Super Bowl XLVII

So what did you think of that Super Bowl?  It was definitely one of the most eventful Super Bowl games we ever had.  I know a lot of Pittsburgh fans were conflicted about the game since the Ravens are their bitter AFC North rivals and the Niners would have equaled their record of 6 Super Bowl titles.  But from the Ray Lewis controversies to the HarBowl to the 34 minute power outage, this was a game that had it all!  It looked like it would be a Ravens’ blowout before the Forty-Niners were able to rally after the power outage.  San Francisco rookie Colin Kaepernick led a furious comeback, but his team fell just short in the last few minutes.  The game also featured a halftime show by Beyonce.  All of this led to the game being the most watched tv show in history!

Not only was the game eventful, but I thought the commercials were awesome this year.  Of course, my favorite was the Oreo commercial with people fighting in a library and whispering the whole time.

But I also liked some of the other ones, including the Taco Bell one with the senior citizen party animals.

What was your favorite part of the game?  Were you happy that the Ravens won?  Did you have any favorite ads?

Jim-CLP Sheraden

What If Kim Kardashian Was in a Dystopian Teen Novel?

In a world where 46.2 million Americans live in poverty, it’s strange to consider people like Kim Kardashian are real human beings, and not simply an industrial byproduct of the fame factory.

When you think about it, she makes millions of dollars for letting people film her being rich. And nearly 16 million people (of which I am one) choose to watch her flush money down the toilet on Twitter.

But what if tomorrow, the cloud of money and fame disintegrated, along with the rest of society, and she came crashing down back to Earth?

Meet my creation, Kim Dystopiashian.

Kim Dystopiashian relaxes after Los Angeles is turned to rubble and society is reduced to scavenging.

With her prior life in tatters Kim Dystopiashian has wandered into some of your favorite YA dystopian novels and is tweeting from inside of them, trying to maintain her lifestyle as best she can.

Here she is from inside Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, after hiding in a tree to avoid an attack by the tributes of District 4.

She then gets boxed up and thrown into the maze of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner, after encountering one of the Gladers who was killed by a griever attack.

She then escapes and starts wandering the war and plague-torn streets of America in Jeff Hirsch’s Eleventh Plague, only to narrowly escape a group of bandits and find shelter in a creepy gated community.

After the community collapses, she is forced to join a roving band of misfits in Jo Treggiari’s Ashes, Ashes. But once the Sweepers arrive, she needs to call someone quick. What can she do?

Finally, Kim Kardashian finds herself in a future Chicago, in the perfect world of Veronica Roth’s Divergent where everything–and everyone–has its place. She chose the faction Erudite and was given her own talk show. However, now safe, her friends might not be so lucky…

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main

Werewolf or Teen Wolf?

So in the past two weeks or so, my sister and I have been descending, or nose-diving rather, into the hilariously wonderful, oft-angsty, world of the MTV supernatural/horror show, Teen Wolf.

For anyone who doesn’t watch, Teen Wolf stars your regular sad sack high school “loser,” Scott McCall, who is ill-advisedly wandering around a dark forest on the night of a full moon and is totally bitten by a werewolf.  Thus, he becomes the titular teen wolf.

Teen Wolf, Scott McCall by sambastian.tumblr.com

The show revolves around Scott’s hopeless misadventures trying to learn how to be a teen wolf and navigate the very dangerous, very mysterious supernatural world into which he’s stumbled.  Also, he’s crazy good at lacrosse now.  Yes, Lacrosse.

source: http://werewolfromance.tumblr.com/post/12129435158

With the popularization of the supernatural in teen fiction and media, I’ve found it pretty refreshing to come across a show that is only about teenagers who are werewolves, not vampires, not fairies, not zombies or anything else that goes bump in the night.

Werewolf–in particular, teen wolf–stories can draw some interesting metaphors and parallels to the difficulties and changes that young people undergo during their teen years.  Think lots of extra hair and uncontrollable feeeelings.

If you’re a fan of werewolves, teen wolves, or are interested in learning more, here’s some stories to start you off:

  

  

  

But what makes a werewolf a werewolf and a teen wolf a teen wolf?  Is it the lacrosse?  The locker room confrontations?  Hopelessly confused flailing?  Are the characters in the books listed above just werewolves or are they teen wolves too?  You decide.

-Morgan, Main – Teen

If You’re Havin’ Lit Problems, I Can Relate to You, Son. I Got 90s Problems, and a Book Is One.

It’s funny to think that just a little more than a decade ago we were still in the 90s, which happens to be my favorite decade (and why wouldn’t it be? just look at how awesome it is). But while the 90s may have been recent, the swelling nature of technological and social change has made many of the challenges kids like me who grew up during that time obsolete.

If you were one of the few kids–like Zack from Saved by the Bell–who could afford the nearly $4,000 it cost to buy one, much less pay for the plan, this is the huge brick you had the pleasure of lugging around.

Enter 90s hunk James Van Der Beek, whose improvised (and very ugly) moment of angsty excess during season 3 of hit teen drama Dawson’s Creek got screencapped and began the 90s problem meme.

Take, for example, the way you learn about and acquire new music. A friend posts a video they just found out about on Facebook and within a minute you’ve downloaded an MP3, right? Not for a 90s kid!

Want more insight into the world of what it was to be an 80s baby and grow up during the 90s? Click here!

So in the spirit of 90s problems, I’ve created a bunch of my own, featuring teens from 90s young adult literature with similar predicaments. If only they were born just a decade later!

Anyway, each one links to the catalog record for the book. Take your best guess before clicking, then read ‘em and weep (for their poor 90s souls)!

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main

Just Try to Remain Silent: Sign Up for The Silent Library Program

Do you think you could remain silent while someone plucked a hair from inside your nose?  Could you prevent yourself from laughing at the sight of a good friend being fed baby food while dressed in a diaper and bib?  Would you be able to refrain from squealing in horror after seeing yourself made up by a person wearing a blindfold?  If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you could win big on Tuesday, February 7th!  Just like the popular MTV game show, we’ll be holding our own version of Silent Library (minus the vomit) in the Main Teen Center.  We dare you to remain silent while you and your teammates humiliate yourselves whilst attempting outrageous and embarrassing stunts for prizes.  Registration for this event is required.  Reserve your spot today!

Want to participate, but you think you’d die of embarrassment?  Check out these books instead:

How to Survive Anything by Rachel Buchholz

Advice on surviving natural disasters, embarrassing moments, and social situations.

Schadenfreude, Baby!: A Delicious Look at the Misfortune of Others (and the Pleasure It Brings Us)

by Laura Lee

Taps into our universal longing to gawk and smirk at the people who stand—or fall—for all of us.

“What’s That Smell?” (Oh, It’s Me.): 50 Mortifying Situations and How to Deal

by Tucker Shaw

Tips for dealing with the embarrassment that is the teenage years.

Mega Traumarama!: Real Girls and Guys Confess More of Their Most Mortifying Moments!

from the Editors of Seventeen Magazine

Delight in the humiliation of your peers!

Super Bowl XLVI Preview

Remember the NFL lockout?  I didn’t think so!  Back in June and July, it was a struggle to even get football season started.  But now here we are in late January, awaiting the last game of the season.  Most people here in Pittsburgh are probably still upset about the Steelers loss to Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, but it still promises to be a good game.  Super Bowl XLVI (that’s Super Bowl 46 for those of you not schooled in Roman numerals) will feature the New York Giants against the New England Patriots.  This is a rematch of one of the best Super Bowls of all time just a few years ago, when the Giants knocked off the undeated Patriots and ruined their perfect season.  Will it be Tom Brady joining Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls, or will Eli Manning lead the Giants to their fourth Super Bowl (and his second win)?  Hopefully, this game will be as good as the last one featuring these two teams!  Enjoy!

Who are you rooting for in this year’s Super Bowl?  Who do you think will win?

Muppet Fever

It’s been out for a few weeks, and I haven’t seen it yet.  But I am still excited about seeing the new Muppet movie.  For all the teens reading this, it might be before your time (and that makes me feel super old), but the Muppets was one of THE shows during my childhood.  My favorite character was Sam the Eagle.  I don’t know why I liked him so much, I just thought he was pretty cool. 

Sam the Eagle

 

And of course, the two old men (Statler and Waldorf) who sat up in the balcony and made fun of everyone were pretty awesome too.  The Muppets isn’t the only big movie coming out this holiday season.  The new Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. looks good too.  What movies are you interested in seeing this month? 

 

 

 

Uuuunnnngggghhhh….

What is it about supernatural creatures that draws us? I will pick a book about vampires, werewolves, fairies, unicorns, leprechauns, you name it, before just about anything else.  My current favorite supernatural creatures?– zombies.

Though I don’t think this information is proven, apparently zombies originated in Haiti with the use of voodoo. They believed that the bokor, or voodoo sorcerer, would steal a persons soul and leave them a shambling undead. Zombies have been found in movies and television shows since the early 1930′s. When you think about it, zombie applies to a really wide range of possibilities. Zombies can be the anything that resists death, people brainwashed to follow the orders of others, or people who have been infected with some rage virus, ala 28 Days Later.

Recently, zombies have moved far beyond the horror movie.  Zombies have become sources of comedy, video games, and even the odd teen romance novel.  I find myself being drawn to all things zombie related, so I’ll give you some of my favs and you can see if you love them too!

This is one of my current favorites. Benny Imura, a 15 year old living in a post-zombiepocalytpic world, needs to find a job. Unfortunately nothing is working out of him so he’s left to join the family business– zombie hunting. He apprentices with his older brother Tom, one of the most revered zombie hunters in all of Mountainside. Benny soon learns that the world he has lived in all his life is not what it seems.

Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

Max Brooks outlines all the precautions to take in order to suvive a zombie apocalypse. This parody on the survival guide covers topics such as weapons, surroundings, escape routes, etc.

In this companion to the above-mentioned Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks chronicles the zombie war from the perspective of some of the people who experienced it first hand. This book on audio is AMAZING. There is a full cast of speakers to encompass the different nationalities of the characters.

So, go enjoy some zombie books. Check out AMC’s The Walking Dead because its my favorite tv show– and enjoy this clip from the BEST ZOMBIE MOVIE EVER MADE.

-Julie, CLP Beechview

NBA Draft Day

Tonight’s NBA Draft is being called one of the weakest drafts in years. There will be no players like Lebron James or Michael Jordan drafted tonight. No one who will be able to step in and transform a losing franchise into a playoff team.

Since this draft will be a bit lackluster, I looked at a different kind of draft with much more star power. Ten writers from the Sports Illustrated website did a mock draft with all the greatest players in NBA history. The first round picks were : Michael Jordan,Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.

What do you think of this draft? Anyone who went higher than you thought? I thought centers went too high. Who do you think should have been in the first round but wasn’t (my pick: Jerry West)? Who would you draft if you could make an all-time NBA team?  My top five would be Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Jerry West.

Enjoy watching the NBA Draft, and who knows, maybe the next great superstar will begin his career tonight.

Jim – West End

Time Capsule Books (inspired by Parks and Recreation)

"Sometimes I think she's in the Volturi."

In a recent episode of the hilarious Amy Poehler vehicle Parks and Recreation, which chronicles the bumbling Parks Department of and the odd assortment of townfolk who inhabit the small Indiana town of Pawnee, Amy Poehler’s dream of building a time capsule that can perfectly… encapsulate the town is dashed when a crazed man demands that she include the one book that means more to the world and has done a better job of portraying the sparkling, undying experience of love and the human condition more than anything.

You guessed it. He wanted Twilight.

But what if you were the one who got to choose which book would go in your time capsule? I asked a few of the teens hanging out in the Teen Department, as well as our local librarians to see what they had to say.

13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

It’s just really good. This girl kills herself and makes tapes about why. Depressing, but good.

~Lizz, 17

The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke

A bunch of kids living in a movie theater. It’s awesome.

~Saul, 13

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld

It’s a good book, and it’s like a utopia–a lesson to the world.

~Carlisle, 13

Fade, by Robert Cormiere

It’s very thrilling.

~Merce, 14

Looking for Alaska, by John Green

‘Cause I like it.

~Sophia, 13

Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling

It’s very popular and is a new idea.

~Anishaa, 12

I asked some of the staff, too, and here’s what they had to say:

The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak

Because it has a little bit of everything: history, guilt, morality, growing up, ethics and the power/gift of words. It is also funny and moving at the same time (hard to pull off) and it even has illustrations!

~Suzie Waldo, Manager, CLP-Knoxville

Uglies, by Scott Westerfield

Because it’s explores what could happen, if future scientific endeavors were fueled mainly by current American conventions of beauty.

~LeeAnn Anna, Teen Services Coordinator

Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel

It captures this golden age of graphic novels with fantastic storytelling and a modern coming-of-age story.

~Corey Wittig, Digital Learning Librarian

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

To teach people of the future not to let society progress to that point…

~Julianne Moore, Librarian, CLP-Beechview

Brutally awesome. I think it changed what the public thinks about young adult novels.

~Annica Stivers, Librarian, CLP-Beechview

The Freak Observer, by Blythe Woodson

Because it was the Morris Award Winner the year I served on the committee.

~Karen Brooks-Reese, Manager, CLP-Lawrenceville

Of course, I would choose

Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

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Charlie’s voice was rife with vulnerability, and his nearly breathless observations as he wrote to his anonymous friend were so poignant. Anyone who wants to remember what it’s like to be a thoughtful, feeling human being should read this book again and again.

Those are our “time capsule books.” What would you choose?

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main