Moon Studies

Derek Lawrence Murphy is a filmmaker and Library and Information Science graduate student. His short films can be viewed on his home page!

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My new podcast is out now!

Hey cool friends, guess what? I host a podcast now! It’s called Beyond the Stacks: Innovative Careers in Library and Information Science. In each episode, I interview a librarian or information professional working in a new or unconventional part of the field. We talk about the coolest things they’ve done in their career, and how they got there. This podcast is mostly intended for people involved in library science, but I think it might be interesting to non-library people as well!

In the first episode, I talk with a User Experience Researcher working at Mozilla, on Firefox for iOS.

In the second episode, I talk with a Data Librarian supporting cool sociological research in Canada.

I host, edit, and do graphic and web design for the show. Check it out if you’re interested!

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Ludmilla Calvino of Pet Questions.

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Check out my new tumblr, counterfeitcontent, where I post all these weird pretend biographies I actually got paid to write!

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I don't know what this is or why it exists, but I ran into it at a City Year training retreat at a weird Christian church compound. It was in their nature room, which was full of taxidermied animals and, improbably, an enormous live crayfish with seemingly no caretaker.

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Progress and Retrogression

"PROGRESS AND RETROGRESSION" by Julio Cortázar (from his collection "Chronopios and Famas") They invented a kind of glass which let flies through. The fly would come, push a little with his head and pop, he was on the other side. Enormous happiness on the part of the fly. All this was ruined by a Hungarian scientist when he discovered that the fly could enter but not get out, or vice versa, because he didn't know what gimmick was involved in the glass or the flexibility of its fibers, for it was very fibroid. They immediately invented a fly trap with a sugar cube inside, and many flies perished miserably. So ended any possible brotherhood with these animals, who are deserving of better luck.

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Survival Research Laboratories founder Mark Pauline got his start creating illegal street art in Sarasota. In an interview that appeared in "Re/Search #11: Pranks!" he discussed this early illegal art project: He plastered giant posters of cats biting each others' necks during copulation onto the walls of banks without permission and left notes saying: "Under no circumstances will you be allowed to damage or remove the sign for 5 days. In the event of any violation, a destructive counterattack will be launched against this bank."

He describes what happened when he pulled this prank in Sarasota: "About a month later I did the same thing to an upright, solid citizen bank in one of the richest areas of Sarasota, Florida. This time the response was really exciting. My brothers and I went out there the next morning and the area had been circled off with crime tape. Also, they had FBI agents there--not just detectives--fingerprinting, taking measurements, etc.

I found out later that the police had gone to all the art schools and counter-culture places in the area, questioning people. Finally they found this teacher at a local art school who said, 'Yeah, I know who did this. Mark Pauline.' Apparently he had found out through some students. However, I never got a visit from anybody.

The bank had only left the bill-poster up a day, but under the circumstances I knew it would be crazy to try to get revenge, so we didn't retaliate.

Yeah, a sense of humor never really developed in a lot of areas. Can you imagine--there are pockets of the United States where there's no sense of humor, and certainly no regional sense. Strange to think about, but I think it's true."

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Searching the US Copyright Office at the Library of Congress for the copyright information to a bunch of old educational films I sampled for my found footage Moon's Eye shorts.

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Fake Webmasters: Burt Tabernacle

The strangest thing I’ve ever had to do for a job? Invent an enormous number of non-existent webmasters of fake blogs, and write up their life stories. Here is another of my favorites:

Legend tells of a man centuries ago who mastered the art of toothbrushing to a perfection never seen before or since. It is said that he had developed an ability to sense the exact optimal strokes required to eliminate one hundred percent of the harmful bacteria in the mouth but preserve the well-being of positive, necessary bacteria. It was not a memorized pattern but rather a skilled improvisation based on some uncannily complex feedback system he'd developed between his mouth and his brain. Grown men who'd crossed sea and land, seen ferocious battles, and touched the face of God wept upon viewing the beauty of the man's perfect teeth. The only physical evidence that remains to corroborate this tale is a molding of his bite created for a famous Florentine dentist's cabinet of curiosities. Some scholars speculate that the molding is a counterfeit, arguing that nothing that beautiful and perfect could ever be real.

If you find this tale as touching as I do, then I have heartening news – effective (and even artistic) toothbrushing is well within your grasp. I, Burt Tabernacle, have authored this blog with loving precision to help people learn the best way to care for their “enamel enablers.” Come, hold my hand and I will take you on a magical journey through a land of blinding white, where cavities and caries are a thing of the past.

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Totally psychedelic mural from a middle school I visited while working for City Year DC.

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My friends and I back in Sarasota have a tradition when we play board games. If someone makes a completely ridiculous decision in the game, the kind of thing that no sane person would ever even consider, then they have to admit that they're the Fool of the Game. I made this hat to commemorate such occasions.

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While cleaning up a defunct old elementary school library in inner-city DC for Americorps, I came across this terrifying poster inside a former librarian's binder.

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Creepy knit artwork hanging on a fence, encountered at 3AM on my last trip to New York City

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leik if u kno that feel

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A retiree on a vespa materializes from thin air for no reason in the VHS classic, "Tourism Works For Florida". www.sarasotamovie.com

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I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time last night, and I’ll admit…I had a ton of fun! Also my first time playing a game of that genre, RPG. I went in being so nervous because I had no clue what I was doing. The Dungeon Master (a great friend) gave me...

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mo

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I'm playing D&D for the first time now. Attaching an apple to an arrow and shooting it at a drake's mouth in an attempt to choke it to death, mid-battle? DOESN'T WORK. But one of those apples made a great impromptu gag when tying up a prisoner. If you get mad at a member of your party, you can use the Prestidigitation spell to make them smell weird for about a half hour and then make constant references to it. The sleazier your characters are, the less you'll get done, but the more fun you'll have.

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The most ridiculous credits slide I've ever made: I had to include a full scientific citation in the credits of my short film Stonefly Adults in order to use an ambient sound recording from a physics study.

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Library Science and Archives Oscar Categories

Best Cardigan

Most Cats

Best Creative Use of LC Subject Headings

Quietest

Most Time Spent in a Windowless Room

My LIS pals came up with these tonight. I know y’all tumblarians have more.

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I was there for this!

-Best use of outdated internet lingo

-Most distrustful of Google

-Most additions to Wikipedia

-Most hours spent talking about Dr. Who to people who don't watch it

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Crab love

www.sarasotamovie.com