“And the Oscar goes to…”

For Oscar week, we thought it would be fun to provide you with some fun facts surrounding the biggest night in film.  The Central Arizona Library will also be hosting an Oscar prediction raffle.  Participate by selecting your Oscar picks for this year (details below).  Good luck keeping track of the 10 films in the best picture category!  We hope you enjoy the trivia. 

Literary Inspiration. Throughout Oscar history, countless nominated and winning films have been based on books.  2011 adaptations include 127 Hours, True Grit, Winter’s Bone, How to Train your Dragon, and The Social Network.  Other recent films to jump off of the pages are Slumdog Millionaire, Precious, The Blind Side, and Up in the Air.  And we can’t forget iconic films such as The Godfather, To Kill a Mockingbird, Silence of the Lambs, and The Shawshank Redemption.  Those people who insist on reading the book before seeing the movie are keeping busy!

Host/Nominee Curse? Of the six nominees who have also taken on double duty as host of the big night, only the first two have won (Frank Capra in 1938 and David Niven in 1958).  This 52-year stalemate has lead many superstitious observers to believe that taking on the hosting role is a one-way ticket to defeat.  It remains to be seen whether or not this trend (or curse) will hold true on Oscar night for this year’s Co-host and Best Actor Nominee, James Franco (127 Hours).

Golden Oldies. Since the adorable child nominees and winners usually get all of the attention, I thought it would be nice to take a moment to recognize the decorated elders to grace the podium in Oscars past.  The oldest winners include George Burns at 80 years old (The Sunshine Boys), Jessica Tandy at 81 (Driving Miss Daisy), Henry Fonda at 76 (On Golden Pond), and the ageless Clint Eastwood who directed Million Dollar Baby at 74.  Years later at 80, good old Clint is showing no signs of stopping!

Silent Performances(!) Yes it is possible to win an Oscar without making a peep.  Jane Wyman (Johnny Belinda, 1948), Sir John Mills (Ryan’s Daughter, 1970), and Holly Hunter (The Piano, 1993) all won Oscars for playing mute characters.  Some of us were just blessed with expressive faces.  Did I say us?  I mean them.

Is Oscar hugging himself or holding something? Our little friend Oscar is holding a knight’s sword and standing on a reel of film with five spokes.  What do the five spokes represent you ask???   The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians.  Disappointed?  Maybe he’s holding the sword and hugging himself.  I would hug myself if I was wearing that much bling! 

Winning(less) Catch Phrase. “And the winner is…” was replaced by “And the Oscar goes to…” in 1989.  This way, all of the Oscar nominees will feel like winners.  What a warm and fuzzy note to end on.

Tell us what you think:  Will James Franco fall victim to the Oscar host curse?  If so, will he be able to maintain that winning smile?  What’s your favorite book/Oscar movie combo?  Is Clint Eastwood the new 30?

Finally, a challenge to our CAC Students and Staff:
Do you think you can predict the Oscar winners?  Leave us a comment here at Word of Mouth – before the Oscars start on Sunday evening – with your predictions for the Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role, Actress in a Leading Role, Animated Feature Film, and Directing and we’ll enter you in a raffle drawing for a Barnes & Noble gift card!
(Be sure to include your CAC email address in the email box – not the actual comment box.)

Censorship vs. Readership?

Heather Moulton, Professor of English extraordinaire, told us about an article in The Northern Iowan, the student newspaper for University. The article, “Censorship is n** the Answer,” reports on the publishing of a new version of Huck Finn – sans racial slurs. The reason for doing so came from an English professor who felt that removing the slurs would be the best way to expand readership of the novel.  By doing so, however, what happens to the original intent of the novel?

From the article:

“But we feel that changing the words in this American classic changes the mood and lessons behind the entire book. Isn’t the point of reading the book in the first place to teach students about life along the Mississippi River in the 19th century? Changing the words used in the book would give readers a false sense of what life was really like back when slavery was enforced. Young students need to know the truth. They need to know that slavery and the unfair treatment of blacks was part of American culture. If they don’t see the mistakes we made in the past, including our mistake of using hateful words, they won’t know how to change the future.”

What do you think about this?

 

Celebrate Your Privacy: Happy National Data Privacy Day!

Don’t know what Data Privacy Day is???  That’s okay because this holiday is pretty brand spankin’ new.  Just two years ago in 2009, the United States Senate and the House of Representatives voted to make January 28th a national holiday celebrating Data Privacy Day.  This initiative, which is also recognized internationally, was established to help educate up and coming generations about the importance of protecting online privacy rights, particularly when it comes to social media activities such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.  An additional goal in raising awareness of the unique challenges surrounding the Web environment is to initiate the development of better solutions to online privacy control.  The implementation of Data Privacy Day has resulted in a world wide consortium of law makers, educators, corporations, and special interest groups, involving big names such as Google, Visa, and IBM, working collectively to keep privacy protection on the map in an often fast paced and ever changing technological culture.

Care about your online privacy? Tell us about it.

Start your semester off right with study tips from CAC Libraries!

Welcome back students!  The beginning of a new semester is a transitional time that is full of excitement.  It is also the perfect opportunity to get organized for what lies ahead, before homework and assignments begin to pick up.  We thought it might be helpful to share some useful study tips to better assist you in starting off on the right foot.  We hope you enjoy and best of luck with the new semester!

Create a routine. Make it a habit to record assignments and deadlines in a calendar (notebook, phone, and email calendars all work!).  Creating this type of visual record is a great way to stay on top of multiple responsibilities.  Also, designate a regular time and place to study as part of your everyday schedule to make the process more natural and manageable.

Avoid traps! All-nighters, overloading on caffeine, and waiting to the last minute to study or complete an assignment are common mistakes that can make it harder to get quality work done and leave you feeling worse in the meantime.  Instead…

Plan ahead. Got a big project coming up in the next few months?  Set mini-goals in advance to lighten the load.  For example:  If you’re writing a research paper, assign individual deadlines for the research phase, outline, and first draft so that when it comes to putting it all together, it will be a piece of cake!

Utilize college resources. Professors, advisers, and not to mention your friendly CAC Library staff are there to help you successfully navigate your academic experience.  Don’t be afraid to make connections with college professionals and ask questions.  We would love to meet you in person at the library and don’t forget about our text and chat services.

Take a time out. Making time for the things you enjoy provides an outlet from school and work, creates balance, and relieves stress.  Even taking a short break to cook dinner with a friend, exercise, or read for pleasure may be just what you need to recharge your battery!

Got any other ideas?  We’d love to hear them!  Post a comment below about what study skills work best for you.

CSI: Coolidge – Murder in the Library

When a faculty member meets their demise in the library, can you solve the crime?

Stop by the Signal Peak Campus Library on Thursday, the 19th, between 1pm and 4pm to collect evidence, enjoy some refreshments, and meet the library staff!

The Learning Center and Career Center will also be holding Open House events on Thursday.  If you stop by all three locations, you can earn passport stamps for the chance to win prizes.  The Learning Center’s open house is 11am to 2pm and the Career Center’s event will be from 12noon to 1pm.

Where has the time gone?

While it has been quiet here at Word of Mouth, we have been busy in the Library.  Rumor has it that we have more students here at CAC than ever before, and we believe it!

For those who are curious about the Library’s happenings, here’s what we’ve got for you so far:

– We added a new online resource called OmniFile.  Not be confused with OneFile, it’s similar in that it provides full-text articles from scholarly journals and magazines.  The next time you’re looking for articles, give it a shot!

– Just a reminder, when you want to use the online resources from off-campus, you need to log into Blackboard and then go to the CAC Library Resources “class.”  Not sure how to do so?  Just let us know!

– Our drop-in workshops are starting this month.  If you check out the schedule and see a workshop you’d like to attend, but the date and time don’t work for you, just let us know and we can always schedule a personalized workshop!

– Did you know that the Library social networks?  You can follow us on Twitter (caclibrary) or stop by Facebook (Central AZ Library) and say hi!

– Texting and chat are still available as ways to get a hold of a librarian when you need help.  Of course, so are calling us, sending us email, or stopping by!

We hope the spring semester is off to a great start for all of you and we hope to see you in the Library soon!

National Information Literacy Awareness Month

(Sorry for the absence. The cold and flu season caught up to us here in the library, but we’re finally recovering!)

Anyone who’s sat through one of the library’s presentations on research has heard us talk about how difficult it can be to sort through all of the information out on the web and the importance of evaluating the information you do find. Well, we aren’t alone in feeling this way.  The President has proclaimed October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month.  You can check out the official proclamation in full, but here’s a small part of it:

Our Nation’s educators and institutions of learning must be aware of — and adjust to — these new realities. In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them. The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical.

One step closer to Amazon

Ok, comparing our online catalog to Amazon is probably a stretch, but we have added two great new features that we think you’ll like!

First, you’ll notice that a picture of the book’s cover appears next to it’s title.  This feature does more than provide visual appeal – often it’s easier to know which edition of a book you’re looking at by the picture on its cover. 

Twilight Book Cover

Another feature is the addition of a book’s summary and table of contents. 

toclink

Although this doesn’t have the same visual appeal as a book’s cover, having this available while you’re at your computer can save you valuable research time!  Rather than waiting until you pull a book of the shelf, you can tell right away from its summary and table of contents whether it will help you with your topic.

If you’re new to research and aren’t sure what the online catalog is, be sure to let us know.  We’d love to sit down and show you!