March Recap

March contains some great celebrations: It’s Women’s History Month, there’s St. Patrick’s Day and International Women’s Day, March Madness, spring flowers start blooming and, of course, all the great posts we put up here on Eleventh Stack!

For Women’s History Month, Natalie looked at women in the workplace and guest blogger Adina wrote about Emma Watson’s feminist book club Our Shared Shelf.

Ginny highlighted the many wonderful volunteers and organizations that were nominated for our Community Advocate and Outstanding Partner Award and shared resources that helped her become a better mentor. Guest blogger Ian shared his experiences running and how you can help raise money for the Library with the DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon.

Amy E. reviewed The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher, and explored America’s flirtations with spiritualism in the 1920s, while Scott M. explored popular philosophy and Suzy shared some silly picture books.

We didn’t write about basketball at all, but Abbey covered The Tournament of Books, and Jess continued her reading challenge with the third title in the Red Rising trilogy.

On the literary front, Leigh Anne wrote about accomplished female poet C.D. Wright, Kayla questioned Tessa Hadley’s The Past and enjoyed The Girl in the Red Coat. Melissa remembered the late novelist Pat Conroy.

Ross really appreciated actress Brie Larson in her many roles, and looked at Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and geeked out over Batman v. Superman. Joelle gave props to character actors, Whitney recommended the television show Outlander, and Tara explored the world of foreign TV.

Megan shared her love for cooking, and Ginny updated us on her 50 cakes project.

Happy Spring!

-Team Eleventh Stack

Time Travel, History and Romance

When a good friend of mine found out that I was a fan of Game of Thrones, she turned me on to Outlander after it had aired last year. Although comparisons have been drawn to Game of Thrones, these two series are not entirely similar (admittedly, both of the book series were difficult to market, were “word of mouth” books and took a good while before being translated to screen). But Game of Thrones is epic high fantasy that takes place in a world nothing like our own and is dependent on magic, dragons and family sagas. Whereas Outlander takes place in a historically accurate Scotland and is more historical fiction/romance with a twinge of science fiction thrown in the beginning.

Our story opens with the heroine Claire Randall, a former British Army nurse seeking to reconnect with her husband Frank after a WWII-induced separation. Their story begins on their second honeymoon in Inverness, Scotland, where Frank indulges his passion in genealogy (which you can do with the Library’s resources), while Claire focuses her energy on botany. After witnessing a pagan ritual at an ancient stone circle with her husband, Claire ventures out alone to gather some specimens. She’s drawn to a standing stone and, as far as her husband in 1945 is concerned, vanishes without a trace. This serves as the jumping-off point for her adventure as she struggles to grasp what’s going on around her, when she is and where she is.

Though she quickly realizes she’s still in Scotland, she can’t quite figure out how she landed on a cinema set for a costume drama. However, she soon gathers this is no set when she notices that the actors are firing live ammunition. Through a stroke of bad luck, she runs into Captain “Black Jack” Randall and is almost raped, but is saved by Dougal McKenzie’s band of Scots and taken hostage. It is at this point that she discovers she has fallen through time to 18^th century war-torn Scotland, where being an Englishwoman isn’t always a great thing to be. Her captors lead her to Castle Leoch, the heart of the McKenzie Clan. She is suspected of being a Sassenach spy and tasked with the unpaid job of healer, while they try to figure her out. If you expected a damsel-in-distress story, this isn’t it. Claire is a capable, clever (and thanks to her husband Frank, knows her history), complicated, independent and stubborn modern-day woman (for 1945 at least).

Devoted fans of the Outlander series who have been waiting (… and waiting … and waiting) for these novels to be successfully translated to the small screen, have had their patience rewarded tenfold with the Starz series. There is demonstrated effort to keep the series as faithful to the books as possible.  Created by Battlestar Galactica show runner Ronald D. Moore, this series enlisted author Diana Gabaldon as a consultant, thereby assuaging any anxieties that Gabaldon’s loyal fanbase may have had. If nothing else, watch for the great scenery, fantastic costumes and dedication to historical accuracy. Mr. Moore has an amazing team of costume designers, set decorators, writers, weapons and riding experts and Scottish Gaelic language coaches for the actors that would rival Game of Thrones any day (well, except for the dragons …).

If a bit of adventure, time-travel, history and romance are your thing, by all means check out the DVD sets (volume 1 and 2) today. In the meantime, take some time out to brush up on your history of the Jacobite Rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charlie. If you want to take it to a whole new level (and please do!), you can also learn a bit of Scottish Gaelic using the library’s resources. Season 2 of Outlander begins in April on Starz.

Cheers!

-Whitney

A Shameless Plug About Shameless

While my regular TV shows are still on hiatus, I thought that I would get into some TV shows that are on my long to-watch list. One of those is Showtime’s Shameless. The show stars William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher, the patriarch, so to speak, of the Gallagher family. Frank spends a lot of his time at the bar so he doesn’t take care of his six children.

The real leader of the family is Fiona Gallagher; she’s the oldest of the children. She’s the mom & dad to the rest of the kids. There’s Phillip (Lip), Ian, Debi, Carl and Liam. This family is no Brady Bunch. Each family member has their own quirks. I’m only halfway done with season one, but I love this show. My favorite characters are Veronica, Fiona’s friend and next door neighbor, Fiona, Lip, Debi, and Ian. This family has a lot of issues, but there’s a lot of love and they are willing to help each other whenever and however they can.

We have seasons one, two, three, four, and five available in our catalog. Season six starts Sunday, January 10th at 9 pm on Showtime. If you have Hulu, you can add Showtime to your plan and watch all of the seasons on there as well. Happy watching!

~Kayla

Adaptation Nation

I love seeing my favorite books adapted for television. Instead of cramming the entire story into a two or three hour movie, it can be lovingly developed over many episodes, even multiple seasons.

The holidays are a perfect time for some binge-watching, so here are a few book to TV adaptations you might want to check out:

Hermey doesn’t like to choose between books and television. Good thing he doesn’t have to! Image taken from Rankin Bass Wikia – click through for source page.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – I’m watching this right now and really enjoying it. It’s such a long book that it could never have been done properly as a movie.  Set in England during the 19th century, this is the story of two magicians who are bringing magic back to the world. Unfortunately, the only thing bigger than their powers is their egos.

The Dirk Gently detective series by Douglas Adams – This was developed for TV with some content from the books as well as some new stories that stay true to the original humor. Dirk is a quirky detective who believes in the interconnectedness of all things. He does not believe in paying his secretary or his bills.

The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin – Known on TV as Game of Thrones (also the title of the first book), this hardly needs an introduction. If you haven’t been watching but want to, why not get caught up now?

I’m also looking forward to the forthcoming TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. If you haven’t read it yet, or the sequel Anansi Boys, I highly recommend them. You still have time to read them to get ready for the show.

What book to TV adaptations haven’t I mentioned? Let me know in the comments!

–Megan

Must See TV in October

Image by GDJ at Open Clip Art. Click through for source.

Fall means football, changing leaves changing and the return of TV shows!  While some of my favorite TV shows (Empire, How To Get Away With Murder, & Scandal) have already returned, there are some more shows that premiere very soon that I’m excited about:

1. The Flash (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW)

The last season of The Flash left viewers with a lot of questions. How did Barry’s battle with the Reverse Flash end? What will happen with S.T.A.R. Labs? What will happen between Barry & Iris? Most of these questions will likely not be answered within the first episode. If you wanna catch up on the first season of The Flash it’s available in our catalog.

2. iZombie (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW)

Olivia “Liv” Moore is a medical examiner who also happens to be a zombie. She applied for the job as a medical examiner so she could have access to brains. Little did she know that when she ate the brains of murder victims, she would get visions that led to discovering how they died. So, with this new found gift she works with the Seattle Police Department Detective Clive Babineaux to help solve cases. Initially I wasn’t going to watch this show because from the trailer I thought that it looked stupid, but it’s actually a good show. Unfortunately, season one isn’t in our system, but the graphic novels that the TV show are based on are available.

3. Arrow (Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW)

Oliver Queen is no longer the Arrow! Well at least that’s what the show’s writers and Queen himself want us to think. I doubt that the fairy tale world of Oliver and Felicity Smoak will last (sigh) We’ll just have to see what happens when the show comes back. Season 3 is available in our catalog along with tons of graphic novels featuring Green Arrow.

4. American Horror Story: Hotel (Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX)

Ryan Murphy’s creepy anthology show is back for a fifth season. This time it takes place in a hotel. Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates and Matt Bomer are back for another season. There’s a new face along for the ride this time: Lady Gaga. I’m really interested to see how she’ll do on the show. Previous seasons of American Horror Story are available in our catalog.

What new shows are you watching this season? Which ones are you waiting on to return? Let us know in the comments below!

~Kayla

Cabbages, Babies, and Bathing Beauties

The Newport, RI Most Beautiful Pageant as depicted on “Another Period.” (Courtesy of Comedy Central.)

As a fan of comedy, I’ve really been enjoying the new Comedy Central show Another Period. The premise is fun and silly – the show centers on the rich, debauched and aristocratic Bellacourt family, who live in an opulent mansion in Newport, Rhode Island during the Gilded Age. It’s a little Downton Abbey and a little Keeping Up With the Kardashians with a touch of Upstairs Downstairs.

One of my favorite things about the show is that in spite of its silliness, many of the crazier plot threads are based on actual events. It inspired me to check out a documentary on the history of the mansions of Newport Rhode Island – many of which were incredibly decadent and built to compete with the mansions of their (also filthy rich) neighbors.

One event on the show really got me curious about its historical inspirations though. In the fourth episode, the Bellacourt family hosts the first Newport’s Most Beautiful Pageant – which pits women against babies and cabbages.

Babies, cabbages, and beautiful women — oh my! (Courtesy of Comedy Central.)

I had to wonder, was there actually a precedent for this sort of thing? Were there truly beauty contests back in the day where bathing beauties would compete alongside vegetables?

Lillian Bellacourt prepares herself for the swimsuit competition. (Courtesy of: onionav.club.)

An advertisement from 1898 depicts the swimsuit fashions of the time. (Courtesy of: loc.gov.)

The short answer is pretty much, and the man responsible is none other than P.T. Barnum. According to this Library of Congress page:

P.T. Barnum staged the first modern American pageant in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down by public protest. He kept the contest going by substituting daguerreotypes for women, a practice quickly adopted by newspapers. Newspapers held photo beauty contests for many decades: in 1880, the first “Bathing Beauty Pageant” took place as part of a summer festival to promote business in Rehoboth Beach, Del.

The first beauty contest took place at Barnum’s American Museum, which you can learn all about on The Lost Museum website. According to the site, “the Museum was the first institution to combine sensational entertainment and gaudy display with instruction and moral uplift. For a twenty-five cent admission, visitors viewed an ever-revolving series of “attractions,” from the patchwork Fejee Mermaid to the diminutive and articulate Tom Thumb.

Triplets! Twins! Fat Babies! An advertisement from 1863 for the National Baby Show. (Courtesy of The Lost Museum.)

Some of Barnum’s most popular attractions were “national contests” where dogs, chickens, flowers, and even children (and women!) were displayed and judged for paying audiences. The poultry and baby contests were especially popular, although there were some critics who called for others to protest the baby shows, hilariously seeing them as an, “unseemly public display of private maternal virtue.”

A polka composed for Barnum’s National Poultry Show. (Courtesy of The Lost Museum.)

A polka composed for Barnum’s National Baby Show. (Courtesy of The Lost Museum.)

So, while I was not able to find any specific mention of cabbages, it appears that ladies were indeed being judged alongside babies, chickens, and nonsentient objects – but at least they weren’t competing against each other!

Tara

PS – In case you’re still not sure if the show Another Period is for you, I present you with this dog in a wig — enjoy!

I can’t believe I’m watching this again.

If I stumble across any of these movies I’ll inevitably end up watching the whole darn thing, whether I want to or not. Day wasted? Check. But somehow I don’t mind.

The Andromeda Strain –  Somehow my parents thought that a Cold War era movie about biological terrors from outer space was suitable viewing for a child under ten – maybe that’s why I don’t trust monkeys or airlocks or lasers. This movie was on a lot when I was a kid, but it’s harder to come by nowadays. Fortunately, it’s available at your local library!

Blazing Saddles – It’s my favorite movie, what else can I say? Lots, apparently. Every time I see Blazing Saddles (oooh, Blu-Ray version!) I invariably end up singing “The French Mistake” for the next week and a half. Warning: clip contains saucy language and slapstick violence. (Unfortunately, it ends before you get to see Hitler in a pie fight. I’m not kidding.)

Cradle 2 the Grave – Jet Li is entered into a convenient MMA tournament by Roseanne’s husband, people disguise themselves as exterminators to break into office buildings, an adorable moppet is kidnapped – and there’s also something about some black diamonds that can be used to power superweapons? And isn’t that the Chairman from Iron Chef America? If you need more reasons to watch (or not to watch), check out this scathing review from the Chicago Tribune.

Crank 2: High Voltage – I don’t know the names of any characters that Jason Statham plays. It’s just, “You know that movie where Jason Statham has to keep running around or he’ll die? No, not that one, the other one.” This is the other one. It has a weird-but-memorable Godzilla battle in it, and other things that I probably shouldn’t mention in a library blog. Let’s just say that the TV version is usually heavily edited. (Note: research tells me that the character’s name is Chev Chelios. Huh.)

Coming to America – If you need to show anyone what the 80s really looked like, just make them watch this movie (if you’re about my age, you’ll probably see your family’s living room furniture at some point). Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall play eight different characters between them (which is awesome) and James Earl Jones yells at people (which is also awesome).

The Shawshank Redemption – Once when I was sick I kept falling asleep and waking up during different parts of a Shawshank Redemption marathon. It was one of the most confusing days of my life. If you want to sound all snooty, you can tell people that it’s based on the Stephen King novella “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” but don’t be surprised if nobody cares. Anyway, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman? Can’t beat that.

Transporter 3 – “No, this is the one where Jason Statham drives really fast. There’s a French guy, and there’s a woman who really needs to wash her face. No, not the spiky blond woman. I think that was Transporter 2.” Which leads us to the question: does it matter that all Jason Statham movies are pretty much the same? I say no. Not at all.

– Amy E., backing away from the remote

Reaching for Emotional Comfort Food

Season 2 contains my favorite episode, “The Alien in the Spaceship.”

I like to think that everyone has something—a book, a movie, a TV show, a radio drama—that they turn to when life isn’t going so super awesome, or even when they’re just tired or a little stressed.

My favorite emotional comfort food is the television show Bones, which is now in its tenth season. I’m glad there are new episodes to look forward to, but I’m equally happy watching previous seasons. Over. And over. And over (much to my husband’s consternation).

The reason for this obsession is simple: Bones features confident, intelligent women using their brains to fight bad guys.

This isn’t one of those police procedurals in which there’s a token lady or two (often a tomboy cop). From the second season on, fully half of the starring cast is composed of brilliant lady scientists, and two of them are people of color. Frequent guest stars include more awesome ladies, as well as more people of color.

The basic premise isn’t all that different from other science-based procedurals like CSI or NCIS: A team of scientists examines the evidence using advanced knowledge and technology, and the cops use their guts to hypothesize and suss out motives.

The evidence, however, consists primarily of human skeletons. Dr. Temperance Brennan, nicknamed Bones, is a forensic anthropologist who can reconstruct a person’s life and how they were murdered from the impressions and marks left on the bones.

The murders Bones and her partner FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth solve are fascinating, but the dialogue between the two of them is stimulating as well. Brennan relies on hard science to inform her worldview, and has a tendency to reduce everything from body functions to human emotions to scientific facts. Booth believes in god and his instincts, and their differences come out in frequent discussions about culture, love, children, work, and religion.

Bones isn’t perfect—in later seasons there’s a tendency to reduce female happiness to getting pregnant—but compared to most other shows, it holds up pretty well against my stringent feminist criteria.

The next new episode won’t air until March, so you have plenty of time to watch the previous nine seasons.

–Kelly

Snow White, Master Swordswoman?!

Happy National Library Week 2014! Help us celebrate by visiting any Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh location this week to tell us about the books that changed your life.

Like most any kid, Disney animated films figured hugely into my childhood. My favorite one changed, depending on which villain scared my little brother more at the time. For a while I’d demand we watch The Little Mermaid over and over until, I guess, sheer exposure desensitized him to the terror of Ursula. Then I moved on to torturing him with Beauty and the Beast. When I was feeling magnanimous, we watched The Lion King, which we both enjoyed.

One Disney movie neither of us could get into, either to enjoy or be scared of, was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We thought it was boring. And that the songs were meh. And maybe that the dwarfs were a little creepy.

So in high school, when I discovered Bill Willingham’s comic Fables, the story of basically every fairy tale character you’ve ever heard of living undercover in modern Manhattan, the character of Snow White did not interest me. I wanted to know more about Bigby Wolf, the chain-smoking, trenchcoat-wearing sheriff of Fabletown, who in his previous life went by the Big Bad Wolf and can transform into wolf form any time the situation calls for it.

Willingham’s portrayal of this fairy tale princess drew me in, though. Snow is the deputy mayor of Fabletown, the neighborhood of Manhattan the “Fables” created for themselves when they fled their homelands in front of an invading army led by a tyrant dictator known only as the Adversary. When we meet her, she’s already divorced Prince Charming for being a womanizer and all around terrible husband, and she just might be attracted to Bigby.

And then you find out that those dwarfs were definitely NOT helping Snow when she was lost in the woods, and that she forced Prince Charming to teach her sword fighting shortly after they got married so she could enact her revenge. She does so. Bloodily.

The latest trade paperback volume to come out, volume nineteen, is aptly titled Snow White and highlights all of this character’s strengths: She’s intelligent, she’s a fierce mother, she’s a loyal and loving wife, and she keeps those physical fighting skills sharp in order to protect her family.

But most of all, she is willing to make hard choices. In this volume, characters who are physically much stronger than Snow fail, and it is she who must save the day, using not only her master sword fighting skills, but her wit and strength of will.

No meek, pale princess, this, but a modern warrior woman.

Snow White has gotten makeovers in other media as well. In ABC’s Once Upon A Time, the fairy tale characters don’t know who they are because of a curse. In this version, pre-curse Snow White is a wiley woods woman who would do anything for true love. Her cursed alter ego Mary Margaret, though, does start out rather meek.

Mary Margaret doesn’t stay meek for long. Even before she recovers her memories, and therefore her true identity, she begins to stand up for herself and the things she wants. When her daughter Emma breaks the curse and Mary Margaret recovers her memory, her ferocity comes out full force.

Although I can’t help but look at the similarities between Once Upon A Time and Fables and think, a little possessively, “Fables did this first!” (I have been reading this series for ten years, so I’m just a little bit attached), I’m exceedingly glad that Disney’s version of Snow White is no longer the only visible version in our culture.

Excellent, woman-empowering retellings of Snow White and other fairy tales give us role models we can look up to, examples we can hope to follow. Willingham’s Snow and ABC’s Mary Margaret are much closer to real women than their fairy tale princess counterparts; they just have a few extra powers. But they have problems, they make decisions, they take actions, and they deal with the consequences themselves instead of always relying on others to protect them.

And when the situation requires, they pull out their swords and fight.

–Kelly

Maybe in an Alternate Universe, “Fringe” isn’t Ending

Tomorrow night marks the close of a brief, but wonderful era on television as Fringe ends its run (and a sizeable portion of my happiness) with a two-hour series finale. When I think about the show being over, I tear up a little which shows how much I care about it because I normally only cry when I stub my toe or I’m watching a sports movie.

My favorite fake people ever. Found at http://www.fringefiles.com.

When it premiered in 2008, it was immediately clear that it was my kind of show: X-Files-ish and J.J. Abrams-created. If you’ve never seen Fringe, I don’t think I can begin to explain it and if I did begin to explain it, I’d probably confuse you and myself. In Fringe, science and technology are such an integral part of the story. Alternative universes, time travel, and nanobots aren’t just plot devices to get the writers through an episode; they’re plot points.

You can’t passively watch Fringe; for the most part, it requires your attention. Even when paying attention, I didn’t always understand what was going on. Sometimes, it would take long discussions with friends for us to figure out what had developed on the show. There are a few things on the show that I chose not to pay attention to, like the glyphs. Before commercial breaks, a glyph appears on the screen. Depending on what it (shown below) is and where a dot is located by the glyph, the glyph stands for a different letter. These letters spell a word and that word is a theme for the episode. But, hey! You don’t need to know that to watch the show! It’s just an added bonus for people who can pay attention to lots of things; so people who aren’t me.

I have no idea what these mean and I still love the show!
Found at http://fringepedia.net/wiki/Glyphs.

Even with the science-heavy aspect of the show, Fringe is, at its heart, a story about a father’s love for his son. In my opinion, the characters are the best thing about the show. As interesting and captivating as it can be to watch people jump from universe to universe or to reanimate dead bodies, the thing that keeps me watching is the family that’s been created by the main characters. When the show started, Walter, Peter, Olivia, and Astrid were all separate people, living separate lives and now, they’re a family knit together by LSD, peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, and the Observers.

But tomorrow night is the end, there will be no more new episodes, and my face will be a sad one. A friend and I have decided to rewatch the show to catch things we missed the first time around so Walter, Peter, Olivia, Astrid, Broyles, Nina, Fauxlivia, Walternate, Lincoln, and Charlie will remain a part of my life. I’m thankful that the show was around for 100 episodes. If you haven’t seen Fringe yet, you should watch it. “Highly recommended” doesn’t even come close to how I feel about it and it will be missed.

-aisha, who will be curled up on her couch Friday night and not remotely ashamed to be crying