Seemingly to the disappointment of Kim, her classmates were very accepting of her new identity, leaving not much to explore for the film. Prodigal Sons then switches to focus on Mark. The film presents a complex relationship among the siblings (which also includes their brother Todd who doesn’t appear much in the film). Mark was left behind a grade early in school putting him in the same class with Paul who was a successful student and athlete. Mark clearly resents his brother’s success and never came to fully accept his transformation.

Part of the film is dedicated to Mark’s search for his biological parents. He discovers that his mother is Rebecca Welles, making Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth his grandparents. This discovery temporarily gives him some sense of importance. Unfortunately, this positive turn does not last very long.

Prodigal Sons is fascinating at times, but often feels exploitive of Mark’s condition and his violent tendencies, especially toward the end of the film which includes extended scenes of his violence toward his family. Prodigal Sons provides some interesting insights into gender identity and mental illness but never goes deep enough and favors drama over depth.

The objective of the Transliteracy Interest Group is to explore, develop and promote the role of libraries in all aspects of literacy including, but not limited to, digital, media, social, computer, and 21st century literacies.

I want to thank all those who supported us in this endeavor and thank the members of LITA who voted to approve this group.

You can find out everything about Libraries and Transliteracy at the L&T blog.

• Jack Kerouac: Le Sel de la Semaine
• The Suzuki Diaries: Sustainability in Action

You can see all my EMRO Reviews here.

Tying Your Own Shoes is a short film (about 16 minutes) so these portraits are very cursory.  Unfortunately, these brief portraits feel slight and left me wanting to know about these people. The film works as a brief introduction to what living with Down Syndrome is like and provides an enlightened view of the condition. Unfortunately, it does present any new information to anyone other than those totally unfamiliar with the topic. Because of this basic approach, the short run time, and the animation, Tying Your Own Shoes seems more appropriate for a younger audience. That’s not a criticism of the film, just a concern of its appropriateness for the Notable Videos for Adults list.

The film implies that the animation was done by the 4 interviewees; however the end credits reveals three additional animators, leaving one to wonder how much of the animation was done by the individuals portrayed in the film.

Note: I have started a page to list all the 2011 films.

I also have volunteered to serve for another 2 years on the Notable Videos for Adults Committee and the films we will be reviewing are starting to come in. I really enjoyed being on the committee the past two years even though it’s a big time commitment. For the past two years, I have blogged about most of the movies I viewed (2009 and 2010). I debated whether or not I wanted to blog about the films again this year. My hesitation stems from the fact that I have never been able to keep up with posts for all the movies I watch. But looking back at the posts, I realize that they have been helpful to me at least when the time comes to deliberate about the films and help select a list. And just because I haven’t been able to keep up with the posts in the past doesn’t mean I won’t be able to this year, right?

And, finally, I have been elected as the incoming Vice Chair/Chair Elect for the Video Round Table with my tenure as Vice Chair beginning on July 1. I look forward to serving in this capacity as I have found my involvement with the Round Table these past few years very rewarding and really enjoy working with the other members.

Video Makes the Library Star: Library-Created Visual Media

Sunday, June 27

10:30 am – 12 noon

Mayflower Renaissance – Colonial Room

1127 Connecticut Avenue Northwest

Washington, DC

The program will feature creators of library-related visual media. Librarians who have used their videos for promotion or instruction will share their experiences and discuss things to consider before launching a video production project.

The speakers include:

• Dee Vazquez, Community Engagement and Outreach Officer for the Pikes Peak Library District

• Matt Harp, Digital Library Production Manager, and Mimmo Bonanni, Digital Projects Librarian from Arizona State University Libraries.

• Michael Porter, librarian, presenter, author, practical technology fan, and PEZ collector.

I am quite thrilled with the speakers we have been able to schedule. The work they’ve done on creating their videos is quite impressive and I am looking forward to hearing about their experiences with creating these videos.

I feel very fortune to have had the opportunity to chair the VRT Program Committee and thank the other members:

Steve Brantley, Reference Librarian and Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Tracy Montri, AV Department Manager at Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
Juliana Nykolaiszyn, Visiting Assistant Professor at Oklahoma Oral History Research Program
Danette Pachtner, Film & Video Librarian at Lilly Library, Duke University

The database is searchable, but it is also indexed by a variety of criteria. In addition to obvious categories like movie title and actor, the clips are also indexed by genre, occasion, mood and theme among others. One strange omission is production year. API access is available and the explanation shows that production year is part of the metadata, so I am not sure why this bit of information is not searchable.

And just because I can:

I want to thank Bobbi for initiating this project and for including me.