Books On Film: Teen In '13 (A Review)

Film adaptations of teen novels, spurred by the success the Twilight movies, haven't slowed down yet. In 2013, we saw the adaptation of Catching Fire, The Host, Beautiful Creatures, Warm Bodies, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, City of Bones, and Ender's Game. 

Which 2013 teen adaptation did you like best?
	Catching Fire
	The Host
	Beautiful Creatures
	The Perks of Being A Wallflower
	Warm Bodies
	City of Bones
	Ender's Game
pollcode.com free polls

In 2014, we will see even more teen books brought to the big screen. For the rest of this month, I will talk about several of the upcoming teen book to film adaptations.

Covers courtesy of LibraryThing.

Learning | L is for Lollygag

A lollygagging dog.
Photo courtesy of Randy Son of Robert's
photostream on Flickr.com.
Some rights reserved.

Every once in a while, I encounter a book that seems to have been written by a kindred soul (or, one might say, a fellow word nerd.)

L is for Lollygag: Quirky Words for a Clever Tongue is such a book.  I remember making lists of words when I was a kid. Some words were cool, some were interesting, and some were hilarious, like lollygag. This book has so many of those words, that I remember putting on those lists, I almost wondered if the authors stumbled across my childhood scrawls. Nah, that couldn't be the case, because my handwriting was downright illegible.  But only a kindred spirit would include words like fiddlesticks, rigamarole, and kit and caboodle for consideration.

As if the words and definitions were not delightful enough, the editors included droll, retro illustrations for the words and phrases (think about those animated interludes on Monty Python's Flying Circus--that's the idea!) 

I checked L is for Lollygag out in November, and I've renewed it a few times already.  I'm enjoying it so much, I know I'll be checking it out again someday, if only to use it as a list to inspire me to look up etymologies, or word origins.

I'll only bore you with one etymology today, from the title: lollygag is an interesting word for those looking up word histories, mainly because we aren't sure what it originally meant.  It did not appear in print until 1868; it seems to have something to do with tongues (lolly is an English word for tongue.)  

As the Wordphiliac entry for lollygag pointed out, it no doubt is somehow related to the expression loll, to have one's tongue hanging out. Of course, gag is a word we associate with mouths, too; think of something to put into somebody's mouth to stop them from talking.  But tongue-gagging is not how we use the word these days; to lollygag is to dawdle or waste time.

She's Crafty | Crafty New Year!

Oh my gosh, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2014 is here already and it feels like I barely got to know 2013.

With the new year comes a heap of resolutions...right? Right. I'm a resolution makin' machine and over the year's I've kept some really important ones so I continue to keep up the tradition. Something about new beginnings that make us stop and take stock of our lives. But that's another post for another time.

My resolutions usually include: read more, exercise more, travel more, quit doing this, definitely stop doing that, play more, smile more...

But I also have a long-list of crafty resolutions:

• I resolve to sew more. 

• I resolve to finish more projects that I start. 

• I resolve to learn more about basic painting techniques. 

• I resolve to keep an art journal.

More goals exist in that lofty, dreamy area of my brain, but these are the ones I feel are most important and attainable.

To help me keep my art journal resolution I found two colorful and thoroughly enticing titles at the library, Art Journal Workshop by Traci Bunkers and Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric M. Scott and David R. Wodler. I also found two thrift books to journal in that I purchased from a Friend's of the Library booksale. Come tomorrow, I'll be ready to start 2014 with my first messy and colorful journal page! I also resolve to post more about art journaling in the new year, so stay tuned for that.

Ohh so colorful and enticing!

Can't wait to dive in!

Do you have any crafty resolutions? Let us know in the comments.

May your 2014 be happy and crafty!

~Kaye & Malia

Just Life | Words Of Wisdom From Our Postcard Wall

I love funny and inspirational postcards. At Chavez library, we have a wall full of them. Here are a few of my favorites postcards:

So what are you waiting for. Call a friend before the New Year.

That is my excuse for having a messy house.

That reminds me that I should think before opening my mouth.
 

Reading is anything but boring.

Happy New Year everyone.
 
Signing off until next year- Panteha

P.S. Send me your old postcards & Christmas Cards and I will make sure to add them to our postcard wall at Chavez.

Books On Film | Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is the first book in a series of six written by English author P.L. Travers. In the first book, published in 1934, the Banks family is in need of a new nanny after their old one leaves in a huff. Mary Poppins blows in on a strong wind to fill the position. The children and Ms. Poppins proceed to have all sorts of wondrous adventures together.

The story of Mary Poppins has been adapted into a very successful film and stage play. The 1964 Walt Disney musical film, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, is considered a family classic. The film, which featured a nicer Mary Poppins than the books, had adventures from all of the books as well as new adventures created just for the film. The movie is great fun and the music is fantastic. If you've never seen it you are missing out.

Saving Mr. Banks, a biopic released in theaters this month, chronicles the life of P.L. Travers including the negotiations between Travers and Disney for the film rights to books. Travers' life story and encounter with Disney is also chronicled in the biography Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers by Valerie Lawson.

If your children are into fantasy grounded in real life, then they may love the Mary Poppins books and if you are into biographies, then you may want to pick up a copy of Mary Poppins, She Wrote. 

Saving Mr. Banks Trailer (2013)  

  

 Covers courtesy of LibraryThing.

The Wanderlust Librarian | Pinball Wizard the Second

After the overnight on the USS Hornet (read about it here), Lizzie had mentioned something about the Pacific Pinball Museum. Wait, wait, wait... WHAT?!!?? A place where I can visit that's less than an hour away from where I live? 

Vintage and awesome! 

Knowing that I loved pinball, Lizzie found her ticket on the Discover and Go website and printed out her FREE ticket. I, on the other hand, forgot to reserve my ticket. The tickets for that day were all claimed. *if you want a ticket, reserve it in advance!!*I had to pay the $15 entrance fee. 

All the pinball in the Pacific Pinball Museum is FREE!!! So, save your quarters and play all the pinball you want. After you pay the entrance fee, get a hand stamp for same day in and out privileges. 

The vintage pinball room

From the outside, the museum looks small. In fact, when you walk in, there are a row of new pinball machines (for $0.50 per game) and behind the cashier, there are a slew of restored machines from 1930's through the 1960's. I was ALMOST disappointed until I looked to the right of the cashier and saw an Addams Family pinball machine along with 2 other machines (of which I ignored because I love the Addams Family machine!). They have a private room for rental. When there's a party, that room is closed and the machines are for the guests only. Luckily, there was no party that day. 

The 80s are alive! 

There are other rooms for machines from the 70s and 80s. There were a fair amount of machines. The rooms were off of an indoor courtyard area. They were small and had a few machines per decade. They were not what I was looking for. 

There is limited pinball art in one of the rooms. There are some pieces on the wall and an interactive display where you can make a bumper hit. The scariest thing in that room is an old clown game (not pictured for "scares the bloggess" reasons). There are 2 machines with a clear plastic body where you can see the innards at work. 

Old pinball boards

Bump the bumper!!

My high school years come alive in music! 

For me, the magic was in the 90s room! It was a lot of my favorite machines crammed into one room. There were about 14 machines and a FREE jukebox. I made a playlist of all of my favorite music from high school: Pulp Fiction, Cranberries, Oasis, etc. Some of the pinball gems I played over and over were: Earthshaker, Doctor Who, Road Show and Twilight Zone. The 90s room provided a good hour and a half of entertainment for me. Though, let me just say that scoring a free game when playing a free game...is not as rewarding as one might think after playing a free game. 

Getting high score, though, is always a huge thrill. It felt good to get a decent win under my belt. Also, it was amusing to see a crowd around me. The folks learned that pinball is an art... and not mashing the buttons around. It was a good run. 

Admittedly, when asked "How do you do that?" I said, "See these buttons on the side? I push them to make the ball go out to the board and on the ramps.". After a hearty group laugh from my sarcastic answer, I told him how to make the points work for him. All in all, it was a good run. 

Should you go to the Pacific Pinball Museum? Yes. 

Is it really a whole day of fun? A few hours, yes. A whole day? No. But if you get your tickets for FREE from the Discover and Go page at the library, it's definitely worth your time and a day trip to Alameda! 

If you enjoy pinball, you can try and find your favorite machine at the Pinball Locator. After all, what good is your love of pinball if you can't play your favorite machine?

xoxo

The Bloggess

I'm the #2 player for the day! 

Book Bucket List | Vote for the Book!

 

This year for One Book, One San Joaquin 2014, we will be doing things a little differently.  We are leaving it up to our community to choose the featured book! In addition, we are moving this community wide program to October. Just click the image below or this link here.

The three titles up for the vote are Dracula by Bram Stoker, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

We will announce the winner at the end of January, and then start planning programs and events based on the winning book! So keep an eye out for One Book, One San Joaquin updates as we announce the winner!