Today I Learned (@ The Library): Who Enrique Ocatavo is.

Earlier this week a patron approach me at the info desk asking for "books by Enrique Octavo."  She had a thick accent but I was pretty sure I heard her correctly so I instantly thought that this would be a simple transaction solved with a quick author search.  The search yielded no results, so I double checked with Amazon and came up with Spanish music CD's. 

I had her check the spelling and she said it was correct, I followed up by asking if this Enrique Octavo was an author; she said that she was looking for books about him.  So then my brain said, "Well, if this guy is popular enough to some books written about him, surely Google will tell me who he is."  Lo and behold, it gave me the answer - Henry VIII.  Damn you premium subscription network Showtime, how you've let me down!

You see, I recently upgraded to a "Smart" TV, coupled with my Amazon Prime account, I have been streaming all sorts of random shows and movies.  I came across the Showtime series The Tudors, and I've been chugging along through all the episodes.  You would have thought that maybe Henry might have been referred to as Enrique in the show maybe once during his marriage to Catherine of Aragon which came before his marriage to Anne Boleyn which was after his affair with Anne's sister Mary.  See, all that nudity in the show hasn't been distracting me from learning about history!

Public Libraries = Bathroom for Homeless People.

 My mind is a receptacle for useless movie and television quotes.
And thanks to 'Modern Family' I have another one to add to my library folder.

Claire:  What do you think the public library is for?
Haley:  I thought that was a bathroom for homeless people.


I wish 'Parks and Recreation' would come back on, they were always good for a library bashing.  Instead we have that stupid 'Outsourced' show.  No lie, I really did enjoy the movie, but the television show is just horrible.


I also like the Australian television series, 'The Librarians,' but I wouldn't want to see it become a mainstream show in the States for various reasons.  Most librarians I know do not have a, let's say open sense of humor and they take offense to anything that makes fun of the profession.  Have some humility people!  More importantly, anything that goes mainstream tends to "sell out" so to speak, and faces backlash.  Let's keep this library bashing on the down-low. 

Oh, unless your IP address is in Australia you can't stream the videos.  But you people are librarians with librarian research skills, let's just say that there are ways to watch the series.