News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Marilyn Domney, our Business Customer Specialist, will be at Stand 148b at the Wellington Small Business Expo this week (25-27 June).

We have a limited number of passes to give away so if you would like a 3 day free pass to the Expo, email our team of Business subject librarians at prosearch@wcc.govt.nz or ring Marilyn Domney, on 801 4059.

More details are available on the Wellington Small Business Expo website. Come and see us there!

Wellington Small Business Expo, TSB Arena (Queen’s Wharf), 25-27 June.

Have fun, stay warm! That’s the message behind our Winter Gamesfest. From Monday 30 June to Friday 4 July we’ll be playing board games on the first floor of the Central Library during the lunchtime hours (12-1pm, and 1-2pm). Featured games will be: Japanese Go, bridge, lightning chess, Mah Jong and Scrabble. Free lessons will be available, and there will be a free for all area where you can bring your own board games or play those provided by us. There will also be some sessions of Texas Hold’em (the popular new form of poker) and you can browse our display of new books and magazines on indoor games. Come along and join us – we’d love to see you there!

For more information, and a schedule of organised games, visit our News page.

In this month’s Buyer’s Choice recent picks we bring you Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, which celebrates, of all things, the shed. You may be skeptical, but we think this is rather wonderful – have a look to discover twenty-eight innovative and beautifully imagined spaces that perfectly combine the practical and the aesthetic. Also this month: Robert H. Frank’s The Economic Naturalist demonstrates how to employ basic economic principles to sniff out the answers to scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and in Go green, live rich! David Bach outlines fifty ways to make your life, your home, your shopping, and your finances greener. Plus, the journey of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, the Oprah magazine cookbook, and Eric G. Wilson’s book Against Happiness : In Praise of Melancholy – in which he argues that melancholia is a necessary ingredient of any culture that wishes to be innovative or inventive.

Join John Dawson from Victoria University – speaking on the story of our native plants and forests.

Karori Library, Thursday 19th June, 7-8pm.

(Full PlantMania programme)

The Wellington Regional Land Transport Committee is inviting public submissions on the draft Ngauranga to Airport Corridor Plan, an implementation plan of the Regional Land Transport Strategy.  Staff of the Greater Wellington Regional Council will be available to answer questions on the draft plan between 11am and 2pm, on the Ground Floor, with displays providing further information.

Some of your favourite TV shows of the past 5 decades are available on DVD from the library. Whether you prefer British comedies, American spy shows, or classic New Zealand shows, you can find them at Wellington City Libraries.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve added a number of new titles spanning the past 40 years of television. Some would be considered classics of their era, others you wish could be forgotten.

Mission: Impossible is the classic spy show from the 60s which paved the way for iconic television sayings to enter the English language. “This MP3 player will self-destruct in 60 seconds” doesn’t quite have the same menace as “This tape will self-destruct in 60 seconds”. As hard as I try to forget Lenny and Squiggy, they continue to rear their greasy hairdos when least expected. For those who don’t know these characters, have a look at Laverne & Shirley. A “Happy Days” spin-off from the 70s that was set in the 50s and featured 2 women room mates who worked in a bottle-capping factory. Surprisingly the show ran for 8 seasons.

Moving from the 70s to the 80s, we have 21 Jump Street. A show that gave us Johnny Depp, and the premise “American teenagers look like 30 year olds”. The 90s are a decade we’ll avoid for the moment. Not that there weren’t any good shows, just they haven’t released them on DVD yet.

From the 00s (or noughties) we have the latest Emmy darling from the US sitcom scene. 30 Rock is a comedy show about the making of a comedy show. Devised by Tina Fey from “Saturday Night Live” fame, the show centres around Liz Lemon. “Liz Lemon, head writer of the sketch comedy show ‘TGS with Tracy Jordan’, must deal with an arrogant new boss and a crazy new star, all while trying to run a successful TV show without losing her mind. “–IMDb.

These are just a few of the TV shows available. What are some of your favourite/forgettable shows of the past 5 decades?

In association with Brooklyn Library, St Bernard’s seniors will be playing a chorus of Ukuleles!

Come along to the Library on Tuesday 17th of June at 10:20 am (ten minutes before pre-school storytime) – the performance will be immediately followed by a storytime and sing-a-long

Agony aunt Mother Goose helps Humpty Dumpty conquer his fear of falling and Little Miss Muffet deal with an over-friendly spider as well as helping a whole host of other much-loved characters in Dear Mother Goose, a lift-the-flap book by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Also from Nick Sharratt this month, One mole digging a hole (story by Julie Donaldson) – a new counting book featuring Mole and all his garden friends. Plus, have you ever had imaginitis? Henry has it, and he can’t stop thinking about pirates, dragons and rocket ships… Check out our Children’s Picture Book Recent Picks for June to find out how Mother Goose helps Humpty Dumpty, what happens to Henry, and if Mole ever manages to dig his hole!

Life on Mars. Series two
“Life On Mars shot out of nowhere at the beginning of 2006 to become a vital, gripping drama, and this second series more than maintains the sky high standards that the first so memorably set. What makes it even more surprising is that all the ingredients were there for it to go so tragically wrong. The central premise, that for unknown reasons modern day police detective Sam Tyler wakes up in the 1970s, is fraught with potential potholes, yet the creators of Life On Mars twist it very much in their favour, delivering a skilful, taut comparison between policing then and policing now. It’s this clash of approach that provides many of Life On Mars’ sparks, but nonetheless, it has much more than that going for it. It boasts, for instance, a terrific level of attention to detail, and weaves in quality narrative too, with Tyler frequently caught between unravelling his predicament, the crimes before him, and his 1970s’ colleagues with their 1970s’ tactics.” — Amazon

Life on Mars is just one of our DVD recent picks this month. Also featured, you’ll find: The Nanny Diaries with Scarlet Johansson; the story of Albert Pierrepoint – Britain’s most notorious hangman (Pierrepoint); Robert Redford’s Lions and Lambs (also starring Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep); Quentin Tarantino’s revival of Grindhouse – Death Proof – featuring New Zealander Zoe Bell; I am Legend (post-apocalyptic zombie flick loosely based on Richard Matheson’s classic science-fiction novel about a lone human survivor); and, the return of Jack Bauer in Season Six of 24. Plus, a few more  brand new DVD releases, including Season One of compelling new crime series Criminal Minds, and a few more tasty television morsels.

Amongst our cooking recent picks for June you’ll find exquisite desserts to impress or just to indulge, decadent layered cakes and all manner of yummy slices. Plus, must-have Asian recipes (including fried spicy tempeh, scallop and snow pea sprout dumplings, Mongolian lamb, Balinese seafood curry, kheer rice pudding and kulfi) in Asian flavours : the Asian recipes you must have, Jane Webster’s foodie tours of Paris, and tasty cookbooks for diabetes and coeliac’s disease.