New Acquisitions - October 2016

October was a sleepy month for new acquisitions, but we've added a few new documentaries and films from around the world. The most recognizable name might be Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which we added well in advance of Thanksgiving.

But the most interesting addition might be The Legacy of I. F. Stone, a documentary about the impact of the famous investigative journalist. This film comes to us by way of the I. F. Stone Papers, a collection of materials relating to Stone donated to the University Archives by his son Jeremy. We're excited to house a little part of that collection!

Home Use Collection:

Bhopali – HU DVD 1343
A Letter to True – HU DVD 10310
Los Laberintos de la Memoria = The Labyrinths of Memory – HU DVD 13409
Being Mick: You Would If You Could – HU DVD 13415
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War – HU DVD 13416
Kingdom of Shadows – HU DVD 13417
Hopscotch – HU DVD 13438
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles – HU DVD 13444
Crashing the Party – HU DVD 13446
Big Trouble – HU DVD 13447
Destination: Planet Negro! – HU DVD 13448

In-Library Titles:

Harry Smith: Selected Films – DVD 13249
Hababam Sinifi – DVD 13414
Milou en Mai = May Fools – BLU 13418
The Legacy of I. F. Stone – DVD 13445

Music Library DVDs:

Florence Foster Jenkins – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 250

A roundup of Tonys-related films from the Music Library

This Sunday was the 70th Annual Tony Awards, which featured awards for a few adaptations and revivals that have existed on film before. Rather than ramble about it ourselves, we're going to turn things over to the Music Library, which put together a list of all the items in the library collections related to this weekend's big winners.

Of note for us, we have DVDs of The Color Purple, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and You've Got Mail (adapted from the same source material as She Loves Me).

AU Music Library gets to know Blind Joe Death

The AU Music Library continues to dig into our combined, meaty collection of DVDs about the DC music scene. This time, they've taken a look at In Search of Blind Joe Death (MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 77), a Kickstarted documentary about a Takoma Park resident and AU alum who became something of an experimental folk and blues legend. Jesse over at the Music Library gives a great summary of this DVD and gives a little history about why Blind Joe Death matters to the local music scene.

We love the local music scene materials that the library purchases, and we love that the Music Library is giving them their due. Swing over to their blog to learn more.

Read the Music Library's review of Minor Threat Live

Our collection has a healthy number of films about music, musicians, and the music industry, so we like to collaborate with our friends over in the Music Library to promote them. Jesse, one of the student workers in the Music Library has been reviewing some of our music DVDs; last week he wrote about our compilation of Minor Threat performances from the 1980s in and around DC (HU DVD 4394).

We'll let Jesse's review speak for itself. Head over to the Music Library blog and see what he has to say about Minor Threat and the role of their show in the history of the DC hardcore punk scene.

Music Library Sez: 20 Feet from Stardom

We have a lot of music-related films and documentaries in our collection. Our friends over at the Music Library love them too, and they occasionally write reviews for their favorites. In our first post in this series, Music Library part-timer Jesse writes about the recent Academy Award-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom (HU DVD 11199).


Hello, readers new and old! If you're reading this on the Media Services blog, my name is Jesse, nice to meet you! If you're on the Music Library blog, you know me. Either way, it is my great honor to provide you with a review of a new DVD at Media Services: 20 Feet From Stardom.

20 Feet, released in 2013, is a documentary delving into the history, psychology, and philosophy of background singing. Unique for focusing on background talents rather than the usual camera fodder (the stars), it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in March, giving director Morgan Neville his first Oscar!

New Acquisitions - March 2014

Welcome back from spring break! Since you've been gone, we've been very busy. The AU Library is now home to many of the year's biggest award nominees, including Captain Phillips, Blue is the Warmest Color, 12 Years a Slave, Lee Daniel's The Butler, Prisoners, and Gravity. And if you're feeling something lighter, we now also have Catching Fire, The World's End, and National Treasure.

It's really been a great few weeks for our collection. Come see what we have! Read on for a full list...

New Acquisitions - February 2014

It's been a while, hasn't it? After a relaxing winter break, we're back in at full steam with a bounty of great DVDs.

Looking for something critically acclaimed? Fruitvale Station, Behind the Candelabra, and Breaking Bad will itch that scratch. Mindless entertainment? Pacific Rim and Man of Steel. Need some AU pride? History professor Peter Kuznick's Oliver Stone-directed miniseries The Untold History of the United States is now available. Something off the beaten path? We have a documentary about the history and culture of the falafel. Really!

It's all at the AU Library. Read on for a full list...

New Acquisitions - October 2013

Been a while, hasn't it? Since the start of the semester, we've had a slew of new DVDs show up in in the library. You might be most interested in big names like The Great Gatsby and the second season of HBO's Girls, but the past few months of acquisitions cast a very wide and intriguing net. Perhaps you're interested in Midnight's Children, based on the Salman Rushdie novel. If history isn't your think, consider the documentary about legendary transhuman futurist Ray Kurzweil. Or you may want to watch a lecture about privilege from noted activist Tim Wise.

Dare you go out on a limb and watch Executive Koala, the bizarre Japanese film about a white-collar koala?

Read on for a full list...

New Acquisitions - July 2013

The summer rolls on, and in-between our trips to the theater and the beach, we've picked up some new movies. There are a few big crowd-pleasers, like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Pitch Perfect, and the first season of The Newsroom. But also a number of interesting smaller titles. Learn about youth chess prodigies in Brooklyn Castle, or revisit one of the first major disaster movies with The Towering Inferno. We also acquired a large set of videos produced by the Audubon Society, courtesy of AU professor Chris Palmer.

It's all here for the watching. Read on for a full list...

New Acquisitions - May 2013

After a month-long hiatus, we've once again started receiving new movies. We're in the process of playing catch-up. In addition to rounding out our collection of Best Picture nominees (now including Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained), we've updated our collection of Frontline and 30 for 30 episodes, added the last of the Twilight movies, and started collections of two cult hit TV shows. Plus, you don't want to miss intriguing new documentaries about scrap metal foragers and a "lesbian twin sister yodeling act."

Read on for a full list...

So it's come to this: Prepare your wallets for the Music Library's massive LP sale

Interested in collecting vinyl? Clear your calendar for this Friday. The Music Library has in the process of filtering out its LP collection, and Everything. Must. Go.

From 10am–2pm on Friday, April 26th, the Music Library will be selling LPs by the bagful outside of Bender Library. The prices will go down over the course of the day: first picks will cost $3 per bag, but by the last hour, everything is free!

$3 for a full bag of vinyl is an absolute steal. This is the sort of deal that you'd expect someone to joke about. If you're looking for new records, this is a sale you won't want to miss.

New Acquisitions - April 2013

We're at the end of our purchasing season, so we're adding one more batch of new titles for the semester. We have a couple Oscar nominees (Les Misérables, Anna Karenina, Life of Pi, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), a few enlightening documentaries (including biographies of famous composers and an economist), some movies we probably should've had by now (the first Ice Age and The Ring), and a few... weird ones. Anyone up for Pocahontas II?

Point being, it was an interesting month.

Read on for a full list...

New Acquisitions - February 2013

The Oscar season onslaught has begun! The big movies from fall 2012 are starting to hit DVD, and we're picking them up. The first big name in our batch is Flight, the Robert Zemeckis film that has Denzel Washington in contention for Best Actor. Other notables include documentary nominee Detropia and Frankenweenie, Tim Burton's return to animation. But don't forget other new notable titles, including Ken Burns's The Dust Bowl, Best Picture winner The Sting, a collection of Shakespeare performances, and the third season of Downton Abbey (watch it before it finishes airing on PBS!).

Read on for a full list of what we've added this month.

New Acquisitions - January 2013

We're off to a strong start in 2013. Among our new titles, we've acquired a beloved Disney classic, Academy Award-nominated documentaries, action-thriller hits from last fall, unsettling indie success stories, a long-unavailable classic from the 1920s, and a few comedies you might remember from the 90s.

Read on for a full list of what we've acquired this time...

New Acquisitions - December 2012

As the university gets ready for another month of hibernation, we're working through the last of our new acquisitions for 2012. We're ending the year on a high note with big new blockbusters (Cabin in the Woods, The Dark Knight Rises), some old favorites (Risky Business), new seasons for popular television shows, and a slew of high-quality documentaries that you might've read about recently. Consider it our present to you in this Capitalist Wintertime Gift-Giving Season.

The university is closed starting on Saturday, December 22 until Wednesday, January 2. The blog will go dark until then. Enjoy the break! Read on for a full list of our newest titles.

New Acquisitions – November 2012

In the past month, we've added 293 new titles and television series. They run the full spectrum from educational films about landmark Supreme Court cases to The Avengers and Magic Mike. We're continuing to add more television, including cult favorites such as Sports Night and American Horror Story. We have dozens of brand new documentaries, including the controversial 2016: Obama's America. Plus, we're adding all sorts of movies that you've requested through our suggestion box.

Look forward to individual posts about some of the more interesting documentaries we've added. In the meantime, read on for a complete list of what we've added this month.

New Acquisitions - October 2012

Somehow it seems that we're adding even more titles to our collection. This month has probably set some sort of record: we got over 200 titles this month, including 19 television shows. It would be silly to narrow it down to a few highlights, but you are guaranteed to find something you'll love. Epic fantasy movies, award-winning documentaries, romantic period dramas, heist films, beloved children's movies, and a few new Criterion titles... the list could go on for pages. And it does!

Read on to see what else we picked up this month.

New Acquisitions - September 2012

This month, the Media Services collection goes in exciting new directions! We've added our first anime television shows, including the legendary Cowboy Bebop, as well as ten new popular Bollywood titles. We also acquired a number of big blockbusters, the first Iranian production to win Best Foreign Language Film, a collection of orphaned films in copyright limbo, and documentaries on subjects ranging from the origins of the cosmos to wounded veterans.

Also, more Community. Pop, pop! Read on for a full list...

New Acquisitions - August 2012

With the school year about to begin, it's time for another batch of our newest DVDs. The highlight this month is the fourth season of Breaking Bad, one of the most popular shows in our collection. If you're looking for something to watch before the upcoming party conventions, we've added a number of politically charged documentaries too. Other highlights include The Cosby Show, the final season of Entourage, and a documentary about the "endless struggle" between humans and rats in cities.

Read on for a full list of our newest titles...

Composer Marvin Hamlisch dies

Prolific composer Marvin Hamlisch died this Monday. Hamlisch was a media legend who won every conceivable award for his music – including an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. His accomplishments are staggering; even if you don't know his name, you may have heard pieces from one of his 45 films, 8 musicals, or one of the countless movies and television shows that have reused his works.

While we don't have all of Hamlisch's films, we do have a handful available for checkout:

Bananas – HU DVD 122
The Way We Were – HU DVD 3087
Ordinary People – HU DVD 3105
Sophie's Choice – HU DVD 4376
The Spy Who Loved Me – HU DVD 4997
Take the Money and Run – HU DVD 5371
Every Little Step – HU DVD 6894
The Informant! – HU DVD 7054
A Chorus Line – HU DVD 9659 and MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 222

Also of interest is Tradition, a streaming PBS documentary about Broadway in the 1960s and 70s for which Hamlisch was interviewed.