Wait…we own THAT?! Cinema

I must admit, I was not a big film person growing up. Just like with books I stuck to one genre and one genre only: horror. I was also of the belief that the book is always going to be better than the movie (actually I still cling to my beliefs) so what would be the point in watching the movie? After a few of my friends became determined to change my mind I gave in…slightly. Movies are definitely an art form unto themselves, and when they are done right they cannot be beat.

One of the biggest surprises that the PSC Library has to offer is their collection of movies. I am not just talking about the unintentionally campy science films, or the extended learning films, or even the nursing tapes. We have a collection of both good quality and just plain fun films. Now there is bad, good, better, and the best news. The bad news is that students cannot browse our DVDs.  The good news is that if you have a certain movie in mind, or just want to pick whatever, you can check our card catalogue or ask one of the librarians for a recommendation. The better news is that if you have a craving for a certain film, and you are willing to wait, we can order it for you at no charge. And the best news is that I am going to sample a few films that we have at PSC:

Philip K. Dick at the Library

“I love SF, I love to read it; I love to write it. The SF writer sees not just possibilities but wild possibilities. It’s not just ‘What if’-it’s ‘My God; what if’-in frenzy and hysteria. The Martians are always coming.”
-Philip K. Dick

How is it that an author, who had to fight for so long during his life to have his work be accepted along side of the literary mainstream of his time, can still be so influential almost 30 years after death?

When The Adjustment Bureau is released in March, it will become the 9th movie to be derived from a Philip K. Dick story (Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall,  A Scanner Darkly, etc). Despite the fact that Dick’s books were considered counter-culture and radical during his time the emergence of his stories on to the film scene has led to an acceptance of science fiction stories with philosophical undercurrents whose plots involve metaphysical espionage, shifting  realities, overwhelming conspiracies, and artificially constructed realities (for instance; the blockbuster movies Inception and The Matrix Trilogy and television shows such as Twin Peaks and Lost).

His legacy in film world grew even outside of movies themselves. In fact, the cult of PKD has also influenced a generation of critically acclaimed and award winning science fiction authors such as Jonathan Lethem, Roberto Bolaño, Robert Charles Wilson, Ursala K. Le Guin, and Haruki Murakami. And each year the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society presents the Philip K. Dick Award to what they deem is the best Science Fiction Book of the year.

Continue reading for some of the Philip K. Dick resources available to you through the Prairie State College Library.