Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Some of you have already discovered the brilliant television series The Wire – it’s always being borrowed by someone. Like me, for instance.

I didn’t watch the series when it was being screened (late at night) on TV. In fact, I didn’t even know it existed until an American friend and I were discussing our favourite programmes, and she shrieked “What?! You’ve never watched the Wire?! Oh man, YOU’VE GOTTA SEE IT!”

Now things that elicit this much enthusiasm in a person intrigue me, so I went to the  catalogue immediately. I was pleased to see the library had all five seasons of it. I was not so pleased to find out I would have to wait though,  for every copy was out on loan. Obviously my friend was not the only one who enjoyed the show.

When it finally turned up on the holds shelf under my name, I wasted no time introducing it to my DVD player.  It was love at first episode.  I am in the middle of season four now, and there’s a teeny tiny part of me that wishes my friend had never told me about the Wire. I have spent sunny days inside with the curtains closed to watch it. Once I’ve finished the fifth and final season, I’ll probably need to go to rehab. Yes, I’m that addicted.

Summing up the Wire in one sentence is difficult. The series takes you on a tour of the poorest parts of Baltimore city, introducing you to drug dealers, police officers and politicians who are, in many ways, more alike than what they want to admit. What makes it so good? The characters, the dialogue, the location, the plot. It’s gritty and shocking, but also funny and touching. The story unfolds like a rollercoaster ride, slow in parts and quick in others, twisting and turning, climbing and diving towards an end where everything is connected and no one really wins.

So if you are looking for a good TV series to get hooked on this winter, try The Wire. Just make sure you have a comfortable couch, warm blanket and lots of tasty snacks before you push play, because you won’t be going anywhere for a while. Trust me.

As for those of you who are already fans of the show, what are some of your favourite scenes? Who is your favourite character? And most importantly, what version of the theme song “Down in the Hole” did you like the best?

My favourite New Zealand short film ever, Kitchen Sink, has just been put online but the wonderful people at NZ on Screen. Beware – it has a hairy, scary monster and if you’ve ever gagged while cleaning hair out of a plughole, it might not be for you. At a touch under 13 minutes, it’s a 105Mb file – and totally worth it.  Watch it with a friend this weekend. It’s directed by Alison Maclean.

Every Thursday we update our RSS with new non-fiction, fiction and just ordered titles. Here’s a selection of those ‘just ordered’ – so fresh they haven’t even made into the shelf:

Australian theme

• Zombie myths of Australian military history 
• AC/DC for ukulele

Sounds

• Document and eyewitness : An intimate history of Rough Trade - the inside story of the phenomenally influential record label, told by people like Geoff Travis, Jarvis Cocker, and more. Cabaret Voltaire, The Smiths, The Fall – music lovers will go ape for this one.

 And more …

• Iconoclast : A neuroscientist reveals how to think differently - Through vivid accounts of successful innovators ranging from glass artist Dale Chihuly to physicist Richard Feynman to country/rock trio the Dixie Chicks, Berns reveals the inner workings of the iconoclast’s mind with remarkable clarity.
• Training your pet ferret
• 101 whiskies to try before you die
• Curly like me : How to grow your hair healthy, long, and strong by the wonderfully named Teri LaFlesh. “Do you spend countless hours– and untold dollars–on weaves, perms, salon visits, and products that promise to “cure”, change, heal, or make your hair more manageable, only to end up even more frustrated?”

A media release from Booksellers New Zealand has announced: Writers confirmed for The Press Christchurch Writers Festival 9-12 September 2010. The 2010 Festival features:

• The presentation of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel
• International writers including Simon Winchester, Barbara Trapido, Clive Hamilton and Emily Maguire
• A bevy of Kiwi writers, poets and performers including Dave Dobbyn, Roger Hall, Rachael King, Chris Laidlaw and Helen Lowe.

I’m waving my fan flag for the wonderful Simon Winchester. I’ve loved his work ever since reading The Surgeon of Crowthorne, a bewitching story of murder, madness and logomania:

W.C. Minor was one of the keenest volunteers involved in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. What the OED’s editor, James Murray, didn’t realise was that he was also a millionaire American Civil War surgeon turned lunatic, imprisoned in Broadmoor Asylum for murder.

His latest book is all about the Atlantic.

Bookings for all events open tomorrow (Friday 16 July) with the release of the programme.

• The Press Christchurch Writers Festival website
• Our coverage of the 2008 Festival – on the website and here on the blog.

Is Craig Smith  of Wonky Donkey fame more popular than The Wiggles? He just might be, given the crowds of kids and parents in Christchurch’s Central Library currently enjoying a performance.

• Photos on Flickr

The Canterbury AA’s fleet of motor cars at the Christchurch Railway Station to convey some of the returned servicemen. 18 November 1919.

Do you have photos of Christchurch? We love donations.

Also contact us if you have any further information on any of the images. Want to see more? You can browse our collection.

Everybody’s Theatre (pictured) was proposed to be built on Lichfield Street the 1930s, and I’m thinking it might have been quite flash for a night out.

The image is from of our collection of  digitised plans of Christchurch buildings, where you’ll also find the original floor plan of the Majestic Theatre. I read recently that the Majestic building will be refurbished again, and I started thinking about the disappeared theatres in Christchurch.

From the tiny Savoy 1 & 2 (where I saw everything from Star Wars and  2001 : A Space Odyssey to Arnie movies and the eye-popping Evil Dead 2)  to the West End (Stripes), or the Avon (Goodbye Pork Pie, I think), there’s several theatres that have disappeared over the years.

Which Christchurch theatres do you remember? And which movies did you see at them?

July 14 is Bastille Day, France’s National Day. Here are some Revolutionary stuff at your library:

• The catalogue search du jour is  French revolution.
• A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
• Jacques-Louis David’s famous painting of Marat in the bath.
• Les Miserables – the book by Victor Hugo, the musical, can you hear the people sing the song of angry men? Yes we can, at every talent show or episode of Glee, there is Les Mis.
• For a different perspective, try Queen of fashion : what Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber. Oh and Sofia Coppola’s movie Marie Antoinette.

What says Vive la Revolution to you?

So thanks to the Five Book Challenge, I’ve now been introduced to  Cory Doctorow. Entertaining, imaginative, thought-provoking, and accessible. Just the way I like my sci-fi. The author picture on the back of the book  isn’t bad either. Mr Doctorow, I think you may have stolen my heart.

Now that you’ve shown me how good cyberpunk can be, I want to devote myself to your books alone, Mr Doctorow. But I’m afraid we have to part ways until I’ve finished what I started. The challenge must go on. I will remember our time together with great fondness though, and one day – very soon, I hope – I will find you again on the library’s shelves…

For my next book, I thought I’d try to find something with a feminine twist. Anyone know of any good cyberpunk/sci-fi written by women? Who has read Pat Cadigan and gives her the thumbs up?

Poetry is one of those things that I think I should like, (a bit like Opera) but I just can’t seem to quite get there.  Every now and then I try, I really do.  I keep waiting for the plot, or the punchline, or just some sense of understanding,  and each time I usually come away feeling that maybe I’m just not clever enough to really appreciate the nuances of verse?

So, with this rather checkered history I searched out website under Poetry.  There’s plenty here that could get me started I’m sure – but what will I like? What will enthuse me and find me wanting more?  I’m hoping that amongst our readers that someone will be able to suggest that gem that will find me trawling through the poetry section eagerly searching for more.