Staff Picks: Music Collection (April 2007)

Aaron:

Here are my top 5 in no particular order.

• Bernard Herrmann: The Day the Earth Stood Still (CD 15779)


• Franz Waxman: Bride of Frankenstein (CD 16619)

The Day the Earth Stood Still and Bride of Frankenstein are two film scores that still inspire me to this day.


• Brain in a Box (CD 11661): Brain In A Box is a fantastic collection of sci-fi/horror movie and television themes packaged with horror and sci-fi themed rock/pop music and lounge music. It contains so many classics that I love from the golden age of horror.


• Surfin’ Hits (CD 10953): Surfin’ Hits is yet another compilation of some of the most favored acts in classic surf music. It is great music from an era when cars looked like rocket ships and horror movies were at some of their best!


• Björk: Vespertine (CD 15094): Björk’s album Vespertine is a great mix of her more accessible music paired with her more experimental leanings.

All five albums are very different, but all are fantastic music that has a spirit all their own.


Cheryl:

• Les Misérables (CD 5807, can be paired with Ed Res VHS 2657 [the 1935 film adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel]): made a wondrous impact on modern culture with beautiful heart wrenching ballads. My favorite is "On My Own."


• HITCHCOCK Master of Mayhem, conducted by Lalo Schifrin (CD 7218): wide variety of musical styles, uses music to influence the atmosphere and storylines in his amazing films! [More Hitchcock soundtracks]


• Ray Original Motion Picture Score (CD 16391, can be paired with the movie, Ed Res DVD 1391): beautifully arranged and composed by Craig Armstrong. Each intense recording illustrates a picture of what it was like to live in Ray Charles’ shoes, I feel as though I am right there as I listen.


• Dan Fogelberg: Greatest Hits (CD 7741): A soulful blend of 70's and early 80's heartfelt vocal harmonies, my favorite is "Same Old Lang Syne."


• A Perfect Circle: Mer de Noms (CD 12815): My alternative rock selection, great to listen to in your car on the way to work or when you are just chillin' at home!


• The Breakfast Club Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (CD 10843, can be paired with the movie, Ed Res DVD 1305): This brings me back to good ole 1985!! It’s a must have!


• Michael Bublé (CD 16088): Very much like a young Sinatra, Bublé is an unbelievable big band/jazz singer, It's Time features covers of the Beatles and Ray Charles songs. The song "Home" leaves me smiling; his voice is soothing and warm. Perfect for all ages!!!


• Walk The Line Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (CD 16090, can be paired with the movie, Ed Res DVD 2182): The story of the musical legend Johnny Cash, enough said!


• A Charlie Brown Christmas (CD 15397, can be paired with the TV special, Ed Res VHS 11129): Christmas in the Spring! This soundtrack recording of the CBS television special brings everyone's inner child to life!

Jason:

Some of the box sets would be good to recommend. Most of the ones with interesting boxes or extended guides are popular music but there are a few classical ones. Here are some examples:

• Eternal Chant (CD 9624)


• The Velvet Underground: Peel Slowly and See (CD 12302)


• Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80's Underground (CD 15484)


• Ken Burns Jazz (CD 16746)


• Johnny Cash: The Legend (CD 16419)


• Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime (CD 16017)

These are all from different genres but the artwork and information in the box add a bit of history and interest to the CDs


Keith:

• Brahms: The Four Symphonies, Tragic Overture, Variations on a theme by Haydn. Performed by Kurt Sanderling and the Dresden Staatskapelle (CD 10720): Of the many recordings of these pieces, these are my favorites. Sanderling manages to combine attention to detail (many inner parts that are buried on other recordings are audible here) with a strong sense of line and steady forward motion. When these recordings were made in 1972, the Dresden Staatskapelle still had the sound typical of German orchestras earlier in the century. Now that orchestras all over the world sound increasingly alike, it's good to hear again the distinctive sound of this ensemble.


• Wagner: Die Meistersinger (CD 13638): Recorded commercially for Deutsche Grammophon in 1967, this recording was not released until the early 1990s. Whatever the reasons for the long delay, this is the most strongly cast recording of this opera: Thomas Stewart, Sandor Konya, Gundula Janowitz, Rafael Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.


• Dawn Upshaw sings Vernon Duke (CD 6482 or 8502): One of the forgotten composers of the American musical, Vernon Duke never had a long-running, hit show during his career, but many of his individual songs retain their appeal, as this collection demonstrates.


• Django Reinhardt: The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order (CD 11228): This 5 CD set documents the rise in the 1930s of Reinhardt, a great jazz guitarist, and his group, the Quintette du Hot Club de France, one of the first important jazz ensembles to develop outside the U.S. The group featured an unusual combination of violin, three guitars, and double bass.


• Dave Brubeck: Time Signatures, a Career Retrospective (CD 12929): This 4 CD set is a comprehensive overview of Brubeck's career from the 1940s to the early 1990s.

ANZAC Day, Australia + New Zealand (April 25, 2007)

"ANZAC Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day." (http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm)

To honor ANZAC Day, why not watch a film from Australia, like Rabbit-Proof Fence, which tells how, in 1931, three half-Aboriginal children from Western Australia, who had been taken from their mothers, set out on an epic journey home, traveling 1,500 miles on foot with no food or water as they followed the fence that has been build across the nation to stem an over-population of rabbits. You might also like Breaker Morant, in which an Australian soldier in 1901 South Africa during the Boer War is ordered to oversee the execution of a prisoner who turns out to be a German missionary and is court-martialed for it. The Proposition is an Australian Western set in the outback of the 1880s, where an outlaw is presented with an impossible proposition by local law enforcement.

Or watch a movie from New Zealand, such as Whale Rider, the story of Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal Maori tribe, who believes she is destined to be the new chief. And don't forget to check out the work of the famous kiwi director Peter Jackson.

Kick back with some music from Australia and New Zealand. Waltzing Matilda is the quintessential Australian song. We also have the children's book and a claymation short in which a chorus of animated clay animals from the Australian bush sing the famous Australian folk song.

From the Mega Media Finder, check out some pictures of Australia (click on zoology under categories to the right of the results to find lots of pictures of animals, like koalas, platypuses, or kangaroos) or New Zealand. We also have a few 3-dimensional artifacts, like these Maori dolls and these boomerangs.

Learn more about Australia or New Zealand from some non-fiction videos, like Aboriginal Art: Past, Present and Future and Te Maori: A Celebration of the People and their Art.

Looking for something to read? We have children's stories and adult fiction set in Australia, as well as children's stories and adult fiction set in New Zealand. Why not try something by Australian Nobel laureate Patrick White? Or something by the well-known author Katherine Mansfield, who was born in New Zealand.

Astronomy Day (April 21, 2007)

Though e.e. cummings once said, "Listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go" (One Times One), it's not that easy for most of us. Since we seem to be stuck here, why not learn a bit more about our universe? The Ball State University Planetarium is having the last of its Visitor's Guide to the Universe (For the Cosmically Challenged) sessions on Celestial Hotspots to Visit this Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21.

Or how about starting with some interesting resources from Ball State University Libraries?

• Models, Other 3-D Materials, and Kits


• Milky Way Galaxy Model


• Space Shuttle (model)


• Constellation Station: a Nova Science Game


• Puppet Playmates: Space Explorers


• Globes


• DVD & VHS (Features)


• Fritz Lang's 1929 silent film The Woman in the Moon: By Rocket to the Moon


• Star Trek


• Arthur C. Clark's 2001: A Space Odyssey (directed by Stanley Kubrick) and 2010: The Year We Make Contact


• The Right Stuff, based on Tom Wolfe's novel about the U.S. astronauts and Project Mercury


• DVD & VHS (Documentary & Educational)


• The Standard Deviants' The Really Big World of Astronomy provides a light-hearted introduction


• Nova's The Elegant Universe


• Nova's Welcome to Mars and Mars: Dead or Alive document the missions of Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity


• Reach for the Stars is a talk by astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, at Ball State's UniverCity 2002


• Black Sky: The Race for Space follows Burt Rutan on his quest to build a personal spacecraft and capture the elusive X Prize


• Galileo: The Challenge of Reason shows the experiments of Galileo and dramatizes the conflict between his new scientific thinking and the authority of the Catholic church.


• Non-Fiction Audio


• Man in Space: The Story of the Journey: A Documentary is about the first American spaceflight, Alan Shepard's 15-minute, suborbital journey in a Mercury capsule on May 5, 1961.


• Storyteller Jim Weiss' Galileo and the Stargazers


• The audiobook of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time (although you might rather get the book it you don't want to rewind a lot)


• Software


• Starry Night: Constellation Adventure, a CD-ROM that enables armchair stargazers to explore star clusters, constellations, planets, galaxies, and other astronomical phenomena in the night sky based on home location and time.


• Pictures & Posters



• Activity Cards

...and we even have telescopes available for check out for your next night of star-gazing!

PS Kevin at the Science-Health Science Library also has a nice post on his blog about some resources for would-be star-gazers.

National Poetry Month (April 2007)

April is National Poetry Month. As the Academy of American Poets notes, T.S. Eliot said, "April is the cruelest month" and with this recent weather I can believe it.

If you're interested in enjoying some poetry, you might try the Fiction & Literature Media Finder. You can combine checking the poetry box with various kinds of searches. For example, you can select original language of literature from the pull-down menu to find Spanish or ancient Greek poetry, as well as poems originally in Swahili or Welsh. If you'd like to read non-English poetry in the original, use the in original language list instead. Challenge yourself by reading some French poetry in French or German poetry in German.

You can also combine poetry with different genres to find things like war poetry (or choose World War I under time for poems about the Great War). Or try one of the great epic poems from Gilgamesh or the Iliad to Beowulf or the Mahabharata.

If you limit to youth under audience, you can find children's poetry in various genres, such as humorous poetry (including the inimitable Shel Silverstein).

To find poetry you can listen to, use the format limiter for audiobooks. From the Videos (All) Media Finder, you can find a few poetry readings on video--if you like the Beats, why not check out Allen Ginsberg? We also have a few film adaptations of poems.

Or just check poetry and type your favorite poet's name in the search box. A few I fancy include e. e. cummings, Rilke and the haiku poet Basho.

If you'd like to read poetry online, we also provide access to a selection of poetry via our subscription to LitFinder.

For media to help you learn more about poetry and poets, try the Mega Media Finder. Among other things, we have many videos, a few CD-ROMs, and a variety of pictures and posters.

Easter (April 8, 2007)

To prepare for Easter, listen to some passion music ("a musical setting of Jesus' sufferings and death as related by one of the four Evangelists"--The Harvard Dictionary of Music). You might like to try Johann Sebastian Bach's Matthäuspassion. The Software & Electronic Games Media Finder even turns up a CD-ROM that presents a complete performance of the Passion with interactive material on Bach, the work, and the performance. We also have Easter music and some other Holy Week music.

For a couple of films with very different perspectives on Christ's last days, try Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ and Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis). We also have some art and literature that focuses on Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection (or check out all of our adult fiction about the life of Jesus, ranging from Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt to D.H. Lawrence's The Man Who Died)

For a look at the popular culture side of Easter, try the video Easter to get some background on festivities and traditions associated with Easter. And who can forget It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown? We also have a few Easter-related pictures (mostly Easter eggs) and a few children's stories about Easter, some, such as The Easter Bunny That Overslept, featuring the infamous Easter Bunny.