Cauli Le Chat

Cauli Le Chat
Cauli Le Chat, MPL Feline Roving Reporter

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thinking Inside the Box

I found this sitting underneath the new large print shelves at my Library.



Old Fashioned Suggestion Box

With the ubiquitousness of email and instant messaging, an old fashioned, paper-repositing, wooden suggestion box is something of an anachronism in modern, high-tech libraries.  But there are loads of patrons out there who hate electronic communication and prefer the reliable pencil-and-paper method of exchanging ideas.  Unlike computer networks, paper doesn't "crash," and the only impediment likely to prevent a message being written is a broken pencil lead (which, needless to say, is actually graphite mixed with a clay binder).

Are you curious about what might be inside this relic of expressionism (to mis-coin a phrase)?  So was I.

Patron Suggestion for New DVD Acquisitions

Apparently, a patron has suggested that the Library purchase additional sets of the classic television comedy program, Mystery Science Theater 3000.  The official MST3K website provides ample information about the show for those unfortunates who never saw it during its 1988-2002 run (counting reruns) on the airwaves, including cable giants Comedy Central and the (formerly known as) Sci-Fi Channel.  Here's the low-down:  the show riffs really bad movies--the worst you can find, as the theme song says.  A fellow marooned in space with two robot pals is forced to watch these horrible movies as part of an experiment by mad scientists seeking to rule the world.  (So much for the back-story.)  It is all just an excuse for some good-natured ribbing of some horrendously awful motion pictures.  The typical two-hour show averaged over 700 jokes, so there are laughs aplenty.

Incredibly, our Library has a book trailer about the MST3K Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, which we don't actually have in our collection anymore (a donated copy disappeared).  It will give you some idea, too, what the whole business is about.


Our Library already has several donated VHS episodes of the series and one--count 'em--one set of 4 DVDs (including four episodes).  Clearly, we need more.  If you agree, contact Boss Lady via our website and let her know that you'd like more Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Only don't tell her I suggested it.  More hot water, I don't need!


Thinking Crow T. Robot & Tom Servo Are Truly Cool,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
TV Classics News Beat

P.S.  We invite you to watch a snippet of MST3K.  This segment riffs the short, Why Study Industrial Arts? (approximately 10 minutes).








4 comments:

  1. Hey, Cauli-- Your editor was pretty heavy-handed with this blog installment. Doesn't even sound like your writing style.

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  2. Scowl-Face likes a more pedantic tone when we're doing the readers' advisory thing.

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  3. Plus Cauli had about fifteen minutes within which to write this blog. Deadlines are the bane of all cleverness, to misquote poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

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  4. You know Cauli, I do know that Scowl-Face is a big fan of MST3K as well. I mean he has a Tom Servo toy on his desk. ...not to say that there could be other staff members in the library who appreciates MST3K, too. *coughmecough*

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