Are you an aspiring filmmaker? Perhaps you don’t think of yourself that way, but you like to shoot goofy videos with your camera phone. Well, whether your an iPhone auteur or a budding Bergman, you only have have four more days to submit a movie to the QuickFLIX filmmaking contest–CLP-Teen Services one and only movie competition.
As we wrap up the second year of free QuickFLIX filmmaking workshops (all led by talented Pittsburgh Filmmakers artist, Sarah), I’d like to urge all of our readers to step up and submit a video. Don’t be shy–all you have to do is send us a movie (3 minutes or less) to teens@carnegielibrary.org. (You can also upload to YouTube and send us a link, or use a free file sharing site like sendspace if the file is too large.)
What could you win? I’m glad you asked:
Grand Prize: $100 iTunes gift card
2nd Prize: $50 iTunes gift card
3rd Prize: $25 iTunes gift card
You have until Friday at midnight to submit your movie. Need inspiration or want to see what you’re up against? Check out this year’s submissions on the CLP-Teens YouTube channel:
For more details on the contest (rules, how to submit, etc.), click HERE.
The end of the school year…. Ahhhhh…. It’s so close, you can taste it, right? Soon the public pools will open, Extravaganza and Teen Summer Reading will be in full effect, the Pirates will be crushing the competition (well…. hopefully….), and you’ll be homework free for a solid two or three months. When I think back to my school days, I remember those last ones the fondest. The summer held so much anticipation and so much promise! I almost didn’t even mind attending school, because I knew my days there were numbered. The school days were short, the tired teachers showed films instead of- well- teaching, and the only writing we students did was in yearbooks. Turns out many others have found inspiration in those last days of school, so much so that there are entire movies dedicated to those last days of school. Teens of Pittsburgh- you are almost there! Join us at CLP Main- Teen on your last day of school- Wednesday, June 13 at 3 pm- for a screening of a classic of the genre. Until then, you’ll just have to experience the excitement the last daysthrough film. Below are some of the best and they are all available to check out from the library.
Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet.” Bob Marley
Only a few days left of school. The clock is ticking down the minutes until you can rush out those doors; jump on the bus, and say, “Its SUMMER!” No more school, no more homework, no more nagging voices telling you to stop fooling around and pay attention!
I don’t know about you, but this summer looks like it is jammed packed with so many cool things to do. Don’t have any money? No special vacations out of the beautiful city of Pittsburgh? If I were you I wouldn’t worry too much about either one. Yourlocal Carnegie libraries have been planning round the clock to set up an awesome summer vacation just for you. Check out this list of things to do for the month of June!
June Events
Summer Reading Extravaganza| June 10th, 2012 | 12:00 – 5:00pm
Did someone say iPad? Sign up for Teen Summer Reading and find out how you could win an iPad!
Also check out the Teen eventsat your local library this month as they will include: Gaming, Anime clubs, Teen Advisory, Musical workshops, Art clubs, Creative writing, and so much more! Check out what is happening at your library so you don’t miss out!
Yeah, this is just for the month of June… Come back to check out the month of July and August too!
Tell me, what do you’ve got planned for your awesome summer break????
If you’re anything like me, you might crave some alone time away from the family this Thanksgiving holiday (or you may just want to skip out on helping with the dishes). Here are some fun ways to occupy your time, allowing you to create your own animations, on your computer or smart phone.
Scratch is a programming language developed by MIT “that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.” It’s free to join and share things. Once you create a Scratch project, people can interact with it or download and remix it. For example, someone has made a calculator using Scratch! You can also make games to play – there’s a gallery here. And if you get stuck, there’s a Support page and Forums.
Unfortunately, this is only available as a Nintendo DSi program, but you can also browse and watch the Flipnotes that others have created using their DSi. Since the program is available worldwide, there are many international Flipnotes, and it could be a fun way to practice your Japanese!
Still from a stopmotion animation creation by flickr user Regev Tovim
For those of you who took our Quick Flix workshops, taught by awesome people from Pittsburgh Filmmakers, I have some free Stopmotion and other animation programs! These require some downloads and tutorials, but could take your filmmaking to the next level.
This has how-to videos, a newsletter, video interviews with animators and free motion capture software for download. It was created by animator Mark Spess, who taught himself to do stop-motion and thought there should be a place online for fellow animators to learn and share their craft.
This software is based on the Anasazi software from the Animate Clay website, and can work with a built in PC camera or digital camera connected to your PC.
This is free 2-D animation software, “designed as powerful industrial-strength solution for creating film-quality animation using a vector and bitmap artwork. It eliminates the need to create animation frame-by frame, allowing you to produce 2D animation of a higher quality with fewer people and resources.”
Unlike many of these programs, Pencil works with Macs as well as PCs, and can be used for traditional hand-drawn animation. Here’s an example of something made with Pencil:
Congrats to Sean McAdoo, Grand Prize winner for individual film entries. Sean will receive a$100 gift card to Best Buy along with a HD FlipVideo!
Congratulations are also due to Tavia, Tevin, Randall, Claire, and Koren who are our Grand Prize winners for group entries. They’ll be splitting $200 in Best Buy gift cards.
Check out the rest of the winners HERE and all nominees HERE.
I live in the suburbs. I know, I know– it is supremely uncool to live anywhere other than the city. And sometimes, I really agree. Besides the ever present city construction, the detours, and the unfortunateness of rarely having a backyard, there are some true benefits to living in an urban area– public swimming pools, better (if not great in Pittsburgh) public transportation, and something to do– always, something to do. It is this last one that I look at in today’s post.
As summer is winding down, and everyone is getting ready to go back to school, it’s time to find the last summer-tastic things to do in the city. Did you know that every week there is a segment on Pittsburgh Today Live called Free and Affordable Fridays? Me neither. The women who host the show give viewers a top five list of cool things happening in the city in the coming weeks that are either free or affordable. Bring in the close of summer with a bang by checking out these entertaining events of the next couple of weeks. Most of them involve music– so if you’re in the mood for a free concert, you’re in luck. Since you’ll need all the details, I’ll just give you a link to the article. Some of these events have already come and gone, but many of them have repeat showings.
In addition to the awesomeness of the happenings in that article, there is something else happening tomorrow that you won’t want to miss– African Arts in the Park, presented by UMOJA African Arts Company. This day-long festival, held at Point State Park, celebrates the many traditions found in African art. There will be demonstations of head-wrapping and drum making, interactive workshops, poetry and spoken word, stilt-walkers, steel drummers, and sogows (life-size African puppets)– and this event is also TOTALLY FREE! I can’t think of a better way to spend one of the last Saturdays in summer.
Check out these books to become brush up on your African art knowledge.
In checking the weather report for this week, one can’t help but notice the stormy weather headed our way. I have always been simply fascinated by storms, glued to my living room window, watching the rain fall and the wind blow everything around. Though, sometimes storms can put a *ahem* damper on my day, for sure. For instance, this week I’m starting a new walking in the woods every day regimen, and this rain makes we want to do anything BUT that. So, I decided to find some rainy day fun facts, to lighten my mood, and luckily you will benefit from this urge of mine!
Did you know….
Thunderstorms are created by cloud growths that can reach up to 50,000 feet in height! (Buckley, Hopkins, and Whitaker, 116)
The most crazy tornado in America took place in 1925, traveled at 62 miles an hour, killed 695 people, and injured 2,000 people, and destroyed 15,000 homes across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana! (Gaffney, 19)
There are three types of lightning: cloud to air, cloud to cloud, and cloud to ground. (Buckley, Hopkins, and Whitaker, 120)
The odds that you will ever be hit by lightning are one in 5,000! Though, lightning does kill an average of 62 people in the US every year! (Gaffney, 19)
Lightning can strike up to 10 miles away from where it’s raining! So if you can hear thunder, you’re within striking distance, so keep yourself safe by staying indoors and not using corded phones, computers, and stay away from pools, tubs, and showers. (Gaffney, 74)
Now, I know those facts were a little lightning heavy so here’s a shocking lil video that will enlighten you a bit. Do you think it’s real or doctored?
If you’re anything like I was in high school, you’re not giving much thought to the question of how you’re going to pay for college. I was much more worried about where I was going, whether or not any of my friends were going there, and eventually, what my major was going to be. Even while in college, I didn’t concern myself with something as trivial as tuition– all of those nice loan companies were taking care of that for me.
There was a study done recently which listed Pennsylvania as the 6th highest state in the nation for student loan debt. What factored into this statistic, you ask? A number of things– wages are declining, jobs are disappearing and the cost of college is increasing every single year. Average cost for a PA state school for 2009-10 was $10,761– not including room and board– more than tripling in the last 25 years.
What about if you go to a private school like I did? I went to Washington and Jefferson College– whose tuition is now up to $35,960/year– not including room and board. Harvard is $34,976 (plus room and board). I paid more for W&J than I would have for Harvard. Are you freaking kidding me? Anyways, W&J–great school– probably a bad choice for me. I didn’t have any money saved up for college and neither did my parents. I ended up with loans for all of it. Not to mention adding grad school on top of that, which more and more people are doing now.
Research shows that for the first time in history, more people are falling out of the middle class ranks than joining it.
Read. Read as much as you can about the many grants and scholarships that are available to college-goers. Take full advantage of them. You’ll need it. Trust me.
Here are some great books to get you started in your quest to pay for college.
Last night when I started brainstorming for this blog post I had no idea what to write about. So I got distracted and started thinking about what I wanted for dinner, which after a late night at work, tends to be pizza. I have only lived in Pittsburgh for a few years and still have not tried many of the ‘famous” pizza shops like Fiori’s and Beto’s. That said, my two favorites in the city are Bella Notte in the Strip District and Pizza Sola in East Liberty.
I also love to make pizza at home too. Sometimes from scratch and sometimes I buy the dough to save time. A few weeks ago a friend made me pizza in a cast iron skillet… which sounds weird but it was perfect. Have you ever heard of grilled pizza?
The library has plenty of cookbooks to help get you started on making homemade pizza.
What is your favorite Pittsburgh pizza shop? Topping of choice? Cold or reheated?
I love Summer! And I love the fact that I can go out into my back yard and pick the food I will eat. My garden basically is just salad ingredients: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, basil and the one and only veggie that people don’t usually put into salads; zucchini.
I bet you can tell that I love salads. So, I’m sharing some of my favorite salad recipes.
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Strawberry Salad - make this one when you are craving something sweet – definitely worth it to make the strawberry poppy-seed dressing
Black Bean Salad - the beans will fill you up – just make sure to rinse them really well. I changed up a few things on this salad. I hate cilantro so I use parsley instead and I grated the jalapeno.
Caprese Salad - Amazing! I love it with our without the balsamic reduction, so if that scares you leave it out and just drizzle with olive oil. Super simple salad to make.
Fresh Corn Salad - definitely use fresh corn for this recipe it makes it is so delicious.
