Humanities & Social Sciences Library

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Biting Passion
New York Times Interactive Feature, 21 Nov 2008.

This interactive clip from the New York Times gives a quick overview of the types of vampire movies that have been produced over the years. For students doing film studies who wish to do film comparisons, the Library has a selection of films such as Van Helsing, Bram Stoker’s Dracula as well as Nosferatu.  They are available either in the Media Resource Library or the ADM Library.

Need some more Dracula or vampire references? You can retrieve full-text articles from journals in JSTOR (one of the library’s databases). Click on “browse by discipline” and select “film studies” from the drop-down list.

Films

Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Culver City, Calif. : Columbia TriStar Home Video, c1997.
PR6037.T617B815

Van Helsing
Universal City, CA : Universal Studios Home Video, c2004.
G563838
(Special features in this DVD include: Explore Dracula’s castle and bloopers)

Nosferatu, the vampyre  = Nosferatu, phantom der nacht
Troy, MI : Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2002
L575598 DISCS 1-2

Nosferatu: a symphony of horror
Weisbaden, Germany : Transit Film ; [New York, NY] : Distributed by Kino International, [2002], c1922.
PN1995.9.V3N897

Reference

The changing vampire of film and television : a critical study of the growth of a genre
Kane, Tim.
Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2006.
PN1995.9.V3K16

Multimedia feature & image copyright of New York Times.

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This BBC production is a dream come true for China fans.  Consisting of two DVDs, this 300 minute documentary allows viewers to embark on a visual adventure that brings them from the peaks of the Himalayas down to the rivers of Shangri-la and beyond.

Anthropology students would gain an insight into how the rural people of China live, work and play amidst their cave or forest dwellings. See how Yunnan minority groups harvest the versatile bamboo for food and material needs,  travel along the legendary silk road where tea horses used to tread, and harvest hornet larvae as a tasty snack.

Nonetheless, China’s wildlife are the main stars in this DVD set. Take a peek into the lives of pandas, bumblebee-sized bamboo bats (filmed for the first time), cranes, Chiru antelopes and many more creatures who live in the Middle Kingdom. World heritage sites such as the Great Wall are also featured.

Wild China is available at the Media Resource Library (call number: L576894).  For details about this DVD, check out the following:

BBC Science and Nature — Wild China

Wild China, the BBC’s new nature series, captures a vanishing world
Times Online
May 10, 2008

Sneak video preview

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Dear Library Users,

 All NTU Libraries will be closed on 27 October 2008 (Deepavali).

Thank you.

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Popularity: 22% [?]

Hits and misses: the google generation
Times Higher Education
5 June 2008
By Matthew Reisz
Does the Google generation, which has grown up with a deluge of data just clicks away, lack the independence of thought and critical rigour needed for higher study?

This article is about the effect of Google and Web 2.0 on scholarly learning in universities. How can British universities capture the attention of the Google generation who believe in instant gratification and turning in term papers with plenty of references from Google result lists?

According to the article, academic librarians would have to make information literacy workshops one of their key mission statements. Additionally, academic libraries would have to reinvent themselves by carving out “learning suites” and “think tanks” –aka learning spaces — so that self-directed and group learning styles can be supported.

The writer also thinks that Web 2.0 tools like blogging might result in anti-establishment attitudes that may pose a threat to British university traditions and rituals. Especially when “the Google generation” is so focused on the here and now. In my opinion, to say that students create anarchy and chaos on campus via their blogs is a sweeping statement that supports the fallacy of hasty generalization! I’m sure not all students are bent on creating trouble for their universities;they just need an outlet to voice their problems and opinions.

The article ends off saying that librarians have to help students undo what the latter have learnt though Google and social-networking sites. The bit about teaching students about information integrity in Google result lists is quite clear but some elaboration is needed for the sematics behind the meaning of “undoing what [has been] learnt in social-networking sites.”

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An article by the International Herald Tribune has reported on the intricate relationship between the people and the monks. The monastery is often especially important in rural areas, as it can be the only institution which offers the rural villagers an education or spiritual comfort.

This bond between the monks and the laity is reported to be strengthening due to Cyclone Nargis, which has devastated the Irrawaddy delta. The monks are reported to be at the forefront of providing aid to survivors of the cyclone.

In separate news, Singapore volunteers have spoken of their first hand experiences in the delta. They reported that their trip was smoother than expected, possibly due to the presence of a respected monk with them, namely Venerable K Gunaratana. The volunteers reported that they experienced no problems with roadblocks or with taking pictures.

This article thus suggests that the position of the monks continues to be highly respected in Myanmar, despite the recent military crackdown. The respect given to the monks appears to be strengthening instead.

Read the full IHT article here. The ChannelnewsAsia report is accessible at this link.

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Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his sister Ms. Chee Siok Chin have both been given jail sentences for contempt of court, at 12 and 10 days respectively. The defamation damages have not been decided (if they are granted).

It is interesting to note the (generally) negative public reaction to Dr. Chee in the Asiaone forums. One forum poster even criticised Dr. Chee for wasting the time of the Prime Minister.

It is even more interesting to compare the generally negative local reaction to Dr. Chee, with the articles written by the New York Times, which seems to view Dr. Chee in a more positive light.

This can be viewed from the title of the New York Times article, which is “Power and Tenacity Collide in a Singapore Courtroom”. The word “tenacity” usually carries a positive overtone.

Read the Asiaone report here, and the forum commentaries here. The New York Times article is available here.

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It is unusual to find articles on Singapore in the New York Times, or in the BBC news.

The New York Times has a strong bias towards reporting on American news, and on Middle Eastern news. However there have been a pair of articles commenting on the state of Singapore politics, such as J.B Jeyaretnam’s proposed establishment of a new political party.

More recently, there has been an article written on Dr. Chee Soon Juan’s debate in court with M.M. Lee and PM Lee. The foreign interest paid to politics in Singapore is slightly surprising to this blogger, although the different viewpoints are interesting. For example the quotes taken by the New York Times from the courtroom debate between Dr. Chee and MM Lee are quite different from that of the Straits Times, in its own commentary.

However, one suspects that the writer of the New York Times articles, Seth Mydans, is not entirely neutral with regard to his views on Singapore politics.

Read the articles here and here

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Here’s an article that gives you some food for thought:

Do Social Networks Bring Out the Animal in Us?
By Frank Watson, Search Engine Watch, May 23, 2008

The next generation of humans (homutus societus digalti) are skillful at sending e-mails, blogging about every minute detail of their lives and communicating — as long as they are
not asked to speak to anyone.

According to the author, text communication technology can dehumanize communication. We can be lured into thinking that those on the receiving end of technologies such as Facebook, MSN and the like are not humans at all. That is, recipients are just text and images on a PC screen. Here’s the final punchline — “[t]he promise of social networking bringing human communities together is foundationally flawed.” True or false? That’s up to you to decide.

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