Written by Jon Williams
For years,
Monday was the standard day of the week for music album releases in North America. Because so much commerce is shut down on Sundays, however, many outlets
received their shipments too late to offer new albums at the start of business
on Monday. That’s why, in 1989, the music industry agreed to move their release
day to Tuesday, which it has been ever since.
That has not
been the case around the world, though, as various countries have their own
release schedules that haven’t always coincided with those in North America. The
U.K., for instance, held onto Monday for their releases, while Germany and
Australia saw new music come out on Friday. This non-uniformity caused angst
for fans (who were upset when listeners in other countries got new tunes before
they did) and the industry (with piracy concerns) alike.
That angst
is about to go by the wayside. The music industry and music retailers have
agreed to a new release day that will be the same around the globe. Beginning
on July 10, new music everywhere will drop as 12:01 a.m. local time on Friday.
Fans all around the world will be able to get the music they crave at
approximately the same time as everyone else.
For
libraries, the only difference is that new albums can be made available to your
patrons on Fridays instead of Tuesdays. The last Tuesday release date for new
music will be June 30. The following week , there will be no music releases on
Tuesday (July 7). The releases will instead be on Friday (July 10), which will
then be the standard.
If you have
any questions about New Music Fridays and what they mean for your library,
please contact our Customer Service department at 1.866.698.2231 or
info@cvsmidwesttapes.ca. You can also click here for a printable flyer to let your patrons know about the change.
Written by Jon Williams
This year is
shaping up to be a pretty big one for movies. Movies like Insurgent, Fifty Shades of Grey, and Furious 7 have already brought tons
of people to the box office, and others like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Spectre,
and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (to
name just a very few) are still on the horizon. But that’s looking ahead.
Looking back, 2015 also sees a number of classic films celebrating significant
landmark anniversaries.
Going back to
1940, a handful of notable films are celebrating their 75th anniversary this
year. One is The
Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of the classic John
Steinbeck novel of the same name, starring Henry Ford and John Carradine.
That was also a great year for Disney, which released the animated staples Fantasia and Pinocchio. Unfortunately, both of those titles are in Disney’s
vault at the moment, so if you already have copies of them on your shelves,
consider yourself lucky.
Moving
forward to 1965, some great and notable films are marking 50 years. Doctor
Zhivago is an all-time great film, a romance with the backdrop of World
War I and the Russian Revolution. For a
Few Dollars More (released in 1965 in Italy, but not until 1967 in
North America) is one of the Sergio Leone westerns that helped launch the
career of Clint Eastwood, a career that’s still going strong all these years
later. Thunderball (currently
unavailable, although the novel
by Ian Fleming is) was one of the first James Bond films to feature the
organization SPECTRE as the enemy; fitting, as that’s the title of the Bond
film releasing later this year. Finally, there’s The
Sound of Music, one of the quintessential movie musicals of all time,
which was recently released in a 50th
Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray that includes a ton of
bonus material in addition to the film.
So those are
the big landmark anniversaries—25, 50, and 75 years—for 2015. Anything in
particular catch your eye, or did we miss anything? And don’t forget, there are
plenty of great films celebrating other, not quite as grand anniversaries, such
as Rebel
Without a Cause (60 years), Jaws
(40 years), and Back
to the Future (30 years). You can find these great films are more on
our website.
Written by Jon Williams
If you’re
anything like me, you’re a sucker for a good dog story. Actually, if you’re
even more like me, you tend to avoid a lot of dog stories, because you tend to
get a little too emotionally invested in them. What can I say? Some of my best
friends have been dogs. Fortunately for storytellers and moviemakers everywhere,
though, it seems that most people are not like me in that regard, as stories
about dogs always turn out to be quite popular.
One such
upcoming release is sure to be a hit with young library patrons. Mogie:
The Heart of the House begins with a litter of puppies that are all
designated to be trained for a variety of jobs—all of them, that is, except for
Mogie, who is too high-spirited for any of these roles. However, Mogie
eventually finds his place keeping kids company at the Ronald McDonald House in
Houston, Texas. This is a touching true story, and you can read a bit more
about Mogie here.
One of the
most popular recent dog stories, of course, and another true story, is Marley and Me. John Grogan’s memoir of “the
world’s worst dog” captured hearts and leapt onto the bestseller lists. It
spawned a movie
adaptation starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. And that movie then
inspired a prequel
of its own, which features a talking Marley going on adventures as a puppy with
his human pal. Bodi. And for those who like dog memoirs, another one that has
gotten plenty of attention is A
Big Little Life from bestselling author Dean Koontz, who shares the
life of his golden retriever Trixie. Koontz’s affection for dogs is well known,
as he has presented heroic canine characters into many of his most popular
novels, including Watchers
and Fear
Nothing.
One dog
story I found particularly compelling was David Wroblewski’s novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I was
hardly alone in that, as it was a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, and Oprah,
along with Tom Hanks, is said to be working toward bringing it to the big
screen. The story is a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet,
with Edgar’s three dogs playing a pivotal role. Fantastic in its own right, it
also made me aware of the story of Hachiko, the dog who accompanied his owner
to the train station each day, and continued to make the pilgrimage even after
the owner’s death. That tale was made into a movie, Hachi,
starring Richard Gere and Joan Allen, and it was also featured in Martha
Sherrill’s Dog
Man, a book about Morie Sawataishi, who saved the Akita breed from
extinction.
The list of
dog “tails” is nearly endless. In addition to the above, there are classics
like Where
the Red Fern Grows, Old
Yeller, and Sounder,
as well as more contemporary comedies and family films such as Turner
and Hooch, Because
of Winn-Dixie, Hotel
for Dogs, and the Air
Bud movies. Then there are all the animated films— 101
Dalmatians, The
Fox and the Hound, All Dogs
Go to Heaven, Balto—not
to mention TV cartoon dogs like Snoopy
and Scooby-Doo.
Oh, and we can’t forget about Cujo,
the one dog that’s the complete antithesis of all these warm and fuzzy pets,
companions, friends, and heroes.
Clearly,
there is plenty of interest in stories about man’s best friend. What are some
of your favourites? Tell us about them in the comments section below.
Written by Jon Williams
Although it
ended nearly seventy years ago, World War II remains a major factor in the
events of today, and stories surrounding the worldwide conflict continue to
connect with audiences, whether they are grounded in truth or fiction. One of
the most incredible true stories to come out of the war is that of Louis
Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner for the United States who then joined the
Army Air Corps in 1941. When his plane went down in the ocean during a 1943
rescue mission, his tale of survival would become one for the ages. That story
is told by Laura Hillenbrand in the bestselling book Unbroken, which was then made into a
movie
directed by Angelina Jolie. And the rest of Zamperini’s life makes for a pretty
good story in its own right, available in Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In by
Zamperini and David Rensin.
Another tale
of World War II is getting quite a bit of attention right now, this one on the
fictional side. Anthony Doerr’s novel All the Light We Cannot See came out
on May 6 of last year and has been on the New
York Times best sellers list nearly ever since, topping it several times
and sitting even now at #2. A beautiful story of a young blind French girl and
a German army radio expert, whose disparate paths somehow converge in the war’s
closing days, it’s easy to understand how it has become and remained so
popular.
Of course,
there are any number of World War II stories for your interested patrons. On
the literary side, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my own favourites, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk.
These epic novels detail the lives of U.S. Navy Captain Victor Henry and his
family as they are swept up in the events leading up to and carrying through
the war. Books like Elie Wiesel’s Night and Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl
detail the true-life horrors of the Holocaust, while the classic novel and Catch-22 injects an element of black
humour into the dire situations facing those fighting the war on a day-to-day
basis. There are even young adult books that address the war, like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Number the Stars, the Newbery
Medal-winning novel from Lois Lowry.
For those
who prefer movies to books, there are plenty of options as well. The
aforementioned Winds
of War and War
and Remembrance were each made into miniseries starring Robert Mitchum
as Captain Henry, and show the full scope of the war, including both the
Atlantic and Pacific theatres as well as the Holocaust. Schindler’s
List, detailing Oskar Schindler’s covert efforts to save lives during
the Holocaust, is considered one of the best films of all time, while similarly
acclaimed films like Saving
Private Ryan and HBO’s Band
of Brothers depict on-the-ground combat, as does the recently released Fury,
starring Brad Pitt. To see how the war affected daily life at home, you can’t
go wrong with The
War, from documentarian Ken Burns.
And this is
just scratching the surface of all the books and movies out there on the
subject of World War II. What are some of your favourites, or what’s popular
with patrons at your library? Tell us in the comments section below.
Written by Jon Williams
These days,
when you think of superhero-based entertainment, what comes to mind first is
likely the big-budget blockbuster like The
Dark Knight or Guardians
of the Galaxy. While those movies garner a lot of attention—and for
good reason!—there’s plenty to be excited about for fans looking for more
regular installments in their favourite stories. There’s a long and stories
tradition of superhero shows on TV, and that trend shows no sign of slowing
down anytime soon.
I mentioned The Dark Knight because, of course,
Batman is one of the most popular superheroes. Making his DC Comics debut in
1939, the Caped Crusader finally came
to television in 1966. Adam West and Burt Ward played Batman and Robin, the
Boy Wonder, and the series also included iconic turns from Burgess Meredith,
Cesar Romero, and Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt as frequent adversaries. The
lighthearted tone of that series differed greatly from the darker, grittier
portrayals seen in the Michael
Keaton and Christian
Bale movies, as well as from the Gotham
TV series currently airing on Fox.
Making his
debut just before Batman, Superman has been a sometime ally and sometime
adversary to his DC Comics counterpart, such as in the upcoming movie Batman v Superman. A cultural icon, the
Man of Steel has been through many television iterations, beginning in 1952
with Adventures
of Superman, which featured George Reeves donning the cape. In 1988, The
Adventures of Superboy followed Clark Kent and his alter ego in his
youth, while in 1993, Lois
& Clark dealt with Superman’s adventures as well has his
relationship with Lois Lane (actress Teri Hatcher’s big break). Following on
the heels of that show’s popularity, Smallville,
in some ways similar to Superboy,
explores Clark Kent’s origins and younger days.
It’s worth
nothing that yet another DC Comics character, Wonder Woman, also had a
series from 1975-1979 featuring the Amazon warrior princess. There have
been considerably fewer series featuring characters from Marvel Comics, at
least until Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D. hit the airwaves in 2013. A notable example, though, is
The
Incredible Hulk, which ran from 1978 to 1982 and starred Bill Bixby as
scientist Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the green behemoth he changes into
during moments of intense anger. A TV movie continuation, The
Incredible Hulk Returns, was originally intended as a setup for a
series featuring Thor, another Marvel superhero, but that never panned out.
DC and
Marvel have been the source for so much superhero lore in pop culture, but
there are a number of other tales as well. One of my favourite shows as a kid
was The Greatest American Hero
(currently unavailable), about a hapless everyman who comes to possess a suit
that bestows a number of powers—but, unfortunately, he loses the instructions
and has to figure it out as he goes along. It also featured one of the all-time
great TV theme songs, “Believe It or Not” by Joey Scarbury. A similar premise
underlies the more recent series Heroes,
in which seemingly ordinary people discover their own superpowers. The show
concluded in 2010, but a 13-episode follow-up is scheduled to air this fall on
NBC.
For those
who love their superheroes, there are obviously plenty of options to choose
from, and more on the way. In addition to current shows like Arrow
and The Flash, there are any number
of shows coming soon, such as Powers,
a superhero detective drama starring Sharlto Copley and Eddie Izzard, and Constantine, a series featuring the DC
Comics character played on
the big screen by Keanu Reeves. In addition, there will be a number of
further additions to the Marvel universe, like Daredevil and AKA Jessica
Jones, both of which will be offered by Netflix. So which of these older
shows do you love, and which of the new ones are you looking forward to?
Written by Jon Williams
I’m
admittedly late to the party on this one, but I finally got around to watching Gravity recently. I wanted to see it
in theatres, and now I’m even more irritated with myself that I didn’t. In HD
on a big-screen television, the film looked utterly incredible…I can only
imagine how breathtaking and immersive it was on a giant silver screen. All the
technical awards and accolades the film won for its production and presentation
were well-deserved.
Of course,
humanity facing adversity in the course of space exploration is a plot device
that has been explored time and time again (with Interstellar being the most recent
example). The movie Gravity most
reminded me of in that regard was Apollo 13, the dramatisation of the
ill-fated 1970 NASA mission to the moon. Although Apollo 13 was based on a true story, boiled down, both films have
similar plots: a group of astronauts go into space on a mission that is soon
marred by catastrophe and they have to attempt to return to Earth under
increasingly harrowing circumstances. Interestingly, both films feature Ed
Harris (voice only in Gravity), who also stars in another acclaimed movie about
astronauts, 1983’s The Right Stuff.
Another film
along somewhat similar lines is on the horizon. The Martian, starring Matt Damon, is slated for a November 25
release into theatres. Based on the popular novel
of the same name by Andy Weir, it’s not about an alien from the Red Planet,
but rather about an astronaut abandoned there after an accident leads the rest
of his crew to assume he is dead. Actually only mildly injured, he must then
use what few supplies he has available in an attempt to survive long enough for
a rescue mission to be mounted from Earth. This brings to mind, to a certain
extent, the sci-fi classic Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert
Heinlein, about a human born on Mars coming to Earth for the first time
(although I suppose that’s actually the exact opposite of space exploration).
Some movies
play on our fears of finding hostile (or at the very least dangerous) alien
life on our forays into space. The successful Alien
franchise has been built on this premise, and a new Alien film by District
9’s Neill Blomkamp is in the works. Then there’s Apollo
18, a found-footage film that posits one more crewed moon landing after
the Apollo 17 mission, one that found a very good reason why no one has landed
on the moon since. Another in this vein is Europa
Report, in which a crew is sent to explore the possibility of water and
life on one of Jupiter’s moons.
Of course,
this barely scratches the surface when it comes to tales of humans venturing
into space. There’s much more to explore, including the wide range of Star
Trek shows and movies, Moon,
starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, and, of course, 2001
and 2010.
So tell us about some of your favourites, or what’s popular with your patrons,
in the comments section below.
Written by Jon Williams
You’ve heard
about it, and it’s finally here. Today, Fifty
Shades of Grey opens in theatres, following months of anticipation and
controversy. Based on the first of author E.L. James’s trilogy
of novels, the film (itself the first of a trilogy) is expected to win the
weekend’s box office handily, even against strong competition from Kingsman, another new release, plus
holdovers SpongeBob and American Sniper.
Fifty Shades is the first really highly anticipated
movie to open in 2015, but by no means is it the last. Looking at what’s in
store for the year should have moviegoers feeling pretty excited. First up is a
number of reboots, remakes, and reimaginings, including a live-action version
of Cinderella,
directed by Kenneth Branagh, hitting the screen one month from today. This
summer, you can look for an update of the horror classic Poltergeist,
as well as a new version of Fantastic
Four, with Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell
as the titular superhero quartet. For Christmas, you can look forward to a
remake of Point
Break that features extreme sports in place of surfing in the original.
And finally, if iconic characters are your thing, you won’t want to miss Mr.
Holmes, which stars Sir Ian McKellan as the world’s
most famous detective in his elder days and dealing with a failing memory.
No North American release date has yet been announced, but it is expected to be out
sometime this year.
If your
favourite franchise isn’t getting a reboot, then chances are good that it’s
getting a sequel, as there are a ton of those on tap for 2015. First on the
docket is Insurgent, coming March 20,
the second in the Divergent
series based on the young
adult novels by Veronica Ross. Staying in the dystopian future genre, this
year will see the conclusion to the Hunger
Games series, as Mockingjay Part
2 debuts in November. The summer a number of blockbusters will have viewers
flocking to theatres for new installments of The
Avengers ( Age of Ultron), Jurassic
Park ( Jurassic World), and Terminator
( Genisys). Daniel Craig takes another
turn as super-spy James Bond in Spectre,
the follow-up to Skyfall.
There will also be new installments for The
Fast and the Furious, Pitch
Perfect, Ted,
and Magic
Mike as the year goes on. And in December, there’s that new Star
Wars movie that has everyone all abuzz.
Of course,
if original fare is more your cup of tea, there’s plenty to look forward to on
that score as well. Later this month, Serena
comes to the screen, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and based on
the novel
by Ron Rash. March 6 will see the release of Chappie, the story of a robot who gains intelligence and emotions,
directed and written by Neill Blomkamp, known for District
9 and Elysium.
Child 44, in theatres in April, tells
a story of murder and intrigue in the Soviet Union, based on the bestselling novel
by Tom Rob Smith. In May, look for Tomorrowland,
the sci-fi fantasy from Disney starring George
Clooney. Another Marvel movie, Ant-Man,
comes out in July, with Paul
Rudd playing the tiny superhero. And November looks pretty awesome, with
releases including Quentin
Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight,
Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, and
the adaptation of Andy Weir’s acclaimed novel The
Martian, starring Matt
Damon.
Naturally,
this is just scratching the surface of all the amazing films coming our way
this year. As always, look to CVS Midwest Tape for these films as they come
available on DVD and Blu-ray, and let us know what you’re looking forward to
seeing.
Written by Jon Williams
Yesterday marked the 170 th anniversary of the
first publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem “The Raven,” for my money
one of the finest examples of poesy in the English language. The long narrative
poem tells the tale of a man lamenting for his lost love to a raven that he has
inadvertently let into his home. Appearing first in the New York Evening Mirror on January 20, 1845, the
poem is a delight in print, but for the musicality of the language, it must be
heard aloud for the full effect. One such performance can be found on Select
Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, narrated by Chris Lutkin.
That
audiobook also features eleven other classics from Poe, the others being pieces
of his short fiction rather than poetry. Several of them are classic examples
of the style that has led to Poe being known as the “Master of Macabre,” like “The
Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” As much as he is associated
with the horror genre, though, that was by no means the only trick in his bag. “The
Murders in the Rue Morgue” contains some grisly details, but it’s most notable
for being the first modern detective story. So although this sometimes gets
lost, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle owes as much to Poe as does someone like, say, Stephen
King (who, in truth, is another writer associated with the horror genre
that writes in a number of styles).
Classic
literature never goes out of style or favour, of course, but merely sits on the
shelf and patiently waits to be discovered by new generations of readers and/or
listeners. And that’s why Dreamscape Media, publishers of the aforementioned
Poe title, is producing a line of classic titles on audiobook with new
recordings that will appeal to longtime literature lovers and first-time
listeners alike. This includes such beloved favourites as A
Christmas Carol and other
Christmas stories from Charles Dickens, The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain, The
Awakening by Kate Chopin, and The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz and a number of other Oz stories from L. Frank
Baum, to name just a few.
Needless to say, titles like these can add a
great deal of value to your audiobook collection while enriching the lives of
your patrons. SmartBrowse ‘Dreamscape Classics’ on our website for more new
recordings of literature’s canon, or search for any other must-have titles you
need for your collection.
Written by Jon Williams
It’s one of
the hottest topics of today, a conundrum that unfortunately has no easy
solutions and isn’t even easy to discuss. The topic is bullying, and it’s a
situation that occurs far too often. Teachers, school administrators, parents,
and students themselves often deal with it on a daily basis. That was the case
for Carrie Goldman, for whom the bullying of her daughter led her to write a
book that lays out ways to help deal with bullying situations, hopefully before
they start. That book is Bullied,
and it’s an essential guide for anyone who deal with children on a day-to-day
basis.
The one
bright spot is that there are any number of resources, both fiction and
non-fiction, that deal with bullying. The fiction titles can help students—and adults—think
about bullying from different perspectives and perhaps come to terms with its
causes and effects. The non-fiction titles offer anyone who might find
themselves dealing with a bullying situation (from any angle) with practical advice
on how to get through it as peacefully as possible and prevent it from
happening again.
To that end,
Midwest Tape has put together a collection of these audiobook resources that
libraries can put on their shelves for those who need them. Kids
& Bullying: Audiobooks for Conversation can be found via a panel on our
homepage. In the coming weeks, you can look for a number of audiobook
collections like this on a variety of topics. We hope you find them useful, and
that they expose you to some great titles you may have missed. You can let us
know what you think here in the comments.
Written by Jon Williams
If you
watched the Golden Globe awards ceremony on Sunday night—or even if you just
perused the list of winners on Monday morning—you may have noticed something a
little odd on the television side. Despite garnering a fair number of
nominations, the major over-the-air networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) did not
take home a single award. Instead, the shows celebrated for their excellence
were all from non-traditional, premium cable, or streaming services.
Non-network
stations did quite well for themselves. In fact, the CW, jointly operated by
CBS and Time Warner, was the closest thing to a major network to come away with
the win. The channel, which is generally aimed at a young adult audience, earned
its first major award nomination and win, with Gina
Rodriguez taking home Best Actress in a TV Comedy for her portrayal of the
title character on Jane the Virgin
(which is not yet available on DVD/Blu-ray). Also winning awards were Downton
Abbey (Best Supporting Actress Joanne
Froggatt) and The
Honourable Woman (Best Actress in a Miniseries Maggie
Gyllenhaal); both were produced for British television and aired on this
side of the pond via PBS and SundanceTV, respectively. Finally, FX’s television
reboot of Fargo
won two awards: Best Miniseries and Best Actor in a Miniseries Billy
Bob Thornton.
The
streaming services also won big on the night. Kevin
Spacey, star of Netflix’s powerhouse political show House
of Cards, won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Actor just ahead of the
release of Season 3 on February 27. Following in Netflix’s footsteps of
developing original programming, Amazon had a winner on its hands this year
with Transparent (not yet available),
which took two awards: Best TV Comedy and Best Actor Jeffrey
Tambor. The show’s full first season was made available to users in
September, and it was recently renewed for a second season that will be
released later this year.
The premium
cable outlets also came away with three awards. With fifteen nominations, it
seemed like something of an upset for HBO to end the evening with just one win,
but that’s the way it went down. Their award was for Matt
Bomer’s Best Supporting Actor turn in The
Normal Heart. Also in something of a surprise, the award for Best TV Drama
went to Showtime’s The Affair (not
yet available), which also featured the night’s Best Drama Actress, Ruth
Wilson.
This shift
in where the best shows call home is indicative of a shift in the way viewers
watch television. Fading are the days of being in front of a television at a
certain time on a certain day to catch the latest episode of a favourite show.
More and more, it seems that viewers prefer the freedom of watching episodes at
their leisure, or being able to watch multiple episodes at once, as soon as the
season “starts,” and these non-network outlets are capitalizing on that. Along
those lines, this
column on the Huffington Post has an interesting (if non-scientific) note
on most-recommended series for binge watching, including a breakdown along
gender lines (which, apparently, do not diverge as much as you might expect).
The
takeaway? It’s true: non-network shows are the hottest right now. In addition
to this year’s crop of Golden Globe winners, make sure you’re stocking seasons
of shows like Game
of Thrones, Breaking
Bad, Orange
Is the New Black, and The
Wire for your patrons who just can’t get enough, as well as for those
who don’t have access to those channels or services.
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