24 Frames per Second

My favorite stories are the ones about the ordinary people who, while going about their daily lives, encounter strange and/or inexplicable events. How they behave in the midst of weirdness is more interesting than the phenomenon itself. I've always been a sucker for a well-told vampire tale. (Sorry!) Or an off-center ghost story or strange-baby story... Here, in no particular order, are a few of my favorite, wonderfully odd movies.

Calypso, the traditional carnival music of Trinidad, is so infectious with its driving beat, upbeat rhythms and colorful lyrics, that it defies you not to get up and dance or sing or both.

I went to high school in the East Village from 1983 to 1987. This might sound kind of punk rock. Unfortunately, I totally missed out on CBGB in the late Seventies (see also: Punking Out) and early Eighties. And let's face it, I didn't go inside any real club for most of the Eighties either — I was underage, and too busy studying for the SATs. But I remember how the outsides looked. The streets and lines. The cars, still squared off boats from the Seventies. Of course, three-card monte. And lots and lots of vacant lots. Dirty, over-painted apartment facades with broken front doorknobs. Vinyl miniskirts. Wanting to look like Debbie Harry, not Madonna.

Shhhh.... this one is silent.

One of the great things about silent film is the fact that it is, well, silent.

While this attribute certainly draws attention to body language and visual storytelling, it also provides a blank canvas. As someone who composes and arranges music, this proves a great opportunity to sharpen my skills and have a bit of fun, dropping different types of music into a set of scenes. The fun happens when music intended for one purpose magically enhances another. It is proved to be a much more laborious a task, as I am not able to rely on the timings (and ease of scrolling) as one would with a digital version.

OK readers. Some time back I did a blog post in which I firmly stated I was the real Billy Parrott. I'm writing today to formally acknowledge that I am only one Billy Parrott. I am Billy Parrott, the librarian. I'd like to introduce you to the other Billy Parrott. He's the actor.

In the month of May, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include big studio romantic comedies, New Years Eve, One for the Money, and This Means War. May is also a HUGE month for action and thrillers, with Haywire, Underworld: Awakening, The Grey, Chronicle, the Woman in Black, Red Tails, Man on a Ledge and Gone. Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these plus many more May DVD releases now!

Happy birthday to Charles Mingus, who would have officially become a nonagenarian this coming April 22, 2012 — a word I am certain he could have cleverly crafted into a title. And to celebrate one of the most unique and gifted voices in not just the jazz world, but, in my opinion, the whole of 20th century music, we are projecting on 16mm this wonderfully insightful film capturing Mingus at a very specific period in his life. A must see for all fans of Charles Mingus.

Over the weekend, I had my first experience visiting the Angelika Film Center to see Robbie Pickering's film Natural Selection. Pickering, a NYU film graduate, talked about his experiences with filming the movie in over just 18 days and directing a traditionally comedic actress (the film's dazzling lead, Rachel Harris) in a much more serious role.

The film got a lot of buzz at SXSW last year, so I was excited when I found out it would be playing in New York. I would recommend going to see the film at the Angelika while it's still playing there. If you are looking for some other independent film suggestions, here's a list of films and theaters that I've personally 

Do you enjoy Film Noir, Swedish mysteries, Agatha Christie, espionage thrillers, potboilers, or Sherlock Holmes? Mystery Summer promises to fill your summer months with Film Noir screenings, mystery book discussions, and more, all at Mid-Manhattan Library!

There won't be too many new DVDs coming to the Library in April, but the ones we will get are really great! Reserve titles now using the Library's new catalog, BiblioCommons. Highlights include Academy Award Best Picture winner, The Artist; Best Picture nominee, War Horse; and the Iron Lady, starring Best Actress in a Leading Role, Meryl Streep. April also has big Hollywood thrillers, with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Contraband, and The Darkest Hour. There's also We Bought a Zoo, if that's your thing. Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these April DVD releases now!

Director Krzysztof Kieslowski, although best known for his Three Colors trilogy (Blue, White, and Red) and the French/Polish production Double Life of Véronique, produced the vast majority of his work in Communist-era Poland.

As a student at Lódz Film School, he was greatly influenced by Ken Loach's Kes, as well as works by fellow alumni Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi.

From 1990 through 1995, the television viewing public was obsessed with the goings on in Cicely, Alaska. Northern Exposure ruled the television airwaves. And while our airwaves were dominated by this quirky drama, on the show itself the airwaves were ruled by Chris Stevens and his KBHR radio show Chris in the Morning.

Martin Scorsese has had a quite a run these past two months, with 11 Oscar nominations (four wins) for his film Hugo and a Golden Globe win for the Best Director category, to name just a few. So let's raise another toast (in the spirit of the Bridesmaids' SAG award presentation) to the man who gave us so much great Lower East Side imagery by screening one of his earliest films, Italianamerican. This 1974 documentary, made between Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and his landmark film Taxi Driver, finds Scorsese interviewing his parents in their Elizabeth Street apartment about their 

Updated February 2012! Do the names Lord Grantham, Mr. Carson, and Lady Violet mean anything to you? Can you discuss at length the love story of Mary and Matthew? Does the word week-end, bring to mind Maggie Smith’s impeccably-timed line delivery? If so, then you are a Downton-ite... or is it Downton-head? Whatever the case may be, it means that you are a fan of the ITV/Masterpiece Theater drama Downton Abbey. First airing on PBS in January 2011, this British series depicts life (upstairs and downstairs) in an English manor house belonging to Lord Grantham and his family, from 1912 to 1920. It was a surprise hit in the U.K. and in 

Have you been waiting patiently? Perhaps catching up on your reading? Are there books you’d like to finish before the new season starts? Have you been rewatching all of the previous episodes, timing your viewings to flow perfectly into the new season? Will you be attending viewing parties dressed like your favorite character?

In preparation for the long awaited return of Mad Men, I’d like to present the revised Mad Men reading list!

Jefferson Market Library, in an effort to offer substantive courses that teach the subjects you want to learn, is thrilled to offer its Spring Semester! Each course offers multiple sessions so students can build their knowledge as the course advances, class by class, guided by an experienced professor! And it's all free! Take a look:

Looking back, the DVDs that came to the Library in February were kind of crummy, but man, in the month of March, the DVD movies coming to the Library are great. Reserve titles now using the Library's new BiblioCommons catalog.

Well, Yudie is not exactly a Bubbie, but I simply could not resist the alliteration. (Although, Tante and the Beats would make an excellent band name, don't you think?)

This month's Lower East Side Heritage Film Series (LESHFS) pairs the seemingly improvised storytelling of the Beat Generation with the candid and (seemingly) unrehearsed historytelling of a first generation American to Russian-Jewish parents that landed in the Lower East Side.

Werner Herzog's singular, uncompromising career in filmmaking spans over four decades and has included feature films, documentaries, and even two works (Little Dieter Needs to Fly and Rescue Dawn) that offer, respectively, a nonfiction and fictional retelling of the same event.

Regardless of genre, each of his films seems preoccupied with the place of humans within the natural world and the instability of both fiction and reality. Herzog strives for a concept he has termed "ecstatic truth," which is "mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and sylization." (Herzog on Herzog, p.