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Don't touch that dial: Test Pattern tunes into television, movie, music and pop culture links, as well as gossip and idle chat from around the Web.

Every week, msnbc.com entertainment producers Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, Denise Hazlick, Paige Newman, Kurt Schlosser and Anna Chan weigh in on topics ranging from TV commercials to movie hype to the latest celebrity blunder. We're not ashamed to admit our love for bad TV or reveal what's on our iPods, and invite you to join the conversation via your comments.



Multi-link Monday: Find that forgotten book

Posted: Monday, August 20, 2007 6:00 AM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under:

Just a note: If you'd like to suggest a link for Multi-link Monday, you can either post it in the comments or send an email to testpattern (at) msnbc.com. Posting it in the comments is just as easy, and I read it more quickly. (Don't worry, link suggestions don't get posted immediately, they sit there until I can use them, and then I copy them out of the comment for use on a Monday. You get credit, of course.) The Test Pattern mailbox works, but it's a haven for spam, and I don't check it as often.

• Is there a book from your childhood that you've been racking your brains to recall? For $2, you can submit a description to Stump the Bookseller, and people will try to reunite you with that favorite tome. It's also fun to look at the list of most-requested titles, which includes a series dear to my heart -- Lenora Mattingly Weber's Beany Malone books.

• There are plenty of fun baby-name sites out there, but Nymbler tries to pick names you'll like by first letting you select other names that strike your fancy. You can also block names you dislike. It didn't really work well for me -- the names it suggested were pretty boring --but others have raved about it.

• I'm a big fan of the Showtime series "Weeds," which features a different artist performing Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes" as its theme song each week. The show is holding a contest: Make your own music video of the song and send it in -- you could win $10,000. (Link via the wonderful Pop Candy.)

• I've linked to this before, but it now has a new URL. Stuck in voice-mail hell and frustrated because you can't seem to fight through the recorded loop and reach a real person? GetHuman.com offers tips and tricks on what phone buttons to press to break through to major companies from all over the nation. Pressing "0" works often, but not always.

• Reader-submitted link: Jen in Houston shares this very cool YouTube video of an extraordinary artist, saying "A friend of mine forwarded me this and I thought it might count as a candidate for Multi-link Monday. It's certainly worth watching. Be sure to watch all the way to the end for the big reveal!"

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Comments

Just a suggestion, for those that do not want to pay $2, there is a community at http://community.livejournal.com/whatwasthatbook and it is free to join so long as you have a livejournal account (also free, and easy to get one). You can post a description of the book that you are looking for, and 9 times out of 10 someone out there knows what book you are looking for and comments to tell you. I've found 4 or 5 books that I could not remember by using this site - it's really helpful.

Emily, Jacksonville, FL (Sent Monday, August 20, 2007 12:25 PM)

People looking for long lost books can also try www.abebooks.com and click on their BookSleuth link.  It's free and I've had very good luck tracking down titles based on the most sketchy plot recollections.  Just enter what you can remember of the plot or the characters and someone in the ABE community will likely be able to help.  

Christine, Frederick MD (Sent Monday, August 20, 2007 1:11 PM)

Speaking of voice-mail hell, my wife was pleasantly surprised when she called Land's End this weekend and actually had a human operator answered the phone.  Kudos to them for doing away with the annoying voice-mail menus and muzak.

Nathan in Seattle (Sent Monday, August 20, 2007 4:41 PM)

This artist is also rather interesting and was one of Yahoo's People of the Web:

http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/23115/strokes-of-genius

-RandomEsq.

Random Esquire (Sent Monday, August 20, 2007 8:42 PM)

I was wondering if you've ever posted the line www.televisiontunes.com.  they got the theme to just about every show possible.  free to use and no registration required. just look up the tile and take a walk down memory lane

Evie Warner (Sent Monday, August 20, 2007 10:22 PM)

And one more tip for finding that long-lost book: Try asking at your public library!  As a children's librarian, I have solved lots & lots of stumpers of this sort.  Librarians have all kinds of resources, including some wonderful, world-wide listservs that specialize in stumpers.  Your answer is out there somewhere!

Suzanne, North Brunswick, NJ (Sent Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:45 AM)

Also, you can go to whatsthatbook.com . It has helped me find several books that I had forgotten the titles of, and gave me the opportunity to help others as well! It's a great site!

Carla Charlotte, NC (Sent Tuesday, August 21, 2007 12:25 PM)

Wonderful job by Dan Dunn! I'm a big Ray Charles fan.

Bill McGovern,Hoosick Falls,N.Y. (Sent Tuesday, August 21, 2007 5:54 PM)



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