Literanista
February 4, 2009
Here are my tidbits for the week:
Love this: smARThistory – An art history “Web-book” designed and composed by art history teachers dissatisfied with traditional teaching materials. Via Clicked
SaveTheWords – This site tries to save rare English words from going into oblivion. It lists lots of rare words displayed in colorful fonts. Clicking on any word brings up its meaning and an example sentence. via www.makeuseof.com
AcademicEarth – The site provides you with thousands of video lectures from world’s top educators that lecture in top universities like Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale. via www.makeuseof.com
I came across a great new blog that focuses on Latino Young Adult books but has a great blogroll and all sorts of resources too: bronzeword
A great presentation on books, reading, and the progression of spoken word vis a vis the digital age! Did you know that reading causes the brain to grow and connect in ways that nonreaders’ brains don’t? I didn’t. via thedigitalist.net
My cousin gave me a heads up that Push by Sapphire is now a movie! via
www.racialicious.com. The post has some interesting points but for me as for many other readers, Push was powerful, poignant and real. It was like The Color Purple of our time. I found it cathartic, raw, tragic and full of hope. You see I knew girls like Precious, Black and Puerto Rican, I was surrounded by them. It brought their lives and their experiences (so often marginalized as ghetto) forth into the spotlight. I’m glad it’s being made into a movie, that book deserves to be in urban classrooms across America.
Rumor is the Amazon will introduce kindle 2.0 next Monday. Amazingly, Amazon is calculated to have sold half a million Kindles last year! I have a word of advice for the people who make these ereaders… can you make them sexy, pretty, shiny things to be coveted? You know, like the iPod. Because personally, as gadgets go, they’re ugly! Sorry, even the Sony Limited Edition 60th Anniversary Harlequin eReader released just in time for Cupid’s love fest doesn’t get me all hot and bothered. Imagine, if they were actually pretty!
From the department of Yes, We Can news: Sons of migrant Farm Workers Found a Promising Silicon Alley StartUp.
It’s African American History month! Celebrate your favorite African American authors and books everywhere. Not too be missed: Breena Clarke, author of Stand the Storm: A Novel, on NPR “Weekend All Things Considered” interview airs on Sunday, 2/8.
Sad News: Criticas Magazine To Close. I’m hoping they will let the online site stay since they just relaunched it but I haven’t heard a word about it.
I came across this Spanish Book TV site and it looks great! www.literalia.tv
I finally got tickets for Platanos and Collard Greens we’re going on Valentine’s Day. It was either that or In the Heights but you know I don’t really care for musicals and if I go see it maybe I will wait until we discover whether it’s true or not that JLo might star in it.
“Nikki Giovanni decribes herself simply as “a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English.” Throughout her 30 year career, the poet has amassed awards, recognitions, publications and honorary degrees. On Thursday, she will talk to Leonard Lopate about her most recent poetry collection, “Bicycles.” Listen Live: Thursday, February 5 at noon, 93.9 FM and 820 AM on The Leonard Lopate Show.” via WNYC Sound Affects
I recently saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona and I’m dying to see some of the other Oscar nominated films. I don’t think I can bare to watch them back to back for hours on end but this seems like a cool deal for die-hard cinéma-fanatiques or something to do when the weather is yucky: On Saturday, Feb. 23, the AMC Best Picture Showcase ($30) will let you waste your entire day watching all five nominees — Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, Atonement, Juno and No Country for Old Men — back-to-back at 81 select AMC theaters. The admission also includes a free large popcorn with unlimited refills all day. via www.uncrate.com
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