Director's Blog

Everyone will recognize that phrase as Fox News' advertising slogan. I happen to think it's incredibly ironic, since Fox News is anything but fair and balanced in my opinion. To cite just one example: An October 2003 study done by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes showed that 80% of people who listed Fox News as their primary source of news believed either that U.S. forces had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or that Saddam Hussein had worked closely with the 9/11 terrorists, neither of which was true, of course. By comparison, only 23% who listed PBS or NPR as their primary news source believed one of those statements.

However, unlike Fox News, the Danbury Library tries to be fair and balanced in its nonfiction book collection, no matter how I or any of the other librarians feel personally about an author or a subject. As a result of our materials selection policy, which states that the collection "will represent diverse points of view on matters of contemporary significance," we carry titles by Fox News anchors such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity or similar Right-wing stars such as Ann Coulter (sorry, but Rush Limbaugh's books are out of print) despite my own personal high disregard for them. But we also carry titles by Al Franken and Keith Olbermann that represent opposing views from the Left.

So whether or not you agree with Fox's "fair and balanced" slogan, you can rest assured that in the case of our book selections, those adjectives are appropriate and true.

Posted by Mark at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Even though Walt Disney's version of Pinocchio, released in February 1940, was only his second animated feature, following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, it remains, 69 years later, the greatest animated movie ever made. Period. Jumping the gun by a full year, the Disney Studio has released this gem in two 70th anniversary formats, a digitally restored DVD and, better yet, a Blu-ray version. I've never believed that animation was limited to adults, especially the type on display in Pinocchio. But if you need convincing, or haven't seen it in many years -- and even if you own it on VHS or DVD already, it's never looked better -- , these new releases are the perfect time to re-visit this classic. Its technically brilliant and beautiful animation, Oscar-winning song and score, exciting and humorous story, and memorable characters make it worth watching by movie-lovers of all ages. What a critic wrote in 1940 is still true: "In writing of Pinocchio, you are limited only by your own power of enthusiasm."

Posted by Mark at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)