Atlantic Monthly likes A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow, which apparently argues that the main force driving desegregation was conservative protestantism--of both black and white varieties.

We librarians are giving short B.I. sessions this week in connection with the recently mandatory "Foundations of University Life" freshman seminars. During my presentation on Monday the students mostly wriggled impatiently or stared blankly into space. But I sympathized with them. There's nothing I could do to make database searching entertaining, unless perhaps I were Farleyesque comedian Jack Black. I saw School of Rock on Saturday and enjoyed his clownish antics in portraying an unemployed hard rock guitarist posing as prep-school substitute teacher. The theme (uninhibited prole teaches yuppies how to live) is extremely hackneyed--after all, I just saw Bringing Down the Houselast week--but in a comedy all that really matters are the jokes. Which you'll appreciate more if you're a fan of classic rock; if not, knock the rating down to two and a half stars.

Lost in Translation finally got picked up by Lubbock's megaplex. Despite brainy Khads' misgivings about the film, I'll check it out anyway.

Will Ferrell as Ignatius Reilly???

The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol.

Shakespeare meets Groening: MacHomer. [lifted from Eclectic Librarian]