David Cherry's blog

Scary Monsters, Super Creeps: Poets Behaving Badly (or Not).

Submitted by David Cherry on Wed, 11/14/2012 - 3:44pm

When Nosferatu's ShadowRimbaud was introduced to the leading lights of Parisian poetry, he managed to alienate dang near every one of them within minutes. After the group's tres gentile dinner, each poet stood and read his verse aloud. Rimbaud listened more or less politely for a time, then pronounced each man's poem...um...not good. Actually, he used a scatological term more appropriate to the barnyard than to a literary salon. That it turns out his assessment was by and large correct, makes it no less rude.

Free Film Screenings with a Modern Day Marco Polo

Submitted by David Cherry on Thu, 11/08/2012 - 11:14am

HCPL hosts filmmaker Francis O’Donnell and free screenings of his Emmy®
Nominated Documentary, In the Footsteps of Marco Polo.

Still Photo from the documentary: In the Footsteps of Marco PoloWhat happens when two ordinary guys—one working as a wedding photographer, the other a former Marine turned artist--decide they need a little adventure in their lives? If they are Denis Belliveau and Francis O’Donnell, a 25,000 mile trek across Eurasia retracing the journey of 13th Century adventurer Marco Polo, and a PBS documentary that earns an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming.

This month, Harris County Public Library will host one of those intrepid travelers, Francis O’Donnell, for two free screenings of the film In the Footsteps of Marco Polo to be followed by lively discussions of the journey and the making of the film.
During the two-year journey from Venice to China and back, the pair traveled on foot, horseback, camelback, in jeeps, trucks, boats and trains, and survived everything man and Mother Nature threw at them, including the forbidding Taklamakan Desert, Tajik soldiers, bureaucrats, and border guards.

Fat Chance / Slim Chance: Random Thoughts on Randomness

Submitted by David Cherry on Fri, 11/02/2012 - 2:29pm

Spin by Conor OgleI’ve been thinking a lot about the randomness of the universe lately…well, the randomness of my little corner of it anyway. When I was a kid I saw connections everywhere I looked. Odd events really did come in threes, knocking on wood was a sovereign corrective for unintentional hubris, and an involuntary shiver really did mean someone had just walked over my grave.

Now, I just see accident.

Upcoming MFAH Exhibition Explores War through Photography

Submitted by David Cherry on Thu, 11/01/2012 - 1:35pm

Cover Art: Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil WarAs horrifying as war is, there is no arguing the fact that much great art has arisen from its ashes: Homer’s Iliad, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five in literature, Picasso’s Guernica, Goya’s The Disasters of War in visual art, Grand Illusion and Apocalypse Now in cinema, but no medium has captured war, and all its chaos and misery and valor, the way photography has.

This Veteran’s Day, November 11, The Museum of Fine Arts – Houston will debut the exhibition, WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath. Spanning 165 years and six continents, the exhibit explores the experience of war through the eyes of photographers.

Keep Your Card Handy! Starting Nov. 14, You Will Need Your Library Card for Self-Checkout

Submitted by David Cherry on Mon, 10/29/2012 - 1:28pm

The Knowledge CardStarting NovKid Know it Cardember 14, 2012, customers will need to scan their library cards when using the self-checkout machines at all Harris County Public Library branches. In the past, customers could use the key pad on the machine to enter their library card number. We feel that this change in policy will allow us to better safeguard our customers' privacy.

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