What the heck is going on?

Boredom happens.  Luckily, there’s a relatively painless (and FREE!) antidote located right in your neighborhood… the Library! Whenever you feel the symptoms of boredom setting in – e.g. an uncontrollable urge to don purple pants, paint yourself green and have a massive freak-out to smash up the endless nothingness and monotony that’s hijacked life – walk, run, or jet pack to the Library ‘cos there’s probably something cool going on.

Here’s a small taste of the awesomeness going down throughout the city this week (I recommend throwing on some shades now ‘cos this stuff is red hot):

Tuesday, May 28th

CLP Brookline

Teen Lounge: Marshmallow Zombie Attack

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

 
CLP Carrick

Teen Thing:  DIY Puff Paint with Shaving Cream + Chairpocalypse story development

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

 
CLP East Liberty

Movie Nite!

4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

 
CLP Main (Oakland)

CLP Teen Gay Straight Alliance: Bi-monthly Meeting

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

 
Wednesday, May 29th

CLP West End

Teen Lounge: String, Hammer & Nail Art! : Loud and awesome

4:30 PM – 7:00 PM

 
Thursday, May 30th

CLP Beechview

Teen Advisory Council Meeting

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

 
Friday, May 31st

CLP Allegheny

After School Gaming (Xbox 360-Kinect, PS3 and Wii)

2:30 PM – 4:30 PM

 
CLP Main (Oakland)

Bad Movie Fridays!

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

 
The nifty EVENTS slider on the Teen page has got you covered with all the action going on all the time.  You can always stop in and check with your local Teen Librarian to see what’s going down too.  And remember to do your part in the fight against boredom – bring all your friends!

 
Boredom Slayers:

                

Jon : Carrick

What You Don’t Know Can Eat You

So did you hear the one about the zombie who tortured his victims with music?

-His BACH was worse than his bite!

 
What’s black, white, and dead all over?

-A zombie in a TUXEDO!

 
How about that zombie who was expelled from school?

-He kept BUTTERING up his teacher!

 
Okay, okay… I’m sorry; enough with the stink bombs.  Just don’t expect zombies to be so apologetic.  Most are ruthless, flesh-starved killers, and there’s no better time to prepare for their inevitable takeover than right now!  Pin on that gray ribbon, ‘cos May is Zombie Awareness Month!

Wait… I know what you’re thinking… ‘May?  The month of flowers and moms?’  Let me explain.  You see, zombies weren’t always rotting bottomless pits of hunger.  Once upon a time, before everything went all crazy in the 1960s, zombies were, more often than not, relegated to the role of henchmen carrying out nefarious plots  – dead people brought back to life by the magical/mystical power of some stereotypically creepy looking dude up to no good.  The ‘modern zombie’ that we all know and love has been more or less a great big work in progress (arguably) since 1968 when the game changer/local horror classic Night of the Living Dead was released.  Since then your friend and mine, the zombie, has been refined endlessly through horror films (and books!) that have, for better or worse, added and tweaked characteristics along the way.  A whole bunch of movies that were really crucial in creating the rotting bottomless pit zombie (including Night of the Living Dead) are set in the merry month of May, hence the celebration/preparation.

Dylan Dog. Art by Mike Mignola © Dark Horse Comics

So what the heck are you supposed to do during Zombie Awareness Month???  Get ready for the undead – that’s what!  The Zombie Research Society, which started the month-long vigil, is all about survival.  They’ve compiled a map of zombie outbreaks that may have potentially gone down throughout history – a great way to familiarize yourself with some possible attack scenarios and response actions (got a lead coffin handy?) – as well as a list of the top ten safest countries to be in during a zombie pandemic (based on factors like population density, climate, topography, gun-ownership, military capability, natural resources, and public infrastructure).  We at CLP Carrick will be brushing up on our zombie-bustin’ know-how the easy way – with popcorn and a movie!  Join us for our Teen Zombie Movie Saturday on May 18th at 1:30… you never know, it just might save your life.

Zombies go nom nom nom:

                        

Jon : Carrick

Know More about Your City

• Pittsburgh is the second largest city in Pennsylvania, and was founded in 1758. 
• There are 89 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.  Test your knowledge of Pittsburgh neighborhoods with Click That ‘hood.
• 305,704 people live in Pittsburgh.
• There are 446 bridges in Pittsburgh!

• Pittsburgh can claim the first commercial radio station–KDKA and the first public television station–WQED.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates played in the very first World Series in 1903 (Pirates lost) and the very first World Series night game in 1971 (Pirates won).
• Robert Garland, a city councilman, devised the nation’s first Daylight Savings Plan in 1918.  For more Pittsburgh Firsts:  click here.

For more maps of the city see the City of Pittsburgh Online Map Room.  For videos from the 1960’s-1980’s, check out the Historic Pittsburgh Video Collection.

Geographic Information Systems: Department of City Planning

~Marian

CLP–Mt. Washington

Make Pittsburgh Beautiful.

Bittercress (Credit: Doug Oster/Post-Gazette)

It has officially been spring for nearly one month and it’s finally starting to feel like it. Now that the gloom of winter is over, it’s time to get busy beautifying our city again. Spring is a time for renewal. Flowers are blooming. Trees are being planted. Litter is being removed. And, yes, you can help!

Last week, volunteers from the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh scaled Mt. Washington to clean up the mountainside! They removed 60 bags of trash, 25 bags of recyclables, a shopping cart, and even a baby stroller! Amazing!

Mt. Washington Clean Up (Credit: KDKA)

There are so many volunteer opportunities celebrating Earth Day on and Arbor Day over the next few weeks. The Great PA Cleanup is a good place to start. There are still a few community cleanup’s scheduled all over Pittsburgh – Hazelwood (4/20), Homewood (5/2), Highland Park 5/11).

Tree Pittsburgh is an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the City’s vitality by restoring and protecting City trees. There are opportunities to help at tree planting events and learn to prune the urban forest. Check out Tree Pittsburgh’s calendar.

At CLP-Hazelwood we will be celebrating Arbor Day with the finale of Teen Reading Lounge. Stop by to help clean up around the library, pull weeds, spread mulch, and hang colorful birdhouses on trees along Second Avenue! Thursday, April 25th at 5:00pm.

Sneak Preview: Birdhouses @ CLP-Hazelwood!

Can’t make it to a clean-up event? No Problem! Start small. Clean up litter around your house, street, or school! Water dry flowers, grass, and trees. Keeping and making Pittsburgh beautiful is something everyone can do!

(Michael @ CLP-Hazelwood)

National Autism Awareness Month

Did any of your neighbors swap their white outdoor light bulb for a blue bulb on April 2?  When you drove past the CONSOL Energy Center did you notice its screens and LED pucks were blue instead of black and gold?  Your neighbors, the Penguins, and others around the took part in Light It Up Blue to commemorate World Autism Day (April 2) and kick off National Autism Awareness Month!

Autism is a disorder that is usually diagnosed in early childhood. The main signs and symptoms of autism involve communication, social interactions and repetitive behaviors.

Children with autism might have problems talking with you, or they might not look you in the eye when you talk to them. They may spend a lot of time putting things in order before they can pay attention, or they may say the same sentence again and again to calm themselves down. They often seem to be in their “own world.”

Because people with autism can have very different features or symptoms, health care providers think of autism as a “spectrum” disorder. Asperger syndrome is a milder version of the disorder.

-source: MedlinePlus

Organizations like Autism Speaks and the Autism Society work to raise awareness about autism and issues within the autism community not only in April but also year-round.  Did you know the Autism Society teamed up with AMC Theatres to bring families affected by autism and other disabilities an opportunity to enjoy their favorite films in a safe and accepting environment every month at “Sensory Friendly Films?”  How cool is that?

As you travel around the city be on the lookout for other buildings participating in Light It Up Blue, like the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Science Center and PNC Park.

Want to learn more?  Don’t forget to check Overdrive for ebooks, audiobooks, and videos about autism.

               

Pirates Season preview

Winter is FINALLY over.  So that means that the weather is at last getting nicer and it is time for baseball season!  This should be an interesting year for the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates.  Lat year they almost ended their record streak of 20 losing years in a row, but struggled in the second half and ended up finishing 79-83.  This offseason has seen a few changes, most notably the loss of All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan and the addition of former Yankees catcher Russell Martin and former Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano.

There are some interesting questions this year that will go a long way in determining how well the Pirates do this year.  How will Pedro Alvarez hit?  Will he be the batter who hit 30 home runs or will he be the batter who hit .244 and had 180 strikeouts (second in the National League)?  He will probably be both!  Just like he was last year, but hopefully he can raise his average and cut his strikeouts a bit.

The second big question is when will Gerrit Cole make it to the big leagues, and how will he do when he gets there?  The number 1 overall pick of the 2011 draft had a good spring training, but will start the season with the Triple A Indianapolis Indians.  It is very likely that Cole will be up with the Pirates by the summer and hopefully, he will be the first of many of the young pitching prospects that the team has drafted in the last few years.

America’s Best Ballpark

Even if the Pirates don’t break .500 this year (and I don’t think they will), you can still enjoy the beautiful PNC Park.  It was just named  America’s Best Ballpark by TripAdvisor.com.  The team just announced some of the new features they will have this year and I am already looking forward to the new Brunch Burger, which is a patty made of beef and ground bacon topped with more bacon!  It also has cheddar cheese and a fried egg and is served on a glazed doughnut!

The Brunch Burger!!

Larimer teens discover the music of the future: No Generation Podcast

Just down the street from both CLP – East Liberty and CLP – Homewood is the Kingsley Association, a community center extraordinaire. They have a pool, basketball court, yoga classes, community meetings, and a Youth Advisory Council.

An EEYAC meeting

 

I recently went to an unveiling of the Council’s new project: a podcast called No Generation Radio.

Artwork by Blaine Siegel

Teenagers from EEYAC had come together with local artist Blaine Siegel to create the podcast. They interviewed community members of Larimer to find stories from their past and present dealing with music, and then musicians from Larimer and other Pittsburgh neighborhoods imagined what the music of the future in Larimer would be like, based on those stories.

This includes David Bernabo, who said on his blog that his future music piece was created “us[ing] census data and analysis to forecast how Larimer will change in the future. I imagine that gentrification would occur to some extent and the neighborhood will become more racially integrated. From a musical standpoint, I am presenting music that would exist for an educational use. The idea was that music could be encoded in the future to “push” knowledge to the listener.”

All 7 podcasts can be heard on the No Generation tumblr. Check them out!

 

If you’re interested in creating a podcast, you can do it at the library!  The Labs have the equipment and mentors to help you realize your vision and put it out into the world. Come to one of the Labs locations!

Check out these books to get you started:

  

And, don’t forget, the library has many Teen Advisory Councils in its locations – if you want to bring your fun ideas to the library for old and new friends to enjoy, make it happen!

 

-Tessa, CLP – East Liberty

 

On-Demand Gaming now available at CLP Main

Change.  Sometimes change can be scary, but sometimes change can be AWESOME.  We’ve been making some changes to the way we host gaming here in the Main Teen Department and I can tell you definitively that these changes are in the AWESOME category.  Here’s how our NEW on-demand gaming program now works:

• Teens (age 12 to 17 or grade 6 to 12) can borrow controllers from Teen Department Staff at the Teen Department Reference Desk.
• Monday through Friday at noon teens are welcome to request controllers and play the designated game of the day OR any of the games downloaded to the gaming consoles.
• Saturdays at 10 am teens are welcome to request controllers and the game of their choice from our collection OR any of the games downloaded to the gaming consoles.

So now that I’ve outlined all of the AWESOME changes, I should probably mention that although gaming is now available most of the time, it is not available all of the time due to scheduling conflicts.  If you ever have any questions about whether gaming is available at a particular time or on a particular day, call us!

Now, put down that controller and pick up a book:

                    

Teen Bestsellers and a Nerdfighter Documentary

The two things I am ridiculously, nerdily excited about these days:

• The new Teen Bestsellers Collection and
• Being selected as a screening location for A Film to Decrease Worldsuck: The Nerdfighters Documentary!

If you’re like me, you know the release dates for all the new books you want to read.  I obsessively search the Library’s online catalog to see if the books, like Requiem by Lauren Oliver, are listed so I can place a hold on them.  Sometimes a book is so popular that it seems like it will never become available.  It feels like you’ll be waiting forever to get your hands on it.  I’m looking at you The Perks of Being a Wallflower! 

We want you to be able to find some of the newest, most popular books every time you walk into the Library.  Because of this, we have created a Teen Bestsellers collection at the Main Library in Oakland.    There are mutliple copies of each of these titles (and they’re non-requestable), so you’ll always find something new, unexpected, intriguing, or coveted when you browse the Teen Bestseller shelves!  Here is a small sample of what’s available in this new collection:

   
   

Do you prefer to read ebooks?  Check here to see what’s available.

If you’re still waiting to read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, now is your chance to snag it!   Get ready for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s August screening of A Film to Decrease Worldsuck: The Nerdfighters Documentary!  The date and time will be revealed very soon.

March Madness-Shamrock Shake edition

March is one of my favorite times of year for two reasons.  The first is that Shamrock Shakes are available at McDonalds.  I LOVE Shamrock Shakes!!  The mint, the cream, the deliciousness.  I wish they sold them all year, but March is the only time to get them.

The second reason I love March is that it is time for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, or March Madness.  This is my favorite sports event of the year-even more than the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup Finals.  I love it so much because it is so unpredictable.  A small school like Butler can go to two straight Final Fours and someone that nobody has ever heard of can become a basketball immortal like Bryce Drew did in 1998.

You can vote for the best players and teams in NCAA history right here.  You can also watch some of the greatest moments in tournament history including Christian Laettner’s famous jumper to beat Kentucky in 1992.

This is a weird year for the tournament because usually there are a couple of teams that are head and shoulders over everybody else, but this year that has not been the case.  Kentucky and NC State were ranked in the top 10 when the season began, but they are not even in the top 25 now, while Gonzaga is ranked number 1 for the first time in school history.  Overall, 5 teams have been ranked number one this season.  So it’s been a topsy turvy year this year with no clear cut favorite going into the tournament.  I’m hoping that Gonzaga can pull it off, but if not then I am hoping for lots of excitement and upsets.  Hope you all have a great time watching this year’s tournament (with a Shamrock Shake of course!)