Bruce Conner resources on Wilson Art Suite

31 Variations on a Meal: Eaten by Bruce Conner,

 by Daniel Spoerri

New York's Film Forum movie house is currently running an exhibition of the work of the film maker and artist Bruce Conner.

Conner, (1933-2008) was an important American artist whose works defied easy categorization within either the art or film worlds. He used manipulations of structure and narrative to create an enigmatic sense of time in both his films and his overall career, and he was as much a collector and editor of the world as he was a creator.

Whether you are attending the exhibition or just intrigued by Conner's work, you can find a variety of perspectives on his life and career in the databases of the Wilson Art Suite. Art Full Text has profiles and obituaries of Conner as well as commentaries and reviews covering his work from distinguished publications like ARTnews, Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne, and Artforum International. 

The Rose by Jay DeFeo

Thanks to the seamless links built into Art Museum Image Gallery, you can also see Conner's technique in action. One of his films records the seven-year process involved in making Jay DeFeo's "The Rose" in Defeo's apartment. This film is an important Conner piece because it was filmed by him rather than being composed of found footage.
You can find this film, complete with Conner's voiceover, in the Related Multimedia section of Art Museum Image Gallery's comprehensive record for "The Rose".

Movember mustache quiz with Biography Reference Bank

In recent years, men from Australia to the U.S. have taken on a new challenge in the month of November: to grow a mustache in order to raise awareness of the cancers that specifically affect men. 

To mark the Movember effort to raise both awareness and funds, today's quiz celebrates well-known mustache wearers. You'll find the answers to all these questions in Biography Reference Bank,  or you can wait until later today when we will tweet them.

1) Almost single-handedly responsible for turning his sport into mass entertainment, this prominent mustache wearer studied under the trainer Hiro Matsuda, and gained his popular nickname because of his resemblance to a popular television character of the late 1970s. Who is he?

a) Mick Foley
b) Carl Weathers
c) Hulk Hogan

2) This mustachioed actor appeared in over 50 television commercials in the 1970s, until Universal Television offered him a part in a series that was intended to replace Hawaii Five-O.

a) Burt Reynolds
b) Tom Selleck
c) Sam Elliott

3) Famous for his painted-on mustache, among other things, this actor, writer, and comedian started his stage career as a member of the Messenger Boys, singing in various city restaurants to raise money for the victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Who was he?

a) Charlie Chaplin
b) Oliver Hardy
c) Groucho Marx

4) Known as a suave, mustache-wearing actor, this man originally planned to be a fashion illustrator. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York, where he was spotted by a CBS casting director and began to take acting roles to pay for his art supplies. Who is he?

a) Billy Dee Williams
b) Sidney Poitier
c) Lou Gossett Jr.

5) This wearer of the classic pencil mustache held the first ever screening of his movies in the 1960s--three black-and-white shorts--in the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Who is he?

a) David Simon
b) John Waters
c) Barry Levinson

6) When Congress declared war against Spain in 1898, this bristly mustache-sporting president of the U.S. organized a regiment of cavalry volunteers known as the Rough Riders. Who was he?

a) William H. Taft
b) William McKinley
c) Theodore Roosevelt

7) Known as a child as "Sosso", this famous mustache wearer also used the aliases "David" and "Koba" early in his political career, and first joined the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party in Tiflis in 1898. Who was he?

a) Joseph Stalin
b) V. I. Lenin
c) Leon Trotsky

The World Series on WilsonWeb: San Francisco Giants and more on Biography Reference Bank

Today's quiz marks this week's World Series victory by the San Francisco Giants, using profiles and details from Biography Reference Bank. If you or your patrons are sports enthusiasts, you will find a wealth of material to suit you in our acclaimed, comprehensive, and trustworthy biographical resource.

Find out about the influences, inspirations, and early experiences of some of our most popular sporting figures, often in their own words. Read about their victories, setbacks, and career experiences, or listen to all or part of their profiles using our ReadSpeaker text-to-speech converter.

You'll find all the answers to the quiz in Biography Reference Bank, or you can wait until later in the day when we will tweet them.

1) I was drafted into the San Francisco Giants straight out of high school in 1982, but then accepted an athletic scholarship to Arizona State University, where I hit 23 home runs in my junior season. Who am I?
a) Will Clark
b) Barry Bonds
c) Michael Young


2) I was a member of the New York Giants' team that beat the Washington Senators in the 1933 World Series, and finished my career by hitting .316 as a part-time player for the Giants in 1934. Who am I?
a) Lefty O'Doul
b) Hank Sauer
c) Danny Murtaugh

3) A player for the New York Mets, I was named NL player of the month in June 2006 after hitting .327 with 20 runs, four doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 29 RBIs, and three stolen bases, while collecting two home runs in two contests, against San Francisco and Cincinnati. Who am I?
a) Jake Peavy
b) David Wright
c) Xavier Nady

4) I was the only Oakland A's regular not to homer in the 1989 World Series, which was notable for the major earthquake that hit Candlestick Park on the day of Game 3. Who am I?
a) Craig Counsell
b) Ricky Henderson
c) Mark McGwire

5) A player for the San Francisco Giants, I was nicknamed "Seabiscuit" by major league scouts because of my small size. Who am I?
a) Joe Mauer
b) Jose Reyes
c) Tim Lincecum

6) I made my major-league debut with the Atlanta Braves in 1968 as a part-time player, but was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972. I made the All-Star team in 1981 and also won my first Golden Glove that year. Who am I?


a) Dusty Baker
b) Felie Alou
c) Bob Brenly

7)  A member of the Giants' pennant-winning team of 1962, I began to experience fainting spells and periods of nervous exhaustion in my later career. Who am I?


a) Willie Mays
b) Gaylord Perry
c) Zoilo Versalles

The 2010 midterms: Newsmakers in Biography Reference Bank

Yesterday's elections brought changes to Congress, including a new Speaker of the House, likely to be Ohio Republican John Boehner. If you want to know more about this key figure in the 2010 elections, you will find a detailed profile of him in Biography Reference Bank, including a selection of photographs.

You will also find a profile of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has represented Nevada in the Senate since 1986.

Reading the two profiles side by side could be valuable, particularly for younger patrons, because it shows that public representatives can start out with different backgrounds, different skill sets, and different career paths, but still end up serving their country in the highest seats of power.

These profiles are also useful for classroom quizzes, as project starting points, or just for general, reliable reading either in the library or on the move with WilsonWeb Mobile.

Remember that you can also listen to all, or just your highlighted sections, of these profiles with ReadSpeaker, and that those who are learning English can translate these profiles into a selection of languages to make their research easier. You can also find many more profiles of politicians and public representatives, searching either by name or using the Profession/Activity search box on the Advanced Search screen to find senators, politicians, legislators, or political leaders, depending on the individuals you are looking for.

New content for Cinema Image Gallery

The vast range of images available in Cinema Image Gallery continues to grow this month, with the addition of 5597 new images to the database. These new images come from recent popular movies like Sex and the City 2, Prince of Persia, Robin Hood, The Karate Kid, Inception, Iron Man 2, and Salt, as well as adding to the roster of images from TV shows like Glee, and classic movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Color Purple. 

As well as publicity stills from these movies and television shows, Cinema Image Gallery includes lobby posters, behind-the-scenes shots, and candid shots of characters and stars, all rights-cleared for use in an educational setting.

Use these images freely to illustrate a lecture, kickstart classroom discussions, provide inspiration for homework, projects, or plays, or as supplementary materials for patrons who check out movies and TV shows from your library.

Also remember that Cinema Image Gallery can be searched in conjunction with any other WilsonWeb database, and using keywords other than movie titles, so patrons could turn up unexpected treasures as part of a larger search.

Halloween Horrors from Art Suite

If you are already an Art Suite subscriber, you can find a host of Halloween ideas and activities to liven up your library at the scariest time of the year. If someone is checking out Hitchcock's Pscyho from your movie library, for example, you could point them to Garry Leonard's article in Film International, which examines the relationship between horror movies and the economic climate with specific reference to that classic movie.

Art Full Text also has a lot of Halloween resources for younger patrons, like a craft project such as a paper bag haunted house, as described in the October 2007 edition of Arts & Activities. Or, from the same volume, you could try "Awesome Autumn Cut-Ups" for schools or groups where Halloween is less of a focus.

You can also use the resources in Art Suite to create a Halloween quiz for your patrons or staff, like the one below. All the pictures and posters come from Cinema Image Gallery and, as usual, you can find the answers there or you can wait until later today when we will tweet them, in the scariest manner possible, of course.

Because the quiz features movie posters, we are looking for the country where the film is set, rather than the name of the film (which would be too easy, even for a Friday).

Happy Halloween from Wilson Omnifile

Whether your library patrons are looking for learning or light reading around Halloween, Wilson Omnifile can provide it.

An article from the International Journal of Regional and Local Studies examines a festival similar to Halloween, that of Hop tu naa, which takes place on October 31 on the Isle of Man, a dependency of the British crown that lies off the coast of Great Britain. The festival sees children going around the neighborhood with a turnip and candle lantern, singing a song and soliciting donations to buy fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night. The article also discusses the similarities and differences between Hop tu naa, modern Halloween, the Celtic festival of Samhain, and the Christian festival of All Saints or All Souls Day, so it makes an interesting starting point for class discussion, a writing assignment, or an imaginative art project.

Parents looking for tips on feeding trick or treaters more healthy alternatives to candy bars might find something to help them in an article from Supermarket News, Fall 2009, which talks about the efforts that parents and some retailers are making to move kids away from unhealthy choices on the spookiest night of the year.

The popular topic of a healthier Halloween is continued in an article from Men's Health, 2009, which contains several recipes for satisfying your sweet tooth without sabotaging your diet.

Remember that you can download these articles for later listening, like when you're putting together your shopping list for this weekend, or when you're actually in the supermarket picking up those all-important Halloween treats.

Remember also that many of the articles are available as PDF page images, so if you are using Omnifile for craft, recipe, or art project ideas, you should look for the PDF icon to find pictures where they are available in the original article.

(Our image is a Library of Congress poster from Art Museum Image Gallery, another essential source of Halloween inspiration.)