Thursday, December 31, 2015

Wikipedia: #Edit2015


Wednesday, December 16, 2015

National Film Registry Selects 25 Films for 2015

Established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, the National Film Preservation Board is an advisory body for the Librarian of Congress. The Board helps shape national film preservation planning policy, and also recommends films for the National Film Registry.

Chosen for their cultural, historic, or aesthetic significance, the Board's 25 annual selections for 2015 cover a wide gamut of genres and time periods, from such early films as Edison's Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze and Dream of a Rarebit Fiend to such later works as Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One and The Shawshank Redemption. The full list for 2015 is as follows:

1990s
L.A. Confidential (1997)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Sink or Swim (1990)

1980s
Top Gun (1986)
Ghostbusters (1984)

1970s
Being There (1979)
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975)

1960s
The Inner World of Aphasia (1968)
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
Portrait of Jason (1967)
Seconds (1966)

1950s
Imitation of Life (1959)
Winchester '73 (1950)

1940s
John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946)
The Story of Menstruation (1946)
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)

1930s 
The Old Mill (1937)
Our Daily Bread (1934)
Dracula (Spanish version) (1931)

1920s
Black and Tan (1929)
Humoresque (1920)
The Mark of Zorro (1920)

1910s
A Fool There Was (1915)

1900s
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)

1890s
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894)

Further information on the Registry as well as the films themselves can be found on the Library of Congress' web site. All 500+ films selected for the Registry since 1989 can also be browsed online. In addition, the public is encouraged to make nominations for next year's selections to the National Film Registry.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Wapsipinicon Almanac No. 22

The latest annual installment of the eclectic Wapsipinicon Almanac is now available. Published and letterpress printed since 1988 by Timothy Fay of Route 3 Press, the present issue, as with previous numbers, features an engaging mix of essays, reviews, fiction, poetry, art, wit and wisdom.
Number 22 can be purchased at bookstores and other establishments or by writing the publisher directly at Wapsipinicon Almanac, 19948 Shooting Star Road, Anamosa, Iowa 52205. Single copies are $9, plus $2.70 for postage; Iowa residents should also include 63-cents for sales tax.

The front cover shown here was designed by Thomas Agran of Iowa City. A brief history of the publication can be viewed at the Almanac's website, and a video of "Linotype Operator Emeritus" Eldon Meeks in action can be viewed here.