“It was all started by a Mouse…”

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Steven Lake

Plastic Mickey Mouse figure from the Glud Museum, Denmark, reproduced under CC License

One of the most iconic characters of modern times celebrates their 90th birthday this very day – the one and only Mickey Mouse!

Created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928 for Steamboat Willie, one of the Disney Studios’ earliest sound animations, the character has gone on to appear in over 130 films and countless spin-offs in every conceivable medium – and became the figurehead of the Disney phenomenon. Walt Disney himself acknowledged the debt his studio owed to the lovable cartoon rodent – “it was all started by a mouse”, he declared in an interview in 1954!

We have a wide range of books about Walt Disney, his films and Mickey Mouse among our art and cinema books on Level 2.

You can also explore more about the history and influence of Disney (and Mickey!) at the British Film Institute website and our online art databases including Art Retrospective and Art & Architecture Source.

Take Something Horrible Home This Halloween!

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Steven Lake

Trick or treating not your thing? Then why not experience the spooky season from the comfort of your armchair by taking a dip into our very own Twilight Zone of horror & the supernatural here in the Library… if you dare!

We have an ever-expanding stock of horror novels among our Leisure Reading collection upstairs on Level 4, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks, as well as graphic novels such as Alan Moore’s From Hell and the first book in the ever-popular Walking Dead series, as well as a wide selection of more classic spine-chillers downstairs in our literature section on Level 2 including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and a wide range of classic supernatural tales by M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood.

If your taste for the macabre is more visual than textual, then we have a comprehensive selection of books exploring every aspect of the horror genre on the big (and small) screen among our cinema & television collection down in the 791 section on Level 2, ranging from Alfred Hitchcock to Hannibal Lecter and Dr Jekyll to Dr Who.

Don’t forget that you can also explore the cobwebbed vaults of the British Film Institute and Box of Broadcasts (BoB) online if you’re looking for something creepy to watch… just don’t watch it alone!

Roll Up, Roll Up! Dip into our Exciting New Resource!

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Steven Lake

We’re thrilled to bring you our new acquisition, Victorian Popular Culture from Adam Matthew Digital. This primary source archive is an important research resource for historians, social scientists and literary scholars, spanning the period from 1779 to 1930 and showcasing popular entertainment in Britain, America and Europe.

Explore a wealth of media history in the form of printed books, early film, posters, playbills, photographs, objects and ephemera as well as contextual essays and an interactive chronology. Collections include: Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema; Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment, Spiritualism, Sensation; Magic and Circuses, Sideshow and Freaks.

Access is via IP address. To begin searching go to:

Robots at the Cope Auditorium

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Steven Lake

To mark UK Robotics Week next week the Cope Auditorium is opening its doors for an evening of cybernetic discussion under the banner Robots at the movies: The portrayal of robots and androids in contemporary films.

Automata, robots and androids have been a creation and fascination for humans over centuries. From Maria (Metropolis, 1927), R2D2 and C3PO (Star Wars, 1977), WALL-E (2008), The Terminators (1984, 1991, 2003) to Transformers (2007), they have been portrayed as our friends, adversaries, alien to almost human, invaders and enslavers or as our saviours and trusted companions.

These portrayals in the movies have reflected and perhaps influenced our opinion of them. Join us for an amusing evening reviewing our relationship with these technologies as reflected in their portrayal in the movie industry.

The discussion runs from 6pm – 7.30pm next Thursday (28th June) in the Cope and is brought to you by the Centre for Doctoral Training in Embedded Intelligence in support of the UK Robotics Week 2017. The event is free, but booking is necessary – visit the link below to do that.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/robots-at-the-movies-the-portrayal-of-robots-and-androids-in-contemporary-films-tickets-31961461592

Database Trial – Socialism on Film

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Steven Lake

Our second trial of the month, Socialism on Film: The Cold War and International Propaganda, revisits some of the most turbulent periods and regions of 20th Century as captured on film.

This collection of films from the communist world reveals war, history, current affairs, culture and society as seen through the socialist lens. It spans most of the twentieth century and covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, Britain and Cuba.

To begin searching go to http://www.socialismonfilm.amdigital.co.uk– access is via IP address and the trial runs to 29th May 2017.

Please note that PDF download options are not available during this trial.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk with your comments.

LU Arts Presents Englishes – A Conversation

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Steven Lake

Join LU Arts this January for an afternoon of presentations, discussion and film screenings constructed around artist Nicoline van Harskamp’s preoccupation with investigating the global use of English by non-native speakers around the world.

Having already made a series of video works focusing on the subject, the artist continued her research at Loughborough University where she was invited by Radar to make a new work in collaboration with its linguists. A new work, Apologies and Compliments, was made as part of the commission and will be screened alongside other videos from the series known as Englishes, an on-going a project that seeks to provoke questions about the features and possible declinations of a future global English.

Screenings will be accompanied by presentations from experts in the fields of linguistics and art. Nicoline van Harskamp will host a conversation between invited artists and academics who will act as first respondents to the issues represented in the works before audience members and guests are also invited to contribute to the session with their remarks and opinions.

The event will be taking place on Friday 27th January at the LU Arts Project Space on the 1st Floor of the Edward Barnsley Building from 1pm – 5pm. Tickets can be bought via the LU Arts website below:

http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/events/event/englishes_-_a_conversation

Weekend of Weird at the Martin Hall

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Steven Lake

LU Arts is remaining in the Halloween spirit this November with a weekend long exploration of everything Weird, hosted in the Martin Hall Theatre on Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th November.

A Weekend of Weird brings together writers, performers, filmmakers, artists, publishers, academics, enthusiasts and celebrants to ask: what is the Weird? Where did it come from? Where is it going?

The Weird is an emerging field that encompasses literature, film, music, art and performance. Its world is subtly strange, uncanny, irrational, inexplicable, questioning our everyday environments and perceptions and implying that our world is far more bizarre and disturbing than we would like to believe.

The weekend will comprise panel discussions, live performances, film screenings and a specialist book fair. It is organised by Radar in collaboration with Nick Freeman and Dan Watt from Loughborough University’s School of the Arts, English and Drama.

A Weekend of Weird centres around a series of main panel discussions with contributions from John Hirschhorn-Smith, Andrew Michael Hurley, Timothy Jarvis, James Machin and Mark Valentine. These sessions will be interspersed with live performances and a series of specially curated film programmes.

For this programme Radar has commissioned new works by Joey Holder, Ben Judd, Tai Shani and artist collective Reactor. There will also be screenings of work by Sidsel Christensen and Pauline Curnier Jardin.

Full programme information can be found on the LU Arts website here:

http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/events/event/a_weekend_of_weird

Delve Into The Deep Blue Sea With Flix & LU Arts

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Steven Lake

LU Arts and Flix are back this September bringing a new screening of Terence Rattigan’s post-war drama The Deep Blue Sea from National Theatre (NT) Live.

Helen McCrory, known for her role in Penny Dreadful and Peaky Blinders, appears alongside Tom Burke of War and Peace in this new, critically acclaimed production by Carrie Cracknell.

The Deep Blue Sea will be screened next Thursday, 1st September, at 7pm in the Cope Auditorium in the Edward Barnsley building. For full details and to pre-book your tickets, please visit the LU Arts website.

Spooky Treats For Halloween

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Steven Lake

If the weather’s gruesome this Halloween and you don’t fancy trick or treating in the cold and rain, then why not take a little of the spooky season home with you this weekend by taking a dip into our very own Twilight Zone of horror & supernatural fiction and film here in the Library…

Horror movie fans are well catered for too by our range of DVDs in our High Demand collection on Level 3. Ranging from screen legends Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in their immortal guises of Dracula and Frankenstein in the Universal Studios classics from the 1930’s, to the more contemporary thriller-chillers of George Romero (Dawn of the Dead), John Carpenter (Halloween) and Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), there’s bound to be something to see you through the witching hour… and beyond!

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Category Archives: Cinema