It was two years ago when I saw the Alberta Ballet company perform George Balanchine’s Serenade, one of the greatest ballet masterpieces of the 20^th century. For those of you who are unaware of who Balanchine was, I can say without a doubt that he was the most influential ballet choreographer of the 20^th century, whose vision for ballet revolutionized the form in America and beyond. Born January 22, 1904, George Balanchine was the co-founder and ballet master of the New York City ballet, and to this day, his many ballets are performed in cities all over the world including our own. This month marks the 30^th anniversary of his death.

The Dancer documentarySince I don’t get many opportunities to watch ballet, I find that I am always looking for other sources to feed my ballet addiction. To my delight, I discovered not too long ago that the Calgary Public Library has a resource called Dance in Video in its E-library.

Dance in Video features hundreds of hours of video performances, documentaries, interviews and instructional footage from influential dancers and companies covering a variety of genres such as ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary. Coincidently, I discovered that a Swedish documentary that I had bought on DVD called The Dancer is available for free through Dance in Video! The documentary follows several dancers of the Royal Swedish ballet as they struggle with the stresses and joys of perfecting their craft and rising to the top.

The Calgary Public Library also has a great collection of ballet related DVDs. One excellent film with Canadian content that comes to my mind is Ballet High, a documentary about the graduating class of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Professional Division.

For most people, February is that time of the year when we all must prepare ourselves for the dreaded tax season ahead, but for all you fashionistas and Project Runway fans out there, it is also a month when the new fashion trends for the Fall/Winter 2013 season are put out on display during New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week.

For the month of February in London and New York, big name designers from Valentino to Ralph Lauren, as well as the more avant-garde, showcase their designs to the world, while fashion magazines and blogs comment on what they see as the emerging or repeating trends of the upcoming season. From what I’ve read in the blogosphere, leather, animal print, and androgynous looks paired with more feminine elements are big trends for 2013.

While I can’t experience the glamour of New York or London Fashion Week in person, I can live fashion vicariously through the Internet, and so can you! Now available on the Calgary Public Library website in the E-Library, is the Vogue Archive which contains all issues of the magazine (US edition) from its beginnings in 1892 to the current month. Access to the Vogue Archive is available with your Calgary Public Library card and can be found in the Arts & Music section and Newspapers & Magazines section of the E-Library.

This virtual archive includes every page, cover, and advertisement that has been published by Vogue, all of which are searchable by photographer/illustrator, fashion item, company/brand, and much, much more. The archive also allows readers to browse by issue as well as by subject area.

What I find most impressive with the Vogue Archive is the quality of the images. As I was browsing through the January 2013 issue on my computer, I was blown away by the high-resolution and bright colours of each image. The only drawback that some readers may come across is that the Flash Image Viewer format will not be compatible on certain devices such as an iPad. The Flash Image Viewer allows viewers to manipulate a page such as zooming in and rotating the picture. Fortunately, for iPad users the regular Full Text format with images is also available, although the reading experience is not as interactive as it would be with Flash.

Not only is it an enjoyable experience to have over 100 year’s worth of the Vogue collection at my fingertips, but the Vogue Archive is also a valuable resource for those studying fashion or who are interested in fashion history, the arts, design and fashion journalism.

This post is dedicated to a queer artist whom I love with all my heart - one Beric Manywounds, who continues to challenge my views about men, women, sex, gender, and love. May you revel in your sexuality; may you find a love that makes your heart sing!

The Calgary Public Library is proud to celebrate diversity in our community. Whether that diversity is ethnic, linguistic, cultural, or sexual, we have materials and programs that allow for various views and voices to be heard and understood. This September, like every other, we wish you a very happy PRIDE. Celebrate the fact that families come in a glorious variety of forms, and so do sexual preferences and practices.

Visit your library for books by and about gays, lesbians, transfolk, queers, and all of their many allies. Find materials that might help you come out - or dialogue with a child (or parent!) who just has. Borrow books about planning your gay wedding, or browse some of our gay audience magazines. If you’re writing a paper about sex, sexuality, gender, or gay issues, be sure to check out our e-library databases for academic and peer reviewed journals.

And if you’re free this Sunday, September 2, then head downtown to take part in Calgary’s PRIDE parade.

As for me, I don’t identify as gay. But I’ve got rainbow striped knee-high socks that have been waiting in fashion storage for nearly a year, and I’ll be wearing them with pride, in celebration of all the gays I’ve known and loved (and a few of the lesbians I’ve had crushes on, too).

From drag racing to drag queens, the Calgary Public Library has resources about everything you’re into!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading three books that vary tremendously in terms of subject and scope.

The Good: salads: beyond the bowl, by Mindy Fox. My only complaint is that there aren’t pictures provided for every recipe. But otherwise, this is a delicious book! Tonight, I’m having potatoes and green peas with pesto. YUM! Fox encourages readers to make gorgeous salads from all sorts of greens, of course, but also incorporates fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, grains, eggs, meats and more. If you’re bored of arugula, or you’d like to be the most popular guest at the picnic, check this one out!

The Bad: Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier than all Your Friends, by Venice A. Fulton

Did I say “bad”? I meant awful. If you need me to tell you why competing against your friends, skipping breakfast and bathing in cold water might not be entirely sustainable (or healthy) routines, then you’re in trouble. And so are the readers of this…wait for it: crap. There – I said it. Dear readers, in nearly 400 Slice of Calgary posts, I have never once written a scathing book review, but this one deserves it. Fulton – an “expert in nutrition and exercise physiology” doesn’t provide readers with his credentials – neither in this book, nor in his blog. An “expert”, eh? Kind of like how I’ve got 65 pairs of shoes and therefore am a podiatrist, right? Skip this fat-phobic trash and do what you already know you need to do: cut out the junk, get your body moving, and eat your veggies.

The Very, Very Ugly: People who Eat Darkness: Love, Grief and a Journey into Japan’s Shadows, by Richard Llyod Parry. I never read true crime, but was drawn to this book because of the review on its back cover: “Utterly compelling...comes with a cast-iron guarantee that you will read to the very end”. I wondered what was so compelling about it, so I read the first page. 224 pages later, it was midnight and time for me to go to bed, but I couldn’t stand not knowing what happened to Lucie Blackman – or what would happen next. This is a gruesome story, to be sure. But it’s not solely about the young British woman who moves to Japan and is abducted, killed, and dismembered. It’s about her family dynamics, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, misogyny in Japanese culture, and the way that we treat victims and survivors of crime. The journalism is exhaustive and the writing is fantastic!

Need a suggestion for your next read? Chat with your librarian, sign up for our monthly newsletters, or check out our other blogs!

Wow – is it nearly July already?! Happy Canada Day, to one and all!

Have you ever taken the time to browse through the Canadian section of our e-library? Check it out and get access to an encyclopedia about Canadian history, a news archive containing decades’ worth of articles from hundreds of Canadian publications, historical news from the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star, listings of associations and governmental offices, and much more.

Did you know that the Calgary Public Library offers programs (and online resources!) for newcomers and those preparing to write Canadian citizenship exams? We also maintain reference collections of Canadian laws and government documents.

Find out more about your great nation by visiting your local library branch. But not on July 1^st or 2^nd, when all branches will be closed. See you on July 3^rd!

I've been taking a few online courses through the U of C’s continuing education department, so I haven’t had very much time to keep up with my leisure reading, lately. But, one book that I recently read in only a few days (even though I had multiple deadlines looming) was Would It Kill you to Stop Doing That: A Modern Guide to Manners, by Henry Alford.

Pick this book up if you take the C-Train to work or school, or if you find yourself baffled at today’s lack of common decency. It’s what Emily Post might have written had she been born an acerbic gay man, in a different decade. It’s sharp and observant, off-beat, well written, and very, very funny.

Calgary Public Library has everything you’re into!