Video Sunday: Storytime Now

Top o’ the Sunday to you! Let’s get down to business, shall we? First up, the best of the best of the best.

Now I have scoured the internet for information on whether or not documentarian Frederick Wiseman will be showing Ex Libris, his latest film on New York Public Library, on PBS any time in the near future. Since he received funding from PBS the likelihood would be high, yes? And yet I can find no information. Instead, we know that it’s showing in New York. We also have this keen trailer. I like it for any number of reasons, but particularly because I could spot former co-workers Louise Lareau and Billy Parrott (husband of SLJ editor Kiera Parrott) in some of the shots. It is not, I should say, apparently very critical of the library system and current management at all. Perhaps I am wrong. We’ll see.

Next, a rather lovely book trailer for a book that incorporates (gasp! shudder!) numbers! Lots of them! And what’s more, it’s a keen trailer to boot. Someone certainly put work into this.

Dear Idris Elba,

If you would like to be the world’s next LeVar Burton I am okay with this plan. If you would like to read many more picture books, I am okay with that too. If you would like suggestions of books to read, I can provide. That is all.

In the case of this next video, I was unaware of it entirely until it showed up in a Facebook feed earlier this week. It originally came out in 2011, so I’m a bit out of date. These days I work the Reader’s Advisory desk of the library (the ADULT Reader’s Advisory desk, I should say) with a great deal of frequency. So I didn’t doubt the validity of this video, at first. Those of us in the customer service industry will probably just nod their heads in recognition. In truth, this was the actress in the Broadway production of Misery. Once you know that, all the pieces fall into place.

As for this next trailer, I’d pretty much follow a Gus Gordon book to the ends of the earth. It’s Gus Gordon, after all. Am I right?

For our final off-topic video, I was very taken with a recent interview with Insecure’s director of photography, Ava Berkofsky. It talks at length about the lighting of black actors and why this show does it so much better than a lot of other shows out there. Remember, I was a photography nerd before I was a children’s literature nerd. This kind of stuff is enthralling to me.

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