Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

My bestie asked for some helpful hints about a visit to Universal Orlando, so here goes. I just went 2 weeks ago, so this is a recent, and December experience! It should be mentioned that I am NOT a big theme park person, but I did want to experience Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 1. As to telling you what order to do what ride, truly download the Orlando Universal Apps, there is one that specifically tells you how long the waits are. Even though we had Express Passes, the non-express pass folks never waited more than 20 minutes for anything. This is apparently a great time of year to go--Disney AND Universal in Jan., according to my sources. Also, I'm a big fan of just starting in the back and working my way forward so by the end of the day I'm close to the exit. 2. When it comes to Harry Potter, I agree with this article: http://fieldtripswithsue.com/ the-world-of-harry-potter/ 3. Go to Harry Potter part of the park first, it was the busiest section of the pa...

Remember a while back when I shared Kazu Kibiushi's artwork on the 15th anniversary Harry Potter book covers? Well, this week while I was putting Kibiushi's graphic novel, Copper, on hold for one of my favorite patrons--a 9 year old who comes in every week, multiple times per week; a voracious reader who loves to talk books with me and Prairie Dawn--I asked her if she'd seen Kibiushi's Harry Potter covers. Oh, the excitement!? She responded with, "WHAT?! NO!!!"I loved that she got as geeked about it as I did when I saw them. It was one of those "I LOVE my job" moments. Anyway, thought I would share a few of the back covers which I happened to stumble upon during in my Kibiushi search. LOVE them. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

As promised, covers of the original GrandPre design (top) and the new Kibuishi (bottom) cover. Not a big fan of the way Harry or Ron look.

As promised, the original by Mary GrandPre (top) vs. the 15th anniversary new illustrations by Kazu Kibiushi (bottom).

As promised, the original by Mary GrandPre (top) vs. the 15th anniversary new illustrations by Kazu Kibiushi (bottom)...I might like Kibiushi's cover better than GrandPre's. This is pretty bad ass.

As promised, the original by Mary GrandPre (top) vs. the 15th anniversary new illustrations by Kazu Kibiushi (bottom).

As promised, the original by Mary GrandPre (top) vs. the 15th anniversary new illustrations by Kazu Kibiushi (bottom). What is interesting to me about these designs is how Mary GrandPre's colors make her covers seem almost hazy and dreamlike to Kibiushi's bright and engagingly vivid covers. I love both!

As promised, covers of the original GrandPre design (top) and the new Kibuishi (bottom) covers for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ...keep checking back for the rest!

The Harry Potter series is getting a makeover, when on August 15th the books will be re-released (can you hear those cash registers clanking?) with new illustrations by Amulet series author and illustrator, Kazu Kibuishi--the new covers are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the HP franchise! The new covers definitely do something a little darker and more sinister than Mary GrandPre's softer originals. I like both illustrators covers...don't make decide which I like better! Keep checking back, I will share the originals and the newly illustrated covers over the next days... In celebration of 15 years of Harry and Hogwarts and happiness...and the new covers, we're hosting a Harry Potter read-in! I've ordered multiple copies of all the books, now we're just looking forward to people of all ages popping in, plopping down, and returning to Hogwarts. Ice cream will follow as our Butterbeer machine is broken...

  This is one of a thousand things floating around Facebook today.  I like this. I do. Even if one side (the snarky side) of me is saying, "Yea, but you can get away with saying those things because you're gorgeous!" If I tried to say it I would sound like the chubby-girl-bashing-Prom, though she secretly wanted a date and the whole Cinderella aspect of it. (This was me as a teenager).  And the other side of me (the Librarian me) is saying, "HELL YES! I know that I don't need to dress in mini skirts for the men to notice me at the library!"  Somehow this made my mind wander tangentially to what Juno McGruff said,   "Jocks like him always want freaky girls— girls with horn-rimmed glasses, and vegan footwear, and Goth makeup... Girls who, like, play the cello and read McSweeney's and want to be childrens' librarians when they grow up. Oh, yeah, jocks totally eat that shit up." Ha ha ha...No, seriously though, I thought...

<br><br><br><br><br><br>funny <br> "Yes man," The Harry Potter scene, Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel I LOVED this movie Cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say "yes." ― Stephen Colbert

I am going to see the final movie installment of Harry Potter in about 24 hours; five friends and I are making the trek out late at night, to sit spellbound (pun intended) and watch (and judge) to see if the final film does justice to J.K. Rowling's final chapter in the Harry Potter saga. I feel like years from now I will be telling my kids how cool it was to see these movies in the theater (just like how some older friends relive the moments they spent in awe of the Star Wars Trilogy). And yet, I wasn't always a Harry fan. When Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone hit the U.S. I was in high school, delving into classic English literature, and becoming a literary snob, poo pooing the HP books as "crap fiction" for kids. It was about  eight years ago that TSO got me to watch the first movie, assuring me I'd like it. I didn't. I convinced myself that I would hate it. And I think I did...probably because I couldn't remember most of the movie, having fallen...

I am here in the Mitten State. The state that breeds Michiganders/Michiganians who use our hands as maps. Oh, yes. We actually do it. Seriously. My friend didn't believe me until she saw it with her own eyes. Been back since Friday and my time here has been a whirlwind of seeing lots of friends and familly and spending lots of time in my bro A3's truck driving all over the place (since everyone lives all over SE MI).  Some highlights include: College K and Jesse's Engagement Party/wine tasting. (This turned into drinks followed by more drinks and karoke. Ah, how I was craving some good ole' Midwest karoke!) Staying with one of my favorite Aunties Sledding with Monster Niece S and Monster Nephew A (now 6 and 4.5 years respectfully) My Dad's side of the family's belated Christmas party Lunch with my priest Father J--one of the coolest people I know Seeing True Grit with Mom, A3 and A3's fiancee Dayna--AWESOME movie!! Seeing HP7 again,...

J.K. Rowling's handwritten book : The Tales of Beedle the Bard , will be auctioned in December at Sotheby's to raise money for Rowling's charity of choice, The Children's Voice . Rowling has handwritten 7 copies of the book, 1 set to be auctioned, the other 6 to be given as gifts to those who have been most integral in her writing of the Harry Potter series. Each book is bound in leather with semi-precious stones adorning it and each will have its own special dedication based on who it will be going to. All I can say is, "Can somebody spot me 50,000 pounds?"

Had a wonderful weekend; celebrated my best friend's birthday with friends Friday night, picnicked with friends on Saturday after their softball tournament, then Saturday night my brother A3 and I went and had dinner with Dad (Mom is in California-I will see her there on Wednesday!) Mmm...dinner was so good. I made dinner for Dad and A3; boiled shrimp and crab, red beans and rice, and steamed broccoli. Kind of a hodge podge of food, but so tasty. Saturday night, my roomie M and I went to her parents' "cottage," (I use this term very loosely since the cottage is a house, probably a little smaller than the house we grew up in) on Lake St. Clair , late. M, her sister JillyBean, K (their niece) all fell asleep watching a boot leg copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the projector. I was wide awake, ecstatic to be watching the movie blown up on the wall in the living room, especially the scenes in the Ministry of Magic! I only felt slightly guilty watching...

Heading off from Café 59, I walked about a mile down the street, walking through the trendy Theater District , full of nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and (obviously) theaters of every kinds: Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Lancaster Opera House, Marcella’s Drag Show, and The Classic Irish Theater Company, to name a few. It was hard to imagine this hip-a-trendy side of town as such, as I walked through in the bright of day on virtually empty streets. I imagine this side of town as some sort of Moulin Rouge-empty, desolate streets during the day; packed, noisy avenues at dusk, full of people wishing to forget their troubles and embark on a bit of voyeurism for a few drink filled, sodden hours. I headed to the Main Branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library , which I had learned much about in a paper that I wrote for one of my winter semester classes. I was taken aback at how well laid out the library was, covered in signage, materials labeled down to the very simplest understa...

Yesterday was a long day...I stayed up all night Monday to finish my Collection Development plan, managing, to spend nearly all of my $5,000 dollars, though I was not able to find reviews for all of the materials that I wanted to add to my collection. Making collection choices without reviews to back up the decision makes it seem as though you were just choosing resources to choose them, so I am hoping he grades mercifully! I finally finished my project at around 6:30am, went home and made my roomie breakfast, laid down for a 15 minute nap, then got back up for work. Yesterday was a long day at work and in class. I had prepurchased my tickets for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (this link is for an interesting review) and that was all I could think about all day. It is amazing-I was so tired all day, but by the time that we got to the movie theater around 11pm, for the 12:01a.m. showing, I was wide awake. What an experience! I didn't join the Potter bandwagon until after...

Different covers of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows! The event that kicked off one of the most anticipated happenings of the summer-the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows -has been preceded by the Knight Bus Tour , which has gotten kids (and adults) of all ages into the libraries to see the bus on its journey across America. This posting is just a tribute to those clever libraries around the Detroit area (since sadly the closest the Knight Bus gets to us is Ohio or Illinois) that are making the arrival of Book #7 something to remember! Rochester Hills HP Read-a-thon , Rochester Hills HP Bday Celebration , Marquette Harry Potter Festival , Sterling Heights Library and West Bloomfield Public . To those libraries (like the public library that I work at) who did nothing-bummer-I feel as though this is a great way to get kids into the library. You missed the train...the Hogwart's Express that is! Some other really cool links: "The Harryest Town in Ameri...