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Teen Blog

Reading, Wellington, and whatever else – teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

Month: July 2011

Get your zombie gleek on!

 

Blog-Image copyIt’s on again – the Zombie vs Gleeks Trivia Night (we had to postpone it last time – sorry, won’t happen again).

You, your mates and zombies, Glee, prizes, gloating rights, free food, brains! Wait, what…?

Okay, there might not be brains, but eveything else will be there. Pull a team of Glee and Zombie experts together and get ready for the Zombies Vs. Gleeks Trivia Night.

Open for teams of 13 to 18 year olds (min 2 – max 4), the Zombies Vs. Gleeks Teen Trivia Night will be at the Wellington Central Library on September 2nd at 6.30pm. Registrations open soon and places will be limited so get your team ready to go and start planning your costumes.

A Writing Master Class with John Marsden

Wellington City Libraries, The Children’s Bookshop and MacMillan Publishers announce

A Writing Master Class for Teenagers with John Marsden.

Best-selling Australian author and teacher John Marsden (author of the Tomorrow when the War Began series) will be presenting a writing class for young writers as a fund raiser for Christchurch.

Saturday 13th August 10am to 12pm, Wellington City Library, Victoria St. (Mezzanine Floor), for 13-18yr olds.

Cost $30 -at the request of John Marsden all proceeds will go to the Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Strictly limited to the first 30 people on a first come/first served basis- to book please contact the Children’s Bookshop, Shop 26, Kilbirnie Plaza, Kilbirnie, Wellington.  

t: 04 3873905

f: 04 3873288

e: childbkwgtn@xtra.co.nz

Music/Poems

Are haikus getting old? Is there another form of poetry you would like to see music reviews in? Comment away.

mastodon live

Live At The Aragon – Mastodon
Crack The Skye in its
entirety, plus other
concert favourites

liam finn

Fomo – Liam Finn
Displaying usual
consistent quality with
added “spaciness”

eddie vedder

Ukulele Songs – Eddie Vedder
Pearl Jam front man jumps
on bandwagon. What have you
wrought, uke orchestra?!?

flaming lips stardeath etc

The Dark Side Of The Moon – The Flaming Lips & Stardeath And White Dwarfs
Pink Floyd opus by
way of Wayne Coyne’s musical
circus plus Peaches

kitty daisy and lewis

Smoking In Heaven – Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
As a child of the
nineties, musical siblings
recall Hanson bros

neon trees

Habits – Neon Trees
American alt-
rock band from Provo, Utah.
Good ole wiki, eh?

The Hunger Games Motion Poster

The moving poster for The Hunger Games movie has just been released, and it looks pretty cool:

Read More

Rock Fight!

Two noteworthy music videos were released yesterday and they will battle it out on your computer screens in our new feature, Rock Fight! How exactly do pieces of film set to music battle you ask? By being watched sequentially and then voted on in the comments. Easy.

Our first combatants in the ring are The Beastie Boys featuring Santigold with Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win off their album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.

Good stuff, Beasties! (FYI; Santigold’s album is here)

Taking them on in this titanic struggle is Rebecca Black with her new song, My Moment. She doesn’t have an album yet because she is such a fresh new artist, but I understand an ep is in the works, look for it coming to the library soon!

Nice one, Rebecca!

Now that you’ve sized up both contenders, vote for your favourite in the comments. Who will win the Rock Fight!?!

Trailer Tuesday!

There are SO MANY movie trailers out. It is exciting! An exciting time to be into film!

First, and it’s a week old I know, is Tintin, which needs no introduction. Watch it here at the official site!

What? The? Heck? A Glee movie. In 3D, too.

Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been made into a film. It is a kid’s book, sure, but I am certain that it can be enjoyed by all ages. Like Harry Potter, or Lego. Here is the trailer.

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the original Tarzan stories. A hundred years ago! That is how old Tarzan is. Burroughs also wrote about John Carter, a man from Earth who ends up on Mars, where he saves the planet’s inhabitants (we don’t seem to have any of the books, sadly). And now a film has been made! Here is the first trailer.

Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows now has a trailer. I enjoyed the first Holmes film quite considerably!  It was silly, silly, fun, and we all need a little silly fun now and then (FACT!)

There’s still one more trailer! It is for the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Go here to watch it (some trailers just don’t want to be embedded!). It’s only a teaser, so don’t expect too much. Because really it’s just a man in a hospital bed talking.

~ Le Fin ~

How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

 Biohazard-Warning-Sign-S-0243

To begin with, here is an actual government website from the US on how to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Prepared!

In the Wellington City Libraries we also have…

Zombie survival guide: complete protection from the living dead/ Max Brooks.


This wonderful book from the non fiction section covers everything you need to get prepared when the undead attack. Need to defend a building? Head out into the bush? Which weapon works best against the undead? Seriously it’s all covered. And one of the important things I learnt from this book – NEVER set fire to a zombie. They take a long time to burn and keep walking. Major fire hazard.
 

The Teen’s Guide to World Domination: advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of awesomeness / Josh Shipp

Sure, surviving is definitely going to be a priority at least initially. But after a while it’s just not going to be enough. This book will help you work out a plan to not just make it through the zombie attacks – but take over the world at the same time. Also covers disasters involving ninjas, pirates and parents.

 

Zombies vs Unicorns/ Compiled by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

As well as being a great read, this book is excellent for researching possible scenarios for outbreaks, and everyday life once zombies are a widespread problem. What if you are babysitting kids that seem to have bad balance and are kept in a locked room? What if you are a zombie and fall in love with a human who has a father who hunts zombies? What if the zombies are also pirates? Also good for unicorns – particularly the wanting to kill people kind of unicorn for some reason.

Zombie Cupcakes / Zilly Rosen

Because you can. Yummy, yummy zombies.

From the Sporadic News Desk

Some movie/book news:

Maybe people have been wondering what Stephenie Meyer has been doing with her time? Well, she’s going to be producing a movie, Austenland to be exact, starring Keri Russell (from Felicity), Bret McKenzie (from Wellington! and Flight of the Conchords!), and James Callis (from Battlestar Galactica). The movie is based on the book Austenland by Shannon Hale (Goose Girl, etc).

Segueing away, once the final instalment of the Twilight series has finished at the movies, you can expect to see a host of other young adult fiction adaptations: The Mortal Instruments (by Cassandra Clare) and of course The Hunger Games, other rumours/news are/is of Matched (Ally Condie), Shiver (Maggie Stiefvater), Fallen (Lauren Kate), Divergent (Veronica Roth) for example. They’re currently casting The Mortal Instruments, including Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace (he was Caius in the Twilight movies) and Lily Collins as Clary (she was in 90210).

Most of these books above are series, with some follow ups arriving in the next few months: Forever, by Maggie Stiefvater, Crossed by Ally Condie (will be published in November this year), and Passion by Lauren Kate (which should be available very very soon, having just arrived in the library), plus Divergent is the first in a planned trilogy, so this means many more movies, lots of them having the world falling apart. Goodie.

Sort of connected to the movies and books, and related to our earlier post about Pottermore, now you sort of know what it is and if you’re keen, Pottermore is giving you the chance to enter the site early – so mark the 31st of July in your calendars and go visit the site to find out more. Pottermore is also tweeting updates and previews.

In the mean time, enjoy Harry Potter 7P2!

Creative Writing Workshop

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer?

Register now for a place at the Creative Writing Workshop, places are limited, so be quick about it.

28th July at Karori Library, 10 am – 3 pm, $40. Email juliafletcher113@hotmail.com to book. For 13-18 year olds.

Some New Things To Hear

 

 

arctic monkeys

Suck It And See – The Arctic Monkeys
You shouldn’t take the
title literally, tastes like
plastic and cardboard

transformers

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
How they resisted
temptation to include Pink
Floyd is beyond me

i see stars

The End Of The World Party – I See Stars
Someone’s primary
instrument is listed as
“screams” in liner notes

paloma faith

Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? – Paloma Faith
But, Paloma, you’re
beautiful. Does this mean you
don’t exist? #confused

lady antebellum

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
“Antebellum” is
an architectural style.
The more you know, huh?

emily osment

Fight Or Flight – Emily Osment
Hannah Montana
franchise spawns another
teen pop sensation

More New Books

From sibling tragedy through the assassination of a prime minister, to an alternate dystopian 1950s (can the past be dystopian?): here’s a small collection of new fiction.

Karma, Cathy Ostlere (517 pages) – Maya travels with her father to India to return her mother’s ashes to their final resting place. It is 1984, and on their arrival Indira Gandhi is killed, causing chaos, and thousands are murdered in a bloody massacre. Separated from her father, Maya must disguise herself and accept the help of Sandeep to save herself. Written in verse.

First lines: How to begin. Click. How. To. Begin. Click. Click. Click.

Hush, Eishes Chayil (340 pages) – Set in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn (New York), Hush tells the story of Gittel, who witnesses the abuse of her best friend Devory, causing her to question her ideas about her community and her faith and her upbringing.

First sentences: Devory? Devory? Devory, can you hear me?

The Iron Thorn, Caitlin Kittredge (492 pages) – this is the one about the alternate 1950s where everything’s pretty bleak: “mechanically gifted fifteen-year-old Aoife Grayson, whose family has a history of going mad at sixteen, must leave the totalitarian city of Lovecraft and venture into the world of magic to solve the mystery of her brother’s disappearance and the mysteries surrounding her father and the Land of Thorn”. (cover summary)

First sentence: There are seventeen madhouses in the city of Lovecraft.

Love, Inc, Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout (409 pages) – Three girls meet in group counseling for children whose parents divorce, finding they’ve got a lot in common, including a cheating boyfriend (Eric/Rico/Rick). So begins Project Payback, a roaring success, which leads them to establish a consultancy service for those similarly duped in love (the service being called Love, Inc).

First sentence: Senora Mendoza keeps a hand on the doorknob and her eyes on the clock.

Sean Griswold’s Head, Lindsey Leavitt (274 pages) – Payton is seeing a guidance counselor to help her deal with her father’s multiple sclerosis. The counselor suggests she focus on an object, so naturally Payton chooses Sean Griswold’s head, since she sits behind him in class every day. Her project soon turns into a crush (then perhaps a friendship?), then hopefully it will lead her to “focus on herself” (book cover).

First sentence: Nothing creates a buzz like an Executive Deluxe day planner.

Between Here and Forever, Elizabeth Scott (250 pages) – Abby’s sister, Tess, is the perfect one, but following an accident Tess is in a coma and Abby – who has always been in her shadow or, worse, invisible – discovers she’d rather live with her than without. So she plans to bring Tess back, with the help of gorgeous Eli, only to discover her sister has secrets…

First sentence: I lean forward and look at Tess.

Trapped, Michael Northrop (232 pages) – Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason, plus four others, are left stranded at their school during a blizzard. Sounds like an opportunity to have some fun, but then the power goes, and the heat, and the running water, and it’s not fun any more at all, and “the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision” (book cover).

First sentence: We were the last seven kids waiting around to get picked up from Tattawa Regional High School.