« Previous Entries
» Next Entries

August 2009

The Archives




  • DVDs, New, Simon, anime

    New Anime we will get soonish

    20.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    We (the library) have purchased some new anime series. But they’re not quite ready for the catalogue yet! They are in the building though. (DVDs and CDs aren’t entered into the library catalogue until they’re ready to be issued. Books are catalogued as soon as they’re ordered.) They shouldn’t be too far off, and then you can reserve them.

    These are the anime we’re getting (links lead to the v. handy Anime News Network):

    Ranma 1/2  - all seven series.
    Fullmetal Alchemist 
    Bleach -     (intended for the adult DVD collection, but we hope to wrangle some YA copies.)

    Good news.


  • Library Serf, Movies

    More about the vampmance

    20.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    The official New Moon site’s got some more New Moon footage, featuring Taylor Lautner explanations and transformations, plus a sneaky peek at the Volturi which I believe the trailer released earlier this year didn’t have. There are also downloadable widgets, which I just wanted to add because widget is one of my favourite words: an e-card widget and a content widget.

    Yours,
    Widget


  • Jack, Music, New, Playlists

    Just two, but they’re good.

    20.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    deadweatherJack White is a prolific man. If his bandmates aren’t ready to release any new material he simply forms a new band and presses on. Dead Weather being active band number three, with The White Stripes and The Raconteurs being the other two. Dead Weather is somewhat of a departure for White, who is banging the drums instead of strumming the guitar on this record. On Horehound, the bands debut, he shares vocal duties with Allison Mosshart (of the Kills), with Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs and Greenhornes) rounding out the group. If you’ve ever enjoyed any of the above bands, or even just Rock music in general give Horehound a listen.

    gossipThe Gossip emerged out of the Nu-Rave scene spearheaded by The Klaxons in 2006 with Standing In The Way Of Control and now return with their new long-player Music For Men. Lead by outspoken front-woman Beth Ditto, it’s more of the same adventurously aggressive, neon-coloured electro-pop.


  • Horror, Movies, New, Simon

    Vampire boys on film

    20.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    Did you know that Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak books are being made into movies? I didn’t, although I may have known and since forgotten. In any case, it is, although it seems to be the first three books – Cirque du Freak, The Vampire’s Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood – that provide the film’s plot. There’s an interesting article about it here, along with a bunch of photos and an interview with the actor playing Larten Crepsley.

    Watch the trailer!


  • Grimm, Reviews

    Would you like some romance with your fantasy?

    19.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    Supernatural romances are super hot right now, for a few reasons (well, four plus a couple of movies), and there are quite a few trilogies making waves. I’ve taken a deep breath and read three of them: The Mortal Instruments trilogy, by Cassandra Clare; Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr (there’s another one to come next year); and A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.

    The Hype
    There’s internet hype a-plenty for Cassandra Clare (see here, and here for example). Fragile Eternity had a book trailer (you can visit it at YouTube here: I won’t embed it because I’m really not sure I approve of book trailers, since you don’t get to imagine what characters look like and all. He’s no Seth, that’s for sure) that made people oo and ah. Being smart writers, they all blog.

    The World
    Set in the late 19th Century and mostly in England, Libba Bray’s story is a bit different from the others; Melissa Marr and Cassandra Clare’s books are more urban fantasy. While MM’s books focus solely on faeries, CC’s contain basically every supernatural fantastical creature there is – a melting pot/United Nations sort of deal, which is apt since home base is New York.

    The Writing
    Libba Bray’s books contain a lot of dense, wordy description which is great if you love dense, wordy description but not so great if you like your books to, you know, move along at pace. The dialogue is witty (actually, witty dialogue happens in all three). As far as style goes, there’s a bit of cringing to be had in the Mortal Instruments trilogy, which needed a really good edit and didn’t get one. I got memorably fed up with being told what everyone was wearing all the time, especially in the heat of battle. Wicked Lovely (and the others by Melissa Marr) rips along at a pace similar to Stephenie Meyer’s books, so don’t start it late at night.

    The Most Perfectest Man Ever?
    Tell me I’m making generalisations if you like, but there’s hot competition at the moment over who can write the perfect man. In this instance we have in the red corner… Seth (WL etc). Seth could make you love multiple piercings. He’s arty, intelligent, attractive, sensitive, calm, patient, doesn’t think you’re mad if you tell him you see faeries, and (most importantly) has definition in his arms. In the blue corner there’s Kartik (AGATB etc), who also has definition, is the last word in mysterious, doesn’t mind that the girl in question has tendencies towards being a raving feminist ahead of her time, and to top it off, said girl’s friends all think he’s an exotic beauty. Finally, in the annoying corner there’s Jace (MI), although he still manages to impress the odd reader.

    The Romance
    There’s romance, for sure, in varying quantities, using the tried and true love triangle formula. Gemma (AGATB) must choose between traditional Victorian courtship with the dashing Simon or her less conventional dealings with the aforementioned Kartik. Ash (WL) is a really sensible girl, which is just as well when she’s faced with a choice between a beautiful faery king who’s out to claim her and, well, Seth. Clary (MI) has the option of Simon the friend or Jace, shadowhunter extraordinaire, whose relationship to Clary takes many, many twists and turns. Simmering stuff.

    The Big Showdown
    There’s gruesomeness to be had. Not to give too much away, The Sweet Far Thing ends with a beautifully described apocalyptic battle to end all battles (this really isn’t giving too much away, honest), complete (possibly) with some tear jerking moments. Cassandra Clare worries a bit too much about what people are wearing, as mentioned earlier, but she’s not scared of injuring her characters which is good, because you’re more likely to worry for their safety. The big showdown is yet to happen in the Wicked Lovely world: will have to wait for next year.

    If you love books in this genre there is a whole heap more out there, for example:

    Evermore, by Alyson Noel. Psychic girl falls in love with an immortal boy.

    Need, by Carrie Jones. Werewolves and pixies.

    Wings, by Aprilynne Pike. Faeries again, this is the first of a planned series of four.

    Impossible, by Nancy Werlin. Read a review at teenreads.com.

    Read all this? Well Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is coming soon. Grace is a girl, haunted by a yellow eyed wolf; Sam is a yellow-eyed werewolf… (here’s an excerpt from teenreads.com).

    Also, don’t forget Holly Black’s modern faerie tales.

    ps “supernatural romance” isn’t a catchy enough name we decided, so what to call these books? Well, here were some suggestions (not all strictly relevant): supernatromance, phantasromance, zom-rom, boo woo, hell-odrama, vampmance, fantmance, horromance, creepy-crawly-lovey-dovey, unexplained flingnomena


  • Competition, Selector, Simon

    You’re all winners, really

    18.08.09 | Permalink | 1 Comment

    We’ve some winners for a few recent competitions we ran. Hannah wins a copy of Sam Stern’s Cooking Up A Storm for her recipe;

    Completely Unspecified Chocolate Chip Pancakes
    Chocolate Chips, Milk, Baking Powder, Eggs (Remove shells if you feel that it is a good idea), Anchovies (No, that’s not a typo.), Salt, Sugar, Butter, Flour

    Put as much as you want of basically everything in a bowl. The anchovies add a somewhat fishy quality to the mixture, so just remember that. Cook somehow. Don’t ask me how.
    Failing that, just use the leftover milk and get the weetbix, sugar and the unlabelled can out of the pantry (Make sure it is fruit or something pleasantish before you slop it on your weetbix) and have that instead. Probably more nutritious at the very least.

    Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

    And Melissa and Rachel have both won a library DVD voucher for completing our recent Magazine Selector. I will post them out sometime later! I promise!


  • Competition, Grimm, Library

    Library Week Competition Results

    18.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    Library Week is now over, and people have won prizes and reviewed and written and created art, and here are some results from the competitions we told you about:

    The Graphic Novel competition, 13 to 18 year olds, and for 19+ year olds.

    The video competition (voting is open until the 23rd of August).

    Also, here’s how the interactive story panned out.


  • Adrienne, Reviews

    Review: City of Bones

    14.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

    This book is just incredible and fantastic!

    It’s about a girl who finds out her mum is a shadowhunter and her dad is a shadowhunter, an evil shadowhunter to put it correctly, and the shadowhunter she loves might turn someone completely different, but still very close.

    In the mundane (human) world, the night children (vampires) hunt, werewolves defend their packs, and sexy shadowhunters prowl the streets of New York city. This book I couldn’t put down, and I’m so glad I shared it with you.

     A whopping 5 Stars for this popular book!

    Thanks, Elena, for sending us your book review. We appreciate that.


  • Grimm

    Star Wars Zombies

    14.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    Further to this, and this, there’s this.

    What next?

    (Thanks to Magalie for the link.)


  • Competition, Simon

    A competition for you

    13.08.09 | Permalink | Comment?

    Te Papa have given us some double passes for Our Space to give away, so we’ve thrown together a little quiz to do. It’s really easy, although I wrote it so I probably just think it’s easy. It might actually be quite hard. Anyway, all correct (or mostly correct) entries will go in the draw for one of the double passes. We’ll draw the winners next Friday, the 21 of August.

    All entries must be WCL YA cardholders! Sorry but there it is.

    Update (a couple of days later, namely on Tuesday the 25th): C’est fini! Congratulations to Zach who will be getting some passes in the post as soon as Simon comes back from his day off.


« Previous Entries
» Next Entries