UPDATE : Here's a video of them singing the song:The highly anticipated new album from My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges, hit the stores this week and on it is a sweet little ballad of desire called "Librarian."Here is a sample of the lyrics:walk across the courtyardtowards the libraryI can hear the insects buzz andthe leaves 'neath my feetramble up the stairwell, into the hallof bookssince we got the interweb thesehardly get usedlooking for a lesson in theperiodicalsthere I spy you listening to the AMradio...it's not like you're not trying, with apencil in your hairto defy the beauty the good lordput...
People Reading
The Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina recently opened the doors to its' new location with the powerful exhibition People Reading : Selections From the Collection of Donald and Patricia Oresman. The exhibit is perfectly curated by Thomas L. Johnson, librarian emeritus at the University of South Carolina, and consists of 60 works from the vast Oresman collection which consists of over 2,000 images.Maurice Askenazy PIONEER, 1929 Ink and pencil on paper 2 15/16 x 3 11/16We see people reading books, we see people reading newspapers, we see people reading alone and in groups, in bed and in the bath,...
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Jason Kottke has a nice appreciation of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, noting in particular its modern design:To contemporary eyes, the HP looks almost modern. The text is very readable. The typography, layout, and the way the text flows around the illustration; none of it looks out of the ordinary. When compared to other books of the time [...] its modernity is downright eerie. The most obvious difference is the absence of the blackletter typeface. Blackletter was a popular choice because it resembled closely the handwritten script that preceded the printing press, and I imagine its use smoothed the transition to books...
Last Call, Bohemia
In this month's Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens considers the role of Bohemia in the health of a city and mourns its loss to gentrification. Included in his catalog of endangered Bohemiana, bookstores (emphasis mine):It isn’t possible to quantify the extent to which society and culture are indebted to Bohemia. In every age in every successful country, it has been important that at least a small part of the cityscape is not dominated by bankers, developers, chain stores, generic restaurants, and railway terminals. This little quarter should instead be the preserve of—in no special order—insomniacs and restaurants and bars that never...
Writer’s Rooms
The UK Guardian has a great feature on writer's rooms, including those of John Banville, Roald Dahl, Martin Amis, Mark Haddon, Seamus Heaney (pictured), and dozens of others.