Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Selected New Home Use Acquisitions

Spider-Man - HU DVD 7121
Spider-Man 2 - HU DVD 7122
Spider-Man 3 - HU DVD 7123
Juegos de Guerra - HU DVD 7124
Men Who Stare at Goats - HU DVD 7125
Madness of King George - HU DVD 7126
Thunderheart - HU DVD 7127
Last Detail - HU DVD 7128
Junoon - HU DVD 7129
Weight of Water - HU DVD 7130
Science is Fiction - HU DVD 7191 - 7193
Romancing the Stone - HU DVD 7194
Precious - HU DVD 7195
Perez Family - HU DVD 7196
Superbad - HU DVD 7197
Rosewood - HU DVD 7198
Vanishing - HU DVD 7200
It Happened in Hollywood - HU DVD 7201
Adventures in Sahara - HU DVD 7202
Power of the Press - HU DVD 7203
Shockproof - HU DVD 7204
Scandal Sheet - HU DVD 7205
Crimson Kimono - HU DVD 7206
Underworld U.S.A. - HU DVD 7207
Where the Wild Things Are - HU DVD 7208
Tragedia de Macario - HU DVD 7209
Lighthorsemen - HU DVD 7210
Secret of Roan Inish - HU DVD 7211
Sleepless in Seattle - HU DVD 7214
So Proudly We Hail - HU DVD 7215
Perdicion de Hombres - HU DVD 7216
Road - HU DVD 7217
Our Town - HU DVD 7218
They Were Expendable - HU DVD 7219
Sita Sings the Blues - HU DVD 7220
Babe - HU DVD 7221
Babe: Pig in the City - HU DVD 7222
Quemar las Naves - HU DVD 7223
Moonlighting - HU DVD 7224
Posse - HU DVD 7225
Tales of Hoffman - HU DVD 7226
Objectified - HU DVD 7227
Mancora - HU DVD 7228
Red Badge of Courage - HU DVD 7229
Taken - HU DVD 7230
Rise of Disaster Capitalism - HU DVD 7231
Secret Life of the Brain - HU DVD 7232
This Emotional Life - HU DVD 7233
Prom Night in Mississippi - HU DVD 7235
Children of Dune - HU DVD 7241
Up in the Air - HU DVD 7242
Tale of Two Cities - HU DVD 7246
Sugar - HU DVD 7247
28 Weeks Later - HU DVD 7248
Lark Farm - HU DVD 7249
Single Man - HU DVD 7250
Bad Day at Black Rock - HU DVD 7254
Gigi - HU DVD 7255
Criss Cross - HU DVD 7256
Sweet Bird of Youth - HU DVD 7258
Crime Wave/Decoy - HU DVD 7259
House by the River - HU DVD 7264
Seabiscuit - HU DVD 7265

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Reservoir Dogs - Homage or Stealing?

Quentin Tarantino has always been a derisive filmmaker. However, what few of his fans know is how his love of cinema, back when he was a video store clerk may have made too much of an impression on his future films:


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Selected New Home Use Acquisitions

Golden Age of Television - HU DVD 7091-3
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - HU DVD 7094
Grass: A Nations Battle for Life - HU DVD 7095
Julie and Julia - HU DVD 7096
Bread and Chocolate - HU DVD 7097
Il Divo - HU DVD 7098
Invictus - HU DVD 7099
Broken Embraces - HU DVD 7100
Eurotrip - HU DVD 7131
Vegas Vacation - HU DVD 7132
Little Vera - 7133
Juan Moreira - HU DVD 7134
Cast Away - HU DVD 7135
The Count of Monte Cristo - HU DVD 7136
Skin: Never Give Up - HU DVD 7137
Moscow on the Hudson - HU DVD 7138
Babe: Pig in the City - HU DVD 7139
The Headless Woman - HU DVD 7140

AU Library Video Tutorials Available on Youtube






The library has a youtube channel with a variety of useful videos. These brief videos give an overview of tools, databases, and software applications that will be useful in your research. They are all public, so subscribe here or just check them out!

You can also find these tutorials on the How to... page on our website.


How to Use World Development Indicators Online to Find Data on Countries

American University Librarian, Melissa Becher demonstrates how to use World Development Indicators Online (WDI) to find data on countries.

Finding a Subject Specific Database to Cover Your Topic

American University Librarian, Melissa Becher demonstrates how to use a general database to decide what discipline your subject is in, and then how to find a subject specific database that covers your topic.


How to Research an Interdisciplinary Topic

American University Librarian, Melissa Becher demonstrates how to research an interdisciplinary topic when you are unsure which discipline will have the most relevant information for your project.

Find Data on a City Using Lexis Nexis Statistical

American University Librarian, Melissa Becher demonstrates how to find data on a city using the Lexis Nexis Statistical database.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Tis the Season - World Cup 2010

World Cup Fever is well underway and we've got some soccer films that should be of interest. They're not all Home Use, but they're all worth seeing. Any non-Home Use film can be comfortably viewed at one of our viewing stations here in Media Services. Check them out!

Bend It Like Beckham - DVD 672
Cup Final - VHS 4869
The Damned United - HU DVD 7058
The Firm - HU DVD 2323
Germany: A Summer's Fairytale - DVD 3281
The Great Match - DVD 3051
The Miracle of Bern - DVD 5614
Offside - HU DVD 3759
She's the Man - HU DVD 4379
Soccer Stories - VHS 7881
Solo: The Law of the Favela - VHS 4925
Underdog - HU VHS 6247
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation - HU DVD 6230

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Seinfeld Debuted 20 Years Ago!



On May 31, 1990, Seinfeld was first aired and has been responsible for millioins upon millions of laughs ever since. Seinfeld is arguably one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. According to Entertainment Weekly, NBC only committed to four episodes after airing the pilot of Seinfeld (originally titled The Seinfeld Chronicles) the previous summer. Little did they know what an enormous hit they had on their hands. The series ended up lasting nine seasons.



Larry David, Seinfeld co-creator told EW, "I thought we'd do these four shows and that would be it... Even after [NBC ordered 13 episodes], Jerry and I had dinner one night and I said to him, 'I can't believe they're letting us do this!' It just seemed like we were doing what we wanted and having fun and they were actually putting it on the air. It was a mystery to me how this was occurring.

Come down to Media Services and enjoy the entire series all over again!
Seinfeld: The Complete Series Home Use Collection DVD 6651-6682

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Selected New Home Use Acquisitions

The African Queen – HU DVD 6973

Marius – HU DVD 7001

Fanny – HU DVD 7002

César – HU DVD 7003

The Fanny Trilogy Special Features – HU DVD 7004

Goodbye Solo – HU DVD 7005

Executive Action – HU DVD 7006

The Last Wedding - HU DVD 7007

Los Olvidados – HU DVD 7008

The Great Escape – HU DVD 7009

Bodysong – HU DVD 7010

The Disputation – HU DVD 7014

Blessed is the Match – HU DVD 7016

End Game – HU DVD 7036

The Diary of Ann Frank – HU DVD 7037

The Enemy Below – HU DVD 7038

The Italian Straw Hat – HU DVD 7039

35 Shots of Rum – HU DVD 7040

East Bound and Down (the Complete first season) – HU DVD 7041

Bad Lieutenant – HU DVD 7042

Fame – HU DVD 7043

Footloose – HU DVD 7044

Avatar – HU DVD 7045

Avatar – HU DVD 7045 C.2 (Blu Ray Version)

Fantastic Mr. Fox – HU DVD 7046

Fantastic Mr. Fox – HU DVD 7046 C.2 (Blu Ray Version

Duel – HU DVD 7046

“9” – HU DVD 7049

The Intruder – HU DVD 7050

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery – HU DVD 7051

Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me – HU DVD 7052

Austin Powers in Goldmember – HU DVD 7053

The Informant! – HU DVD 7054

Anne of a Thousand Days – HU DVD 7055

Mary, Queen of Scotts – HU DVD 7056

Invention of Lying – HU DVD 7057

The Dammed United – HU DVD 7058

Enemy at the Gates – HU DVD 7059

In the Loop – HU DVD 7060

The Brothers Bloom – HU DVD 7061
Mad Money – HU DVD 7062

Black and White In Color – HU DVD 7063

Along Came Polly – HU DVD 7064

The Bedford Incident – HU DVD 7065

Alla en el Rancho Grande – HU DVD 7066

Che – HU DVD 7067

Grosse Point Blank – HU DVD 7068

High Fidelity – HU DVD 7069

Bright Star – HU DVD 7070

The Snapper – HU DVD 7085

Grease – HU DVD 7086

Hunger – HU DVD 7087

Howard Huges’ Hells Angels – HU DVD 7088

A Knights Tale – HU DVD 7089

The Family man – HU DVD 7090

Selected New Acquisitions

Speaking of Money - DVD 6963

Meeting the Challenge – DVD 6964
Chicken Soup – DVD 6965

Hot Bagels: The Hole Story – DVD 6966

Gefilte Fish – DVD 6967

Abel Raises Cain – DVD 6968

Frontline: The Triumph of Evil – DVD 6969

Holy Ghost People – DVD 6970

Pablo Neruda, Poet – DVD 6971

Odyssey: The Incas – DVD 6972

Washington in the ‘60s – DVD 6974

Washington in the ‘70s – DVD 6975

Simone de Beauvoir – DVD 6976

D.C. : A Divided City – DVD 6977

Journey to America – DVD 6978

Neria – DVD 6979

KPU Presents: How We Tricked the Media – DVD 6980

Damages – DVD 6981

The Color of Fear 1 – DVD 6982

The Scents of Shadows – DVD 6983

Kites – DVD 6984

Stranger in my Home – DVD 6985

A Death in Tehran – DVD 6986

Black Money – 6987

Lost Souls – DVD 6988

Coat of Many Countries – DVD 6989

Flying Cheap – DVD 6990

The 1930s – DVD 6991-6995

Close to Home – DVD 6996

Frontline World: April 14th, 2009 – DVD 6997

Rlues of Engagement – 6998

Father, Son, and Holy War – DVD 6999

Digital Nation – DVD 7000

Alice Guy – DVD 7011

Léonce Perre – DVD 7012

Louis Feuillade – DVD 7013

Frontline World: May 26, 2009 – DVD 7015

The Polio Crusade – DVD 7017

The Wright Stuff – DVD 7018

Frontline World: February 26th 2008 – DVD 7019

Columbus Didn’t Discover Us – DVD 7020

Media that Matters Film Festival – DVD 7021

La Clinica Del Pueblo – DVD 7022

Surviving the Dust Bowl – DVD 7023

In the Light of Reverence – DVD 7024

Women and Islam – DVD 7025

Acting Shakespeare – DVD 7026

American Feud – DVD 7027

A Women’s Place – DVD 7028

Crossing the Line – DVD 7029

Fly Girls – DVD 7030

The American Presidents – DVD 7071-7075

Simon Schama Rough Crossings – DVD 7076

Sam Shepard’s True West – DVD 7077

Broadcast Blues – DVD 7078

Morning Sun – DVD 7079

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Dennis Hopper, you will be missed.

From Giant to Easy Rider to Blue Velvet, Dennis Hopper was the consummate character who usually stole the show. His intensity was used to evoke fear, humor, and many times, obsession and insanity. He was only occasionally cast as something less than a lunatic.

If you aren't fully aware of the Hopper oeuvre, add these to your wishlist of essential viewing:

The American Friend - DVD 1686
Apocalypse Now - DVD 27
Basquiat - DVD 5830
Blue Velvet - DVD 400
Carried Away - DVD 2003
Cool Hand Luke - DVD 2178
Easy Rider - DVD 381
Giant DVD 4099
Hoosiers - DVD 3467
Jesus' Son - DVD 284
Mad Dog Morgan - DVD 3462
Night Tide - VHS 6568
Rebel without a cause - DVD 52
Red Rock West - DVD 4894
River's Edge - DVD 5113
Rumble Fish - DVD 5349


Late in his career Hopper acted in dozens of movies and TV shows and a few well-received Nike commercials including "Bruce Smith Bad Things".

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

UCLA Preserved Silent Animation online

This new site is a small showcase for the UCLA Film and Television Archive. There are just eleven films so far but they promise more so bookmark it. Videos can be streamed or downloaded.

link

Monday, May 17, 2010

Selected New Home Use Acquisitions

The limits of control - HU DVD 5979
South Park: Season 4 - HU DVD 6951 - 6962
Ponyo - HU DVD 6937
The Tonight Show, Starring Johnny Carson - DVD 6911 - 6923
The Last of the Mohicans - HU DVD 6905
A Serious Man - HU DVD 6904
O Lucky Man! - HU DVD 6903
The Commitments - HU DVD 6902
Casa de los Babys - HU DVD 6901
Limbo - HU DVD 6900

Selected New Acquisitions

You don't know Dick - DVD 947
Covered: the Hajab in Cairo, Egypt - DVD 4886
Dream girls - DVD 5988
Sisters and daughters betrayed - DVD 6001
A world of differences - DVD 6052
Sixteen decisions - DVD 6238
Six billion and beyond - DVD 6256
Extreme engineering: Woodrow Wilson Bridge - DVD 6259
History and memory - DVD 6397
Calling the ghosts - DVD 6398
Divorce Iranian style - DVD 6555
Comrade Kamprad: Ikea Goes to Russia - DVD 6556
Strangers and kin - DVD 4556
Fishing in the sea of greed - DVD 3007
The price of aid - DVD 3008
The life and times of Sara Baartman - DVD 3009
In the ashes of the forest - part 1 - DVD 3991
In the ashes of the forest - part 2 - DVD 3992
An empire of reason - DVD 3993
Another world is possible -DVD 4029
Drowned out - DVD 4030
Driving an Arab Street - DVD 4031
The Pinochet case - DVD 4854
The legacy of Malthus - DVD 5002
The human race: escaping from history - DVD 5231
The Seattle syndrome - DVD 5456
At the end of a gun - DVD 5814
The doctor's story - DVD 5897
The cost of living -DVD 5962
So far from India - DVD 2517
Groupthink -DVD 2612
Dealing with conflict - DVD 2613
Paradise bent - DVD 2614
Promises and betrayals - DVD 2615
American tongues - DVD 2771
Silence & complicity - DVD 2793
The human race: the tribal mind - DVD 2918
Yeah you rite! - DVD 2975
Steppin' - DVD 3303
T-shirt travels - DVD 3304
Diverted to Delhi - DVD 3305
Out of the mouths of babes - DVD 4067
Not the numbers game - DVD 4213
Franz Boas: the shackles of tradition - DVD 4587
Lock-up: the prisoners of Rikers Island - DVD 4600
The Abilene paradox - DVD 4818
Bill Moyers journal: Filmmaker Oliver Stone - DVD 1087
Troop 1500 - DVD 1088 (Reassigned from DVD 2540)
The Klan: a legacy of hate in America - DVD 1818
The Pacific Century Part 1 - 10 - DVD 2531 - DVD 2540

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Tim Robbins & James Gandolfini Join The HBO Movie 'Cinema Verite'

Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini are set to co-star opposite Diane Lane in HBO Films’ Cinema Verite. The movie, written by David Seltzer, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the groundbreaking 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family. The series by Oscar-winning doc filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond centered on Santa Barbara couple Pat Loud (Lane) and Bill Loud (Robbins), who split up during the filming, and their children, the eldest of whom, son Lance, became TV's first openly gay character. For the rest of the story, click here.

Media Services owns the follow-up film to "An American Family," called "American Family Revisited" (VHS 2641) and the very funny Albert Brooks' spoof, "Real Life" (VHS 4876 or DVD 6108). Unfortunately, the original "An American Family" 12 part series has not been released on VHS or DVD. Rest assured, Media Services will purchase it once it does.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Selected New Acquisitions

The union: The business behind getting high - DVD 6878
Edward Said on Orientalism - DVD 6877
Beauty mark: Body image and the race for perfection - DVD 6876
The codes of gender: Identity + performance in pop culture - DVD 6875
Voodoo and the Church in Haiti - DVD 6874

Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School - get a head start at Media Services

Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School is sort of a world roving version of Socrates' Academy.

Number 8 of the school's manifesto gives you an idea -
Related, but more practical subjects, will be the art of lockpicking. Traveling on foot. The exhilaration of being shot at unsuccessfully. The athletic side of filmmaking. The creation of your own shooting permits. The neutralization of bureaucracy. Guerrilla tactics. Self reliance.

Number 11 is more accessible because all these movies are available at Media Services -
Required film viewing list:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, dir. John Huston) [HU DVD 1022],
Viva Zapata (1952, dir. Elia Kazan) [HU VHS 1657],
The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo) [DVD 950],
the Apu trilogy (1955-1959, dir. Satyajit Ray) [DVD 3751 - 3753]
,
and, if available, “Where is the Friend’s Home?” (1987, dir. Abbas Kiarostami) [VHS 4856]
.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Wanna play a DVD from another country on your laptop?

Generally it can be done but it probably should only be considered as a last resort if an all-region player is unavailable.

Briefly, most DVDs are coded to play in specific regions. The format used in the US, US territories, and Canada is Region 1. The format used in Europe, the Middle East, and South Africa is region 2. Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong) use Region 3. Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and Caribbean use Region 4. Former Soviet Union, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa use Region 5. China uses Region 6.

The DVD drive in you PC or laptop has the ability to make a pre-set number of region changes - usually 4 or 5. If you live in the US, the DVD drive was probably pre-set to play Region 1 DVDs so switching to play a DVD from France will eat up one of your format changes.

Most PCs and laptops will not automatically make the change when a differently-coded DVD is played. Instead when a DVD fails to play, you will need to go into the properties of your DVD drive and change the region manually to the country from where the disc originated.

To change the region of the DVD drive in your PC or laptop and to see the number of region switches that remain follow these directions:

Right-click on the drive. Select properties, Hardware, highlight the DVD drive you want to check, click properties at the bottom, click on the region tab.

If you bought your computer used, you will want to check this. If there are no switches left and the last region used was something other than Region 1, you may have to replace the DVD drive in order to play US-produced DVDs.

An internet search will yield a variety of advice on how to hack the region settings though this is risky and could do irreparable harm to your computer so its not advisable.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library: An archive of performing arts on video from across the Americas

From their website:
The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library, a collaboration between New York University Libraries and NYU's Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, provides a digital venue for documenting the expression of social and political life through performance in the many cultures and political landscapes of the Americas. The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library brings together in one place materials that have been available only in small, little-known archives that are inaccessible to scholars and that lack the resources to properly care for and provide access to these extraordinary cultural documents. But it is not enough simply to gather the videos together. We have used the resources of digital technology to insure the long-term preservation of this rare material and to make it accessible not just to researchers at NYU but to scholars and artists around the world.

link

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Maura recommends: Passion Fish

In this beautiful film, John Sayles is at his most compassionate and subtle. The premise is simple: a soap opera star on her way to getting her legs waxed, is side-swiped by a taxi and loses the use of the lower half of her body. While that is where the film begins, the story centers on the main characters’ new life in rural Louisiana and her relationship with her nurse, amidst heat and Zydeco music. Mary McDonnell (Dances with Wolves) plays the morose and obstinate May Alice, as she returns home and refuses to deal with the new challenges her life presents. Alfre Woodard plays Chantel, a recovering drug addict and former nurse who desperately needs to make this job work.

One of the remarkable things about Passion Fish is it is not a film about disability; it is a film about codependent relationships, personal demons, acceptance and compassion. In some ways this film reminds me of one of my favorite filmmakers, Mike Leigh, in its slow style and a reluctance to show anyone as a “bad guy”. But there is something quintessentially American about this story, as almost all Sayles films are. May Alice and Chantel’s struggles are with a failed life of excess and urbanity. What they face now is how to negotiate a new kind of life—a more authentic one.

David Strathairn (Good Night & Good Luck) also appears as Rennie, in a wonderful performance as a down-to-earth Cajun.

Check out the trailer:

Monday, April 26, 2010

Digital Media Studio workrooms now available for overnight use!

The DMS workstations can now be reserved for overnight use the nights the library is open 24 hours (Monday 12:00AM through Friday 8:00AM). Access is by reservation only and users must have a signed Borrower's Agreement for Library Technology form on file at Media Services. Once on file, users can reserve an evening (midnight - 8:00AM) to use a specific DMS room with the software they need. Users will be given access to a keybox in the library front lobby and can then retrieve the DMS key they need. Key access is available only after midnight - the DMS is cleared of users and locked when Media Services closes.

YouTube video tutorial on the procedure for reserving and accessing the DMS workrooms overnight

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Media Services Recommends...Mike's Favorites

Narrative films:
Videodrome - HU DVD 64
Titus - DVD 197
Fearless - HU DVD 292
Brazil - HU DVD 360
Underground - HU DVD 1342
Battle Royale - HU DVD 880

Documentary films:
The Fog Of War - HU DVD 791
The Cove - HU DVD 6763
RiP: A Remix Manifesto - DVD 6355
Dig! - HU DVD 1862

Friday, April 16, 2010

For those of you about to graduate, a different perspective: Kicking & screaming HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 4842

Yes—graduation is a scary time. Many students just continue taking classes to avoid it, while other students hop right into graduate school. And still others remain soaked in ennui—letting life pass by because life sucks anyway.

Kicking and Screaming is the directorial debut of film critics’ current indie darling, Noah Baumbach. This film really strikes at the heart of Gen-X anxiety, which perhaps is why I like it so much, but really it's about reluctance to grow up. It comes with my highest recommendation to graduating seniors, as long as you can stomach the somewhat bleak message.

Also, Chris Eigeman, a remarkably talented and often over-looked actor, is a riot, delivering witty and sarcastic lines as only he can. And the often over-perky and loud-mouthed Parker Posey won me over in her role as an annoyed and sarcastic co-ed.

Check out the trailer: