Let's see if I can adequately update my blog while watching the Sox game...;-)

I recently finished "Libraries in the Ancient World" by Lionel Casson. I thought it was really interesting, and I'm glad that I found it and read it after I had taken my introductory class. I had a context in which to put the information I was reading, and was even already familiar with some of the topics he covered. I was hoping that it would go beyond the libraries of Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near-East and discuss those of the Ancient Americas, but no such luck. At any rate, it was a good way for me to keep up with some library info before the next round of classes start in the fall.

Let me now turn to film...yesterday afternoon I saw "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". I will first say that I have read all the books (at least twice), and have seen all the movies and enjoyed them immensely. (And obviously, not everything in the books can be covered in the movies, so I can generally overlook that and examine the movie as its own entity. Most of the time.) While I did enjoy the 6th movie, I felt that there could have been more development. It seemed to introduce a lot of the main ideas in the book but didn't provide quite enough detail to really develop them. I think this one could have been split into two films, like they're going to do with the final installment. Maybe by this point I've just started hyping them up too much. Despite this criticism, I did like it and will most likely end up buying the DVD, as I've done with the others. I will say, though, that the music (as usual) was fantastic and visually, the film was beautiful. There were several scenes that used a very pale color pallette and I thought that did a lot to convey emotion and atmosphere. It was really cool.

Perhaps I just need a second look. ;-) I might like it more. :-)