Christchurch City Libraries Blog

It made my day to see Clint arrive on the shelves. And I think people of all ages will find much to enjoy. Clint’s movie career spans six decades so even the youngest moviegoer is likely to have seen one of his movies.

The book is written by his friend Richard Schickel, a writer and documentary filmmaker, so you won’t find a particularly objective view of Clint the person, in fact much of the commentary is downright obsequious.  But for die hard fans it is a long enjoyable walk down memory lane, as each movie is discussed in turn with lots of fascinating details about the origin of each screenplay, the varied reactions of the critics, the audience vote and the dirt on the money won and lost each time.

There’s something particularly satisfying in reading about an underdog who rises from being sneered at for his spaghetti westerns to become a movie show pony and geriatric success story at the Oscars. And at 81 years of age it isn’t likely we will see that many more creations from the man who brought us Dirty Harry Callaghan, so make the most of this reading trip. Or put a hold on one of his films – we have twenty to choose from.

National Poetry Day is on its way:

New Zealand’s national day of poetry … is a celebration of this country’s unique and vibrant poetic voice – whether it is odes, myths and legends, serious social commentary or just plain good fun …

Events in Christchurch

Find out about Events on the Booksellers website including:

• Lyttelton An Act of Art: Upon the Upland Road
  When: Friday, 22 Jul 2011
  Where: Harbour Light site, London Street, Lyttelton (map)
  Description: Check out a symbolic form of part of James K Baxter’s “High Country Weather”, located on the Harbour Light site, London Street, Lyttelton. Installation: Friday, 22 July. In association with Gap Filler. Artist: Trent Hiles
• Phoenix Poetry – Rising from the rubble. Patrick Evans, James Norcliffe, Tusitata Avia and students from the Hagley Writers’ Institute and the School For Young Writers.
  When: Fri, 22 July, 12:00 – 13:30
  Where: Canterbury University Bookshop (map)
  Description:  Canterbury University Bookshop invites you to come and enjoy some literary life in our recovering city. Patrick Evans will chair a session with poets James Norcliffe, Tusitata Avia and students from the Hagley Writers’ Institute and the School For Young Writers. Singer /Songwriter Adam McGrath of The Eastern will end proceedings. Bring your lunch and a poem to add to our Poetry Wall. We will provide free tea and coffee

Poetry at Christchurch City Libraries

We love poetry all year round:

• Poetry resources at Christchurch City Libraries
• Poetry on the blog which includes some amazing poems given to us as Words for Christchurch.
• Poetry finalists in the New Zealand Post Book Awards 2011:
  The Mirror of Simple Annihilated Souls by Kate Camp, Victoria University Press
  Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English – Whetu Moana II by Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan, Auckland University Press
  The Radio Room by Cilla McQueen, Otago University Press
  NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry Award winner: Dear Sweet Harry by Lynn Jenner, Auckland University Press
• General non-fiction finalists in the New Zealand Post Book Awards 2011:
  99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry by Paula Green and Harry Ricketts, Vintage, Random House NZ

The passionate fans queuing to see the final Harry Potter movie show that the romance of cinema going is not dead. Even if the glamour has gone out of many cinema buildings – Christchurch trashed its cinema building heritage long before any earthquake – it’s nice to see people enjoying the event of a night out at the cinema.

That is what it used to be – the stylish buildings made people dress up a bit and go out for an evening. Now, video rental stores, home cinemas  and downloading have made movie going as an event a bit of a novelty.

Lucky Wellingtonians who have at least two beautifully restored cinema buildings to attend (like this one). Wouldn’t it be great if the city rebuild included not a multiple, but a gracious multipurpose building that could host film festivals and grand occasions like premieres.

Richard’s post about the Ghosts of cinema past drew a host of reminiscences.

Autism has been flavour of the month in the film world for a few years. Movies like Rain Man and Snow Cake portrayed people with autism as holy innocents and savants. More recent movies have characters with more depth, and defining characteristics other than autism.

In My Name is Kahn for example, the lead character is just as important for his Muslim faith as for his autism. Adam is primarily about a romantic relationship. Movies  like The Horse Boy focus on families looking for ways to help their autistic children. As our viewing matures, so hopefully does our view of what it is like to be autistic.

Mercury Rising, I am Sam, and The Other Sister are some more recent film featuring autistic characters. There is also a movie based on the book Mozart and the Whale.

You can find out more about autism and Asperger Syndrome in the Source:

• Global Issues in Context
• Health and Wellness Resource Centre

It’s not just the Christchurch Arts Festival back on deck – the Christchurch Writers Festival, ’quaked out not once but twice, rises from the rubble with some great sessions at the Christchurch Arts Festival in August.

Best-selling crime writers Tess Gerritsen and John Hart will spend an hour Setting the Stage for Murder on 21 August at the TelstraClear Club in the Events Village in Hagley Park.

Five writers with strong Canterbury links will also be Putting Words to the Feelings about the earthquakes on Sunday 18 September at 1 pm.  Fiona Farrell, Tusiata Avia, Carl Nixon, Joanna Preston and Charlottte Randall will be reflect on  their experiences and on how the reimagined landscape will emerge within their writing, also at the TelstraClear Club.

First post office, Colombo Street, Christchurch

The Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AtoJs or AJHRs) are an essential resource for anyone interested in New Zealand’s history. Good news today is that the Digitisation of ‘AtoJs’ reaches 1906.

What does this mean? You can now get contemporary information and observations on events like:

• Parihaka
• Tarawera

Yes there are facts and figures, and analytical information but sometimes it is the smaller observations that open up history. A report on the Tarawera eruption 1886 from Doctor Hector mentions :

One of the most unfortunate results of the eruption, in addition to the disastrous loss of life and the destruction of the country, is the disturbance of the sense of security which has grown up amongst those residing at the Hot Springs and I believe that many persons are so thoroughly shaken by the horrors experienced on the morning of the 10th that they will not recover their equanimity until they have been for some time resident away from, the sounds, smells, and shocks that characterize the district.

The reports on events at Parihaka includes a discussion on potatoes:

The Hon. Mr. Bryce to Lieutenant-Colonel Robeets. Wellington, 13th April, 1882. —Colonel Roberts, Opunake.- —Toil are perfectly right. Natives must be prevented from taking supplies to Parihaka, which would give an excuse for reviving and attending the monthly meetings. I have no objections to carts going to the Parihaka Block for supplies, as there is a superabundance there but taking supplies to Parihaka is in every way objectionable, and must be stopped. Please have this explained to the Natives with the carts, as it is not unlikely that they may wish to get potatoes from Parihaka. —John Bryce.

Lieut.-Colonel Robeets to the Hon, Mr. Bryce. Pungaeehu, 14th April, 1882.—Hon. Mr. Bryce, Wellington.—Natives who were not allowed to go to Parihaka with pork said that they would be ashamed to go there with empty drays, and would therefore not go for potatoes. —J. M. Roberts, Lieut.-Colonel.

Thanks to The National Library of New Zealand for managing the collaborative programme that is digitising the Appendices to the Journals to make these records easy to access and freely available online. Brilliant stuff.

NCEA Maths not your strong point? Don’t worry, become a mathematical genius with help from the library! As well as checking out any of the fantastic websites listed below, you can borrow NCEA math textbooks and study guides from one of the community libraries that are now open.

Maths help on the Web

• Study It is one of the best places to go for information, contact with Math teachers, and encouragement and support from other students.
• NZQA has got your back with official resources for NCEA Mathematics and Statistics.
• Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus have all been covered in the study guides on SparkNotes.
• Serve your teachers up some pie…graphs by using Create A Graph.
• Keep things interesting with games, online quizzes and activities.

So where did we find these great resources? On The Pulse, the library’s website for teens.

I’m a bit of a news junkie and I often see topics in the news that I would like to find out more about. It’s not always that easy. Delving into other sources takes time.

I wanted to know more about child labour in India after it came up in relation to our proposed India/New Zealand free trade agreement.

I also wanted to find out more about reactions to the wearing of burqas after two bus drivers in Auckland refused veiled women entry to their buses.

The new Global issues in context database in the Source is a gold mine of such information.

When I looked at it, the front page featured in-depth articles on the Fukushima power plant, child labour, the next presidential elections in the States, the “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East and many other topical issues. Anything not on the front page was easy to access with a simple keyword search.

I can see I’ll be dipping into this on a regular basis.

Bebel Gilberto: Bring Back The Love Remixes

I’m a fan of  electronica and juicy remixes. I didn’t think of exploring our free online music to find any, but lo and behold … Am enjoying this lovely EP of Bebel Gilberto: Bring Back The Love Remixes – the Prins Thomas remix is perfect sunny afternoon fodder.

I also want to dip into Under the Influence – Mixed by DJ Spooky that subliminal kid.

Both come from  Contemporary World Music.

•  Contemporary World Music features a range of musical genres such as reggae, worldbeat, Arab swing and jazz, and traditional music like flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel,  and more.
• Contemporary World Music is part of Music Online – a resource with audio recordings, full-text reference materials, liner notes, biographies, and images.
• Christchurch City Libraries has music available online for free from anywhere with your library card number and PIN.

Ok – not the most cheerful of titles I agree -  but something just a little out of the ordinary. This is a truly fascinating and largely funny collection of short stories and artwork. Each work revolves around the central premise of the existence of a “Machine of Death“.  By a simple blood test an individual can discover the cause of their death (but not the time or place). Unfortunately the machine only spits out short answers – often vague and ambiguous. OLD AGE could mean dying in an armchair in your dotage or it could mean being run down by an octogenarian in a mobility scooter. However, the machine is always right and taking the test again will not change the result.

The stories explore different cultural and social possibilities of such a machine – when teens hang out together in groups of the same fate who do you sit with if you’ve got FLAMING MARSHMALLOW? How do you create an infomercial to sell a shipment of instructionless Chinese gadgets when you have no idea of what they actually do (although experiments on colleagues suggest they test for narcotics use)?

The stories were submitted to the website http://machineofdeath.net/ and most are under a creative commons license.  The editors are currently looking for stories for volume 2 although the deadline is midnight 15th July – so you’d need to be quick!