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

Month: April 2009 Page 1 of 2

The Phoenix Foundation, in the library, in person

Event alert! We’ve got another group of musos for NZ Music Month!

Samuel Scott and Luke Buda from The Phoenix Foundation will be at the Wellington Central Library on May 28th at 4.30pm. They’re taking a break from their national tour to visit and give you guys a chance to get up close and personal and ask them about whatever you want to know (like music and stuff).

The Phoenix Foundation did the theme song for that cool NZ Movie Eagle Vs. Shark! Here’s some of their work.

No bookings are required at this free event. Put it in your diaries!

Another Three CDs

Yes, as the title would imply there are three new CDs ready to be issued and enjoyed.

Australia’s Ben Lee and The Rebirth Of Venus has arrived. You might remember his hit We’re All In This Together from a few years ago, and this is more of the same acoustic guitar driven pop.

Lady Sovereign has a new one called Jigsaw. More of the UK rap from a female perspective, only this time a little bit more electro influenced.

And finally, Grammy Nominees 2009. Which unsurprisingly includes tracks by artists who were nominated for the most recent Grammy awards. Includes Maroon 5, Katy Perry, The Jonas Brothers and more…

Free Realms very nearly open

Free Realms, the mostly free MMO from Sony, opens today (the website is currently under maintenance in preparation). It’s a game for all ages, and is laden with minigames, pets, PvP, cardgames, and all that. People who have played it seem to love it and find plenty of things to do.

Check out the trailer for it below:

Similarly, take a gander at Wizard101, another MMO for all ages.

Previous MMO posts.

We’re getting ready for NZ Music Month…

… And we need your help!

If you could ask musicians some questions about their job, what would you want to know?

Post your awesome questions in the comment section below. We’re going to find some musos to quiz, so we need to know what to ask them.

raptureruckusWe’ve got some really cool stuff planned for NZMM. First up is a talk by Brad Dring of Rapture Ruckus (pictured) on May 8, 4.30pm at the Central Library. It’s a FREE chance to get up close to a muso who has played all over the world. Check out his website, and also this previous post with a (very catchy) clip from a concert.

Selector: and the winner was

selector illustrationInside Girl, by J Minter. And the crowd goes wild (except for the people who were in the Morganville camp – who knows, the library may end up investing in this series too in the future).

Inside Girl

Thanks for playing. We’ll draw one lucky Inside Girl supporter to be first in the queue for when the series arrives!

Postscript: message from Paula the Selector – “think I might order the vampires as well, they seem […] fun!” So there you go.

Flora Wins an Award

book coverThe book with the cool, long title, Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) by Ysabeau S. Wilce, has been acknowledged at the annual Nebula Awards, being given the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (a suitably long award title).

book coverFlora fans will be chuffed to hear this. If you’re a Flora fan and you feel so moved, you can send us a review. We’re curious to hear about the books (the other is Flora Segunda, being the magickal mishaps of a girl of spirit, her glass-gazing sidekick, two ominous butlers (one blue), a house with eleven thousand rooms, and a red dog).

Pew pew pew

Here’s some games for the weekend, before school starts again.

Gemcraft Chapter 0 – Haven’t played it, to be honest.
Bridgecraft – Build bridges (using physics) to help cute little jelly alien things not drown.
Scarygirl – This is really, REALLY cool.
Capeoira Fighter 3 – a fighting game, where you can play against the computer, or against other people.
Deepleap – Make words from the letters for points, and before the timer. Like Scrabble + Tetris + Space Invaders.
Hex Empire – a realtime strategy game, sort of like Empire or Risk. I’m a bit useless at it.
Don’t Look Back – this has the most basic graphics, but don’t be put off – the gameplay is madly addictive.
Viking Defense – You’re a viking! Yay!
Hands of War – Old-school RPG.

Enjoy.

New DVDs

Only three new DVDs this week, but they will be popular.

High School Musical 3 : Senior Year (G) – this is the ‘extended edition’, which means that it has bloopers, deleted scenes, extra scenes, a sing-along, and much more. It had a higher budget than the previous HSM films, so has more oomph as well.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (M) – This is actually based on the fourth book in the series, although it does use bits from the second and third books as well. Stars Ugly Betty, a Gilmore Girl, a Gossip Girl, and Joan, from Arcadia.

Ben 10 Alien Force : Vol 2 (PG) – episodes six to nine of the pretty cool animated series.

Hey, we have some new music.

The first new CD is Crusty Demons: Unleash Hell 2009. It seems they’ve soundtracked the unleashing of said hell with “34 adrenalin fueled rock hits from 1994-2007” that are all keeping in line with their brand of motorcycle trickery. Includes System Of A Down, Korn, Fall Out Boy and other similar acts.

Brandy’s fifth album Human came out last year, but it’s new to the library. It’s more chart-friendly R&B from the consistent songstress. For fans of Beyonce etc.

Local lads Kora have just popped out with a live EP called  Kora! Kora! Kora! : Cabaret Voltaire sessions. If you liked these songs on the albums, you’ll want the live versions too.

All of these and lots more are now available for issuing. Sorry, no playlist again 🙁

 

A Classic Reworking of a Classic

book coverThis is such a good idea I’m really quite dark I didn’t think of it myself. How to make Jane Austen better? Add zombies! But of course. With Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith has created a whole new genre (I guess you could call it B Grade Horror Movie Treatment of Classic Novels, or Classic Novel Mash Ups), which is not easy in the 21st Century.

I have reserved it myself, since I had to study Pride and Prejudice and I wasn’t a fan of Mr Darcy, so this is therapy. I have it on good authority that the books are actually in the central library building, so it won’t be long until they’re circulating happily; Mr Darcy, Elizabeth, Jane, the immensely irritating Lydia, and zombies!

Reserve it now (there’s a queue, but why wouldn’t there be?). 

Hot news is that Seth Grahame-Smith is going to apply the same treatment to Abraham Lincoln in a story about the great US president and his escapades as a top vampire hunter (you didn’t know that about Abraham Lincoln, did you?).

More Vampire stuff

The Vampire Diaries are to be made into a television pilot, which is good news for fans of the books and fans of vampires. And fans of television, too. And fans of Ian Somerhalder, also, who has been cast as the vamp Damon.

The original four-volume Vampire Diaries series has been around since the ’90s, and are still popular. A new trilogy has just begun with the first new book, Nightfall. All are available from your local library, probably.

Twilight DVD all go!

The library now has Twilight on DVD. If the book’s popularity is anything to go by, the reservation queue for the DVD will quickly become huge. Here are some links to the catalogue entries; the YA copy is 50c for a YA cardholder, but the adult copy is the full $4 charge. There will also be ‘Select‘ copies, which cost $4, are issued for 3 days, but are available directly from the shelf (when not taken) as they can’t be reserved.

Twilight DVD – YA Copies
Twilight DVD – Adult Copies

We will be getting more copies soon. The film is rated M for supernatural themes and violence. The official trailer is after the Read more …

Read More

HP and the 1/2 BP

The latest and last trailer for the next Harry Potter film – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – has been released. Watch it below! Now doesn’t that look good.

Can’t remember the story? Here’s the book. We also carry all the other Harry Potter films on DVD.

More Parkour (on wheels)

As readers of this blog know, I really like parkour/free-running. (Previous posts.) And you should too. After the ‘more’ there’s an incredible Youtube clip of someone riding a bike up, down, and over all things urban. (It’s really called freestyle BMX.) Enjoy, and don’t try any stunts yourself

Read More

Selector: the final countdown

selector illustrationIt’s Inside Girl versus Morganville Vampires! What to pick, what to pick?

Do Texan vampires have a show at defeating Flan Flood? Will the fangs come out, and if they do will the vampires cope?

So, readers, you get to choose which series the library will purchase: it’s the vampires whose peaceful towny existence is disrupted by the arrival of the evil Bishop versus a rich kid who used to attend an exclusive academy but decides to rub elbows with students at a typical high school (proper descriptions are here).

Morganville Vampires        Inside Girl

You’ve got until next Tuesday to decide: this is the final round, so get voting! One lucky voter will get the chance to be first in the queue for the winning literary treasure.

ps congratulations to Rachel for picking up the voucher for 2 free DVD rentals.

Tomorrow’s Twilight DVD

Tomorrow the Twilight DVD will be released. Since DVDs and CDs don’t become available on the library catalogue until they’re actually in the building, you won’t be able to reserve it until they’re ready. Which will be tomorrow morning, hopefully. We – the Teen Blog – will update as soon as they’re ready! And you can reserve your copy! Before everyone else does!

So keep reading!

Book Review: Twilight

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

book coverI liked the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, for three main reasons. One being the fact it was voyeuristic therefore making it personal and intimate, it makes you see the world through the characters’ eyes and relate your personal experiences and personality to them. Another reason is the way the characters are shown; the fact that they are enigmatic, which makes you want to know more, and realistic, which makes you think you’ve really met them. The last is the theme “love” which is shown in a modern, edgy way, that’s both original and old-school, it really makes you wonder. Overall, I think the books are well-written and different, no wonder they were a big success.

~ Natalia

Top 10: pushing play

This isn’t really a Top 10 list as such, since I know zero about sports fiction and have no idea what’s top and what’s not; this is more a selection of young adult fiction that has sporting themes of different sorts. See what you think anyway. Let me know if you’ve read a good sports book recently too (I refrained from putting my favourite book here, Life at these Speeds, but, oh no, there I go, I’ve mentioned it anyway (athletics)).

  1. book coverAmazing Grace, Megan Shull (tennis)
  2. Ironman, Chris Crutcher (triathlon)
  3. Hero, Perry Moore. This is sport but with superheroes. It’s good.
  4. Rash, Pete Hautman. Reading Rants (which is a great review website, by the way) suggests this is futuristic, dystopian and involves football.
  5. Soccer Chick Rules, Dawn Fitzgerald (football)
  6. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Chris Crutcher (swimming)
  7. book coverBall Don’t Lie, Matt de la Pena (basketball)
  8. How to Ditch Your Fairy, by Justine Larbalestier. When I first saw this book I thought “Nooooo!”. I mean, it seems very silly, but everyone actually likes it. Charlie is a freshman at a sports school and has the misfortune of having a personal parking fairy (as opposed to, for example, an “all the boys think you’re wonderful” type fairy) – you can see why I had doubts.
  9. book coverDairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This is football of the American variety, and the main character is female, which seems refreshing. People like this book (I haven’t read it yet), and its sequel The Off Season.
  10. Alex, Tessa Duder. The great New Zealand literary swimming sensation.

NZ Music Month – Rapture Ruckus

NZ Music Month is May (which is next month, like two weeks away), and as usual the library will hold NZ music-related events. On the 8th of May, Friday, at about 4.30pm, Wellington hip-hop artist Rapture Ruckus will be in to talk on ‘How to get somewhere as a muso’. Mark your calendars!

Check out a clip of him performing live:

 

websites to watch

Website 1: ‘ISSUES.co.nz’ – talking up ideas and issues 

What’s on the hearts and minds of everyday New Zealanders? What gets their goat? Find out on New Zealand’s first purpose-built website for issues campaigns. A great website to watch if you need a speech topic, or if you’re politically inclined.

Website 2: The World Digital Library

Launching April 21, this The World Digital Library is going to be awesome! The project has major international backing and will bring – free of charge – significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. Make sure you check out the promo video.

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