Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

 BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

 

A copy of this DVD is available at the Sherman Public Library

DVD 930 SEVEN

 

 

 

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

 Both A & E and the History Channel release episodes of their programs that originally aired on their respective TV stations. This one, a study of the famous "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", delves into those listed in the classic structures.  The first part of the film discusses possibilities of who the original compiler of this list was.  Some scholars attribute it to Philo or Herodotus, ancient scholars.

The documentary then delves into the historical background of each wonder.  This list is entirely a "man made structures"  list, of course, not geographical wonders, like, say the Grand Canyon. The list includes, in case you are a neophyte, The Great Pyramids at Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Atermis at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes and The Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Only the Great Pyramids still stand today.  The rest were either demolished by natural forces like earthquakes or by men who dismantled them, so much of the segments dealing with the six non-existent structures deals with what it possibly may have looked like, as well as the impetus for each to be constructed in the first place.

What I find most interesting is that the producers got Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame to be the narrator.  It's significant in one respect since Nimoy had also been the host of a late 70's-early 80's TV series along the same lines: In Search Of... (which, unfortunately none of the libraries in the BARR system has, but maybe that will be remedied soon. Your moderator has the series, and could donate his copies.)

As a crash course on the subject, the documentary has many interesting tidbits of information.  As just an entertaining hour and a half jaunt into ancient history for the history buff, it also is well worth watching.

 

Until next time, happy browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

 

 

When Books Went to War

 

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

Copies of this volume are available at the Denison and Sherman Libraries.

028.909 MANNING

When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning:

This volume discusses the impact that books published under the banner of "Armed Services Editions" had on soldiers. These books were originally in direct response to reports of book burning under the Nazi Germany government, in attempt to eradicate any ideas that did not fit their ideals of the German race's superiority. In Nazi Germany, at that time, before the implementation of the "Final Solution", ideas were the focus and among those books burned were books by Jewish writers, although those weren't the only ones that were put in the bonfire.

The other factor was that, in the previous two wars, The Civil War and The Great War (later known as World War I), books  had had some limited success in boosting morale of the troops by supplying them with reading material to alleviate the monotony and loneliness that accompanied soldiers while engaged in combat.

Prior to the start of U.S. involvement in the already ongoing war, America's troops only amounted to less than 200,000 soldiers.  But with the looming threat of the necessity to become involved, the administration instituted a draft.  This meant that the available manpower was going to increase dramatically.  Some librarians already knew how much books improved morale and initiated book drives to get the public to donate books. 

However, despite a good start, many citizens interests in the project gradually waned.  With the goal of collecting 10 million books falling short, it became apparent that other measures were needed to supply the troops with recreational reading. One of the ways was getting the President and the First Lady behind the effort.  And yet, still, some other avenues became necessary.

Essentially, what happened is that a government organization was formed, and with the efforts of publishers nationwide, portable versions of books were printed to be given to troops. Over the course of time, some of those books kept the drive to continue in the day-to-day battle to stay firm. Some of the soldiers even were able to write the authors of those books about how much their work inspired them, and the authors often wrote letters back to the soldiers. (One of those books, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn appears to have been a particular favorite.  The author, Betty Smith, often received as many as four letters a day from soldiers and responded to many of them.

At the end of the book, Manning includes a complete list of those books that had been used in the program. They include novels, westerns, mysteries and educational tomes (history and the like). Check it out if you like WWII history or like me, just love books.

Until next time, happy browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

 

 

Live the Dream

 

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

A copy of this DVD is available at the Denison Public Library.

DVD 796.322 LIVE

Live the Dream:

Subtitled The Texas Longhorns' Magical March to the 2006 National Championship, that subtitle basically says it all.

The 2005 BCS Championship Series started off with the University of Texas ranked #2 in the nation. But, although the Longhorns dominated nearly every opponent in the regular season they played that year, they never could play well enough to unseat the #1 team that year, the defending 2004 champions, the USC Trojans.

Over the course of the regular season the Longhorns only had a couple of gulps, including a nail-biter against the then ranked #4 Ohio State Buckeyes, and a game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, in which Oklahoma State went into the locker room at halftime with a solid lead, but were shut down in the second half.

Fittingly, the last half of the documentary covers the Championship Game itself, against the year-long ranked #1 Trojans.  If you weren't privileged to see (or hear) that game played out, it was back and forth for most of the game, but USC Trojans led 38-26 with less than 7 minutes in the game.

Sports enthusiasts know how it turned out, with quarterback Vince Young leading two drives to take the lead and ultimately winning the game. This highlight DVD, by the way, is narrated by Verne Lundquist, whose voice will be familiar to those who watched NFL games in the '80's.

Live the Dream is not one for the casual football fan. It's basically meant for diehard fans. Or for anyone who might be too young to have experienced the season in real time.

Author note: To this day, the only time I have ever watched an entire season without missing one single game of a football team, pro or college or otherwise, was the 2005 Texas Longhorns run to the Rose Bowl. I also have the DVD of the game itself (unfortunately not available at the library).

Until next time, happy browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

Why We Love Football

 BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

A copy of this volume is located at the Sherman Public Library.

796.332 POSNANSKI

Why We Love Football by Joe Posnanski

A follow-up to a previous volume, Why We Love Baseball, this volume covers, as the subtitle intimates "a history in 100 moments".  And those 100 moments include some of the most memorable plays in football history.  Not just NFL history, which you could be forgiven if you thought so before you opened the book. There are plenty of memorable collegiate football moments, too.

As well, the author has 10 "moments" that are basically paeans to legendary players, including Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, Reggie White, Jim Brown and, just to prove he is not partial towards post-1960's football, Sammy Baugh, a quarterback who played in the 1930's. 

Each moment discussed gives some interesting insights into the featured players involved in that moment, as well as some quotes by the central figures. Some of the events will be familiar:  such as the classic game known as "The Ice Bowl", when the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers played in sub-zero temperatures and horrendous weather, or Joe Namath's guarantee that the New York Jets would win Super Bowl III, or the play that will forever be known as "The Catch", which you only need to say those two words and even people who aren't San Francisco 49ers or Dallas Cowboys fans will probably remember.

But also there are some great pieces on classic college plays and even one on a great professional football player who outperformed, on the field one year, better than any other player at the time, but as a woman in a women's football league.  (Yes, there was at one time a Women's Professional Football League, which may come as a surprise to many). 

Probably one of the most heart warming stories is about a boy in Ohio who, despite his love of the game, had no chance to make the high school football team because of his mental retardation.  But he got his moment of glory when the coach suited him up and gave him a role in the final play of the last game of the season.  No spoilers here, but you might be able to guess what happened even so...

My only quibble would be that he doesn't include the game ending of the 2005 Rose Bowl as one of his moments, when QB Vince Young led the #2 ranked Longhorns to a comeback victory against the favored #1 ranked USC Trojans.  Being a University of Texas fan prejudices me, I admit, but that is one of the reasons I love football... Otherwise, I really enjoyed this trip into the history of the sport.

Until next time, happy browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

The Coolest Guy Movie Ever

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

 

A copy of this DVD is available at the Sherman Public Library.

791.43 COOLEST

The Coolest Guy Movie Ever:

The Coolest Guy Movie Ever is a documentary about the making of the 1963 movie The Great Escape, ostensibly, according to the makers "The Coolest Guy Movie Ever".  (You as the viewer can make your own conclusion about what constitutes the "coolest guy movie ever". You may agree or you may not, but that shouldn't detract from your enjoyment of the film makers' argument.)

The original film was released in 1963 and featured an all-star cast that included Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. It was based on a book by Paul Brickhill, which in turn was about a real WWII event, an attempt to escape from a German P.O.W. camp. 

(Note: See the end of this entry, where I will tell where you can find both the movie and the book. I would recommend you either watch the original film or read the book before watching this documentary if you don't want spoilers, although if you know a little of the history, you already know something of what actually happened.)

The documentary spends a lot of time trying to locate the sites where the film was made.  Some of the landmarks, especially the P.O.W. camp, are no longer standing, but many of them still are, albeit more modern. (Those traffic lights and the modern paved roads were not quite the same as in the 60's, but they are easily identifiable).

During the documentary there are some interviews with people who are, or at least were at the time, still living. A few of them are actually from archived interviews, however, even though the actual interviewees were, at the time, still living.  Of course, many of the actors and crew had long since passed away.  McQueen, who is one of the primary focuses in the documentary passed away in 1980, and thus was not available, as well as a number of the other primary actors in the original film.

The documentary is narrated by Lawrence Montaigne, an actor who had a major role in the original film. He played the role of Haynes, one of the prisoners who helped in engineering the escape.  Montaigne passed away not too long after completing the documentary and his name appears in a special list of dedications at the end of the film. Some of the other interviewees are people who around the set during the filming, including one guy whose father operated the hotel where many of the actors stayed while making the original film.

While there may be some who disagree that it is the "coolest guy movie" ever, it would be hard to deny that The Great Escape is not a great movie, despite the downbeat ending, which is true to the actual events, so that ending shouldn't detract from it's "great guy movie" status.

The documentary, along with The Great Escape: The Untold Story (available as an added bonus to the DVD of the original film) make for a nice pairing to accompany the actual original film.  As an amateur historian, the insights really appealed to me.

Note: The book and the original film are both available at the Grayson College library.

Book: 940.54 BRI

DVD: DVD 940.54 BRI

Until next time, happy browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

The History of Mystery

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

 

A copy of this volume is located at the Denison Public Library.

813.087 COLLINS

The History of Mystery by Max Allan Collins

 The History of Mystery can best be described  as a "coffee table book" . A "coffee table book", just in case you MIGHT be unfamiliar with the term, is a large oversize book, typically made with more pictures to look at than actual print to read.  But that term may be understating the book too much.

Sure it is replete with a lot of pictures, consisting of covers of old pulp magazine covers and old book covers from the time when the book in question was first published. It is an exquisite look into the past bygone days of mystery, stretching all the way from it's beginnings in the late 1800's all the way to the late 1900's. (The book was first printed in 2001.)

But, like I say, don't dismiss it just because the bulk of it is just pictures (although you could get a couple of hours enjoyment just from that).  There is also a pretty fascinating essay on the history of publishing mystery fiction over that time period included.  The essay is by Max Allan Collins, a phenomenal writer in his on right.

From "Mysterious Beginnings" which covers the historical background that preceded the first private eye novels, through chapters dedicated to such icons as Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes), Erle Stanley Garner (creator of Perry Mason and Cool and Lam),  Agatha Christie (creator of  Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple) and others, Collins gives some well told history of the genre. There is even a chapter dedicated to comic strips and comic books: Batman, of course, but Dick Tracy, who isn't exactly a private detective are included.

There is also a section on amateur detectives, such as Jessica Fletcher ("Murder, She Wrote") and a few others who may not be familiar to the newcomer to the genre. I was a big fan of William X. Kienzle's Father Robert Koesler and Harry Kemelman's Rabbi David Small, both of which mixed a little religion with the detective story. And we can't forget the characters who may have got us interested in mystery as kids; The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown.

This is not dry boring history: this is the kind of writing you just WISH your high school history textbook had employed. Since Collins is a well-established writer, having written 100's of novels and short stories, he is a deft hand at making history interesting, too.  It helps if you have an interest in the mystery genre, but I think even those with no interest in it could be entertained, just for his skill at writing.

Until next time, happy browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

Box Office Poison

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

 

A copy of this volume is available at the Denison Public Library.

791.437 ROBEY

Box Office Poison by Tim Robey:

Subtitled "Hollywood's story in a century of flops", Box Office Poison delves into the interesting and sometimes controversial background of films that had high hopes at the outset, but failed to find their niche in the public adoration.  The author devotes about 5 or 6 pages to some of the greatest flops in the movie industry.

The basic premise is that some great "epics" and not-so-great "epics" in the history of the film industry had things going on in the background that contributed to their failure at the box office.  There is a distinction between what are termed as "flops" and movies that were never intended to be gigantic money makers.  No one in their right mind would have thought that the average low budget film was going to be a huge hit.  But when you spend upwards of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, some of which may be pinned on the hopes of a draw from star power or astounding special effects,  there may be some expectation of a good return.

The author covers the spectrum of time all the way from the early days with a 1916 silent film, Intolerance, all the way to present day with the recent attempt at a remake of Cats. As the author states in the introduction: "Before their downfall, they were often dreamed up erroneously as sure things...". But due to backstage failures, such as the wrong director for the project, or a star who, with an over-inflated ego, insisted on changes in the script or direction, made the film less about the story and more about him (or her), the film became a failure instead of a success.

As someone interested in the seamier side of the film industry, this book appealed to me.  While someone who rarely goes to movies might not be interested, if they would like to know about the industry behind the scenes, it might prove to be fascinating.

Until next time, happy library browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

At The Drive-In

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

Copies of this volume are available in the DVD sections of both Denison and Sherman libraries.

Denison: DVD 791.4309 AT

Sherman: 384.85 AT

 DVD: At the Drive-In:

This is a documentary that centers around the 2016 season of the running of a drive-in movie theater in Pennsylvania.  Some of the film gives a brief background of the owner of the theater, a man named Jeff Mattox.  Mattox's interest in the film industry began when he was in the Armed Services and ran films for his local service personnel. After his service, he began working at the local drive-in theater, and eventually became the owner.

Some of the story involves his trials and tribulations at keeping his theater in the black financially.  At the outset of the film, however, the theater is on the verge of having to close down if it doesn't turn a profit. One of the turning points of the film is the fact that the theater needs to upgrade it's equipment if it is going to show current movies.  But this is a bit expensive, so he and his crew decide to continue with showing what movies they can, which are all older movies.

For instance, the first double feature the theater shows are The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (and this pairing eventually becomes their annual starting pair of movies each new season).

The dedication of the people involved really shines through.  Not only that of the ones who help keep the theater running, but also those regular faithful customers, many of which are interviewed over the course of the film. Imagine being so dedicated that you drive 7 hours one way to be a part of the events (which one guy actually does).

I highly recommend this to any one with memories of those old drive-ins of bygone times. (If you have been a long time resident of the area, you may have fond recollections of The Twin Cities Drive-In and/or The Sher-Den Twin Drive-In, both of which were situated at the intersection of Highway 691 and Highway 75.)

Until next time, happy library browsing.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.

The Launch of BARR Discoveries

 

I recently moved back to the area after a long absence. (I grew up here, but had been living elsewhere for 35 years).  In browsing the stacks of new and older books and movies at the local libraries,  I started to find some rare and interesting finds.  Some of these may be unfamiliar to even long time residents. 

So I decided to create this blog to point to some of the (possibly) less well known acquisitions. Many of the entries in the coming days will be stuff that has been on the shelves for a while, but also some will be of recent additions. If you are interested, check them out.

As a precursor to the blog, I have to put forth some of the things I look for in my own preferences. First, my primary love is for movies and documentaries.  And in the realm of books, I have to admit at the outset, I don't read much fiction.  

But not to worry.  As soon as I get this blog up and running I will make it a public forum. (Hopefully, the directors of each library will allow me to promote the blog so that it gets some attention). Thus, anybody who has some thoughts on their own discoveries found at the library will be able to have their views published.  (Sort of like a newsletter...)  

To wit: At the beginning of each future entry, whether by me or by a guest author, will contain the following notice:

BARR Discoveries is a public forum. Anybody can submit articles on library materials (or even events) to be published here.  I reserve the right to correct spellings on the entries submitted, but otherwise the entries will be published without comment from the moderator. Send any prospective articles to me at winthrop_j_quiggy@yahoo.com

This will hopefully be a fun blog for all devotees of the libraries.

Quiggy

Disclaimer: BARR Discoveries is solely the opinion of the author of the entry. BARR Library is not responsible in any way for the material posted.