Monday, March 30, 2009

Thing 14 -- reader's advisories

Getting in more time today prior to the blizzard predicted for tonight (and I fly out to Istanbul Friday -- today's Monday), anyway checked out Readingtrails.com. I really wasn't impressed, but clicked on comedy and the book Gospel: A Novel, by Wilton Barnhardt, came up. Then I copy-blocked the title into Amazon, read some good reviews, and will have to remember to request it from the library when I return. That's agreat librarian tip, which I showed my computer savvy substitute, if you need to find a CD or DVD, amazon it to see what it looks like. Works for books, too, just gives you the color of the jacket, illustrations, etc.

Back to my earlier investigating, booklamp.org. This site breaks books up by scenes and then compares elements (density, dialog, etc.) and the data from one book can be used to compare it with other books. Watched the short video, then couldn't resist -- joined. I tried Jurassic Park (you have to choose from their list) and only got back sci-fi stuff. Then I tried To Say Nothing of the Dog, more sci-fi. It looks like that's the main genre of this site, however you can request them to add books, so looks promising for further research.

Then at whatshouldireadnext.com I wrote in Gospel: A Novel (Paperback)
by Wilton Barnhardt and got this back:

Our Recommendations

These are our suggestions based on readers' recommendations.

The Secret Lives of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd See Amazon UK | US
Telex from Cuba: A Novel - Rachel Kushner See Amazon UK | US
Departures - Elizabeth Oness See Amazon UK | US
The Ha-Ha: A Novel - Dave King See Amazon UK | US
Well-School in Murder - Elizabeth George See Amazon UK | US
Uhuru - Robert Ruark See Amazon UK | US
Hot Fudge Sundae Blues: A Novel - Bev Marshall See Amazon UK | US
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World - Lucette Lagnado See Amazon UK | US
Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith See Amazon UK | US
Garnet Hill - Denise Mina See Amazon UK | US

Then I clicked on 'more results' and got these additional ones:

Plays By Anton Chekhov: Uncle Vanya; Ivanoff; The Sea Gull; The Swan Song - Anton Chekhov See Amazon UK | US
Under the Volcano - Malcom Lowry See Amazon UK | US
A Voice Through A Cloud - Denton Welch See Amazon UK | US
W, or the Memory of a Childhood - Georges Perec See Amazon UK | US
What's for Dinner? - James Schuyler See Amazon UK | US
Wheat that Springeth Green - J.F. Powers See Amazon UK | US
When I Grow Too Old to Dream - Oscar Hammerstein II (words), Sigmund Romberg (music) See Amazon UK | US
Where Angels Fear to Thread - E. M. Forster See Amazon UK | US
Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? - Edward Albee See Amazon UK | US
Missed Fortune: Dispel the Money Myth-Conceptions--Isn't It Time You Became Wealthy? - Douglas R. Andrew See Amazon UK | US

Again, another a very promising site.

Lastly I ended up at http://www.loganberrybooks.com/stump-form.html -- the book stumpers site. This is the brief 23 Things description: this site lets people ask about books they are trying to find based on vague memories. Other people make suggestions. It costs $2 to post a Stumper, but you can answer and browse others' answers free. a half-hour flew buy, but if you have a book title that complete escapes you, this would be the place to start.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Thing 34 -- been at it all morning...

Tried some search engines and looked up crop circles. Every since I drove over to see the one near Fosston, Minnesota, I've been fascinated. Needless to say, these aren't made by guys with two-by-fours on ropes stomping around in the dark. No, much more surrealistic than that.

Lois

Thing 36 -- it worked!

Wonders never cease -- it worked! I copy-blocked the addy for my new label, pasted it into my last post, then copied it from there into the address line on the web, and hot-diggity-dog, it worked. There is a way at http://www.acme.com/labelmaker to actually paste it into the post, but the author was rather snippy about explaining it, so I figured it was probably too tough. However, that is one more item I'll try to master prior to More Things expiring. And the label making site is cool -- check it out!

Lois

Thing 36 -- always new

Love getting the updates via email -- had time to check out this recommendation today: http://www.multcolib.org/books/ -- very nice. Hope my library systems' new website works as well. 'An Embarressment of Riches' was a nice way to browse new items and do a search by subject (listed on the right side of the page).

Here's a link to a cool label -- will post this and see if it works...

http://www.acme.com/labelmaker/labels/label_20090324111714_91994.gif

Lois

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Thing 34 -- more things I've discovered lately...

The more things are so engrossing, I find myself exploring different areas, then running out of time to blog about them. So, I’ll just make a few notes of my last two sessions:

Tartanmaker.com had me engaged for a good 30 minutes, and I had no sense of the time flying. I have to admit, my first attempt reminded me of the potholders I used to weave in camp as a child, but all in all making your own tartan pattern looks to be addictive!

Bighugelabs.com had some great Flickr tools – from making a jigsaw puzzle from your favorite pic, to creating a small photo book. All looked simple enough, but was trying to explore as much as possible that day, so only checked out the options. There’s also Map Maker at the site, where you lick on all the countries you’ve visited and it colors them in on a large map. Sounds better than it is…

Today I made a Hollywood sign reading Winger – very impressive. Something fun for a kid to try. And a chocolate bar with my name on it – of course with the bite taken out of one corner. These fun items are at glassgiant.com…

At fodey.com you can make your own newspaper clipping and depending on how involved you get with seeing your story in print, this site can gobble up a mess of time.

My favorite so far is at xtranormal.com – text-to-movie. Although the characters are rather stiff (Wii-like), it was fun to devise different plots and watch the poor devils act them out. It takes awhile to boot up, but the voices are a hoot! Another way to wile away a good 30 minutes…

But the highlight of the extra 23 things is found at zompist.com with the Excuse Generater – hilarious! And some bosses just might buy the stuff! Here’s one generated under the “distraction” heading:

‘I got so distracted by this stupid flame-war on the Net that I could hardly think-- and then my Loompanics catalog arrived. I am so ditzy sometimes! Anyway, I hope the medication kicks in this week.’

So that’s it, now if I can get this on my blog!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Thing 39 -- almost forgot to post!

Just spent the morning exploring More Things, and was fascinated by the Clip Art Etc. site (http://etc.usf.edu/clipart), and the copyright free photo sites, of which I visited Morgue File -- a term used in the newspaper business for clippings/photos on certain subjects -- (http://www.morguefile.com) a site in which you can search by subject and bring up entire files on subjects. That was my morning. Exciting!