Wish List...

This is the most beautiful watch I've ever seen and it's on my Christmas Wish List..hint..hint... It's a Panerai  Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic. Price about $10,000.00. If you buy it on Amazon you can save about $2000.  Yes the rumors true__ the librarian has expensive taste. Panerai makes the most beautiful watches in the world__typical of Italian design. The case is Titanio and ensures an extremely high resistance to magnetic fields like those from computers and cell phones. Inspiration for this watch comes from the watches that Panerai made for the Egyptian Navy in the 1950's. Remember there are only a limited amount of shopping days left to Christmas.

Fashion...

This jacket is a bit over the top for most occasions, but perfect for a casual day at the reference desk.

The Librarian's Winter Retreat....

A Little Caravaggio...

Currently reading: M; The Man Who Became Caravaggio. Fascinating so far... "The Musicians"  1595.

The Five Peaks of Tindholmur..

Great place for a picnic! Right on top. Tindholmur is an islet in the Faroe Islands. The islet is uninhabited with a high peak of 860 feet. Total square footage 70,000.

What a walk!...

Xihai Gorge Pass, China

Gratuitous pic of a Judoon...

How handsome! This Judoon a member of the intergalactic police force displays his black armor. 

Treehotel..

The TreeHotel is located in Swen near the Lulea River.  Treehotel was inspired by the film ”The Tree Lover” by Jonas Selberg Augustsen. It’s a tale of three men from the city who want to go back to their roots by building a tree house together. “The Tree Lover” is a philosophic story about the significance of trees for us human beings. Go there awesome.

The Librarian's New iPhone case...

My new case. GumDrop Tech Series.

You owe 30 cents in fines...

Mr. Dalek...The new worker at the library.

Nature Walk

The Librarian takes a nature walk.

Sport: Boxers With Referee

Poetry: Arthur Rimbaud

Rimbaud taken by Etienne Carjat, 1871

Books: Rimbaud In Java: The Lost Voyage

Arthur Rimbaud is a fascinating character. He has always been one of my favorite poets. There is something unique about Rimbaud’s poetry. His writing is a kind of a sensorial extravagance or “ an alchemy of words”, as he himself termed it.  But equal to Rimbaud’s extraordinary poetry was his wild personality and tumultuous life. Rimbaud wrote all his poetry between the ages of 15 and 19. By 20 he had given up the literary life and never wrote another poem again. The rest of his short life was spent on wild adventures.  Sometime in the year 1876 Rimbaud joined the Royal Army of the Dutch Indies and sailed for Java. He soon deserted. He turned up 4 months later at his mother’s house in France. No one has been able to reconstruct what happened. Did he flee into he jungle? How did he escape the island and evade the Dutch army? It has been a mystery that has spawned much speculation. Over the last 136 years no new information has escaped the island. Rimbaud’s biographers have shed no new light. The period is an enigma lost to history. Now former New Yorker art critic, Jamie James gives it a fresh try in his book: Rimbaud in Java: The Lost Voyage.  James reviews and pulls together everything that is known about the story. Does he solve the mystery? Well no__but James does add another layer of informed speculation that is both likely and entertaining. Along the way he manages to recreate life in 19^th century Java add a dash of literary criticism and spin an interesting tale. Rimbaud’s brother in law, Patrene Berrichon claimed that Rimbaud lived in the jungle with orangutans who taught him to survive. Perhaps, but most zoologists believe that orangutans disappeared from Java two centuries earlier. But such is the speculation that makes this a fascinating story. And why this book is worth reading. Plus it might also be a way to introduce readers to some of the most evocative poetry ever written.

Travels: Venice

Music: Cute And Cool, Sho Asano

Sho Asano was born in March of 1990.  He is currently considered one of the young stars of Shamisen and Japanese traditional music.  At the age of eight, he won the Tsugaru Shamisen National Competition as the youngest champion in the D category for players under 15 years old.  Since then, he broke numerous records in competitions.  

Claude Monet: Impression, Soleil Levant

Monet can paint light. I love this painting. I can stare at it for hours. Perfect, timeless and beautiful.

Cylon Toast!

Out For A Swim...

Turtles: the ultimate cool.

Fashion Statement..

Sometimes it gets cold in the library.

Letting Off A Little Steam...

A Typical Librarian's Car...

Bugatti Veyron

Destination Capri, Italy...

Capri, perhaps the librarian’s next destination? For all the romantic notions associated with the isle of Capri it’s ironic that its name derives from the Latin word capreae meaning “goats.” Nonetheless it has been the haunt  of many great authors and artists. John Singer Sargent painted the fauna here (aka the local inhabitants.) And Somerset Maugham used Capri as the setting for his famous story, The Lotus Eater (1945) about a a Boston man who goes on holiday to Capri and never comes back. (Check Maugham’s writing out by the way). And of course Norman Douglas wrote his famous novel, South Wind here accurately describing both Capri’s visitors and its residents and all they were up to. So if if have a week or two take a boat on out to the island that has fascinated people since ancient times. It’s a beautiful ride across the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Precarious Situation!

Ever feel like this guy? Any whales sharks in your life?

My Kind of Cat...

This cat collects library fines!

Best iPad App...

Tom D. from Mass. emailed me to ask what iPad Apps I would recommend. Well I already did a post on this topic not to long ago, but there is one app I think deserves special mention: TED Talks. The TED app is proof positive of the old adage, “the best things in life are free.” The TED “people” so to speak describe  their app as, “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.” Indeed.  If you hit the “inspire me” button you are asked to pick your subject of interest. Your choices: jaw dropping. persuasive, beautiful, fascinating, funny, inspiring and informative.  The amazing thing is that the appellations are not hype. These talks actually live up to their billing. The app itself is works beautifully with never a crash. You can also search by keyword or pick one of the many recent featured talks. Recent talks I watched: Brian Cox: “Why We Need Explorers’ and Brian Greene’s “Is Our Universe the Only Universe?”  Both talks are amazing. Check them out or any of the 100 other topics that may interest you. Check TED out. Also available for iPhone or through iTunesU.

Excuse Me. Can I Use Your Pool?

Another Handsome Dude...

Relaxing After A Day In The Stacks...

Gratuitous Obsession.

Nothing More Beautiful Than Nature...

Bear Lake Utah.  My wallpaper for today.

Cool Tree House...

Cool Headphones 2...

Searching the globe for the coolest headphones...

Fashion On The Seine

The E-True Hollywood Kermit???

Travel Destinations...

Waiting for this Tuscan librarian to come out and water his plants.

Takin' A Rest...

Polar Bear Chair

Brain Award...

Taylor Wilson is one awesome individual. At age 14 he built a working nuclear fusion reactor in his backyard.--yes that's fusion__the process that powers the stars. More recently the US Department of Energy offered Taylor funding to build Cherenkov Radiation dectors, whatever they may be. Well Taylor went to work and produced a detector for a few hundred dollars. Usually such things cost well over $100,000. So Taylor went ahead and entered his detector into the the International Sciences and Engineering Fair and promptly won himself a $50,000 award. Now that's one smart kid. However it has been my experience that most teenage boys are fascinated with things that blow up. When I was a boy my friends and I made gun powder from saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal to make things go bang. Of course this was far below Taylor's level of sophistication. Hopefully Taylor will taylor his energy into something that will benefit us all. And I am sure he will. He now attends the University of Nevada at Reno. You can read his fascinating story in a feature article in last month's Popular Science. Here's the link.

Photo Bryce Duffy, Popular Science.

Cool Places...

Passage in Nemi Rome

It's Important Not To Choose The Wrong Road...