Retro 80s Movies for Summer - What's your favourite retro summer movie?

Yep, Alice Cooper said it well in "School's Out" - You know that glorious feeling of wasting a lazy summer day - here' some movies that are part of a wonderful do-nothing day.

Just to kick off the summer - and the feeling of an eternal summer - here's a round of of retro classic 80s movies that totally have that watching-a-movie-on-a-lazy-summer-day feel:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off	The Breakfast Club	The Goonies	Back to the Future

The Dark Crystal	Labyrinth	The Secret of NIMH	The Princess Bride

Gremlins	Beetlejuice	Ghostbusters	Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Top Gun	Transformers	Predator	Indiana Jones Movies

Shout out to Mr. M. for some of these very rad picks!

What's your favourite retro movie? 

3rd Out-of-this-World Booksale, Lillian H. Smith branch - June 22

This notice is from Tony at Lillian H. Smith

Lillian H Smith is having it's third Out of This World Booksale.  Previous events have been very popular and this years is going to be just as memorable.

It started out as a Science Fiction and Fantasy booksale and it still is for the most part, but this year we are adding some mainstream books.  So if your friends don't care for Speculative Fiction bring them anyway.

We're also expanding from one large room to two.  We will have more graphic books than ever before, including Manga.

While many of our books are former library books, more are donations that we couldn't take or already had.  Many of these are in very good condition and are not marked.

The booksale will be from

• 10:00 - 3:00 on
• Saturday June 22nd 2013
• Lillian H Smith Library. 
• 239 College St. (1 Block east of Spadina)

Bring bags, or better still buy one of ours!

Truth or Dare

Truth or Dare takes place in an isolated hunted beach town called Echo Bay. It all started as a game. A way for Tenley Reed to reclaim her popularity and for Caitlin Thomas to prove she was more than her Harvard application. Sydney wasn’t even there she was hiding behind the camera. But then the three start receiving dares and they’re forced to play along, or expose their darkest secrets. And the dares which are sometimes illegal must be done, in order to prevent the sender from revealing their biggest secrets. But just far will the girls go to keep their truth from surfacing? And who’s is behind the twisted game?

Also check out the book trailer for Truth and Dare:

 

Music Video Monday - Johnny Dangerous

Another lineup of videos in honour of Pride month. This time we are featuring gay hip hop artist Johnny Dangerous who describes himself as: "A top faggot emcee". Hip hip has been historically homophobic but Johnny is one of those artists who is making positive change. Johnny has been on the queer music scene for almost a decade now and has some innovative and fun hip hop music to dance to. The first video on his list is from his second album "Dirty is the new black" and it is entitled "Wan Dat Ass"

The second video is taken from his first album "white hot" and the video is entitled "Curious". It was directed by Alex Hinton and filmed in Los Angele's.

 

And finally we come to out last video, this is the clean version of his song "Take your man". Hope you enjoy this slice of LGTBQ culture and that you check out Pride here in Toronto at the end of the month.Oh and fun fact Johnny was at Toronto Pride in 2007.

 

 

 

Teen Picks

The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

Reviewed by Annie, Agincourt Branch Youth Advisory Group

 I finished reading "The Lucy Variations", and I must say that I did enjoy the book overall. I think what makes this book enjoyable is that I actually play piano myself, although not nearly at the level of main protagonist. This made the book relatable. Although the storyline was somewhat predictable, I liked how the author ended the story by telling us what happened to all the characters. If there was another book in the series, I would read it.

 

 

Icons by Margaret Stohl

Reviewed by Thibieya, Agincourt Branch Youth Advisory Group

The book focuses on a girl named, Rol, in a dystopian setting. Personally, I enjoyed the novel because of the theme. For fans of the Chemical Garden Trilogy and Shatter Me series, they will revel in this novel. Just like the female protagonists in the other books, Rol proves to be a strong, character just as her male counterparts. The ending feels a bit rushed and left to a cliffhanger, but that only builds suspension for the sequel.

 

 

 

Check out the book trailer for the new Icons series below:

 

Teen Game Time - Wii, PS3, 360 - Friday!

Free Wii, PS3, or 360 game time for Teens!  Just bring your GAME face!

• Friday June 14 4:00-5pm
• Friday June 28 2:00-3pm

• S. Walter Stewart Branch - Auditorium
• Ages 11-18

Music Video Monday - Varla Jean Merman

In honour of pride month we are showcasing LGBTQ talent and this week is international chanteuse (and alleged daughter of Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine. She has been wowing almost capacity crowds for a few decades. She was commissioned by Logo to write an educational promo about the Stonewall riots and that is where we will begin. 

 

Next is Varla Jean's parody of the Cher song "Dark lady' - what can one say about this? It needs to be seen to be experienced.

Book of the week - The Night Has Teeth

Kat Kruger should be considered a Canadian treasure. This is her first book and already I feel that we have a unique Canadian voice who really is able to express teenage issues without being in your face about it.

"The Night Has Teeth" is a great novel about a young man Connor Lewis, who has been haunted since kindergarten when he bit another student. Given the chance to go to Paris and to leave this bad memory behind he is nothing but thrilled - but his problems are only about to get worse. His host family in Paris introduce Connor to the underground world of Werewolves, where you are either "born" into it or "bitten" into it. Those born into it transform fully into wolves, those bitten are an abomination of half human/half wolf.

It turns out that Connor is on the wanted list of a 400 hundred year old bitten survivor who is looking for a cure and a way to exterminate werewolves completely. This book is astonishing! The story is gripping, fast paced, and the characters are highly relateable and incredibly well drawn and thought out. The sequel is soon to come out so keep an eye out for it as Kat Kruger is someone to watch out for.

Photographing Séances - talk at North York Central

Kudos to Muriel at North York Central blog for the content of this post:

A while back, there was a post of some great true Canadian tales of hauntings...and here's a great event to follow up! About the history of, trick photography, and why old seance photos are still so fascinating.

 

 Photographing Séances

7:00 p.m., Thursday, June 13

North York Central Library - Auditorium

Please call 416-395-5639 to register.

 

Meredith Inksetter, University of Toronto, Art History, discusses 19th and early 20th century notions of mysterious appearances in photography.  Don't miss this fascinating presentation!

 

        

Steampunk tinkerings + DIY projects

 

   

Are you a tinkerer? dabbler? And want to create something from (almost) nothing?

Here are a few steampunk DIY books - from fashion to baubles and sundries.  But where to find old gears and other metal parts? Find junk and take it apart! Inside that old blender or phone or that alley-way rubble are lots of funky metal do-hickies just waiting to be reconfigured. All you need is some craftiness, a vision, and probably spraypaint + glue gun.

Want googles but on the DIY cheap - like $1 cheap?

Here's the finished pair from the Goggles on a Dollar DIY.  Not too shabby - looks great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. This steampunk bunny is too cute - no?