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If you have been keeping up with C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> this summer, then you probably saw our post two weeks ago<\/span><\/a> about the very first media writer of note from downstate Illinois<\/strong>, Vachel Lindsay<\/strong>, and the landmark book he had published in 1915 about the nascent Hollywood<\/strong> cinema of his time. We neglected to point out a source where you could partake in his uniquely thought-out notions of what society and the motion picture were and could become, so click here for a selection of digital facsimiles<\/span><\/a> by the Getty Research Institute<\/strong> of Los Angeles, CA<\/strong>, that can be downloaded for free to satisfy your curiosity. However, those interested in contemporary views of television, film, and pop culture might instead look for the recent publications with local ties that we describe below to possibly fill your seasonal reading needs!<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n We somehow missed the wintertime release of Pictures on the Prairie: The First Ten Years of Mid-Illinois Television<\/span><\/strong> by Doug Quick<\/strong> through the Danville<\/strong>-based imprint, Founders House Publishing<\/strong>. Quick, a veteran anchor on both radio and small-screen airwaves who has provided weather coverage at WICD-TV<\/strong> in Champaign<\/strong> for more than two decades, derived the material in his book from stories and ephemera dating back to 1953 that have been posted on his official Web site<\/span><\/a>; stations incorporated into the history hail from Champaign, Danville, Bloomington, Peoria, Springfield<\/strong>, and Decatur<\/strong>. We know Pictures on the Prairie<\/span> is available at Jane Addams Bookshop<\/span><\/strong><\/a> in downtown Champaign since he did a signing there back on April 29<\/strong>, but you can also pick up the print-only release from Founders House directly<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the celebration is ongoing for the 100th anniversary<\/span><\/a> of the University of Illinois Press<\/strong>, a highly prolific branch of its namesake with a host of academic and cultural volumes and journals to offer<\/span><\/a>. While their spring semester activities are obviously in the books, including events at the Art Theater<\/strong> that connected screenings of WENDY AND LUCY<\/strong> and the original SUSPIRIA<\/strong> to entries in their \u201cContemporary Film Directors\u201d series, UIP will continue their outreach to the public by tabling every Saturday morning in July at the outdoor Market on the Square<\/strong> at Illinois<\/strong> and Vine<\/strong> streets in downtown Urbana<\/strong>. You can also take your chances at the Illini Union Bookstore<\/strong><\/a><\/span> to see what UIP releases might line their shelves or leaf through a remarkably sizeable cinema and media catalo<\/span>g<\/a> on their Web site; we could not help but notice a brand-new interview with Gary Westfahl<\/strong><\/span><\/a> about his upcoming UIP book on the science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke<\/strong> because, you know, tangents and timing<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n And then we have James Plath<\/strong>, English department chair and professor<\/span><\/a> at Illinois Wesleyan University<\/strong> in Bloomington, whose essay on Walt Disney<\/strong> will appear in the book Shapers of American Childhood<\/span><\/strong> edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson<\/strong> and Mark I. West<\/strong>, which is forthcoming from McFarland Publishing<\/strong> at the end of August<\/span><\/a>. Alongside his own epic literary pursuits that have focused on such American stalwarts as John Updike<\/strong> and Ernest Hemingway<\/strong>, Plath has quietly turned out movie reviews and articles for various entertainment Web sites the past two decades \u2013 current forums for film writing include PopMatters<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> and his own Weblog, Family Home Theater<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> \u2013 so it is no surprise to see his contribution appear in this new volume, which \u201cexplores individuals in literature, media, health, business, and other areas who impacted childhood in the 20th and 21st centuries\u201d from household names to achievers out of the public eye.<\/p>\n As you check out the details on the aforementioned publications, we\u2019d like to reference the opening essay to our Vachel Lindsay retrospective in C-U Confidential<\/span> #9<\/strong> where we talked about making the effort to better curate the non-screenplay film writers of Champaign-Urbana and our immediate region. We have to wonder sometimes who is creating the good work out there in our communities other than the ones identified regularly in our newspapers and Web sites via bylines. (We know<\/em> you\u2019re out there. We can feel<\/em> you.) In the meantime, we still intend to add to your pile of literary perusals at the beginning of the UIUC fall semester with C-U Confidential<\/span> #10<\/strong>. We\u2019ve been lagging on it but not for much longer!<\/p>\n ~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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