I’ll Just Leave This Here.

And back away quietly…

Last week I participated in an Eleventh Stack group post called Sorry Not Sorry. It was a combination of guilty pleasures and things we oddly dislike. I’m the one who doesn’t “get” the Beastie Boys. I also happen to agree with Irene about The English Patient (unreadable and unwatchable!) and Melissa M. about Tolkien.

Since apparently I’m trying really hard to get run out of town, here are some more confessions.

Nah.

I don’t like Nirvana. I should. I’m a 90s kid all the way. I love Pearl Jam. I love Smashing Pumpkins. I love Lollapalooza! I love wearing flannel shirts year round and Doc Marten’s with sundresses. But Nirvana? Nope. In fact, I didn’t know who Kurt Cobain was until the day he died. I was looking for a prom dress in Merry-Go-Round (I’m old) and the sales girl was crying. She told me that Kurt Cobain died and I was like, “Who?” Wrong response.

Nope.

I can’t stay awake for Apocalypse Now. I’m a war movie fanatic. Black Hawk Down, Patton, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, The Hurt Locker, All Quiet on the Western Front…love them all. I could probably recite Full Metal Jacket in its entirety. I read Heart of Darkness in high school and actually enjoyed it! Yet, as soon as Martin Sheen starts talking, it’s sleepy-time for me, even in a theater!

 

Nuh-uh.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981 and is considered a very important work in modern Southern U.S. literature. Unreadable. Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the most repugnant characters in the history of print. He blames his numerous failings on a higher being (Fortuna) and he suffers from Very Special Snowflake syndrome.

 

Perfect!
Image: Yellow Crayon

I am a native Pittsburgher and I won’t eat Primanti Brothers. I was that kid that wouldn’t let the peas touch the mashed potatoes. And if that tragedy did occur, I certainly wasn’t eating it. The idea of putting not only french fries (gross!), but wet cole slaw on my sandwich is anathema to me. I can’t even. (I will hand in my Pittsburgh card and move to Cleveland immediately.)

But I love burned popcorn. Maybe that’s all the needs to be said about me? What do you love to hate?

suzy, currently packing and saying her good-byes

 

Batting 1000!

Today’s Eleventh Stack post is our 1,000th published essay.  That’s 1,000 days of book, music and film recommendations, fun facts about library programs and services, and interesting intellectual detours.  To celebrate, we’ve put together a short booklist of library items with the number 1,000 somewhere in their titles or descriptions.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell  (Don)

1000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Maria)

Music for Lute-Harpsichord by J.S. Bach (including BWV 1000, Fugue in G minor) (Julie)

Where the Birds Are: A Travel Guide to Over 1,000 Parks, Preserves, and Sanctuaries by Robert J. Dolezal (Julie)

One Thousand Nights and Counting: Selected Poems by Glyn Maxwell (Tony)

1,000 Steampunk Creations: Neo-Victorian Fashion, Gear, and Art by Joey Marsocci (Don)

The next one thousand years : the selected poems of Cid Corman by Cid Corman (Don)

The Arabian nights, or, Tales told by Sheherezade during a thousand nights and one night retold by Brian Alderson ; illustrated by Michael Foreman (Joelle)

The best of Mel Blanc [sound recording] : man of 1000 voices. (Joelle)

One Thousand New York Buildings, by Jorg Brockmann (Scott)

1,000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire and Change Your Life, by Linda Cohen (Leigh Anne)

Patternreview.com: 1,000 Clever Sewing Shortcuts and Tips, by Deepika Prakash (Leigh Anne)

Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles, by Stephen J. Sansweet (Leigh Anne)

That’s just one tiny sample from a field of nearly 1500 items, so don’t hesitate to browse the catalog for more fun reading, listening, and viewing options. And thanks for reading along with us; we promise to make the next 1,000 posts just as fun, adventurous and enlightening.

the Eleventh Stack blog team

Happy Birthday, Eleventh Stack!

Today is the first birthdayof the Eleventh Stack blog!  To celebrate we’re offering a team smorgasbord of wit and wisdom on libraries, blogging, or, well, whatever:

One year ago today, Eleventh Stack sounded its barbaric yawp over the rooftops of Pittsburgh.  Our fans seem to enjoy both poetry and film, so here’s a little gift that combines both:

You can, of course, continue that trip down cinematic memory lane by borrowing the film from us. Thanks for reading along with the blog team, and don’t be shy about making those comments and suggestions…we want to make this the best darn library blog ever, but we need you to help us keep it real and relevant, Pittsburgh.

xoxo

–Leigh Anne

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To celebrate our blog’s birthday we’ve invited our favorite one-ring circus clowns to juggle bananas while singing Happy Birthday in two keys at the same time.

Lorenzo Pickle (Larry Pisoni) with the Pickle Family Circus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ELEVENTH STACK!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

– Julie

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Now might be a good time to listen to Marilyn Monroe breathily singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK. 

— Tim

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I like to pick a birthday ritual and do it for as many of my friends and family as possible for one calendar year.  Happy Birthday to You by Dr. Seuss read aloud was the ritual a few years ago. I would show up at peoples’ places of work or on their phone, etc. I know it’s not this year’s ritual (haven’t figured one out yet, better get on it ) but it’s really appropriate for this occasion. So please check it out and read it to yourself. All of you. It is very trippy and if you don’t enjoy it something is wrong.

– Jude

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Happy 38th, Sean

I’m proud to say that the Eleventh Stack blog shares a birthday with one of the greatest actors of our time, Sean Astin.  Not only did he portray the heroic Mikey in the most important movie of the last twenty-five years, The Goonies, he also played the role of the hobbit Sam in the film rendition of the deservedly hyped Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Oh, and let’s not forget his role as the inspirational Rudy.

–Wes

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 According to The Secret Language of Birthdays, those born on February 25 are strong individuals with a belief in universal goals and a higher purpose.  And sharing a birthday with George Harrison, Marcel Pagnol, and Jim Backus isn’t too shabby either.  Happy birthday, Eleventh Stack!

-Irene

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After a year’s worth of blogging, I believe I’ve now learned why, throughout the centuries, the writing, publishing, and reading of personal journals was so popular. By roundabout way of sharing my surmise, I’d like to point you to a poem by one of my favorite poets, Gerald Stern, Pittsburgh born and bred, that celebrates, at least in part, a very specific place: the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where you can get the above mentioned journals, Mr. Stern’s oeuvre, and Eleventh Stack, which, when you think about it, is something of a journal of this very American institution.

 

Stepping Out of Poetry

 

What would you give for one of the old yellow streetcars

rocking toward you again through the thick snow?

 

What would you give for the feeling of joy as you climbed

up the three iron steps and took your place by the cold window?

 

Oh, what would you give to pick up your stack of books

and walk down the icy path in front of the library?

 

What would you give for your dream

to be as clear and simple as it was then

in the dark afternoons, at the old scarred tables?

 

                       Gerald Stern

 

Don

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If today is Eleventh Stack’s birthday, then that makes her a Pisces.  I love Pisceans—no wonder we get along so well!

-Renée

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Happy Birthday, Eleventh Stack! In the tradition of the unreality of social networking, I’m giving you a virtual (read: imaginary) handmade birthday gift! Although you may be able to use a lovely knitted item – you know, in case your, uh, wires get cold – I think a handmade journal might suit you best. Especially with a retro card.

-Kaarin

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Happy Birthday, Eleventh Stack.  I wanted to make you a birthday treat. I couldn’t decide if I should make you cupcakes or a birthday cake…so I made you both….enjoy!

– Lisa

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Eleventh Stack, you may only be one, but you make us laugh, you give us book recommendations, you challenge our ideas about the world, you teach us, and you make us love libraries more than we ever thought possible.

 

Happy birthday, you cute little one-year old baby library blog!

–Bonnie

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–Eleventh Stack