Useful Tools: Books and Movies

This is the second in a series of posts recommending useful resources in various areas. These are apps or tools I use regularly. Today's topic is: Books and Entertainment.

All apps are for Android, and links will take you to the Google Play store.

Overdrive (website and app) is the standard portal for borrowing digital content from public libraries. I have checked out tons of ebooks this way. Reading them in the Overdrive app works fine, but when possible I get my books in kindle format, as I prefer the reading experience and features of the kindle app. I've also enjoyed many audiobooks from my library via Overdrive.

Hoopla (website and app) is another library content portal, with a different licensing system. If your library subscribes, this would be well worth trying out. Their book selection is much more limited, but most items are recent releases or other titles that Overdrive doesn't have. In addition, Hoopla has a broad selection of music, TV shows, and graphic novels. (It's how I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack and watched The Librarians). 

In contrast to Overdrive's model, in which a library buys a certain number of copies to lend (which results in waitlists for popular titles, and different collections available from different libraries), Hoopla's content is always available, with a limit on the number of items a patron can check out each month. So if Hoopla stocks something you want, you can get it right away!

My only complaint is that Hoopla's app does not deal well with orientation changes of your device. If you turn your phone, it will spend time loading the book again and probably lose your location. Make sure you lock your phone display into portrait if you plan to read something in the app.

Goodreads is the best book tracking website I've seen. I love it: for logging and reviewing books I've read, for finding and keeping track of books I want to read, and for seeing what my friends recommend. In most respects I find the app inferior to the web version, but it does have the incredibly convenient feature of adding books by scanning them. This used to be ISBN barcode-only, but a recent update added the ability to identify books from the cover. Strangely, that messed up the reliability of ISBN-scanning, but the cover-scanning feature works so well that I usually don't miss it. Adding a dozen library books at a time is fast and simple, which is great since I try to keep up with all of the picture books we check out.

Letterboxd aspires to be Goodreads for movies. (At least, that's how I use it. I'm sure the creators have a somewhat different vision for their product, to judge from the number of features I don't use.) I use it to log and rate movies I see, but that's about it. I tried several similar websites, and this was the best one for my purposes.

 

Useful Tools: Commuting in Boston

This is the first in a series of posts recommending useful resources in various areas. These are apps or tools I use regularly. Today's topic is: Commuting in Boston.
Apps referenced are for Android, and links will take you to the Google Play store.

• First, the item not specific to Boston: Shuttles operated by many universities and hospitals across the country are tracked by the TransLoc Rider app. I used this one both in Atlanta (Emory) and here in Boston (LMA/Harvard), and the real-time location data was helpful with knowing when to leave to catch the bus I needed. To find out if they have a system near you, check out their map or agency list.
• For commuter rail in Boston, the website MBTAtrains.com is the best of several tools I tried. The only feature that is missing there is upcoming departures of inbound trains. If that is something you need, this rail tracker app is the best alternative. I should also note that trains with missing location feeds appear in the app, but are absent on the website (with a notification at the bottom that the data is missing). Even so, the website's map makes it much more useful than the app. And, unless you have a monthly pass, you probably want to use the official mTicket app to buy commuter rail tickets.
• For the city buses, I recommend BostonBusMap. This app is the best of several that I tried. There is a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to navigate the many options and views, but after that it is intuitive and full-featured. I tend to use "stops and predictions on all routes" as my default view and select the stop near me--especially since multiple routes serve my usual stops.
• I haven't had much occasion to use any of the subway lines, so no recommendations on that front at the moment. Sorry.

Kalyani and Rahul

In January I went to the book signing for the release of Firefight by Brandon Sanderson. If you aren't aware, I really love a lot of Brandon's books. He makes the top 5 list of my favorite authors, and I have some of the most fun anticipating his new releases because there are a whole lot of other fans that like to theorize and discuss. (I've been moderately active over on the official fan site ever since the build up to the release of Words of Radiance.)

For the signing, I dressed up as a Rithmatics professor, my sister came as Megan (from the Reckoners series) and I dressed my son up as Pattern (from Stormlight Archive). I enjoyed recording the Q&A and the signing line, and meeting Brandon again (for the full report, see this thread on the 17th Shard fan site). But my favorite part of the evening was definitely meeting the people behind me in line.

There I was, nearly at the back of the line (my son was getting fussy so we had left for dinner and come back). The woman behind me asked if I had read Legion, which is told from the perspective of "a perfectly sane man" whose hallucinations all have psychoses, but are also geniuses. When I replied that I had, she said, "I'm Kalyani," which is the name of one of the hallucinations. At first I thought she meant she was dressed up as that character, but as it happens the inspiration goes the other direction. Kalyani in line was the basis for the fictional person.

Along with her husband Rahul (who also appears in Legion), Kalyani makes an impressive effort to extend hospitality to their friend Brandon. Whenever he has a signing within 8 hours of their home, they drive to the location and cook him an Indian meal for dinner. Both of them were also wearing T-shirts with their own fan art on them (a chasmfiend and the oathgate network.) I'm glad I got to meet them.

As a result of some questions asked by KalynaAnn, who has put a lot of thought into the geometry underlying the chalk magic from The Rithmatist, I got excited about possible variations and extensions of the defenses described in the book. Here are three hypothetical Rithmatic constructions that could be valid defenses, depending on how many of my assumptions are accurate. I discuss them in this post on 17S.

National Poetry Month! 2012!

It's April, which means poetry every day! I'm taking the challenge again, and I hope you do too. Even if you aren't much for writing poems, I encourage you to read one every day. SavvyVerseAndWit is again hosting the NPM blog tour, so check out what those great poets are composing.

I will be adding links to sites and poems I discover or use this month, but see also my previous links and my wrap-up from last year. There were some great ones!

Happy Versing!

National Poetry Month: Wrap Up

I did it! The poem-a-day challenge is complete, and I'm feeling good about it. I review my month below. I'm very glad I participated--it was a lot of fun, and if it weren't quite so much work to make sure one got written every day I would try to continue through the whole year. I loved trying to make poetry a part of my day. The only downside is that it took a lot more time than I can consistently commit to giving.

That's why, now that April is over, we're going back to the old schedule of. . . oh, wait. I haven't actually set an official schedule. I guarantee a post once a week, which will probably go up on Mondays. I will try to post two or three times a week, but make no promises beyond the one.

Review of Poetry Month:
The best thing about poetry month was the opportunity it gave me to experiment with different poetic forms. I tried shadorma (Day 26), cinquain (7 and 12), pantoum (11), reverso (13), and sonnets (23 and 24). I also wrote a smattering of limericks and haiku that didn't make the blog.

I was surprised at the difficulty I had with the sonnets and with some of the apparently straightforward forms like the cinquain--I'm so used to the 5/7/5 of haiku that even-syllabled lines were remarkably hard to feel the meter for.

I enjoyed the Promises of Princesses sequence (Days 14-19) because I got to use a similar meter in each but adapt it for a different voice. I haven't tried to pick a favorite from the month, but Promise the Third (17) is the one I am the most proud of. I think its form does as much to evoke feeling as the words do.

In learning about the forms I tried this month, I found some others that I intend to attempt soon. I also found a large number of excellent poetry websites and blogs that I highlighted in individual posts. A few, especially The Miss Rumphius Effect and Poetic Asides, are especially notable as excellent resources and gateways to the wider community. If you haven't checked them out yet, you should!

I hope your poetry Month was great, too. Thanks for celebrating with me!

Songbird Shadorma (National Poetry Month: Day 26)

breathing blue,
lungs bursting with sky
and new dawn,
brown thrush sings--
so thirsty for the morning
he might drink it all.

~~~

The shadorma is a six-lined poems with the syllable counts of 3/5/3/3/7/5. Do you want to read more shadorma? My favorites from that page are The Peculiar Mosquito by K. Thomas Slesarik and Shadorma by Heidi Mordhorst. When you're done reading, go ahead and explore the rest of the site. It is an excellent poetry blog called The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Recipe: Mud Pie (National Poetry Month: Day 25)

First you need a stick for stirring,
  sturdy but not over-thick.
Test by listening to how
  it sounds when fencing with a rock
or spinning in the air: faWoosh!

Next a brother who will help
  turn on the hose in the right place.
Strong and smart best friend, somehow
  he never seems to be the one
who gets in trouble. spaLoosh!

The stick will break, so use your feet
  to mix the mud just right--
until it gloops onto your shirt
  when you squeeze your fingers tight.
Test it against the wall: kerSplot!

If it sticks it's perfect but
  keep testing to make extra sure.
When you're ready form it up
  into a dozen flattened balls.
Knead them with the stick. blaWhop!

~~

This poem was inspired by a prompt from the Lantern Review blog.

A Mother's Sonnet (National Poetry Month: Day 23)

How are you gone to where I cannot come?
Lost beyond doors unassailable
Nor e'en to be approached, my blessed son;
The way is hedged-up, guarded, terrible!
The watch is fixed and sleepless day and night.
It will admit no other to come near;
The seal is set, the stone secure and tight,
Preventing those who'll not be held by fear.
But even could I pass beyond those portals
I could but cold hands and cheeks caress
For you are passed beyond the reach of mortals-
I felt the nails and spear in my own flesh.
As son of God grief could have passed you o'er
But now, dear son, I ne'er shall see you more!

~~~

Today is the day of mourning that followed Black Friday.
I chose a sonnet because it is the traditional form for an expression of love, and also because today (April 23) is recognized as the birthday of William Shakespeare. The Shakespearean sonnet (of which this is an example) is the most common in English. You can read the Bard's orginals here.

Ergo Sum (National Poetry Month: Day 20)

If you would be a speaker of good verse,
you must, for at least one time in your life,
     dactyl the verse in all things.
     I dactyl and therefore I speak!
I speak, and so iamb.
  -Renes Decartes
   (loosely translated from the original)

~~~

You may not know (I didn't) that every day Garrison Keillor shares a poem on NPR. You can read or listen to past poems at writersalmanac.publicradio.org 
On Monday he read one by Marge Piercy titled Where Dreams Come From that I recommend for you.

Dalinar (National Poetry Month: Day 13)

He is weak,
a man who thinks
the world relies on him.
To be saved
he obeys
these words and teachings,
following
a forgotten king.
This man may become
our only hope, though
it is
so difficult to see.
Remember this truth:
Strength before weakness!
Remember this truth,
so difficult to see.
It is
our only hope (though
this man may become
a forgotten king)--
following
these words and teachings
he obeys.
To be saved,
the world relies on him:
a man who thinks
he is weak.

~~~


This poetic form, an adaptation of the reverso, is particularly appropriate for its topic. The poem is a reference to Dalinar, a character from Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. Dalinar lives in a world where palindromic repetitions are a fundamentally valued aesthetic.


For true reverso (in which the two halves are separate poems rather than concatenated as I've done here), read Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer, or check out this site.


The reverso is distinct from the palindrome poem, in which the words, not the lines, read the same in reverse. Some examples of palindrome poetry can be seen here or here.

April Evening (National Poetry Month: Day 7)

Windows

open, screenless,

let in on warm night air

the ceaseless sound of cicadas

singing

~~~

This form of poetry, the cinquain, was developed by Adelaide Crapsey in the early 1900s. Cinquain.org has a collection of her poems, and links to more by her and other poets. My favorites on that page are November Night and Amaze.

Thunderstorm (National Poetry Month: Day 2)

Gray tour buses pause,
   swing wide their doors.
Their passengers crowd out,
   pour down the steps,
   press past each other,
   murmur in the dark.
Flashbulbs pop,
   illuminate the night,
and everybody cheers.

~~~


Two more links for your #poemaday benefit:

• Robert Brewer at Poetic Asides is posting daily poetry prompts along with his poem. Submit your 5 best at the end of the month to his contest.
• Big Tent Poetry posts poetry prompts every Monday and provides a place to share your works.

April Poems (National Poetry Month: Day 1)

Roses are red,
Violets are blue
April Fool's poems
Don't have to rhyme.
  ha-ha

~~~

The first day of April each year
is a time that all pranksters should fear.
Their jokes, since expected,
are quickly detected,
and the struggle for laughs is severe.

~~~

I discovered that Serena of SavvyVerseAndWit.com is hosting a blog tour for National Poetry Month this year. In addition to blogs participating in #poemaday, the tour will include reviews of poets and poetry collections. She also keeps a "MrLinky" url collection for sites participating in the tour. I encourage you to explore some of the creative space out there.

National Poetry Month: Announcement

April is National Poetry Month!

For you, that means you have a reason to make extra time for reading poetry and maybe writing some of your own. For the Thought Orchard, it means I'll be posting something every day through the month of April. I will try to include a mix of my own material and works by other poets.

This will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it. I hope you are too!

While we wait for April to roll in, take a look at these creative poem ideas. I'm sure to try at least some of them this month. To find out what poetry month events are happening where you live, check out the map over at poets.org.

Book Spine Poems
Haikubes
Magnetic Poetry: Homework Excuses (among others)
Poetry Idea Engine

This is the official poster for NPM 2011:

Quite the Character

I was thinking about some of the books I've read and loved in the past year. Some stuck with be because of the story or the wordcraft, but a few made an impression because of an amazing character. Here are my gold, silver, and bronze medal winners in order:

1. Jenny Next (First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde) - Jenny is the daughter of heroine Thursday Next, and she is by far the most compelling character of the year. Jenny is the one who shows the reader just how vulnerable the Next family is and how very much they love each other. I can hardly wait for the next book in the series (#6)
2. ---------- (The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson) - I'm not going to tell you the character's name. This person appears repeatedly in the book, but it isn't until very late in the story that you discover they are a chilling and frightening villain. Reading that reveal gave me shivers, and I could only stare at the page. Then I had to go back and look for everywhere their influence appeared.
3. Charlie Chaplin (Sunnyside by Glen David Gold) - Charlie and his fellow protagonists in this masterpiece of historical fiction are intensely human. I cared about Charlie because I saw what it cost him to try to be better. When he was down I cheered him on, even when he had brought it all on himself.

Who were your most powerful characters this year?

Libraries!

Some time ago I was told that there were more public libraries than McDonald's restaurants in America. The assertion made me feel good about our country, and I've told a lot of other people the same thing without ever taking the time to confirm that it is true. Well, at long last I have done the necessary internet searching, and my optimism was justified. There are, in fact, more libraries. How many more? Read on!

First, the competition. How many McDonald's restaurants are there in the United States? At last count we had 12,804, which is just under half the world's supply. This amounts to 1 store for about every 23,000 Americans.
Note that this is comparable to other uber-popular stores like Starbucks (which has 11,168 locations), and a lot more than the total number of bowling alleys (just over 7,000), or Walmart-owned stores (4,404).

By comparison, how many libraries are there? The American Library Association, whose business it is to know such things, reports a total of 16,671 public library locations (plus over 850 bookmobiles). So there are about 4000 more places that will lend you a book than sell you a Big Mac, and that is a heartening thought. (You can check out publiclibraries.com to find the ones near you.)

But it gets better. You see, that's just public libraries. Think about the 3,827 college and university libraries, with a combined collection of over 880 million books! And the surely the Library of Congress has to count for more than just one, since its collection alone is more than 24 million materials. And there are a smattering of nearly 10,000 libraries in other categories, such as the ones named after US presidents.

The real weight of our libraries in the United States, though, is the 99,180 academic libraries in the public and private schools. That's right, one hundred thousand libraries, full of books right at the fingertips of our students.

All told, that's 122,101 libraries, one for every 2500 people in the US. Isn't that something to restore faith in our culture? I certainly think so.

(images used without permission)

Great Poems: 2010

As the year winds to a close, it is time to compile a list of the best poems I've read in the past twelve months. Nearly all of these come from Poem of the Day emails I received from Poets.org, which I highly recommend signing up for. (It says the daily poems are limited to April, but they are actually year-round as of this past May).

It was difficult for me to narrow them down, but I've decided on a top 20 list.  These are my recommended reading, though I realize of course that, perhaps even more than other art forms, poetry is a matter of taste. If you have some favorite poems from the year, please include your recommendations in the comments section.

The poems are separated into three categories, though some don't fit conveniently into only one. The categories are essentially the choices I've given for reactions at the bottom of each post: fun, imagery, and meaningful. Within each category, poems are ordered by author, and I have starred my very favorites.

Poems I liked for their humor or cleverness
Meeting with My Father in the Orchard by Homero Aridjis

*The Love-Hat Relationship by Aaron Belz

9 by E. E. Cummings

The Passionate Freudian to His Love by Dorothy Parker
*Quick Black Hole Spin-Change by Edward Sanders
The Pumpkin by John Greenleaf Whittier

Poems I liked for their language or form
Sawdust by Sharon Bryan
*Spell for Encanto Creek by Mark Jarman
Refusing at Fifty-Two to Write Sonnets by Thomas Lynch
Mnemosyne by Trumbull Stickney
*Magdalene Poem by John Taggart

Poems I liked for their insight or introspection

The more Alice reaches out, the more her dream-rushes by Jenny Boully

Birthplace by Michael Cirelli

The Sweetwater Caverns by Kimiko Hahn
*Arabic Coffee by Naomi Shihab Nye
Motherhood, 1951 by Ai Ogawa
*Early Memory by January Gill O'Neil
Fusiturricula Lulluby by Gjertrud Schnackenberg
*Testy Pony by Zachary Schomburg
*Adjectives of Order by Alexandra Teague

Here we go!

Well, that's it, folks! I've successfully posted everything worth posting from my writings in the Curiously Poetic Altoids from the last two years, along with some older poems. I have a few additional old writings that may get interspersed, but the bulk of posts from now on will be current.

That said, I'm still deciding what to post. Everything so far has been poetry, or a little bit of prose, in various stages of completion. That is, they've been compositions, explorations of thought. And they were written already, about as finished as they were going to get. I don't think this is the place for rough drafts of my essays or just brainstorming rhymes, since that be pretty unreadable. So I will try to post things that are at least fully formed, if very rough. Additionally, I plan to post with updates about me, and other less-poetic material. We'll see how it goes.

Banjo Pig

I drew this picture for the dueling banjo pigs blog by Guy Francis and Stacy Curtis.

Babe the Banjo Pig

-or-

Baa Ram Ewe Bluegrass

29 July, 2010

A Quick Note

I'm going to start off by importing all of my posts from the Alta Apartments poetry club blog and reposting them here. After that I will post my poems and drafts that I have in hard copy from those club meetings, followed by some older ones. Current writings will be interspersed as they occur, along with works by other authors that I like.

General formatting: I will put the date of the poem at the end of the post, and any attributions at the beginning.