Um, yes. This is THE coolest house ever, beating out both the entirely underground house (which I guess may or may not be cool, as I've never actually really seen it, since it's, you know, underground) and the octagon-shaped house that were both near my home back in New Jersey (although to be honest, I guess they were more "kind-of-weird-and-therefore-sort-of-interesting" than actually "cool"). Anyway, this house is awesome. Aaron Jackson, the guy who bought and painted it, is awesome. And let's face it, it just LOOKS awesome. I wonder how much Mr. Jackson would charge to come paint my apartment?
So basically, Jackson went out and bought this house that's across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. For those who haven't heard of Westboro, it's basically a group of people led by this guy, Fred Phelps, who are (in)famous for hating on LGBT people and crashing funerals with signs that say things like, "God hates [insert insulting, derogatory word for gay people here]." Apparently their rationale behind such pickets is to proclaim their belief that God is punishing the world (through war / gun shootings / other events that result in death) because of humanity's moral decline as more and more people accept our LGBT friends/family/neighbors/acquaintances as being equal and, you know, basically exactly like everyone else on the planet. Basically it's weird and ridiculously horrible, but hey, that's just my opinion.
I wonder what the folks over at Westboro think every time they look out the window of their church and see the rainbow house across the street.
Eunice, Fletcher, Izanna, & Mya! I think we can all agree that the coolest thing here is Mya's t-shirt (though obviously the book faces are a very close second). Everyone here is entered to win the Lego notebook and bucket of Legos, which is awesome for you and slightly sad for me, as I kind of really wanted that notebook.*
Zoe, Caity, Mya, & Benji! I gotta say, while these are all completely awesome, I am especially impressed with Caity's--mainly that she was able to a) line her head up so perfectly pretty much all on her own; and b) hold that weird, horrible half-laying (lying?)* down pose for so long! My abs never would've forgiven me...
*Yes, I realize I am a bad librarian for not knowing the difference between "laying" and "lying" and not bothering to look it up. Hey, cut me some slack, I'm off-the-clock here!
Sunday, March 10 marks the beginning of Teen Tech Week, a nation-wide event sponsored by YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association). My goal for TTW this year is to encourage young adults (you guys!) to use the internet in the safest, most awesome ways possible and to interact with others--whether it's your friends and family, people you dislike, or people you've never met--with respect and kindness.
So speaking of doing something awesome on the internet, I'm issuing a challenge in honor of TTW.
TEEN TECH WEEK CONTEST:
Snap a picture of you with your best book face (or get someone to take one for you) and submit it to me at trastogi[at]amespubliclibrary.org as an attachment OR use the "Submit a Review" link above and send me a book/movie/music/game review. I'll be posting all book faces and reviews here on this blog (with your permission). What's a book face? See pictures above. Also, click here for some amazing and hilarious examples.
DETAILS:
Teen Tech Week only lasts a week (okay, I know you're totally rolling your eyes here), but I'm going to run this contest from now through March 31. When you submit a book face, let me know your full name, email, and age. You can use any kind of book--kids, teen, adult, fiction, nonfiction--but keep it clean!
WHAT DO I GET?
Each time you submit a book face or review, you'll be entered into a raffle for a Lego Moleskine journal--the only journal that comes with a built-in lego block on its cover so that you can actually build on it--and a box of Legos (so you can do aforementioned building and playing!). (Before you ask, yes, I do see the irony in holding a tech week drawing for the most lo-tech toy ever; that being said, unlike most technology, Legos never get old, obsolete, or so-bad-they're-funny--I'm looking at you, giant old cellphones from the 90's.)
So it's not quite time for Halloween (the BEST holiday, in my opinion), but it is almost time for VEISHEA. Some of you TAG peoples have asked for book costume ideas, so here you go. I REALLY want someone to dress like Captain Underpants, though I suspect that, as the owner of a pair of nude-colored leggings, that "someone" is going to be me...
I absolutely cannot wait for the November release of The Hunger Games and the second installment of The Hobbit in December; they're probably the two movies I'm looking forward to the most this year. In the meantime, though, there's Oz: the Great and Powerful (March), The Great Gatsby (May), and The City of Bones (August) to look forward to. (The Sea of Monsters, the second Percy Jackson book, is also coming out in August, but I have mixed feelings about that one. I didn't care for the fact that Percy is 11-years-old in The Lightning Thief, but like, 20 in the movie. Seriously, he looked older than me!)
So here's the trailer for The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones, which is the first in a series of six books by Cassandra Clare (the sixth book comes out next year). I'm sure many of you have already read it, but if not, I'd definitely recommend it. The story begins when 15-year-old Clary witnesses a murder at the Pandemonium Club in New York City. Sounds like a call-the-cops kinda situation right? Yes, except the murderers in this case are seemingly invisible to everyone but Clary. Soon she's drawn into the world of Shadowhunters, whose mission is to hunt demons. It's a supernatural and suspenseful and generally awesome read; it's also slated to become the Next Big Thing after Twilight and The Hunger Games. That's a pretty bold prediction, I think, but who knows?
APL currently has three copies of the book which, as of today, are each are checked out, with two people on the holds list. If you're interested, definitely get on that list now! I guarantee the request list will only get longer and longer the closer we get to the movie's release date. (No pressure or anything though... :)
Apparently a movie is in the works for the first book in Clare's The Infernal Devices series, which is set in Victorian-era England and is a prequel to The Mortal Instruments. She's also currently in the process of writing another series, The Dark Artifices, a series of sequels to The Mortal Instruments. Geez, Cassandra Clare is one busy lady! Gonna be honest, it made me tired just writing all that out.
1692: Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba were arrested for practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. They probably never dreamed that would one day inspire novels and essays and entire college courses, not to mention movies (I don't know if they'd have been more shocked knowing they'd one day be important historical figures or learning that one day there'd be such a crazy, magical thing as "moving pictures," i.e. movies)
1803 and 1877: Ohio became the 17th state in 1803 and "most" of Nebraska became the 37th in 1877 (happy birthday, Ohio and Nebraska!)
1941: Captain America first appears in comic books (making him 72 years old!)
1978: Charlie Chaplin's coffin was stolen from a cemetery in Switzerland. Apparently two guys dug it up, then reburied it in hopes of getting some money from Chaplin's family. I gotta say, I've never heard of anyone kidnapping a dead body, coffin and all, for ransom. It kind of seems like a lot of work to go through, though I guess dead kidnapped people are quieter than live ones. ANYWAY. So a lot of other stuff has happened on this day throughout history, but I'm just going to share one more, my favorite:
1980: Snow falls in Florida.
You know what else happened on March 1st? The APL March Madness Middle/High School Book Battle polls have officially opened!!! You can vote each week beginning today for your favorite books--"The Fault in Our Stars" or "Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition"? "The Giver" or "The Westing Game"? You choose! This week 16 books are competing against one another; next week, 8 will be competing, and so on until there's one winner, the MOST AWESOME AMAZING TEEN BOOK CHAMPION WINNER as decided by you guys! We'll keep updating the bracket in the Teen Zone here at APL to reflect which books make it through to the next round.
Note: You don't have to be in 7th or 8th grade to vote! Any teen can participate by voting online or stopping in the Teen Zone @ APL and filling out a paper ballot.
