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Teen Blog

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

Month: June 2010

Comment And Win!

winWe have some sport themed prizes to give away; All Whites posters courtesy of New Zealand Football and Rip Curl Pro Search surfing DVDs courtesy of Kiwi Surf. If they sound like your cup of tea, be one of the first two people to comment on this post and they’re yours. Easy.

Five New CDs

Rap veterans De La Soul took a look back upon their careers in 2003 and realised they had accumulated enough “hits” to seperate out the “greatest” ones onto a CD and make a nice sounding compilation out of it. Timeless was the aptly named result. Includes the fantastic; Me, Myself and I, Ring Ring Ring (Hey Hey Hey) and the fantastically named; Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa

Progression Vol. 2 promises on the cover to be “A journey through the big room club sounds of 2009”. A quick google search sheds no light on what exactly big room clubs sound like, but as it’s a Ministry Of Sound compilation, big trance records are a good guess. Features remixes of tracks by Oliver Twizt, Juan Kidd, Cunnie Williams, MDX and other artists.

After looking through the liner notes of Bi-On-Ic, Christina Aguilera’s new album, I can inform you that she’s taken a leaf out of the Lady Gaga book of fashion. Has she been similarly influenced music-wise? Probably. The cover is pretty exciting, it’s a hologram that when tilted at the correct angle, makes her look like a robot. +1 for robots.

Local dubsters, Fat Freddy’s Drop have been to the UK recently. They played some shows and whatnot and now we have live documentation, Live at Roundhouse London. It only has six songs on it, but they are all well over 10 minutes long. So don’t be fooled looking at the tracklisting and thinking you’re getting “shortchanged” somehow.

Hey, remember Pluto? Their rhythm section formed a side project called Nightchoir, which has now turned into a middle project (that’s the opposite of side project, right?). Anyway, 24 Hours Of Night is what they’ve come up with and early reviews call it “staggeringly beautiful” a “focused vision” and “alt-country”. Pretty much sums it up for me.

One New Book and a Clip

The new book:

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, Stephenie Meyer (178 pages) – I have been told that Stephenie Meyer says you should probably read this book before seeing the Eclipse movie. No pressure: you’ve got a week. Bree Tanner, as you know, had the misfortune to live in the area when Victoria was creating her vampire army – this tells you all about Bree’s vampire life, from go to woah.

The clip:

As people have been discussing what’s the new vampire (although, what with The Vampire Diaries finally being on TV and Eclipse and all you’d be forgiven for thinking that vampires are the new vampire), we thought we’d add this clip below to the mix. Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver (a book about werewolves) and Ballad (a book about fairies) has her own theory:

We quite like this idea. We think it has legs. (Also: Linger, the sequel to Shiver, will be out soon.)

Hello birdie

Landcare Research would like your help for the 2010 Garden Bird Survey. It takes an hour, and all you need to do is count the different bird species you see in your backyard, school, park, garden, or meadow (I think that covers it). It’s been going on for a few years now, and the results are used to find out if common bird populations are increasing or decreasing. SO if you want to do it you can go to this webpage and download an identification flyer with a recording form. Will house sparrows win for the fourth year running? Will silvereyes make a late resurgence?

Smart Girls at the Party

Smart Girls at the Party is a digital TV series in which Amy Poehler interviews girls who do really cool stuff (the latest has someone who makes robots! And also is an archer). It’s won a Webby! And it is also very funny. And inspiring. You should watch it (the second series has just begun).

Here, Listen

rolling stonesThe Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main St. has been given a deluxe reissue, presumably for its 38th anniversary. On disc number one is the original classic (really, classic) album from 1972, considered by many as the definitive Rolling Stones work and on disc number two are ten bonus tracks originally left on the cutting room floor, but recently given a re-working. Kind of a borrow one free, get another one free deal there.

glee 3Glee : the music. Volume 3, Showstoppers deluxe is the latest from the Glee stable of cover versions. Included on this volume are Glee-a-fied tracks by The Beatles, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Lionel Richie, Parliament and a whole lot more. It also features a guest spot from Olivia Newton-John. So far five Glee soundtracks have been released – that’s a lot.

jack johnsonThis month polite soft-rocker Jack Johnson released his latest, To The Sea. Mellow acoustic strumming and sleepy grooves with introspective lyrics sit side by side on this one. Jack Johnson fact: he was a professional surfer at the age of 17, but injured himself in his first competition and decided music was the better route. Then his first five albums went platinum and it seemed to be a wise choice.

black keysThis is a short paragraph about an album by The Black Keys. The name of this album is Brothers. This album is their sixth and it seems to be their big commercial breakthrough, reaching number three on the Billboard charts on debut – deservedly so, because it is great. Once I saw them play live and the drummer was playing so hard he broke one of his sticks, but then he picked up another one out of his kit and kept playing without missing a beat. Good stuff.

Australian drum and bassers Pendulum have a new one called Immersion on our shelves. It includes an appearance from Prodigy’s Liam Howlett. Pendulum have received a lot of praise from the drum and bass community since their beginnings in 2002 and it has continued with this release. Make your house sound like a commercial for a snowboard shop.

Local hip-hopper David Dallas used to be known as Con Psy and was one half of Frontline. He dropped the moniker for his solo career because he never introduced himself to people using his alias and felt more comfortable using his birth name. Anyway, his second, Something Awesome is now available.

lcdA contender for Teen Blog album of 2010 is This Is Happening by James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem. Murphy has stated in interviews that this will be his last album as LCD Soundsystem and if so, boy oh boy has he gone out on a high note. More excellent dance music for the rock kids, especially the David Bowie sampling All I Want.

Teen Blog Upgrade

In order to create more “atmosphere” on the blog, we have devised an optional “upgrade” so that your browsing experience feels more like it’s happening inside a World Cup stadium in South Africa. To switch over to vuvuzela mode click here.

John Green on the All Whites on Twitter

John Green, co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Web 2.0 enthusiast had this to say about the All Whites’ effort against Italy at the World Cup (so we thought it was worth a mention): “A heroic, relentless performance by #NZL. Just unbelievable. I am kind of in tears to be honest.” (In context here. He’s set up a special world cup Twitter account @johnsworldcup, plus his regular Twitter account is @realjohngreen, complete with a million + followers.) Needless to say, we like John Green.

Speaking of Twitter, Wellington City Libraries is on Twitter too (@wcl_library). You can follow us for updates on recently acquired interesting library items, what’s going on at the moment, and notifications of new blog posts, like on this here blog, for example.

This post was brought to you by Library Serf, in the absence of regular football reporter, Roberto B, who is recovering.

(Thanks to Kym for info too.)

A simple question (or two)…

Just curious…

Answer these two questions by commenting on this post.

  • What’s inside your perfect library?
  •  …and what does this library (and the librarians inside it) do for you?

TC 2010

The Teen Choice Awards 2010 nominees have been announced, and you can vote for your favourite (so long as you’re a teen living in the US,  but don’t let that stop you) daily on the official website. There are like a million categories to vote in! Maybe we should run our own, Wellington-only version?

Incredibly G.I. Joe : Rise of Cobra has five nominations, which frankly boggles the mind.

Read a massive list of the more interesting nominees by clicking on ‘more’ below.

Read More

Go To The World Cup! Sort Of

The Football World Cup kicks off tomorrow morning, most of us won’t be in attendance because South Africa is a long way away. But thanks to technology you can travel to the stadiums the games will be played in from the comfort of your own home by following this link. Sure, you could just watch the games on TV, but these virtual tours are in 3D thanks to Google Earth and therefore cooler.

Piles Of Music. Piles!

dead weatherJack White’s second side project gets a second album. Number two for Dead Weather is Sea Of Cowards. They’re fast workers, it’s been less than a year since the band debuted and they’ve gotten through their fair share of touring too. Luckily a busy schedule fits Dead Weather’s jam band style and with the amount of playing together it just means they sound tighter and more assured.

b.o.b.B.o.B is, as far as I know at least, the only rapper ever to have guest spots from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and Eminem on the same album. If that sounds like a baffling mix, it’s because it is. Listen to The adventures of Bobby Ray, though and you’ll come to the realisation that it’s a fair reflection on B.o.B.’s eclectic, energetic style.

A pair of Hot Chip albums; The Warning, from 2006, and Made In The Dark, from 2008. Quirky indie-electro from the UK, it’s dance music for headphones and pop for the fringes. Made In The Dark is the introspective one and The Warning is the awkward dance party. Recommended.

bat for lashesPakistan born, English raised, Bat For Lashes released her second album, Two Suns last year to rave reviews. Cute indie-pop with a pleasing depth to it – there’s a lot going on underneath the catchy surface to reward repeated listenings. If the Cat Powers and the PJ Harveys get heavy rotation on your stereo, this should too.

metronomyNights Out by Metronomy is yet more party focussed electro for our shelves. Slick, exciting and modern, it’s an hour-long soundtrack for a, well, night out. They toured here a few months ago and Teen Blog sources reported a fun, sweaty experience.

justiceParisian electro duo Justice picked up the torch where Daft Punk left off with their debut, Cross. Released in 2007 it reinvigorated the dance genre with it’s anything goes approach and devil may care attitude. Due to the sample heavy nature it sounds like dance music for the rock kids and rock music for the dance kids. Recommended.

The Seventeen Magazine Project

As you perhaps know, we carry Seventeen magazine. We usually have two copies of each issue! I think they send us an extra copy? Anyway, an eighteen-year-old named Jamie Keiles is heroically attempting to “spend one month living according to the gospel of Seventeen Magazine”. It’s a difficult task, but she’s doing it so you and I don’t have to. Read her blog, The Seventeen Magazine Project, here.

Some penguins playing football

Someone points out that we (i.e., NZ) should do it with Kiwis.

Pretty Little Liars on telly

Pretty Little Liars is now a television series. It will premier in the US in a few days’ time. This is what it’s about!

Three years ago the leader (Alison) of a group of girls disappears. Now someone calling themselves ‘A’ is threatening to expose the secrets of the group, who all fit the Gossip Girl mold. With a bit of mystery thrown in, the series has been called ‘Desperate Housewives for teens.’

(I wrote that a year ago and now not so sure about the Desperate Housewives reference?) Anyway! You can view the trailer here, at the official site. You have to watch an ad for cheese slices first though. It’s produced by the same people who make The Vampire Diaries, which will screen here eventually, apparently.

An Interview With Tamsyn Murray

tamsyn_murrayNoted author, Tamsyn Murray, recently agreed to an exclusive interview with Teen Blog, which was nice. Born and raised in the UK, she’s got one YA book to her credit, My So-Called Afterlife (a colleague describes it as “gripping”, so it’s very good) with another on the way very soon. We asked her about writing, reading and cricket …

At what age did you begin writing? And when did you know it was something wanted to get paid for doing?

I’ve always loved writing stories and can remember dreaming up characters and scenarios from a young age. English was definitely my favourite subject at school but I didn’t start to wonder if I could write professionally until 2008, when I read a how-to-write book and everything fell into place. So I like to think I spent the first thirty-five years of my life learning how to write. Either that or I wasted them!

What other YA authors do you read and enjoy?

I’m an enormous fan of Neil Gaiman, who writes across a range of ages, and I loved The Graveyard Book. Other YA books I’ve read recently include The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Wasted by Nicola Morgan and Girl, Aloud by Emily Gale – three very different books but all outstanding.

Where did the idea for My So Called Afterlife come from? I assume the title is a nod to Clare Danes…

The idea for My So-Called Afterlife came when I was wondering what would happen if the building a ghost haunted got knocked down and something else got built on top – would the ghost haunt the new building? What if was something like a toilet? Then the character of Lucy appeared in my head, stamping her Ugg boots and demanding I tell her story. The title arrived after the book was finished and, yes, I was a fan of My So-Called Life.

A lot of the readers on this blog are aspiring writers, and judging by the short story competition entries we receive, they are also very talented, give them some tips on getting that first book published.

The best thing I ever did was find my literary agent. She made suggestions on where I could improve the book and knew which publishers to send it to once it was ready. It’s thanks to her that my novel found a home so I’d recommend aspiring writers try to find an agent on the same wavelength. They might take a percentage of your earnings but without mine, I’d be earning a lot less!

My So Called Haunting is due to be released soon, what can we expect from novel number two?

A different main character, for a start! My So-Called Haunting introduces Skye, a fourteen year old psychic who moves to London to stay with her aunt, Celestine. As Skye struggles to settle into her new life, she’s also developing a crush on the most unattainable boy in the school, Nico.

When her aunt asks for her help with a troubled teen ghost called Dontay, she’s glad of the distraction. But then Nico starts paying her attention, and she’s soon facing a battle to keep her love life and her psychic life separate.

As things get ever more complicated, it looks as though Dontay’s past might cost Skye her future.

We enjoy haiku and you enjoy cricket, write us a cricket themed haiku.

Erm, ok. This is my first ever haiku and I suspect it’s not very good! But here goes:

Bowler sights pale stumps
a crack of ball on willow
summer is a game

*      *      *      *      *      *

my so-called lifeMy So-Called Afterlife is available for issue on our catalogue, click on the title to place a reserve. For more Tamsyn Murray news, go to her website where she has all the details of her work, along with a link to her frequently updated and very interesting blog.