Happy Halloween

Vintage postcard from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Wakeman: The Final Stretch

Our old pal Wakeman is in the home stretch in his trek to level 80 in World of Warcraft. Here he is resting with the Sinister Squashling at Camp Winterhoof in Northrend after a long day of questing. Click on the picture for a closer look.

New Jersey State Library Awards Graphic Novel Collection Development Grants

At the end of August, the New Jersey State Library held a series of workshops on graphic novel collection development. Several grants have been awarded to small libraries around the state to help them to originate and continue their own graphic novel collections. Check out the article on NJ.com.

Comic Books Invade Public Libraries...Again.

A spinner rack of comics in one New Jersey public library. They circulate just fine say the librarians.

The Perfect Five-Star Music Mix

Have you ever wondered how to create a mix of your favorite music on your portable digital audio player that you could play at random and continue to update so it would always be fresh?  Here’s an easy way to do just that!

What you’ll need:

• A Windows PC
• AWindows portable digital audio player
• Windows Media Player Version 11
• Digital music files.

1. Load your digital music files onto your computer’s hard drive.
2. Find the files using Windows Media Player.
3. Using Windows Media Player, rate your favorite music files and give them a 4 or 5 star rating.
4. Dock your Windows digital audio player and select the Sync tab at the top of the Windows Media Player interface. Windows Media Player should automatically recognize your digital audio player and an identifying column for it should open up on the right side of the screen.
5. Right click on the entry for your digital audio player in the left column. Choose “Set Up Sync.” A “Device Setup” dialogue box should appear. Remove all playlists from the right hand column except for “Music rated at 4 or 5 stars.” Check off the box above the left hand column labeled “Sync this device automatically.” Click the Finish button in the bottom right corner.
6. Making sure that your portable digital audio device is empty, click the “Start Sync” button at the bottom of the right column indentifying your portable on the Windows Media Player Sync screen. Windows Media Player will now start to synchronize all of your songs rated at 4 or 5 stars to your portable device.
7. Once the sync is complete, set your portable device to shuffle all the songs and play them at random.
8. As you add new music files to your computer, always select your favorites by giving them a 4 or 5 star rating in Windows Media Player. Whenever you want to add the new music to your portable device, bring up Windows Media Player, plug in your portable and Windows Media Player will automatically sync your new 4 or 5 star music to your device.
9. Enjoy your constantly changing music mix!

Beasts of Burden

I've been driving everyone crazy recommending the new Dark Horse comic book series Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. Featuring characters and concepts introduced in three Dark Horse Book of... volumes, this is a limited series. Jill Thompson's painted art is gorgeous and evocative. Evan Dorkin's story is just as great as the previous three chapters. Speaking of the previous three chapters, they are available online to read here. Let's hope that Dark Horse will reprint these short stories in a stand-alone volume.