from Egypt in our collection.

Click here to browse the list of Egyptian feature films.

-Alex

New Shelving! Huzzah!

2011-01-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

Hooray for more efficient browsing! No more piles of DVDs on the floor! Now with our new shelving for browsing DVDs it is even easier to check out some movies or television shows on DVD for your own entertainment or knowledge needs. We have documentaries, Criterion Collection, classic and current TV series, feature films and more. Browse our collection here!

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

2011-01-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

This Monday, January 17, is MLK Day. But who was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr? What did he stand for? Why do we honor him? To learn more about his life and legacy, check out the Libraries' MLK relevant video, music, and spoken word recordings.

Media Center Destination: Hawai'i!

2011-01-05T15:45:00.001-08:00

Hang 10, Huskies! Say, “Aloha Mr. Hand” to January!

If the January weather in Seattle has got you feeling down, then try an escape to the Hawaiian islands for a few hours with a film from the Media Center! These films feature dudes without shirts, chicks in bikinis, sun, fun, surf, turf, luaus, leis, hula and sand - all without having to fly over an ocean.

Oh, and by the way, we have loads and loads of educational films concerning Hawaii and its unique language, the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Mauna Kea international observatory site, civil rights, as well as a number of biographical documentaries.

Kick it with Elvis in “Blue Hawaii” (1961) or savor the epic “Hawaii” (1966) featuring Julie Andrews and Gene Hackman.

DVD UNIV 030

If you prefer your Hawaii a little more animated we have Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” (2002). If you liked the films “Lords of Dogtown,” and “Dogtown and Z-Boys”, you won’t want to miss the Edward Norton narrated documentary “Bustin’ Down the Door” (2008) about a group of surfers who revolutionized their sport in 1975 Hawaii. For further surfing see “Riding Giants” (2004) as well as the bio-doc of legendary surfer Rell "Kapolioka'ehukai" Sunn who died of breast cancer at age 47 - "Heart of the Sea" (2002).

DVD BOT-1053

“To You Sweetheart, Aloha” (2004) is a biographical documentary about 94-year-old ukulele master Bill Tapia reaching the pinnacle of his career and finding his muse in his 26-year-old manager Alyssa. Humphrey Bogart received a Best Actor Oscar nomination in the Best Picture nominated film “The Caine Mutiny” (1954) about a fictitious naval destroyer at Pearl Harbor.

DVD CTHV 056

Speaking of Pearl Harbor, we have DVDs “Pearl Harbor - A Documentary” (2001) and “The History Channel Presents Pearl Harbor” (2001) as well a number of other historical explorations of the attack on Pearl Harbor available on VHS including one presented by the University of Washington's history professor emeritus Jon Bridgman: "Pearl Harbor: Parallels and Perspectives" (2001). We have the classic Hollywood dramatization of the attack on Pearl Harbor "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970) as well as the more modern Hollywood dramatization by Michael Bay, “Pearl Harbor” (2001) starring Ben Affleck.

DVD BVHE 035

Did you know they filmed the television show “Lost” in Hawaii?

DVD BVHE 161

"Pidgin: The Voice of Hawaii" (2009) profiles the language of the working people of Hawaii, its cultural importance, and explores how it is under attack by politicians and educators; the film won the Audience Award at the Hawai'i International Film Festival. "Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawaii" (2009) is a documentary about contemporary politics, ethnicity and social conditions on the islands and features music by Billy Bragg; won best documentary at the Hawai'i International Film Festival.

Astronomers should check out "Mauna Kea: On the Verge of Other Worlds" (1989) by Hawaii Public Television and featuring narration by stargazer Johnny Carson; the film takes a look at an internationally operated observatory that offers near-perfect conditions for studying the farthest reaches of the universe. Follow that up with a more recent look at the observatory at Mauna Kea and the controversy surrounding the sacred site in "Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege" (2006). Also see "Gathering the Forgotten Voices: An Oral History of the Canada-France- Hawaii Telescope's Early Years" (2006) for more about the Mauna Kea observatory.

For a look at Japanese-American civil rights in Hawaii, see "The First Battle: The Battle for Equality in War-time Hawaii" (2006). "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" (2008) is a documentary about the first woman of color elected to congress who also helped enact Title IX.

Enjoy!

Coming Soon:

"50 First Dates" (2004) Drew Barrymore, Adam Sandler
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (2008) Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand

-Alex

Closed Media Center = Extended Due Dates!

2010-12-17T09:28:00.001-08:00

The Media Center (and Odegaard Library as a whole) will be closed December 21, 2010, through January 2, 2011. We will be re-openning on Monday, January 3 at 8:00 a.m.

But don't despair! We have a holiday treat for you. If you check out Media Center videos or sound recordings TODAY (Friday 12/17) or MONDAY 12/20, you won't have to return them until January 3rd, 2011. Isn't that nice of us? Happy New Year!

New December DVDs, VHS, and CDs

2010-12-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

A diverse lot of DVDs, VHS tapes, and CDs have arrived for December at this Media Center. Check them out.

Noteworthy among the hundreds of titles include:

- Some 20 ethnographic titles from the Encyclopaedia Cinematographica film project (Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film), depicting Southeast Asian traditional customs, practices, and rituals.

- Babies (2010) Follows four babies from different parts of the globe as they navigate their first year of life. Features Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia, Hattie who lives in San Francisco, and Mari from Tokyo.

- Bad Brains / I Against I (1986) - Intro -- I against i -- House of suffering -- Re-ignition -- Secret 77 -- Let me help -- She's calling you -- Sacred love -- Hired gun -- Return to heaven

- Countdown Zero (2010) - Tracing the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. The film makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever as over 40 nations have the technical capacity to construct nuclear weapons.

- Desert Victory (1943) - The British Army and R.A.F. captured the Battle of El Alamein while it happened. Teams of cameramen followed the 8th Army troops into battle against Rommel's Afrika Korps, recording some of the most extraordinary footage of the war. Features rare and fascinating original film preserved in the Museum's archives. Some materials have never been released to the public before. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1943.

- House (1977) - After learning that she will be sharing the summer with her father's new girlfriend, a young girl invites some friends to join her at her aunt's house instead. With a sick aunt, a bloodthirsty cat, and evil spirits lurking around, the girls find that it might have been better to stay at home.

- Howdy Doody Show (1955) - Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob Smith, Clarabelle the Clown, Zippy the Chimp, Gabby Hayes. Enough said?

- Lady Day (2009) - Most presentations feature Lady Day as the sad victim of hard times and drugs. Mining a treasure trove of new information, the producers set the record straight - and beautifully. In a voice that is Billie-like in its rasping wiseness and its ring, stage and screen star Ruby Dee reads from Holiday's autobiography, Lady sings the blues.

- Modern Times (1936) - odern Times, Charlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times—though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!)—is a timeless showcase of Chaplin’s untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy. This Criterion release feature a new, restored 2K-resolution digital transfer, created in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, as well as numerous extras/interviews/commentaries.

- Star Trek, the original series - (1966-69) - The spaceship U.S.S. Enterprise, with its 430 crew members captained by James T. Kirk, travels the universe "to boldly go where no man has gone before."

- Tapped (2010) - s access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig exams the big business of bottled water. Viewers get a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water. Here is a powerful portrait of the lives affected by the bottled water industry.

- Usiimmaluguq (2010) - In 1953, Inuit from Port Harrison, now Inukjuak, Quebec, were relocated to new settlements in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, in the Northwest Territories, only one of a series of relocations. A slump in the fur market, the Inuit's chief source of income, and a need to increase settlement in the Arctic to protect Canada's sovereignty, were factors in the government's decision. Archival footage and interviews with survivors tell of the hardships the Inuit endured.

Media Center Closed Today

2010-11-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

The Media Center - and all UW Libraries' units - are closed today, but don't despair: the Media Center continues to educate! Watch this short film on how to dress for and play in the snow: http://www.archive.org/details/PlayInTheSno

Happy World Day for Audiovisual Heritage!

2010-10-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

Happy World Day for Audiovisual Heritage! Audio/Video/Film contain the primary records of the 20th and 21st centuries, so please help us preserve and make them accessible. If you are interested in helping to support the Libraries Media Center attain these goals, check out this page:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/giving.html
You can learn more about the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage by visiting this page: http://bit.ly/3mN91x

Dawg Dazed - Films from the Vault

2010-09-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday Sept 30 9am-12n in Odegaard Library Room 220

Experience a postmodern pastiche of movies and flicks at the Media Center's "Films from the Vault" fest. Nerdy, but welcoming, AV technicians will be on hand, rolling out wizened 16mm film (yes, actual film) from our Educational Media Collection bunker and projecting them in all of their deteriorating analog glory.

While projecting, we will simultaneously digitize the films for preservation. Besides exposing you to some really bizarre cinema (you won't find these titles on Netflix), you will also learn about how you can borrow thousands of DVDs and CDs from the Media Center, legally and for free!

Tentative Schedule

Pen Point Percussion with Loops

1951 ----- color ----- 9 min ----- 16mm
An explanation of the principles and production of synthetic sounds showing Norman McLaren's experimentation with hand-drawn sounds on film. An introduction to films in which both the sound and the visuals are created entirely by the artist drawing directly upon his film with ordinary pen and ink.
Topics: (Motion Pictures: Animation, Motion Pictures: Experimental)

For Your Pleasure

1971 ----- color ----- 4 min ----- 16mm
A brilliant animationist gives us a time-lapse portrayal in caricature of urbanization usurping control over the environment. A century materializes in a flash as The Hay Wain, a painting by John Constable, crumbles into disrepair, the details slowly changing to correspond to the present. Eventually, even the museum in which the painting hangs becomes swallowed up in an urban squeeze of its own.
Topics: (Ecology, Geography)

Land of the Dancing Shiva

1959 ----- b & w ----- 11 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Set against the temples of South India, the famous devotional dance, Bhrat Natyam, is shown.
Topics: (Ethnomusicology, South Asian Studies)

Buzkashi

1971 ----- color ----- 8 min ----- 16mm
Buzkashi is performed on horseback by Afghan tribesmen honoring the King on his birthday at an annual festival in Kabul. One of the toughest sports in the world, buzkashi requires incredible riding ability on magnificent horses. The intense pride and rivalry of a tribal society, as well as the role of physical superiority and competition in the society, are implicit.
Topics: (Anthropology: Cultural, South Asian Studies)

Salmon Research: Water Pollution

1973 ----- color ----- 8 min ----- 16mm
Pollutants in water are not merely a matter of life and death. Long-term effects can severely influence fish populations. Research techniques in a modern physiology laboratory are examined. Fish with a variety of sensing devices implanted to monitor heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and breathing movements are subjected to different types and levels of pollutants in order to determine the acceptable concentrations.
Topics: (Ecology, Fisheries, Marine Biology)

Bags

1967 ----- color ----- 9 min ----- 16mm
Presents a sardonic allegory on the nature of tyranny and the twists of revolution. Using animated live objects, the conflict between a greedy, swaggering bag and miscellaneous attic objects is followed. Like Orwell's Animal Farm, it presents an icy statement on the failure of "systems," the hypocrisy of revolution, the temptations of power and the frightening theme of a movement becoming what it defeats.
Topics: (Art, Motion Pictures: Animation, Sociology)

News Events of 1940, Including the Tacoma Bridge Collapse

1940 ----- b & w ----- 10 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Events of 1940 including: The Battle of Britain, the military draft in the United States, President Roosevelt defeating Wendell Wilkie and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsing in the wake of heavy winds.
Topics: (Communications, History: American, Pacific Northwest)

Spanish Gypsies in Flamenco Songs and Dances

1948 ----- b & w ----- 10 min ----- 16mm
(Historical Collection) Spanish gypsies hold a family festival in a Granada grotto. Juan Salido and a group of artists perform dances and songs.
Topics: (Ethnomusicology, Europe)

Cross-Cultural Approach to Cognition, A

1974 ----- color ----- 20 min ----- 16mm
Using varied locations such as Japan, Kenya and Guatemala, the invariant sequence of milestones of psychological development, regardless of environment, is explored. Included is an analysis of characteristics of infants; growth of play, growth of reflectivity and appearance of concrete operational thinking.
Topics: (Anthropology, Child Study, Educational Psychology)

Crocodile & Puget Sounds Highlighted

2010-09-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

UW's Art & Sciencing blog gives Media Center audio collections a nod: http://bit.ly/9GOwMR Thanks, Sohroosh...

9/11 video titles @ the MC

2010-09-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Loose change, Aftermath, United93, Other American Voices, and more 9/11 video titles @ the Media Center http://bit.ly/aPBQim

New DVDs for July 2010

2010-07-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

New DVDs for July 2010. There are many. Browse a selection below or go directly to the full list:
Aankhen

Aashiqui
Astro Boy
Bas ek pal
Bhai-Bhai
Breaking the bank
Dard ka rishta
Dhund
Diálogos de exiliados
Dil chahta hai
Dil vil pyar vyar .S. Pinafore, or The lass that loved a sailor
Kamisama, mou sukoshi dake
Day watch
Kinaz' Vladimir
Modern techniques in language teaching
Money-driven medicine
Mukesh Bhatt's Criminal
Suden vuosi
Vieraalla maalla
The washing of tears
Zui yu fa

New For June 2010

2010-06-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Need something to watch or listen to this summer? We have you covered with mountains of VHS tapes, container loads of CDs, and more. For example, here are June's new DVDs:
Otto e mezzo
A long walk
A nos amours
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Agustín's newspaper
L'empire de la passion
Ai no rukeichi
Mahal kita
Akhir film
All about Anna
Along the great divide
The amazing transparent man
American gangster
American Legacy
Ang anino ni Asedillo
El ángel exterminador
Anne Frank remembered
Antonio Gaudí
L'armée des ombres
The art of illusion : one hundred years of Hollywood special effects
As seen through these eyes
Asmara, Eritrea
Astaire and Rogers : partners in rhythm
Avatar
Azur & Asmar
The gamble
Banlieue 13 ultimatum
Late spring
Barricade
The battle for the Arctic
The beautiful truth
Beauty and the beast
Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the lion
Hakuchu no torima
Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara
Bigger than Enron
Blacking up : hip-hop's remix of race and identity
Boris Groys : thinking in loop, three videos on iconoclasm, ritual and immortality
Brainstorm
Brute force
Skeleton crew : Buried secrets
Burma VJ : reporting from a closed country
Burnt oranges
Buster Keaton collection
Buster Keaton rides again
By the people : the election of Barack Obama
The call to be good news : the 4th World Meeting of Familes
La Caminata
A Canterbury tale
The card game
Carrier
Cattle town
Father, mother apologize you
Chal aljido mothamyonso
Changeling
Children of Armageddon
Ch'injorhan Kumjassi
Chris Rock : bring the pain
Civil rights anniversary, 1965 : where has the year gone?
The Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilisation
Close to home : scenes from a recession
Combat shock
Un conte de noël
Copyright criminals
Countdown
The couple in the cage : a Guatinaui odyssey
Crazy heart
Crisis
Cross Bronx
Cuba, the battle of America
The curse of the jade scorpion
Da dou sai mau
Daluyong : the Filipino worker in the era of globalization
Dark knight
A death in Tehran
Democracy now! May 23, 2006
Digital underground in the People's Republic
Disgrace
Divorzio all'italiana
Dnevnoi dozor
Dr. Cornel West and Carl Dix : the current state of black America
Dramah 82
Dream wife
Edgar Rice Burroughh's Tarzan's savage fury
Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan and the she-devil
Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan and the slave girl
Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan's magic fountain
The Eleanor Roosevelt story
Is this art? Episode 1: Elevate and re-define contemporary dance
Children of paradise
Les enfants terribles
Epimaco Velasco, NBI
Equinox
Er Dong
Etsuraku
Faces of America
Family of cops
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas
February 9, 2009: Democracy Now!
Le feu follet
The Fighting Lady
A finished life : the goodbye & no regrets tour
Jing wu ying xiong
Five minutes of heaven
Flüstern & Schreien
For my wife--
Francesco, giullare di Dio
Free Willy
Friends : Season 1 v.1-2
Fumiko Hayashida : the woman behind the symbol
The Furies
Gara-gara bola! : kesebelasan mereka cuma dua orang
The gatekeeper of Enmyoin : according to a 95-year-old female Buddhist priest
Gimme shelter
Glee : Season 1
Goin' down the road
Gomorra
Good for her
Greetings from Siberia
Grieg, genes, and global reach v.2-3
The treatment
Hakuchu no torima
Her night of romance
The inheritors
Wings of desire
Hindi pa tapos ang laban
Hollywood Goes to War
Hoop dreams
Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hurricane
In the shadow of the stars : the lives of singers
The Indian
It happened on Yesler's hill
The Italian straw hat
It's complicated
IX Latvijas skolu jaunatnes dziesmu un deju svetki
Jangal
Janji Joni
Japanese paper balloon
La jetée
Judgment at Nuremberg
Kaette kita yopparai
Kenya Boran
Kill Rock Stars video fanzine III
Meiji
Kukka taep'yo
Kurutta kajitsu
Lagaan
Leon
Let us be gay
Lockdown USA
Long night's journey into day : South Africa's search for truth & reconciliation
Loose change 9/11 : an American coup
The lost battalion
Louis Clyde Stouman's Black fox : the true story of Adolf Hitler
Love it like a fool : a film about Malvina Reynolds
Lovely bones
Lupa ay laya
M
Citizen dog
Maciste
Mad Max : beyond Thunderdome
Made in Jamaica
Made in U.S.A
The Madoff affair
Mafioso
Maging akin muli
Man from God's country
The man who skied down Everest
The man with the golden arm
Le mani sulla citta
Mark of Zorro
Märkamisaeg
May the bomb be with you
Maybe baby
Meiji
El memorial del 68
Memories of a generation : the story of Ali Saeed and other Ethiopian political victims
The Messenger
Mga pusang gala
Minority report
Il mio viaggio in Italia
Missing
Mr. Vampire
Monsoon wedding
The mosque in Morgantown
Mr. Lucky
Mr. Patterns
Mrs. Miniver
Muerte de un ciclista
Mujer sin cabeza
Mumbai massacre
Munich
Murder, spies & voting lies : the Clint Curtis story
Muri shinju Nihon no natsu
My dinner with André
.My Winnipeg
Mystical brain
Napló gyermekeimnek
New year parade
The leaves of time
Nihon shunka-ko
Nihon teien : wa no niwa o tanoshimi tukusu, teien meguri v.1-3
Nogaku meienshu III v.1-3
Not your typical Bigfoot movie
Obama's war
The Oklahoman
El olvido
Option for the poor : from pristine robes to red flag of struggle
Who are the DeBolts? : and where did they get 19 kids?
Paris, Texas
Pieta
Pinakatagong lihim ng simbahan
Pixar short films collection. Volume 1
The power of booktalking
Pratap Chatterjee
Precious attractions of Central Java
Pressure cooker
Prima ballerina
I pugni in tasca
Pyaasa
Le quai des brumes
Quantum of solace
Queer China, Comrade China
Queer icon : the cult of Bette Davis
Quest for the Phoenicians
Red cartoons : animated films from East Germany.
La règle du jeu
Repulsion
Reservoir dogs
Ride with the Devil
The road to peace : the continuing pursuit of the comprehensive peace process
Road to perdition
Rolands Kalnins' forbidden films
Room for one more
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
Rules of engagement
Rumi : poet of the heart
Ruta ni Ka Roda
Sa ngalan ng tubó
Sacred soil
Saram ul ch'assumnida
Shatranj ke khilari
The science of sex appeal
Scooby-Doo and the ghoul school
The secret
A separate peace
Seppuku
September 24, 2009 : Michael Moore goes to the source in Capitalism: a love story
September 28, 2009 : Democracy Now!
Séraphine
Shall we dance
Show boat
Shugendo now
Simón del desierto
Sliding Liberia : a story of war, peace and surfing
Soul power
Stagecoach
Stiliagi
Strira patra
Suden vuosi
Tagumpay
Tales from the script
Tarzan's peril
Teito tanjo
Ten more good years
They dump the sick to satisfy investors
Thief of Bagdad
This sporting life
A letter from Dong Van
The toast of New York
Tokyo orimpikku
Tootsie
Training day
Treasure planet
Tuya de hun shi
Unfinished business : the Japanese-American internment cases
The union: the business behind getting high
Viaggio in Italia
El viaje de Carol
Vieraalla maalla
Wagon master
Walker
Walking with cavemen
Waterfalls
We are together
Weeds : Season 1
Weeds : Season 2
What are dreams?
Why we laugh
Wichita
William Kunstler : disturbing the universe
With one voice : awaken to the reality that unites us all
Wo de lao fu qin
Wo he ba ba
Old partner
Xue chan
Yamagata sukurimu
The young Victoria
Zhao Liang : 3 films documentaires.
Zulfikar Sheikh's Khaali aankhain

Ethnographic Video Online now available

2010-06-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Ethnographic video junkie? Can't get enough Ax Fight or Bitter Melon? You will be happy. UW Libraries now subscribes to Ethnographic Video Online. This resource is UW Net ID protected, so log in here if you are off campus before viewing it here: http://bit.ly/cQKVVJ

What is Ethnographic Video Online? Ethnographic Video Online provides a comprehensive resource for the study of human culture and behavior – more than 750 hours and 1,000 films at completion. The collection features the work of many of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, including interviews, previously unreleased raw footage, field notes, study guides, and more. Historical coverage ranges from the early work of Robert Flaherty in 1922 to the most current anthropological films from every region of the world. Documentaries from key filmmakers such as John Marshall, Timothy Asch, Robert Gardner, David MacDougall, John Bishop, David Plath. Thematic areas include: language and culture, kinesthetics, body language, food and foraging, cooking, economic systems, social stratification and status, caste systems and slavery, male and female roles, kinship and families, political organization, conflict and conflict resolution, religion and magic, music and the arts, culture and personality, and sex, gender, and family roles. A core collection for use across the curriculum—from introductory anthropology and sociology courses to advanced interdisciplinary courses in women’s studies, economics, and international studies— Ethnographic Video Online is Semantically Indexed to enable cross-cultural comparisons.

May DVDs, VHS videos, and CDs

2010-05-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

What do Afghan star, Big fan, Dada, Tipong Pinoy, Fanny, Firestarter, and Live at the Croc have in common? They are merely a few of the Libraries Media Center's many recently arrived DVDs, VHS videos, and CDs. Check them out...for free!

FILMS FROM THE VAULT

2010-05-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

Lazy woodcutters being mocked. Potential marriage partners being evaluated. Olympic marmots being introduced. Czechoslovakia being historicized. Snow being metamorphized.

Experience a postmodern pastiche of educational flicks at our FREE and daylong Films from the Vault fest. Media Center technicians will be on hand, rolling out wizened 16mm film from our Educational Media Collection bunker and then projecting them in all of their deteriorating analog glory. While we project we will simultaneously digitize all the films for preservation at the UW Libraries.

Wednesday May 26 from 9AM to 5PM in Odegaard Library Room 220. See you then and there.

THE SCHEDULE

Lazy Act 1: 9 am- Noon

KAMABARA: THE SICKLE AND INJURED PRIDE

9am, 21 min.

A lazy woodcutter, not wanting to work, threatens suicide by using his sickle trying to frighten his strong-willed wife. She mocks him and urges him on until a passerby intervenes. He is humiliated. The woodcutter finds a way to back down and saves his pride. Finally, he accepts his responsibility with honor and returns to work. (In Japanese without English subtitles)

UKIYO-E

9:30 am, 19 min.

Provides a chronological presentation of 300 examples of the ukiyo-e painters favorite subject matter: the komono-clad beauties of the day. It also features works by modern artists who are carrying on the ukiyo-e tradition.

Two Japanese Landscape Scrolls

10 am, 21 min.

The "long scroll" of Sesshu Toyo (fifteenth century artist), a seasonal panorama of Chinese landscapes is contrasted with scroll of Japanese countryside by Taikan Yokoyama (contemporary artist)

Choosing for Happiness

10:30 am, 14 min.

Points out character traits that are important to look for when evaluating a marriage partner. Stresses the importance of self-analysis and the acceptance in a marriage partner of those basic attributes which cannot be changed.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

10: 50 am, 12 min.

France's Pierre Etaix directed and acted in this comic portrayal of a man trying to reach home to celebrate his wedding anniversary. Etaix presents without words the humorous but frustrating plight of the husband who encounters delay after delay in Paris traffic.

FELICIA

11:15 am, 12 min.

Filmed in her home, school and neighborhood in Watts, California, Felicia is shown observing the area as it was in the spring of 1965, a few months before Watts was devastated by rioting. Felicia comments on hopes and frustrations experienced by the black population as a whole.

Coast to Coast in 48 Hours

11:30, 19 min.

An historical documentary presentation of the ability of persons to travel from New York to Los Angeles on Transcontinental Air Transport, the combined railroad and air transport line of the 1930's. Charles A. Lindberg, as one of the company's directors, makes an appearance.

ACT 2: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FILMS, Noon- 2pm

A PROGRAM OF SONGS BY LIGHTNIN' SAM HOPKINS

Noon, 8 min.

Illustrates an informal performance by Lightnin' Sam Hopkins, one of the best-known country blues guitar players alive today. He sings "Baby, Please Don't Go," "Mojo Hand" and "Take Me Back." (Release of University of Washington Press)

RETURN TO BIKINI

12:10, 23 min.

Presents a report of the scientific survey by a team from the Laboratory of Radiation Biology, University of Washington, to determine the condition of Bikini and Aniwetok atolls six years after the last nuclear test detonation.

Snow Metamorphism

12:40 pm, 9 min.

Time-lapse micrographs taken at the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Sapporo, Japan, directly and vividly illustrate such phenomena as snow compaction under load, equitemperature (destructive) and temperature-gradient (constructive) metamorphism, sintering melt metamorphism and melt.

Marmots of the Pacific Northwest

12:55 pm, 20 min.

One of the Northwest's unique wildlife species, the Olympic marmot is introduced. The remarkable habits of the animal in hibernation, reproduction, feeding and social interaction are examined in the marmot's natural environment of the high mountain meadows of Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

Time-Lapse Studies of Glacier Flow

1:15 pm, 13 mins.

Includes material collected over several years from Pacific Northwest glaciers. Illustrates the flow of glacier ice over an icefall during periods of three to four months. From special time-lapse photography in tunnels the internal deformation of ice under pressure and the flow of a glacier over bedrock is illustrated. One time-lapse scene also illustrates the up-glacier retreat of a snowline during the summer. (Some color sequences)

Village Potters of Onda

1:30 pm, 27 min.

Shows Japanese folk potters at work using techniques that have remained relatively unchanged for over 250 years. Includes a description of their way of life and the methods used in clay-mixing, throwing, decorating and firing. (Produced by Robert Sperry, School of Art)

Act 3: 2- 5pm

SKANDA SASTI

2 pm, 17 min.

Filmed in Tiruchendur in south India the film presents ``the festival of conquest'' celebrating the victory of Skanda, the six-headed son of Shiva, over the Demon in all of its various incarnations. It shows the worship of the iconic statues of Skanda and his two consorts including the showing of the 101 lights. On the seventh day of the festival the battle between Skanda and the Demon is presented in a pagent showing that, finally, man does not destroy the world, but masters it. Ends with the ritual marriage of the god and his consorts.

INDIRA GANDHI: A HERITAGE OF POWER

2:25 pm, 22 min.

Brought up in the shadow and influence of her father and grandfather, Indira Gandhi grew up to a legacy of great power and prestige. In a country where women have been totally subordinated by men, Indira became the first woman elected Prime Minister of a major country. After Mrs. Gandhi imposed curbs on civil liberties, she was interviewed, responding with apparent candor and charm to some very searching questions about her political acts. She hints that the West does not understand India or her own situation.

Dream about a House

2:55 pm, 12 min.

In this film with a surreal quality the camera is driven relentlessly through the streets of Budapest, wandering restlessly about the architecture. Suddenly a woman beckons and, there, sitting in front of an old apartment house, are those who have shared its living quarters and history. Lovers and prostitutes, old peddlers and young boys, war and peace and others at the opposite poles of the spectrum, have their niche in this world where an elderly lady winds an old clock and time moves on.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

3:15 pm, 16 min.

The history of Czechoslovakia is presented from its birth at Versailles to the Communist coup at the end of World War II

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

3:40 pm, 21 min.

Uses broad comedy strokes to deal with the traditionally serious subject of employment of the handicapped. Irreverent humor, a singing and dancing handicapped chorus, top television celebrities and the story of a film within a film dispels myths and prejudices about the handicapped. Edward Asner, Norman Lear, Jim Nabors and Betty White introduce vignettes which include satires on advertising approaches, as well as candid interviews where people speak out about what it's like to work with, employ, or be, the handicapped.

DISCOVERING JAZZ

4:05 pm, 22 min.

The history of jazz is traced from its roots in 19th century Black America. The Black American added rhythmic and melodic freedom to the harmony and structure of European music and contributed such techniques as note bending and call and response. Jazz soon became popular throughout the country. Its form progressed from Dixieland and blues through such styles as swing, bop, cool jazz, funky and free improvisation. Old styles of jazz never fade out yet jazz itself keeps changing as new groups contribute their ideas to this uniquely American art form.

STARFISH REALM

4: 30 pm. 14 min.

The film has its setting in two places, the laboratory and the ocean. The first sequence is of starfish and other aquatic creatures, the anemone and the sea slug among others. This is a ballet, of sorts, showing the delicate and rhythmic motion of the animals. The second part is an encounter in the laboratory between a crab and an octopus.

DARK SECRETS, BRIGHT VICTORY

4:50 pm, 13 min.

Depicts the actual events in one family's battle against bulimia. Teenage Heidi is the one with "the problem," yet her eating disorder is an integral part of the overall family dynamic. She allowed her addictive behavior to provide a temporary release from what seemed otherwise overwhelming problems. In an emotionally charged family counseling session, the family pattern of deception emerges and the foundation for Heidi's hidden habits becomes clear.

New Media for April?

2010-04-30T06:54:00.001-07:00

Why has it taken so long for me to post April's DVD/VHS/CD list to our blog and FB page? While it has been a busy month, Cathy Zegelin (the Media Center's intrepid Grad Student Specialist) created these about a month ago! So before April is over here they are: "new" DVD/VHS/CD titles for the month of April...

April DVDs

April VHS

April CDs

As always, you can also find these and all of our past lists here.

Bikini: Radio-Biological Laboratory

2010-03-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

Between 1946 and 1958, 23 nuclear devices were detonated at Bikini Atoll, beginning with the Operation Crossroads series in the summer of 1946. For numerous years UW Applied Fisheries Lab researchers spent time on the atoll studying the effect of widespread radioactive contamination on plant and animal life. In this 1950 film - "Bikini: Radio-Biological Laboratory" - (http://bit.ly/csb5pL), UW researchers are shown at work, tracing the nature of this radioactivity in the life cycles of an aquatic environment.

This film is from our Educational Media Collection, a historical collection of some 7,000 moving image and sound recording titles. More information about the film is available at h ttp://www.lib.washington.edu/media/emc.html

March Media Madness

2010-03-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

OLD NEWS ALERT! March DVDs, VHS, and CD titles have been in for several weeks! Check out all the items @ http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/searches/

13 short documentary films , 20th century box : 1995-2001 , 1937:the fact in Nan Jing , Eye on dance :Actors dancing & dancers acting , Eye on dance : African-American footprints leading to
the future , Alif nun , Almas sin fronteras, Alpha bravo charlie , Amreeka , Andrzej Munk , The blue bird , The Apes of Barbary , Eye on dance :. Art of Leonide Massine Attorney Romeo T. Capulong
Balkan rhapsodies : 78 measures of war Battleship Antarctica Behavioral characteristics of the rhesus monkey The big energy gamble The Billy Nayer show: the early years Blood diamond Blu in you Bo shibari Bright star Buddy Holly story Buffy, the vampire slayer : Season 2 Bums are people too! The Chacma baboons Eye on dance : Changing trends in dance Chasseurs de dragons Che Chicago Christianity Claude Levi-Strauss par lui-même Coco avant Chanel La commune : (Paris 1871)

Countdown to delirium? Newish DVD/VHS/CD titles

2010-01-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, new DVDs, VHS, and CDs @ the Media Center. Everything from
Adventureland and Valkyrie, to Lemur's Tale and the Seattle Phonographers Union. Check out them out @
http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/new/dvd201001.html
http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/new/VHS201001.html
http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/new/cd201001.html

Sound Archiving in Ethnomusicology

2010-01-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

This quarter UW ethnomusicology archivist Laurel Sercombe and I are leading a seminar called Sound Archiving in Ethnomusicology. Our 20 grad students come from both ethnomusicology and information studies. The breadth of their perspectives and experiences is great, as is the collective expertise of our guest lecturers: John Gibbs (UW Music Library), Gary Louie (UW School of Music), and Colin Todd (UW School of Music). Check out our class blog @ http://uwsoundarchiving.blogspot.com/

2009 National Film Registry

2010-01-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant to be preserved for all time (quite a commitment!). These films are not selected as the "best" (however that is defined) American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture.

From the Act: "Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of protecting America’s matchless film heritage and cinematic creativity," said Billington. "By preserving the nation’s films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural patrimony and history."

The UW Libraries holds or has access to several of the films identified in this year's round of the registry. To find these films, click on the linked titles below. However, as you will see, many of this year's additions are not available due to their rarity. We hope that by being added to the Registry, these films will find a wider audience and perhaps then be released for purchase.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Director Sidney Lumet balances suspense, violence and humor in Frank Pierson’s Oscar-winning adaptation of a true-life bank robbery turned media circus. Al Pacino is the engaging Sonny, a smart yet self-destructive Brooklyn tough guy whose plan to rob the local bank to pay for his lover’s sex change goes awry. Lumet artfully conducts his talented cast through machinations that twist and turn from the political to the personal, and inevitably lead to a downward spiral played out before an audience of millions.

The Exiles (1961)

Released nearly 48 years ago, "The Exiles" remains one of the few non-stereotypical films that honestly depict Native Americans. With the perspective of a true outsider, filmmaker Kent MacKenzie captures the raw essence of a group of 20-something Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live among the decayed Victorian mansions of Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill district. MacKenzie’s day-in-the-life narrative pieces together interviews that allow the people in his film to tell their own stories without ascribing artificial sentimentality.

Heroes All (1920)

The Red Cross Bureau of Pictures produced more than 100 films, including "Heroes All," from 1917-1921, which are invaluable historical and visual records of the era with footage from World War I and its aftermath. "Heroes All" examines returning wounded WWI veterans and their treatment at Walter Reed Hospital, along with visits to iconic Washington, D.C., landmarks. Several Red Cross cinematographers achieved notable film careers, including Ernest Schoedsack and A. Farciot Edouart.

Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)

This hilarious New York University student film (with a cast including Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman in her film debut) was written and directed by Martin Brest who later went on to direct "Beverly Hills Cop," "Scent of a Woman" and "Meet Joe Black." In the film, DeVito plays a down-on-his-luck photographer determined to capture visual magic and fame. He concocts an intricate plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty and sets his camera to record the exact moment of its destruction.

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

This sci-fi classic about a man who starts to shrink after being exposed to a strange cloud while on vacation is notable for its intelligent script and imaginative special effects. Jack Arnold’s sparse direction and Richard Matheson’s poignant script allow the tension to build naturally in a world where a house cat and common spider become the ultimate threat to existence and leave an indelible mark on the audience’s consciousness.

Jezebel (1938)

Bette Davis won her second Academy Award for this William Wyler-directed classic. Cast to perfection as a tempestuous southern belle, Davis’ head-strong heroine must eventually learn self-sacrifice in order to save the man she loves. Despite its melodramatic underpinnings, the film endures because of Davis’ flawless performance and for its examination of both the American South and women’s societal roles. The movie co-stars Henry Fonda and Fay Bainter, who also won an Oscar for her work.

The Jungle (1967)

With the guidance of Temple University social worker Harold Haskins, a group of African-American teenage boys in Philadelphia made this hybrid documentary/dramatization of their lives in the 12th and Oxford Street gang. Shot in an original and natural style, this 22-minute film was recognized with festival awards, but was never theatrically released. In 1968, Churchill Films distributed the film in 16mm for the educational market. The production led several of the gang members to earn high school and college degrees.

The Lead Shoes (1949)

"The Lead Shoes" is a dreamlike trance showing the unconscious acts of a disturbed mind through a distorted lens and other abstract visual techniques (such as reverse and stop motion). "Narrative succumbs to the comic devices of inconsequence and illogic," said writer and independent filmmaker Sidney Peterson of his film. Peterson is considered the father of San Francisco avant-garde cinema.

Little Nemo (1911)

This classic work, a mix of live action and animation, was adapted from Winsor McCay’s famed 1905 comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland." Its fluidity, graphics and story-telling was light years beyond other films made during that time. A seminal figure in both animation and comic art, McCay profoundly influenced many generations of future animators, including Walt Disney.

Mabel’s Blunder (1914)

Mabel Normand, who wrote, directed and starred in "Mabel’s Blunder," was the most successful of the early silent screen comediennes. The film tells the tale of a young woman who is secretly engaged to the boss’ son. When a new employee catches the young man’s eye, a jealous Mabel dresses up as a chauffeur to spy on them, which leads to a series of mistaken identities. The film showcases Normand’s spontaneous and intuitive playfulness and her ability to be both romantically appealing and boisterously funny.

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Under Rouben Mamoulian’s inventive direction, Tyrone Power plays Don Diego, son of a 19th-century Los Angeles governor who has been unseated by a mercenary despot and his sadistic captain, portrayed by Basil Rathbone. Convincingly foppish by day, Don Diego conceals his heroic alter-ego to avenge his father and the terrorized citizenry, carving his signature "Z" with his trusty sword as he goes. Mamoulian cleverly cuts in and out of scenes to heighten the drama and action as the film crescendos to a thrilling duel between Rathbone and Power.

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

This remarkably touching wartime melodrama pictorializes the classic British stiff upper lip and the courage of a middle-class English family (headed by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) amid the chaos of air raids and family loss. The film’s iconic tribute to the sacrifices on the home front, as movingly directed by William Wyler, did much to rally America’s support for its British allies. "Mrs. Miniver" won six Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress.

The Muppet Movie (1979)

Muppet creators Jim Henson and Frank Oz immersed their characters into a well-crafted combination of musical comedy and fantasy adventure. Kermit the Frog leads TV series regulars Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Ralph and Animal on a road trip to Hollywood where they encounter numerous characters played by such actors as Steve Martin, Mel Brooks and Charles Durning.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Disdained as "Spaghetti Westerns" when they first appeared in American movie theaters, the best of these films, such as "Once Upon a Time in the West," are now recognized as among the greatest achievements of the Western movie genre. Director Sergio Leone’s operatic visual homage to the American Western legend is a chilling tale of vengeance set against the backdrop of the coming of the railroad. Ennio Morricone’s magnificent score (especially the elegiac "Jill’s Theme") is likewise recognized for its brilliance.

Pillow Talk (1959 )

The first film to co-star Doris Day and Rock Hudson, "Pillow Talk" remains one of the screen’s most definitive, influential and timeless romantic comedies. Sweet and sophisticated, it is a time capsule of 1950s America. Two single New Yorkers develop an anonymous, antagonistic relationship by sharing a telephone "party line." Both romance and complications ensue when they finally meet in person. The film is a perfect showcase for its two charismatic stars, especially the effervescent Day who demonstrates why she was both America’s Sweetheart and one of cinema’s finest comediennes.

Precious Images (1986)

Chuck Workman’s legendary compilation film to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Directors Guild of America is also a dazzling celebration of the first near-century of American cinema. The pioneer of rapid-fire film history montages, "Precious Images" contains in the space of seven short minutes nearly 500 clips from classic films spanning the years 1903-1985. It became the most influential and widely shown short film in history. Workman is known for creating the montages shown during the annual Academy Awards broadcast.

Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)

"Quasi at the Quackadero" has earned the term "unique." Once described as a "mixture of 1930s Van Beuren cartoons and 1960s R. Crumb comics with a dash of Sam Flax," and a descendent of the "Depression-era funny animal cartoon," Sally Cruikshank’s wildly imaginative tale of odd creatures visiting a psychedelic amusement park careens creatively from strange to truly wacky scenes. It became a favorite of the Midnight Movie circuit in the 1970s. Cruikshank later created animation sequences for "Sesame Street," the 1986 film "Ruthless People" and the "Cartoon Land" sequence in the 1983 film "Twilight Zone: The Movie."

The Red Book (1994)

Renowned experimental filmmaker and theater/installation artist Janie Geiser’s work is known for its ambiguity, explorations of memory and emotional states and exceptional design. She describes "The Red Book" as "an elliptical, pictographic animated film that uses flat, painted figures and collage elements in both two and three dimensional settings to explore the realms of memory, language and identity from the point of view of a woman amnesiac."

The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)

This extraordinary compilation film was made by the Padilla family in El Paso, Texas, from dozens of fact-based and fictional films about Pancho Villa. The films were stitched together with original bilingual title cards and dramatic reenactments of Villa’s assassination were added to the revised print. "The Revenge of Pancho Villa" provides stirring evidence of a vital Mexican-American film presence during the 1910-30s.

Scratch and Crow (1995)

Helen Hill’s student film was made at the California Institute of the Arts. Consistent with the short films she made from age 11 until her death at 36, this animated short work is filled with vivid color and a light sense of humor. It is also a poetic and spiritual homage to animals and the human soul.

Stark Love (1927)

A maverick production in both design and concept, "Stark Love" is a beautifully photographed mix of lyrical anthropology and action melodrama from director Karl Brown. "Man is absolute ruler. Woman is working slave." Such are the rigid attitudes framing this tale of a country boy’s beliefs about chivalry that lead him to try to escape a brutal father with the girl he loves. "Stark Love," cast exclusively with amateur actors and filmed entirely in the Great Smoky Mountains, is an illuminating portrayal of the Appalachian people.

The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

William Wellman’s gritty portrayal of the realities of war was based on the newspaper columns of war correspondent Ernie Pyle, played with understated realism by Burgess Meredith. In the film, Pyle follows a small group of ordinary infantrymen from North Africa into Italy, and his observations reflect the full gamut of human emotion that war invokes while trying to make sense of the inhuman randomness of war’s destruction.

A Study in Reds (1932)

This polished amateur film by Miriam Bennett spoofs women’s clubs and the Soviet menace in the 1930s. While listening to a tedious lecture on the Soviet threat, Wisconsin Dells’ Tuesday Club members fall asleep and find themselves laboring in an all-women collective in Russia under the unflinching eye of the Soviet special police.

Thriller (1983)

The most famous music video of all time, "Thriller" caused such a buzz that it was also released theatrically in 35mm. As a follow-up to his smash 1982 album and single, Michael Jackson revolutionized the music industry with this lavish and expensive production. Acclaimed filmmaker John Landis ("Animal House" and "Blues Brothers") directed and co-wrote the video.

Under Western Stars (1938)

"Under Western Stars" turned Roy Rogers into a movie star. In the film, Rogers plays a populist cowboy/congressman elected to champion for small ranchers’ water rights during the Dust Bowl. He and his golden palomino Trigger appeared in nearly 100 films and a long-running television series. Known as "King of the Cowboys," the popular Rogers had an enormous impact on American audiences. Rogers was perceived as the almost perfect embodiment of what a cowboy should be in appearance, values, good manners and chivalrous behavior.

December DVDs, VHS, and CDs

2009-12-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

American astronaut, Anvil, Cornish Ordinalia, Evil Dead, Folk music of India, Lincoln and Black Hawk, Lempad of Bali, Love songs, Milk, Racial Structure, Siaka: an African musician, Unsung, Urgh! A music war, World erotica - December DVDs, VHS, and CDs now listed @ http://bit.ly/11WIfL

New(ish) DVDs, CDS, and VHS tapes!

2009-11-18T13:10:00.001-08:00

Our belated new arrival DVD/CD/VHS lists are now online and ready for browsing. What's in store for you? Battle in Seattle, Double indemnity, WWII : a filmed history from the National Archives, Dolphins : the wild side, The great American bailout (the 1991 S&L bailout), International sad hits. Volume one, Altaic language group and Are you swimming in a sewer?

Don’t Burn It - Film and Discussion, November 10

2009-11-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

Ðừng Ðốt (Don’t Burn It), Film and Discussion, November 10
The UW Libraries and the Southeast Asian Studies Center Present Ðừng Ðốt (Don’t Burn It), a film in Vietnamese with English subtitles, followed by discussion, November 10, 4.30 pm Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Room 220. Directed by pre-eminent Vietnamese film maker Ðặng Nhật Minh, the film is based on the published diary of Dr Đặng Thùy Trâm. The diary became a best-seller in Vietnam, published as Nhật kỳ Đặng Thùy Trâm, and has been much acclaimed in translation as Last Night I Dreamed of Peace. (more)

Films to consider for November

2009-11-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

It's November! As no one is acclimated to the cold yet, November means abuse of the thermostat and Snuggies (am i right?), both very conducive to watching movies. Equally accommodating is the four day Thanksgiving Break we get in November. While I love the opportunity to feast on delicious fall foods and spend time with friends and family, it's important to remember what the Thanksgiving story represents for many people. Why not bring a film home for Thanksgiving from this DVD series titled Journal Of The First Americans, or one from the Before Columbus series? These are just a teeny tiny sampling of the educational films we have about contemporary Native American issues and historical colonization. Learn some things!

Happy Audiovisual Heritage Day!

2009-10-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Audiovisual materials--audio recordings, videos, films--embody a wealth of information and represent a vast swath of 20th of 21st century cultural heritage. Unfortunately, these documents are also by their very nature unstable and prone to obsolescence (did you know that the life expectancy of a DVD is about 30 years IF stored under ideal conditions?).

Today--UNESCO's fourth annual AV Heritage Day--is meant to raise awareness about the importance of audiovisual recordings and the dire need to preserve them.

Are you interested in making sure that UW's audiovisual materials will be preserved for the long haul? If so, let us know! By working together we can make it happen.

About AV Heritage Day: "In 2005 UNESCO's General Conference proclaimed 27 October as World Day for Audiovisual Heritage to raise awareness of the importance of audiovisual documents as integral part of national identities and draw attention to the urgent need to protect them. Every year activities are organized around a theme agreed upon by CCAAA; this year’s theme will be "Fading heritage - we can save it".

Audiovisual heritage comprises all forms of moving images and recorded sounds, regardless of the means of creation, preservation or delivery. It also includes associated information, documents, objects, artifacts and technology, and graphical material selected in its own right. Such heritage expresses a nation as a place and people and considered to be most characteristic of the 20th and 21st centuries. Its cultural influence and informational content are immense, and rapidly increasing.

Transcending language and cultural boundaries, appealing immediately to the eye and the ear, to the literate and illiterate alike, audiovisual documents have transformed society by becoming a permanent complement to the traditional written record. Their content cannot be reduced to written form, and its integrity is closely tied to the format of its carrier – be it film, magnetic or optical media. Because of their fragility, many audiovisual documents have been lost and continue to be lost if no action is undertaken" (http://bit.ly/iMhkh).

Chinese Film Week: October 26-31

2009-10-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

FREE! BEGINS TONIGHT!

Come to Meet with the Director and Actor during the Chinese Film Week. The East Asia Library and the China Studies Program will host a Chinese film week October 26-31, 2009, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of US-China relations. The theme of the film week is “Shanghai Women Film Directors,” featuring PENG Xiaolian of the renowned 5th generation of Chinese film directors. There will be five films by PENG Xiaolian for screening during the week. Ms Peng and an award-winning actor from Seattle will be here to interact with the audience and share their personal accounts. All movies will have English Subtitles except the one entitled Storm under the Sun, which will be in English. The events and film screenings are free and open to the public. We warmly invite you to join the director and actor for a fun and fascinating film week.

Schedule

10/26/2009 Grand Opening - OUGL 220
6:00-7:00 Prof. Yomi Braester: Two Women Film Directors
Peng Xiaoliang : Introduction to My Films
7:00-9:30 Screening: Shanghai Story

10/27/2009 - OUGL 220
6:00-8:00 Screening: Kids in Shanghai
8:00 – 9:00 Q&A with Peng Xiaoliang and a lead actor

10/28/2009 - OUGL 220
6:00- 8:00 Screening: Shanghai Women

10/29/2009 - Allen Auditorium
12:00-12:30 Peng Xiaolian: A Tribute to My Father: the making of Storm Under the Sun
12:30-2:00 Screening: Storm under the Sun. Q&A with the Director

10/30/2009 - OUGL 220
6:00-8:00 Screening: Red Persimmons

10/31/09 - OUGL 220
6:00-8:00 Screening: Doors, directed by Li Shaohong

Should we subscribe to American History in Video?

2009-10-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Free access to American History in Video through Nov. 15th - http://bit.ly/bkjTN. Should UW subscribe? Let us know: http://bit.ly/r1LS0

MEF Online @ UW

2009-10-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

14 full-length documentaries from the Media Education Foundation (MEF) are online and available to UW faculty, students, and staff. Click here to watch (UW Net ID required). These titles include:

Bell Hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation
Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class
Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood
Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video
Freedom of Expression: Resistance & Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property
Game Over: Gender, Race & Violence in Video Games
Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes
Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women
Mickey Mouse Monopoly
Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News
Rich Media, Poor Democracy
Slim Hopes: Advertising & the Obsession with Thinness
Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity
Wrestling with Manhood: Boys, Bullying & Battering

These are many more MEF titles are also available on DVD and VHS from the Libraries. Click here to browse these holdings.

Dawg Film Fest | This Friday

2009-09-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

Come join us a for the Media Center's 2nd Annual Dawg Daze Film Festival! Everyone is invited and it's very affordable: free!

When? This Friday, October 2nd, 9:00-4:45 pm.

Where? Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Room 220 on 2nd floor (map).

Why? Dawg Daze, i.e., welcome UW's new class of students to the Libraries, the Media Center, and their extensive collections!

What? See below...

9:00-10:30
Consuming Kids - Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world. Consuming Kids pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids (call number DVD MEF 037 ) (90 min.).

10:45 - 12:00
War Made Easy - Exposes how presidential administrations of both parties have relied on a combination of deception and media complicity to sell one war after another to the American people. Narrated by actor Sean Penn, and based on the acclaimed book by Norman Solomon, the film exhumes five decades of remarkable archival footage to reveal in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated, and glamorized, the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations. The film gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam War and Iraq, setting government spin and media collusion from the present alongside virtually identical patterns from the past. An invaluable introduction to war propaganda and public relations that transcends politics as it raises serious questions about the role of journalism and political communication in democratic societies (call number DVD DISI 014)(72 min.).

12:15 - 1:45
King Corn - In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, nitrogen fertilizers, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most productive, most subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat (call number DVD TAC 1671) (92 min.).

2:00 - 3:30
The Sari Soldiers - Documentary that follows six Nepalese women on the forefront of the civil war in Nepal and the escalating instability and violence that is engulfing the country. Over the course of three years, the film follows these women on the different sides of the conflict and witnesses the challenges they face as women taking such a strong role in a male dominated society, and why they are willing to risk their lives to make a difference in Nepal (call number DVD WMM 026 ) (93 min.).

3:45 - 4:45
Capitalism hits the fan - Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today's economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself. Wolff traces the sources of the economic crisis to the 1970's, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown (call number DVD MEF 035) (57 min.).

New media - September 2009

2009-09-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

Summer's almost over, but there are still a few more weeks before school starts. Why not check out some of our new media?

Some of the new DVDs this month include ... Milk, the Wrestler, and Synecdoche, New York (Philip Seymour Hoffman!), and the first three seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

We've also got some new music for you including the likes of Lucinda Williams, the Ramones, the Kinks, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, REM, Blondie, and Elvis Costello.

And, as always, we've got some classics for you on our beloved dying format (aka VHS). Check out Doll Squad, Doll face, Dolls, or the Dolly sisters. Or, perhaps, Dick Tracy?

Enjoy!

Click here for a list of new titles.

VHS BBQ

2009-09-01T10:28:00.001-07:00

How do you like your VHS? At the Media Center we like them rare, really rare.

Come to our VHS BBQ on Wednesday Sept. 2, from 9-5, in Odegaard 220. Drop in to watch and discuss selections from the Media Center's recently acquired rare and unique VHS titles. That's right, we are the only library that own these VHS titles! While we watch we simultaneously be digitizing these titles for preservation purposes.

9:00-9:25 University of Washington: A Resource Worth Preserving (VHS UWIMS 082). Shows the importance of the University of Washington as a national and regional resource as important to the region as forests, water and other natural resources.http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/428107858

9:30-10:40 Boldt decision (VHS KCTS 024). In 1975, U. S. Judge George Boldt ruled that treaty Indians in Washington are entitled to half the harvestable catch of salmon and steelhead. This decision has had wide-reaching effects both emotionally and economically. First the views of those most affected by the decision--commercial, sports and Indian fishermen, and those in related industries--are presented. Finally a studio discussion is shown with representatives from state fisheries, the court and Indian and non-Indian fishermen. http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/419552786

10:45-11:20 Litinies of Satan (VHS TARG 001). A jolting "recitation" by avant garde vocalist Diamánda Galás of parts of a poem by Charles Baudelaire. The screeching delivery is augmented by images of the performer heavily manipulated with light and color. http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/82034895

11:25-12:00 Women in modern Spain (VHS UWIMS 042). Host Al Page speaks with Maria Duran, Professor of Sociology at the University of Madrid and Guest Lecturer at the University of Washington. They discuss the power that women have in Spain, historically, and in the present. Professor Duran speaks of abortion and divorce in Spain, the difficulty of women's choices between traditional and modern values, and how changes in the culture continually affect those choices. Changes in the culture, the economy and the legislature have also affected the raising of children, education and the stability of Spain itself (30 min). http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/368602073

12:00-1:00 LUNCH (actual BBQ on your own, if you like: just not in 220)

1:00 - 2:00 Devo : the men who make the music (VHS WHV 272). This film, intended to be the first video LP, combines concert footage with music videos and a story about Devo's rocky relationship with 'big entertainment'. http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/423060534

2:15 - 3:25 Situation Zero (VHS USCFR 002). More than 300,000 Cambodians are living in "temporary" evacuation sites along the Thai-Cambodian border; many have lived in these condition since 1979. The largest of these camps is Site-2, with a population of over 180,000. Follows the daily life of Yan Chheing, a sixty-year old grandmother and former peasant farmer, her daughter and three grandchildren. As she speaks of their present situation, the personal and tragic story of her family is shown. http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/422752008

3:30 - 4:10 A Northwest plan for the future (VHS UWIMS 064). Host Al Page speaks with Professor Douglas Kelbaugh, Chairman of the Department of Architecture, University of Washington. After a brief general discussion of the objective and subjective aspects of architecture, Professor Kelbaugh describes the positive elements that make Seattle a vital, dynamic city--a city of villages. He develops the idea that the automobile and television have changed the city. He explains the "pocket community" idea of urban development as an effort to control the suburban "smear across the countryside. http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/402596993

4:15 - 5:00 Crusaders and Mamluks (VHS UWIMS 076). Instructors Jere Bacharach and Irene Bierman discuss the architecture and decorative arts of the Mamluks, an imported Turkish warrior class which represented European's first contact with Islam in many cases. The Mamluks built many religious structures and commissioned Quʻran's as a means of influencing the religious power structure throughout the empire. http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/42487554

Movie list for ESL patrons

2009-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to know which movies in our catalog are helpful for learning English just by looking at the call numbers. This website, ESLnotes.com is a great resource. Not only have they compiled an extensive list of movies that they feel are beneficial for intermediate to advanced English learners, but they have included detailed notes on each film to help you pick one that sounds interesting to you. This is a great place to start if you're not sure what you're looking for.

Science is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé

2009-08-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Science is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé (DVD CRIT 358), released by the Criterion Collection, has recently been added to our collection. This comprehensive, three-disc release is just... so cool. The first disc contains thirteen of Painlevé's popular short films selected from hundreds completed during his extensive film career, plus, and this is the part I find especially cool, "The Sounds of Science," a collection of eight films accompanied by an original score written by indie-rock band Yo La Tengo. Disc two contains ten films, including one animation. All are united by the final disc called "Jean Painlevé Through his Films," made in 1988. Apparently the scientist/filmmaker first got into film through his connections with the Dada art movement, and later used his films as an expression of his contempt for the Nazis. His anti-nazi sentiments later forced him to flee from France, a feat he achieved by escaping underwater all the way to Spain using scubadiving gear he invented.

Browsing Collection

2009-08-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

You can now browse a selection DVDs in-person at the UW Libraries Media Center, located on the mezzanine level of Odegaard Undergraduate Library. Read a Daily Article about it here and let us know if you like this idea!

Crocodile Collection Goes Live on August 11

2009-08-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Help us celebrate the launch of Jim Anderson's Crocodile Cafe Collection at the University of Washington!

When? Next Tuesday, August 11th, at 4pm.
Where? Odegaard Undergraduate Library room 220 to start and then we will visit the listening stations at the Libraries Media Center.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

From http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/crocodile.html

The Crocodile Café Collection contains over 2,800 hours of live music recordings. Recorded at the Café between May 2002 and December 2007 by audio engineer Jim Anderson, these recordings document performances by dozens of artists, both notable and obscure.

FAQ

Can I listen to the recordings? If so, how?

Beginning on August 11, yes! The collection will be made available via iTunes on two listening stations at the Libraries Media Center, which is located on the mezzanine level of Odegaard Undergraduate Library (hours and location information available here).

What's in the collection?

Click here to view a preliminary list of the collection's contents.

Why aren't the recordings online?

The University of Washington owns the recordings but not the rights to the intellectual content captured on the recordings. Therefore, in order to prevent unauthorized duplication and distribution of the recordings, we restrict access to in-library use only.

Why is it housed at the University of Washington?

Mr. Anderson donated the original digital recordings to the UW Ethnomusicology Archives in October 2008 (Collection number 2008.12). They are being preserved and made accessible by the Archives and the UW Libraries. This collection complements the Ethnomusicology Archive's regional collections and the Media Center's Puget Sounds project, which aims to document music in the Pacific NW.

What if I have questions about the collection?

Contact the Libraries Media Center at medialib@uw.edu or (206) 543-6051.

Impressions of New Wave Cinema

2009-08-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

I will say right off the bat that I am not a film scholar, and although I love movies, I have the attention span of a gold fish. I think this quality alone is what draws me to New Wave Cinema. The filmmakers of this genre are presenting me with a challenge: can you sit through this film? Can you handle it? I have mixed feeling about marathon movies, but I have found that most of the new wave films I’ve sat through are rewarding. Here is a list of scenes that stand out in my memory, for people with similar attention issues. The first four scenes are from Czech directors, and the rest are French Nouveau Vague by Mr. Jean-Luc Godard:

“The Last Meal” scene in Daisies

“Cutting up” scene in Daisies

“Outrage!” scene in Closely Watched Trains

“Resistance” scene in Closely Watched Trains

“Paul interviews ‘Miss 19’ of 1965” in Masculine Feminine

Madeleine recording her album in Masculine Feminine

“Traffic Jam” scene in Weekend

“The Lewis Carrol Way” scene in Weekend

“You Like All of Me?” scene in Contempt

Camille in a wig in Contempt

New Media - August 2009

2009-08-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Lots of great classic and alternative rock added this month, including Buffalo Springfield, The Go-Go's, P.J. Harvey, Dr. John, Kiss, 2Pac, The Stooges, Talking Heads, and The Velvet Underground. Check out all of our new music this month here.

New additions to our DVD collection include Dr. Who (the complete first series), Donnie Brasco, Sharkwater, Murnau classics including Tartuffe and The Last Laugh, Stop-Loss, The Wire (Season 4), and Help! Check out all of our new DVDs here.

We are also continually adding to our VHS collection from a large gifts donation. This month's titles include Demons of the Mind, Desire and Hell at the Sunset Motel, Desperado, Desperate Measures, The Devil's Advocate, Devo: The Men Who Make the Music, Devil's Rain, and Destination Moon Base Alpha! Check out all of our newest VHS acquisitions here.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl

2009-07-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently explained to me the cinematic phenomenon of the "manic pixie dream girl," after seeing Lovers of the Arctic Circle. MPDG's are described at length on wikipedia, but can be summed up by film critic Nathan Rabin, who coined the phrase, as "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures."

Movies immediately sprang to mind with this exact character. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's entire plot is based around a straight-laced, mopey Jim Carey struggling with his MPDG, and thanks to MPDG in Garden State, Zach Braff, along with the rest of the world were convinced that one song really will change your life.

Or every movie with Kirsten Dunst in it... ever.

But even classics feature this amazingly flat enigma. Remember Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, and Breakfast at Tiffany's, and... I guess every movie with her in it ever.

I'm not saying these movies aren't valid. Let's face it, MPDGs are fantastic tools for a good drama or romantic comedy, and it's great to pretend for a couple hours that people are quirky and exciting 24 hours a day. But don't worry, people are actually boring sometimes too.

Innocence (DVD IEF 226)

2009-07-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

This film by director Lucile Hadzihalilovic is a stunning example of contemporary symbolist fiction. Based on the novella by Frank Wedekind (author of Spring Awakening), the story follows the daily routine of an unusual all-girls school located in an isolated forest. I was pulled in by the extreme vividness of the cinematography; the green of the forest and the colored ribbons in the girls’ hair is completely saturated amongst crisp pastels and high contrasts. A very sparse soundtrack of classical music is supplemented by heightened ambient noise, adding an eeriness to the other-worldly environment. I recommend it if you liked Picnic at Hanging Rock (DVD CRIT 053), La mala educación (DVD SONYHE 057), and Palindromes (DVD WELL 027).

Half Japanese: The band that would be king (DVD VANF 001)

2009-07-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Half Japanese is a band you want to love. Like the Shaggs, Daniel Johnston and Gary Wilson, Half Japanese earned their cred from their eccentric personalities and unconventional yet honest musical style. The great thing about watching a well made music documentary about this band, is that you don’t actually have to listen to the fifteen or so albums they produced before they knew how to play their instruments (arguably). The live and studio footage is enough to give you a feel of the band’s aesthetic and progression, and, thanks to a great editor, are all surprisingly enjoyable. Band members David and Jad Fair are fantastic eccentrics, who explain their inspirations and diligence with a seriousness that is both endearing and honorable. Footage of the band is interspursed with interviews with legend Mo Tucker of the Velvet Underground, and music critic Byron Coley, among others. This film is an homage to music nerds everywhere.

Other music documentaries I suggest for kids who never got any good at sports: American Hardcore (DVD SONYHE 036), The Devil and Daniel Johnston (DVD SONYHE 038), and Joy Division (DVD GENI 047).

Are you "Building Social Skills in the Preschool Child"?

2009-07-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Need expert help? Then watch this seminal UW film:
http://bit.ly/TyzEc (part 1) &
http://bit.ly/1bmuaL (part 2)

Bastille Day VHS Party

2009-07-14T20:18:00.001-07:00

Can't get enough of the Bicentennial Celebration of Bastille Day? Watch all 4 volumes on VHS, now, while it's here: http://bit.ly/WmZvQ

New Media - July 2009

2009-07-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

We've some great new media for July. Check it out ...

UW Welcomes Afghan Visitors

2009-06-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Three esteemed visitors from Radio Kabul/Afghanistan arrived in Seattle this past Monday for a 3-week audio archiving workshop sponsored by the UW Libraries and the UW School of Music.

They are:
• Zafar Jan Daqiq, American Institute of Afghanistan Studies;
• Abdul Jamil Wardak, Radio Afghanistan;
• Abdul Wahed Popal, Radio Afghanistan.

The workshop, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), has been developed to complement a larger NEH Preservation and Access grant that has enabled Radio Kabul/Afghanistan staff to digitize and preserve nearly 1500 hours of unique music recordings. In addition to providing the participants with hands-on training in audio preservation, the workshop is intended to connect the Radio Kabul/Afghanistan Archives to a larger community of international archives and archivists.

The workshop is co-instructed by Laurel Sercombe (UW Ethnomusicology Archives), and myself, along with help from John Gibbs (UW Libraries), Gary Louie (UW School of Music), Colin Todd (UW School of Music, and others. The Principal Investigator for the workshop and the larger NEH grant is Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, former UW ethnomusicology professor and UCLA Professor Emerita.

Following their 3 weeks in Seattle, Prof. Sakata will accompany the participants to Bloomington for a visit to Indiana University’s Archives of Traditional Music, where Mr. Wahid Nazari (President of Radio-Television Afghanistan) is scheduled to join the group. The group then flies to Washington DC where they will meet with representatives from the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian until their return to Kabul in late July.

More information about Radio Kabul/Afghanistan can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Kabul

A BBC story about the archive and how its staff members (Abdul Jamil Wardak and Abdul Wahed Popal among them) helped save it, can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/kr4fhf

And if you see our honored guests around UW please make them feel welcome by saying “Salaam Alekum” (Dari for “Hello” / “Peace and blessings be upon you”).

-John Vallier

New Media - June 2009

2009-06-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

We’re finishing up the academic year with some great additions to our collection. As for DVDs, we’ve just got in a nice little DIY documentary on Red House, a punk venue in Olympia, Washington. There are also some new Criterion films: Science is fiction, The curious case of Benjamin Button, L’età di Cosimo de’ Medici, Ariel, Blaise Pascal, Cartesius, The love parade, Monte Carlo, One hour with you, and Varjoja paratiisissa. We also got a bunch of new television shows (Battlestar Galactica, SesameStreet, HBO’s Carnivale) as well as new seasons to some shows we already carried.

As for VHS, we've added 260 this month. That's a lot for a dying format -- heh. This is largely due to cataloging videos from the recently acquired EMC collection. A lot of classic education titles in there. And, of course, we are still plodding through a large donation of VHS tapes -- we're up to D's so this month we have a lot of new day and death titles this month

As for CDs, a lot of great new additions to the Puget Sounds collection, including a bunch of titles from Hardly Art Records.

Check them all out here: DVDs, VHS, CDs

New Media - May 2009

2009-05-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Lots of great local music and hip hop added to out collection this month, including Black Moon, Jeru the Damaja, Sleater-Kinney, Prkr, Starfucker, Portugal. The Man, Pharcyde, and a whole lot of Bill Frisell! Check out all of our new music this month here.

New additions to our DVD collection include 30 Rock (Season 1), Twilight, The Reader, Changeling, Farewell My Concubine, Spaced (Season 1 and 2), and the Prisoner of Shark Island! Check out all of our new DVDs here.

And, of course, we're continually adding VHS to our collection from a large gifts donation, including Darkman 1, 2, and 3, the entire Die Hard series, Cloak and Dagger, the Dakota Incident, the Dark Crystal, and Dante's Peak! Check out all of our newest VHS acquisitions here.

New loan period for videos: 7 days!

2009-05-01T17:03:00.001-07:00

The loan period for DVDs and VHS increased today from 3 days to 7 days. And still with unlimited renewals!

The loan period for CDs is still 3 days. And videos on course reserve will have shorter loan periods.

Jazz Music Library - Free until May 1

2009-04-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

Are you a cool cat who digs swing, free jazz, bop, or? Check out ASP's Jazz Music Library for free through May 1. Let us know if you like this database o' sound recordings and we'll consider subscribing.

URL: http://jazz.alexanderstreet.com

username: jazz

password: sneakpeek

UW Ethnomusicology Concert - Tonight (4/28)

2009-04-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

The UW School of Music, Division of Ethnomusicology's annual recital by visiting artists spotlights music of Mongolia and South Africa. Visiting artist Li Bo, a master of the Mongolian morin khuur (a two-stringed horse-head fiddle), presents a virtuoso solo program. Mudzunga Junniah Davhula, visiting artist from the Venda region of South Africa, leads an ensemble of singing, drumming, and reed pipes.

DATE AND TIME
Tuesday, April 28, 7:30 p.m.
Meany Theater

TICKETS
$15 ($10 students and seniors)

PROGRAM DETAIL/BACKGROUND
The School of Music's Division of Ethnomusicology has been hosting visiting artists from around the world since the mid-1960s. Each year, the division invites two master musicians to join the faculty as artists in residence. Artists have come from numerous countries in Africa, North and South America, Asia and Europe. Li Bo and Mudzunga Junniah Davhula are the division's artists in residence for the 2008-09 academic year.

BIOS

Li Bo, born in Inner Mongolia in 1955, is a distinguished performer on the morin khuur, the horse-head fiddle known in Chinese as matouqin. He has been a professional musician since the age of 15, when he joined a local performing arts troupe and began to travel across the steppes. Later he was a featured soloist with a national troupe, and eventually became the lead morin khuur player with the Inner Mongolian Radio/Television network. In the mid-1980s, he taught in the School of Music at the Inner Mongolia Normal University and, at the same time, studied composition.

Li Bo has lived in Japan since 1995, but he has not lost touch with his roots. In 1996, he founded the Morin Khuur Fund Association and raised $20,000 for the 1st Annual Inner Mongolia Folk Music Competition. In 2001, he donated 140 sheep to people of his native region.

He brings the same spirit to his international performances. When Li Bo came to the United States to perform at the Northwest Folklife Festival in 2004 and 2005, he volunteered to work with students in local primary and secondary schools.

Mudzunga Junniah Davhula is a highly revered performer, teacher, and community leader from the Venda area of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. As a visiting artist at the University of Washington, she has introduced her students to Venda music traditions, focusing on the traditional reed pipe ensemble. This ensemble includes reed pipes, Venda drums, singing, and dancing. Her students have learned to play a variety of instruments and to sing traditional songs in several languages.

Mrs. Davhula's appointment as a visiting artist at the University of Washington School of Music marks the first time that a visiting artist from the Venda culture has been appointed to such a position at a North American university.

Program detail
Li Bo will perform solo works for morin khuur and will also be joined by pianist Sachi Hirakouji, dancer Xiaoyan Ban, and students Erin Maloney, April Nishimura, and Leah Pogwizd for several selections.

Mudzunga Junniah Davhula will perform with a student ensemble.

Warner Archive Collection

2009-04-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

Have you been looking for a film that hasn't been released on DVD? Check out the following from Slate's Mark Harris and then let us know which titles will support your research and teaching needs: "The recent launch of the Warner Archive Collection could well portend a revolution; it's DVD on demand, a way for Warner (and, one hopes, for every other studio) to make movies available without spending the $75,000 to $100,000 it costs to release an old title into an ominously contracting marketplace. Here's how it works: Go to the archive and browse the titles. Click on the ones you want, and for $19.95 apiece, they'll burn a DVD-R and ship you the movie in a standard plastic case with cover art. There are no extras except the trailer, if it's available; there isn't even scene-by-scene chaptering. But you will get the film, shown in the correct aspect ratio and with a picture and soundtrack of mostly high quality. Virtually none of the movies in this collection has been available on DVD before. Many never even made it to VHS." http://www.slate.com/id/2216522/

New items for April 2009!

2009-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hi -- we're experimenting this month with making our "new" lists available through WorldCat local. Check them out and let us know what you think of the new format!
New DVDs, VHS, and CDs for April 2009

Crocodile Re-Opens | Crocodile Collection in the Works

2009-03-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

From KOMO: At a time when local night spots are falling victim to the struggling economy, one club is making a comeback. The Crocodile Café was a dingy nightclub that became a second home for local musicians during grunge rock's heyday. Many of Seattle's most famous bands, including Nirvana and Pearl Jam, played there during its 16-year life. Money troubles shut down the Croc in December 2007, but the live music venue reopened on Thursday night, thanks to nothing short of a miracle.

While the Crocodile Cafe re-opens, UW Ethnomusicology Archvies and UW Libraries continue to process the Crocodile Cafe Collection—a series of some 3,000 hours of live recordings made by soundman Jim Anderson. Watch this blog for news about a listening and release party.

Washington Film Works - Viral Video Campaign

2009-03-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Attention Washington based filmmakers! Help WFW establish Washington State as the premier west-cost filming location. They're seeking five local filmmakers to create dynamic and entertaining viral videos. These viral videos will promote the state's diverse locations and topography as well as the seasoned local talent and crew. $1000 grants will be given to the five selected filmmakers to put towards production. Visit this site for more info.

The best 100 rap albums are here

2009-03-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

The Media Center is proud to present a new collection of the best one hundred hip-hop albums of all time. Spanning from the early greats (Erik B. & Rakim, Grandmaster Flash, the Ultramagnetic MC's) through the 1990's (2Pac, Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan) to some of most prominent voices in rap today (Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z), we have gathered a collection together that will both educate on the history of hip-hop and entertain the ears. View the list of the 100 greatest albums - as well as see snippets of reviews from various publications - at out website here.

Digital television is coming. Are you ready?

2009-03-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

The folks over at Reclaim the Media have put together some useful information on the switch to digital television. Check it out here.

Free Smithsonian Folkways Podcasts

2009-03-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Songs of protest. Spoken word. Traditional musics. Sound FX. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has it all. As a UW community member you can access these recordings online @ Smithsonian Global Sound. Now you can also download (free to everyone) 24 one-hour programs that explores the history of this collection: click here.

More about the podcasts: The music of modern day giants like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Ani Difranco is interwoven with original Folkways recordings to demonstrate the lasting legacy that Folkways Records has on popular music. Recent and archival interviews with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Mickey Hart, Studs Terkel, and others help reveal the remarkable human stories behind this equally remarkable collection. The series was produced by CKUA Radio in Alberta, Canada and originally aired in 1999.

New Media - March 2009

2009-03-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Lots of great local music and hip hop added to out collection this month, including Burning Hearts, Tribe Called Quest, Cut Copy, Hercules and Love Affair, DJ/rupture, Raekwon, Sonando, Thanaton, and Ultramagnetic MC's. Check out all of our new music this month here.

New additions to our DVD collection include The Best of the Colbert Report, Burn After Reading, Dali in New York, Paris Je'Taime, Man on Wire, Step Brothers, and The Wackness. Check out all of our new DVDs here.

And, of course, we're continually adding VHS to our collection from a large gifts donation, including City Slickers I and II, The Cisco Kid, Class Action, Conan the Barbarian, Congo, Stakeout, and Coming to America. Check out all of our newest VHS acquisitions here.

Pitchfork Media's Best Albums of 2008

2009-02-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

Just in at the Media Center are the best ten indie albums of 2008, as decided by Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork is the barometer of what's cool, as well as a prime example of how erudite music journalists can be. In either case, its a great selection of music that the Media Center is proud to offer as part of their collection:

1. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant EP/Fleet Foxes
2. Portishead - Third
3. New Age - Nouns
4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
5. Deerhunter - Microcastle
6. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
8. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
9. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
10. DJ/rupture - Uproot

The Pitchfork Media top ten lists can be accessed here.

New Feb lists

2009-02-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

Check it out ... the "new" lists for February are up:
DVD
VHS
CD

Milo Ryan Phonoarchive @ NARA

2009-02-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

Requests for material from the Milo Ryan Phonoarchive (KIRO-CBS collection of broadcasts from the World War II years and after) should be directed to mopix@nara.gov. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) owns the original recordings and makes access copies so long as permission is granted by KIRO-CBS. To search the Milo Ryan Phonoarchive access NARA's Archival Research Catalog: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/

Cairo Station (1958) VHS AFD 023

2009-02-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

(Spoiler alert)

The urban poor of post-colonial Egypt stand at the center of Joussef Chahine’s dark masterpiece, Cairo Station. The characters central to the story remain in focus for the entire film, while the hectic setting of Cairo’s main train station bustles around them. The constantly shifting, moving surroundings reflect the themes of movement, change and the mixing of cultures which appear in the film. Western clothing, dress, ideas are all presented in passing within the station and on its trains, themselves a product of British colonialism. Meanwhile, distinctly traditional social groups cluster within the structure and maintain closely knit communities. From Islamic religious figures to women’s rights groups, a wealth of different, conflicting characters and attitudes appear, usually in passing and often with unclear messages and relations to the western technologies surrounding them.

When addressing the issue of the portrayal of western culture within the film, there exists an ambivalence which is not easily resolved or understood. Clearly the western-style train station, as a harbor for the urban poor and as the primary means of transportation within Cairo, maintains the livelihood of many characters within the film. Yet it is the portrayals of women, and female sexuality in a typically western magazine-fashion that drives the main character, Qinawi, into obsession and eventual insanity. This could clearly be interpreted as a criticism of the western willingness to portray sexuality in order to turn profit, and the means by which sexuality, specifically western-style sexuality, can become dangerous, or lead to violent mental illness.

If western standards of sexuality are to be seen as dangerous for an Egyptian man, then the film’s social commentary rests on the negative impact of western influences, yet if we see Qinawi as simply an unstable character from the beginning, who was merely susceptible to any violent influences, the social commentary lightens. After Qinawi’s employer, Farid, mentions a brutal murder in Egypt, Qinawi quickly changes his mood, quieting down and becomes visibly uneasy. Clearly this news influences Qinawi, and he leaves quickly to buy a large knife to develop his violent plans. This action does directly not support the argument that western influences were corrupting Qinawi, rather it implies that he needed only the idea of violence in order to commit murder. Furthermore, one of the few and short-lived joyous moments in the film is fueled by Hanuma dancing with western style rockabilly musicians on a train. In this scene, the music and the cheerful dancing counters the uneasy gaze of Qinawi, as Hanuma clearly attempts to neutralize tensions with the deranged man through offering him free soda. To this end western influences can be seen in a more positive light, where music and dance lightens to mood and lifts the character’s spirits.

Joussef Chahine’s complex portrayal of insanity within the post-colonial urban context defies simple categorization, leaving the viewer with a wealth of possible interpretations. I find that this film directly depicts modern Egypt without a specific negative or positive agenda, while maintaining a highly critical eye that focuses on the modern activities of lower-class Egyptians.

Destination Tokyo (DVD WHV 269)

2009-02-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Where’s the dividing line between cinematic escapism and wartime propagandizing? Shouldn’t an effective—as in manipulative—piece of wartime propaganda inspire a citizenry to re-double their efforts to defeat the enemy du jour? And shouldn’t an effective—as in manipulative, again—piece of cinematic escapism temporarily lobotomize the viewer into a laconic stupor? They may seem like opposites a first—fervent vs. stupefied—but both share a common goal: beguiling the viewing into a state of non-reflexivity.

With Destination Tokyo (1943), propagandist and escapist tendencies merge for a jingoistic underwater adventure. In this, Cary Grant’s only wartime movie, the submarine U.S.S. Copperfin sets off from SF for a secret reconnaissance mission of Tokyo Bay. This mission, in turn, gives Doolittle’s Raiders the info needed to inflict maximum punishment on the Imperial Fleet. Through a combination of racist rhetoric, diminutive special effects, an essentialized crew (e.g., hothead, rookie recruit, womanizer), and bombs-bombs-bombs, an escapist/propagandist haze reigns that makes no mention, of course, of the estimated 250,000 innocent Chinese that were killed by the Japanese as a result of the raids, or of the six Japanese schools that were accidentally bombed by the Raiders. So why watch it? Will it provide a lens through which we can better focus on today’s escapist, propagandist, and non-reflexive cinematic consumables?

The Sheik - 1921

2009-01-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

In George Melford’s The Sheik (1921) the viewer is presented with a wealth of western orientialist clichés and stereotypes that must have appeared standard for the era. This silent adventure-romance, though set in the desert town of Biskra, remains vague as to its exact location within the French Middle Eastern colonies. The film unabashedly bases it’s wealth of generalizations on negative and often absurd portrayals and Arab culture or dress. While the actual town of Biskra sits in modern-day Algeria, a former French colony, the town itself lies within a complex region dominated by Berber, Turkish and Arab influences. None of these complexities fit within the simplified image placed forward in the film, which simply refers to all the explicitly non-western peoples as Arabs.

The portrayal of so-called Arab culture within the film may appear comical to some modern viewers, yet it is representative of an orientalizing impulse that appears throughout western literature and the arts of the time. As Edward Said, within the introduction of his groundbreaking work Orientalism writes: “…there emerged a complex Orient suitable for study in the academy, for displaying the museum, for reconstruction in the colonial office” This display, as illustrated in the film, could include harshly negative views of Arab culture as being barbaric, uncivilized, or cruel. The antagonizing forces within the film are Arab leaders and their henchmen. Furthermore, the Arab tribes never live within the city, and camp in the desert for no explicit purpose.

Sexuality and gender roles play a pivotal role within the film, driving the characters into their actions and defining their positions of power or submissiveness. The film largely capitalizes on the romantic, erotic and supposed barbaric elements within Arab culture, as defined through an orientalist framework. As Said makes note, cultural and racial generalizations on sexuality lead to “a great many Victorian pornographic novels [such as] The Lustful Turk”. The Sheik fulfills this orientist role as a lustful character, and he clearly asserts this along with a startling sexual dominance. After capturing Diana, the Sheik says to the distraught Diana :“I could make you love me”, clearly asserting his power of seduction and sexuality over the independent western woman.

The entire narrative revolves around this gradual shifting of power and gender roles, with the Shiek eventually re-affirming male dominance. Within the opening section of the film, Diana sees herself as clearly superior and more civilized than the Sheik, and at one point in the Casino, she draws a gun on the Sheik with a stern face and rigid posture. Within Biskra, she believes herself to be above the Sheik, yet after her capture by the Sheik in the desert, the roll reverses and Diana stays at the mercy of her captor, begging and crying before him, while eventually succumbing to his authority.

Inauguration Watch in OUGL 220

2009-01-16T18:41:00.000-08:00

When:	1/20/09 8:00 AM - 1/20/09 12:00 PM
Where:	Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Room 220; Health Sciences Libraries, 3rd floor learning/teaching lab
Description:	Join the campus community to watch Barack Obama become the 44th President of the United States. Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Room 220. And Health Sciences Libraries, 3rd floor learning/teaching lab.
Sponsor:	University Libraries Phone: 206-543-0242
Categories:	Libraries Special Events Television

MC Search Box Defaults to "All UW Libraries"

2009-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

We have modified the Media Center search box @ http://www.lib.washington.edu/media/ so that by default it searches for movies and videos across all 3 UW campuses. Previously the default was to search for movies and videos only in the Media Center in Odegaard Library. This option is now listed in the second position on the drop-down menu.

As always, let us know if you have any suggestions or would like any individualized assistance in accessing the Media Centers resrouces and services.

New Media - January '09

2009-01-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Lots of great local music added to our Puget Sounds collection this month including: 3 records by Calvin Johnson, Bronze Fawn's Lumber, Dyme Def's Space Music, 2 albums from the Fastbacks, Grand Hallway's Yes Is the Answer, Lunch Buddy Program's Rest stops and Roadmaps, Optimus Rhyme's He Dies in Rocket School, 3 albums from Johanna Kunin, and many more. Check out all of our new music this month here.

New additions to our DVD collection include Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Corpse Bride, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Hercules: The Legendary Journey (Season 1), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Planet B-Boy, Qui Etes Vous Polly Magoo?, Lost (Season 4), and WALL-E. Check out all of our new DVDs here.

And, of course, we're continually adding some VHS to our collection from a large gifts donation, including Child's Play 1-3, Chasing Amy, Champagne for Caesar, 5 new Charlie Chan titles, Change of Habit, 3 versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (almost in time for the holidays!), and Chopper Chicks in Zombietown. Check out all of our newest VHS acquisitions here.

Educational Media Collection Becomes Part of the Media Center

2008-12-30T15:50:00.000-08:00

To better serve the University of Washington community and beyond, the Educational Media Collection (EMC), of Classroom Support Services, a division of the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, has been transferred to the University Libraries. The EMC is a diverse, historical collection of between 6,000 - 7,000 titles covering a wide range of educational topics in formats such as 16mm, VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and audio tape. In the past, only educational (K-20) instructors and government agencies were able to use or rent titles from the EMC for in-classroom and instructional use. It is the University Libraries' goal, whenever legally and operationally possible, to make all of its holding as widely accessible as possible.

We believe that merging the EMC into the University Libraries will expand media instruction and research opportunities, as well as consolidate media discovery tools, for researchers and scholars. As with other media in the Libraries collection, the Media Center will restrict lending of the EMC to University Library borrowers and to Orbis Cascade Alliance borrowers. Due to the uniqueness or fragility of certain titles, some titles may be restricted to "Library Use Only." Similarly, due to the fragility of the 16mm films, these items will no longer be available for viewing. However, the University Libraries and Classroom Support Services will seek out and acquire--if possible-- copies of select 16mm films on such formats as DVD and VHS. Please contact the Media Center with questions about viewing the EMC's 16mm film content.

The EMC web site will remain active until all of the EMC titles are processed. The processing, locating, and reformatting of the titles will be done over time, but as a first step, the DVD and VHS tapes were moved to the University Libraries Media Center on December 15, 2008 and will be available for circulation upon request. For a list of holdings, please consult the EMC website (http://www.css.washington.edu/emc/) and forward all requests for titles to the Media Center at medialib@u.washington.edu or via phone at 206-543-6051.

Updates and other information about the EMC's integration into the Media Center's collections will be posted here: http://www.css.washington.edu/emc/

For questions, contact John Vallier (vallier@u.washington.edu) or Jill McKinstry (jillmck@u.washington.edu)

Friday 12/26 - UW Libraries OPEN

2008-12-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

Today--December 26, 2008--the University Libraries resumes normal operations. The Media Center is open, as scheduled, 9am - 5pm.

Wednesday 12/24 - UW Libraries Closed

2008-12-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

Due to the inclement weather, the University has suspended operations at UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, and UW Seattle for Wednesday, December 24. *No* libraries will open.

Tuesday 12/23 - UW Libraries Closed

2008-12-22T23:40:00.000-08:00

Due to the inclement weather, the University has suspended operations at UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, and UW Seattle for Tuesday, December 23. *No* libraries will open.

Monday 12/22 - UW Libraries Closed

2008-12-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

Due to the inclement weather, the University has suspended operations at UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, and UW Seattle for Monday, December 22. *No* libraries will open, and the Libraries home page has been updated to indicate the closures.

Media Center to close at 3pm today

2008-12-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

The Seattle campus libraries (including the Media Center and Odegaard Library) will close at 3:00 pm today, Friday, December 19, 2008, due to inclement weather.

Media Center & Odegaard Library to Close @ 3pm

2008-12-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Seattle campus libraries (including the Media Center and Odegaard Library) will close at 3:00 pm today, Thursday, December 18, 2008, due to snow. No word yet about operations tomorrow.

New for December

2008-12-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

Check out our new lists just posted for December:
CDs, VHS, and DVDs

In particular, we just received a bunch of new local music additions to our Puget Sounds collection. Classic grunge-era relics such as Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Hammerbox, 7 Year Bitch, the Gits, Screaming Trees, and the Posies. As well as more current music from the Microphones, Jason Webley, the Gossip, Jesse Sykes, Smoosh, and Maktub. Make sure to catch Mark Johnson's Big Metal Boxes record which features local sounds recorded with condenser microphones placed within shipping containers. While you're at it, check out Glasselan which features percussion music played on Chihuly and Oceana glass.

If you're a local artist interested in joining this growing collection, send an email to John Vallier (vallier@u.washington.edu).