ThrowbackThursday Centennial Flood

“The Centennial will long be remembered in Dubuque, not for the magnificence of the daytime display, but for the dark tragic history of the night. The day was combatively pleasant, but coming on evening suspicious electricity laden clouds began to fleck the north western heaven, which gathered with mumbling and grumbling which was continued until after ten o’clock when the rain commenced to descend, apparently increasing in quantity with the passing hours.”

"The Great Flood of 1876"

Dubuque Daily Times

Dubuque, Iowa

Thursday Morning July 5, 1876

Read the whole article online

Our microfilm collection is missing the July 5th-7th issues of The Daily Herald, but the front page of the July 8th issue included this update on the Centennial Flood. Other breaking news on July 8, 1876: the defeat of General Custer at Little Bighorn or "Custer's Last Stand." The battle itself occurred on June 25th and 26th. click the article on the right to see a larger image.

#WCW Woman Crush Wednesday: Imperator Furiosa

There are many reasons I loved Mad Max: Fury Road. I loved the guy tied to a truck with bungee cords playing a guitar that shoots flames. I love that to make this movie the director actually had an actor attached to a truck with bungee cords play a guitar that actually shot flames. I love that this movie was essentially one long, glorious car chase. But most of all, I loved Imperator Furiosa.

I love action movies: the adventure, the explosions, the lone hero (or rag tag band) fighting impossible odds to save the day. Unfortunately, your standard action movie also tend to have at most one female character, and she's generally the one who needs saving, the hero's love interest, or both. Not so with Fury Road: Imperator Furiosa is the literal driving force of the movie's story. Even with a minimum of dialogue, the movie introduces a varied cast of characters (female and male) with distinct motivations.

Bonus #wcw Melissa Jaffer as Keeper of the Seeds saying "Kaboom!"

Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is on a mission to save a group of young women imprisoned as wives to a warlord, while Mad Max (Tom Hardy) is merely carried along for the ride. I don't want to drop any big spoilers in case you're waiting for the DVD or Blu-Ray (release date: September 1st), but this was one of my favorite movies of 2015 and I highly recommend you check it out.

You Read the Book (Maybe), Now See the Movie (Maybe): Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn, author of the bestseller Gone Girl, made into a movie starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, now has another book that's been made into a movie.

Dark Places tells the story of Libby Day who was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered. Libby testified that her 15-year old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, she is leading a troubled life and is contacted by The Kill Club, who believe Ben is innocent and that the actual killer is free. Starting to doubt what she saw on the night of the murders, Libby agrees to work with the group and goes back to her hometown to relive the murders.

It's another thriller from Flynn and the movie (see the trailer here), starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and Corey Stoll, looks to be as tense and riveting as Gone Girl. The movie opens on August 7.