Monster Mash

A  little  music  in  the Spirit  of fun:

all alameda libraries are closed today

It  is a staff development  day – but we  will see  you  tomorrow!

zombies!

I know I posted today , but I just ran across a very cool site with zombie pumpkin carvings

and while you are here check out the zombie books at the library

Avengers

I  have  to  wait ….sigh

 

Shakespeare

So I’m  happy  to  hear that  Joss  Whedon (  creator of  Buffy  the Vampire  Slayer, Dr.  Horrible’s  sing-along  blog and director/writer of  the  new Avengers  movie)  has just -  over  the course of 12 days-shot  a new movie, Much Ado about Nothing  . As you may have guessed, this is a movie based on a Shakespeare play. I’m looking forward to it and this quote from Entertainment Weekly explains why:

The direction we were getting from Joss was to make it was real, especially with the language, not to be big and Shakespearian, but to bring it in and be intimate and bring it as close to a realistic way of speaking as we could

Shakespeare’s language can be difficult to read, but when you hear it done well, the playfulness comes out ( you don’t need to catch every word) . You don’t know what I mean – watch this clip from Comic relief – with David Telnet and Catherine Tate of Dr. Who :

Curious? Kenneth Branagh did an excellent version of Much Ado about Nothing

halloween treat ideas

Are  you  heading to a  party  this weekend? or  just trying to  get  into  the spirit? Here  are  a  few  easy  treats to  help  you  celebrate.

PopCorn Hands

Oreo Spiders This one has them made with pretzel legs, but I’ve seen them made with shoestring licorice as well.

and with a little more cooking Surprise Pumpkin treats

Starstruck

Starstruck by Cyn Balog. I bring home a lot of books – and when I was looking at this , I couldn’t remember why I brought it home. When I first started it , I wasn’t sure either . The Story : Gwendolyn ( aka Dough ) has a best friend that moved to CA. They have kept in touch and become long distance boyfriend and girlfriend. And then Wish ( yes, that is his name ) is coming back east. However, there have been some changes. Dough has gained 70 lbs and Wish has gone from dork to hottie. Naturally, Dough is nervous , but strangely Wish doesn’t seem to even noticed – and is thrilled to be with her again . Something more is going on…

What starts out as an angst-filled teenage romance because an exciting story with a some paranormal and adventure elements. It was a very enjoyable read and hard to put down. I liked a lot of the characters, including a number of the secondary characters. The only thing I didn’t like were some of the names. Recommended for 14 and up .

Chistopher Walken reads ‘the Raven”

Lots of people have read this poem — I have to say I think Christopher Walken is excellent

ghost movies for everyone

Poltergeist Classic story of those unknown noises and bumps and thumps

Ghostbusters Fun, funny, Bill Murry

Topper A sophisticated and playful couple become ghosts and haunt the life of a stuffy banker

The Others A woman moves into a new home with her children, and becomes convinced the house is haunted. This is a movie that is subtle, but I had to watch during the day.

Corpse Bride In a 19th century European village a young man, Victor, is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious corpse bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living

Sleepy HollowIt is Johnny Depp . I was tempted to leave it at that but….In this version of Washington Irving’s classic tale, Ichabod Crane is an eccentric investigator sent to Sleepy Hollow to probe a series of murders allegedly committed by a headless horseman

Ghost Rider Nicolas Cage I can’t claim this is a great movie, but it might be a good reminder that it isn’t a great idea to sell your soul.

GhostA romantic movie of ghost that stays around to save his girlfriend’s life

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir At the turn of the century a young widow and her daughter move into a cottage on the English coast. Soon she learns that the cottage is haunted by the ghost of its former owner, a sea captain. When he finds he can’t scare her away, they soon fall into a most unlikely love affair.

Three Musketeers

So it is Friday – and time for a  new  movie  trailer , but it is a  remake and a movie  that  has  been  done many  times.  I knew Mickey Mouse did a version, I did not know that Barbie did a version. If you are intrigued by the story , here is a link to the book. And here is one of the many older versions of the movie .

And of course, the trailer for the new version: