S.S. Librarianship

Mind Grapes: We get through our post-vacation blues by talking about some new stuff, re-reading some old stuff, and talking about reading very old stuff for the first time. Alli saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the new Tina Fey vehicle about a war correspondent in Afghanistan. It was amazing. Jon has been re-reading an old favourite, Perdido Street Station by China Miéville, and talks about how it screws with the norms of Tolkienian fantasy. Sam decided her next comic project will be X-Men, and so she started with the original run back from 1963. NERD ALERT: We all went on the nerd boat. But first, we spent nerd time in Orlando, so we cover the Universal Parks and our incredible visit to Kennedy Space Center. The nerd boat meant different things to all of us, and so we talk about the community, the events, and the boat experience.

We're Alli & Sam. We met in a pub the night before our first day of library school, and since then we've been through a lot together - classes, jobs, weddings, D&D campaigns - always finding ourselves engrossed in wide-ranging conversations about television, film, books, technology, and what it means to be a young, nerdy, lady librarian in the 21st century. This podcast is our invitation to you to join our conversation. We hope you'll join us by sending in a question, comment, or topic for us to discuss on the show!

* SPOILER WARNING FOR SCREAM QUEENS AND CRIMSON PEAK * On a slightly overdue Halloween episode, we watch one of Fox's new fall lineup from the brains of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. In a collision of their other projects (American Horror Story and Glee), we watch the pilot episode of the super campy horror comedy show Scream Queens. We also launch into a surprisingly deep conversation with our resident horror expert Jon Newell and explore what it is that make horror comedy such a fruitful and enjoyable genre.

We're Alli & Sam. We met in a pub the night before our first day of library school, and since then we've been through a lot together - classes, jobs, weddings, D&D campaigns - always finding ourselves engrossed in wide-ranging conversations about television, film, books, technology, and what it means to be a young, nerdy, lady librarian in the 21st century. This podcast is our invitation to you to join our conversation. We hope you'll join us by sending in a question, comment, or topic for us to discuss on the show!

This week... Mind Grapes: Very librarian. Much books. Wow. Literacy. Both Sam and Alli were feeling very bookish, so we share our thoughts on The Family Trade by Charles Stross, Redshirts by John Scalzi, The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber, and The Farm by Tom Rob Smith. We also talk about how we probably will go see The Martian, even though Matt Damon has been talking out of his butt lately. However, we also discuss some frustration with the idea that ALL BOOKS ARE NOW BECOMING MOVIES. Watch us turn into cranky old women before your very eyes! Class Z(ed): We've both been lucky (mostly) to be attending some recent professional development workshops meant to help us out with our teaching. Alli discusses the Instructional Skills Workshop, a 3-day whirlwind meant to hone teaching skills, learn new techniques, and test out new ideas. Sam has been partnering with the UBC Learning Exchange to get some tips and tricks about teaching adult communities. Bonus: hear a rant about a not so great workshop about intercultural communication.

Mind Grapes: Alli finally saw Spy, so she and Sam are able to have some conversations around how it feels to have a woman of size who looks like us play a real spy movie hero person. Not going to lie, it's pretty cool. We then seque into another spy with Marvel's Agent Carter, which we are thrilled has been renewed for a second season. Yet amid all this good stuff, we are also frustrated by some of Marvel's choices with Ant Man when canonically, Wasp has been a much more important character. Where Do We Put This? Teaching. Technology. It's a big, big part of what we do whether we are teaching WITH it or teaching how to use it. We discuss some of our strategies when teaching people who are terrified of it and also dealing with fellow librarians who seem terrified of it. And of course, we would love to hear your thoughts.

This week, with very special guests Matthew Murray, Anna Ferri, and Meghan Whyte... Mind Grapes: Our guests this week are founders of The Book Club for Masochists, which every month is dealt a random genre for the members to try to read. This month, they have psychological thrillers, which is, apparently, a challenge. Meghan, however, has enjoyed the thriller Dare Me by Megan Abbot. She's also been enjoying the different takes on feminism in Roxanne Gay's Bad Feminist and ... Anna's been trying to get into the thrillers, but has only been able to finish Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, which she thinks might have been cheating. She's also loved The Library at Mount Char lately, but suggests going into the book blind to get the best reading experience. Matthew is slightly dissappointed by our first female Thor in Thor: Goddess of Thunder, but is even more dissappointed by Fearless Defenders: Volume One. Starting to play Mass Effect 3 seems to be making up for it, though. Alli and Sam gush over the McElroy brother's recent visit to the Great White North in their first international live episode of My Brother, My Brother, and Me. Class Z(ed): We're a bit late this time around, but we talk to Matthew, Anna, and Meghan about their experiences at the ALA conference this summer in San Francisco. Since it's difficult to remember details this far along, we instead discuss why we decide to go to these conferences, what we hope to get from them, and how we are using the lessons we learn when we get home. But of course, we also discuss what went on and their favourite parts of the conference. Much time is spend on the awesomeness of the Zine Pavilion, of which Matthew is a primary organizer and contributor.

We're Alli & Sam. We met in a pub the night before our first day of library school, and since then we've been through a lot together - classes, jobs, weddings, D&D campaigns - always finding ourselves engrossed in wide-ranging conversations about television, film, books, technology, and what it means to be a young, nerdy, lady librarian in the 21st century. This podcast is our invitation to you to join our conversation. We hope you'll join us by sending in a question, comment, or topic for us to discuss on the show!

Mind Grapes: It's hot, so thinking deeply is not really a priority right now. Alli has four words for you: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Also a brief foray in to the film The Sapphires in a display of Australian media love. Sam talks about a new podcast that we have both been enjoying with Brent Black and Travis McElroy in Trends Like These - a discussion of issues, events, or various other things that are trending on the internet. Where Do We Put This?: Sam is in the research hot seat this week with a bit of a (wonderful, informative) lecture about net neutrality. What is it? Why has it been in the news so much in the past year? What is Canada doing right (again)? Why should librarians give a hoot? And what still needs to be examined and helped? We scratch the surface here, but we would love to hear your thoughts.

Mind Grapes: Alli had one of those "buy a book" feelings and so picked up the Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang graphic novel In Real Life. We talk about the impulses we have to use art for messages or have art for art's sake. Sam gave up on The Paradise due to unfortunate love story interference, so instead we talk about Pixar's latest masterpiece Inside Out. The movie is simply beautiful, brilliant, and gives us (children and adults alike) a great new vocabulary around our emotions. BiblioFiles: We did some real live (internet) research to talk about the idea of the Rockstar Librarian. What does it mean? What do they do? Why are we made so very uncomfortable by them? And what does it mean that so many Rockstar Librarians are male in a female dominated profession? We'd love to hear your thoughts.