Cauli Le Chat

Cauli Le Chat
Cauli Le Chat, MPL Feline Roving Reporter

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Puttin' on the Ritz For Wanda

When you're visiting the Library over the next week or so, please stop by our tribute exhibit to Wanda Potts (1921-2012), MPL Indiana Room Librarian (Emeritus) and MPL Assistant Director (1966-2002).  The exhibit is located on the round display in the Grand Hall.  (Click photos to bigify.)  Thanks to Boss Lady for putting up this display.





Shouldn't the Indiana Roving Reporter Room be renamed in Wanda's honor, Boss Lady?  Just saying.




Proud to Carry On Wanda's Tradition at Our Library,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Local History & Genealogy News Beat


P.S.  Since Wanda once worked at the Mooresville Ritz movie theater, we thought it fitting to feature as our musical closer "Puttin' on the Ritz," by Irving Berlin (1929), as performed in the movie musical by the same name (1930).

Clear Your Cache

Kinda Looks Like Moi in My Kitten Days

When accessing the Library's new website, you may need to clear the memory cache and cookies in your web browser.  If you use Windows Internet Explorer versions 9 & 10, there's a helpful website that will walk you through the process.  If you use other Internet browsing software, click the handy help function and ask how your particular software does this operation.



My Minions Prefer Cash to Cache,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
New Website News Beat


P.S.  Monty Python's Eric Idle created the definitive Beatles tribute/parody with his brilliant All You Need Is Cash (1978), a "mockumentary" of the prefab four, The Rutles.  In this clip from the TV special, The Rutles perform at "Che Stadium" (supposedly 1965) and perform the hit "It's Looking Good" from the (supposed) LP Rutles Soul.  For complete lyrics to the actual Rutles album (released in 1978 as a "companion" to the TV show and re-released on CD in 1990), click in the usual place.  Neil Innes (a Monty Python "extra" in 1974 and subsequently in the group's films) was heavily involved in the musical side of the "mockumentary."  There are loads of subtle jokes, like "Che" instead of "Shea" stadium (Che for Che Guevara) and Mick Jagger (of Rolling Stones fame) talking about seeing the Rutles there in concert.  Genuine Beatles fan video from the actual 1965 Shea Stadium performance is intermixed with the Rutles stage shots.


Sunday, July 29, 2012

More 2012 Old Settlers Giveaways

When you stop by the Library's booth at the upcoming Old Settlers festival (August 5-6-7, 2012, at Pioneer Park in Mooresville, Indiana), you will naturally pick-up a free personalized plastic bag containing our monogrammed fan and other goodies.  But six lucky visitors will have special claims tickets in their bags entitling them to (drum roll, if you please):  One free hand-crafted basket, courtesy of Baskets From Junior's Farm.  Another lucky patron will have (in his or her bag) a free $10 gift card to Marsh Supermarkets, courtesy of the Mooresville Marsh store.

Don't ask moi which bags have these special tickets; there are something like 500 goody bags, so the odds are seven divided by 500 or some such mathematical calculation that I can't be bothered to make.  Minions, calculate the odds.

So drop by the MPL Old Settlers booth and grab your bag.  Only one bag per patron, please.  We'll know if you take more than one.  Scowl-Face has a photographic memory.  Really.

Want to see what the baskets will look like?  They haven't been made yet, but I'm fairly sure they'll look something similar to these pictures below.



Aren't they cute?  Yours (well, one, anyway) if you have one of the six claims tickets.  If you do, take it to the MPL Old Settlers booth during the festival (when the booth is open, which is typically 5-8 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of next week), or, if it's thereafter, bring it to the Library circulation desk by no later than August 20, 2012, to collect your prize.  The contest is free.  No purchase necessary.  Void where prohibited.  One bag per patron.  Post no bills.  This side up.  Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate.  That should just about cover things.




Maybe You'll Get a Special Bag If You Bring Moi Canned Tuna-in-Oil (Just Saying),

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Old Settlers News Beat


P.S.  Here's "Shine," by Trey Anastasio, from the CD by the same name (2005).  There's no connection to my blog topic; I just happened to hear this song on the radio today and remembered how much I really liked it when it came out seven years ago.  That's 42 feline years, for those keeping score.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

It Could Be You

Who will be Broadway Gal's new youth services assistant, who will serve as early literacy specialist?  Since it's literally impossible to replace Wild Thang (because her talents are gargantuan, and ordinary folks can't possibly fill her shoes), we must still hire a gifted newbie who can work her or his way to becoming indispensable.  Our Library has a history of developing such staff (e.g., Broadway Gal, Wild Thang, Savvy, Technigal, moi--the list is too long to include here), who begin simply as highly skilled, proficient employees but blossom into wunderkinds (even if they're technically too old to be called that).  (In fairness, I should, as an aside, say that Broadway Gal was already a wunderkind when she started working at MPL five years ago.  Still, you see my point.)

Will it be YOU?  Why not you?  We could do a lot worse.  Scowl-Face is a case-in-point.

Seriously, if you're interested and qualified, you should apply.  Attach your job application to a carrier pigeon and let fly!  Okay, let's not do that last one.

Long-time followers of this feature know all the fun stuff Wild Thang has done in her capacity as early literacy specialist (or, generally, as youth services assistant, which is the official position title).  You, too, could be doing that!  Be honest:  Your current job cannot possibly be as enjoyable as this one.  You know I'm right about this.

Wild Thang & a ghostly Sammy the Toucan present their
Halloween special Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun blog video
(October 2011)

So get cracking!  These job application forms don't complete themselves. Do it today!  Otherwise, we might have to use Scowl-Face as a sub.  Believe moi, nobody wants that.




Sammy Makes a Great Ghost,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Youth Services Job News Beat


P.S.  Here's a Wild Thang musical video from her early literacy collection.  Enjoy!

Our Freebies For Old Settlers 2012

Look at the freebies we'll be giving away to patrons visiting the Library's booth at the Old Settlers Festival (August 5-6-7, 2012) at Pioneer Park (in Mooresville, Indiana).


Click to Bigify Pictures

With the oppressively hot summer we've been having in Hoosierland (and everywhere else, it seems, across the country), what could be better than a library fan (for fans of the Library)?  Well, a portable air conditioner comes to mind, but those are too heavy and too large to slide into our plastic bags.

So you'll get our nifty personalized plastic bags along with some handy handouts, maybe some other goodies (bookmarks, pencils, magnets, and such like), a monogrammed fan (it WILL be hot at Old Settlers, let's face it), and whatever else we have to stuff into them.

You have to visit the Library booth at Old Settlers to get these goodies, so I'm expecting you there.  Bring moi some canned tuna-in-oil, while you're at it.

Boss Lady says you don't have to bring moi anything.  Now I'm bummed.




Sulking in the Kinder Garden Outside the Library,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Old Settlers News Beat


P.S.  If you've missed the Library's video about the history of Old Settlers, here's another chance to see it.



Friday, July 27, 2012

Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge, Say No More!

Apologies to Eric Idle for borrowing a line from his famous "Nudge Nudge" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974), but it was just too fitting to give it a miss (if I'm phrasing that correctly.  I should ask Savvy; she's our resident Anglophile.)

Let sleeping slobberdogs lie, I say.  Why upset the apple cart?  Reinventing the wheel is for minions but not for moi.



'Nuff said,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
All About Moi News Beat



P.S.  "Fire Escape" was a top 20 alternative rock single hit for Fastball, from the CD All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998).  It's a great album.  Listen to the lyrics; there's a reason why I select particular songs as musical closers to specific blogs.


P.P.S.  Out of my head, you may ask?  Well, it's a cool Fastball tune, also from the same album.


P.P.P.S.  All these Fastball musical closers give moi a warm fuzzy feeling.  Luckily, the group has a song titled that, again from the same CD.

Our Tribute to Wanda Potts

Read our tribute to Wanda Rusie Potts (1921-2012), who was MPL Indiana Room Librarian & MPL Assistant Director for more years than many of my readers have been alive.  We're talking 1966-2002.  That's a career of achievement from which our patrons and staff routinely partake and quite definitely benefit.  Any question my Library might answer regarding the history of Mooresville, Indiana (and vicinity) is due entirely to Wanda's lifetime of garnering and safeguarding the historical record.

I'm particularly grateful to Wanda, because her Indiana Room is my Roving Reporter Room.  It is an honor to rest my feline presence in her special place that preserves our collective community past.


Visit Wanda's Treasure Trove of Local History at the Library,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Indiana Room News Beat


P.S.  For her 90th birthday last year (June, 2011), the Library prepared a program (or promo) trailer featuring our poetic tribute to Wanda Potts, "Wanda of the Golden Dawn."

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

T-Minus Eight and Counting

We are just eight days away from our new website launch target date.  The site is pretty much good-to-go, but we're tweaking a bit at the moment.  Come August 1, 2012, just visit our regular website URL, and you'll see something radically new and exciting.

Not much more to report, actually.  So let's go straight to a musical closer.


P.S.  "Eight Days a Week," by the Beatles, was originally released on the band's LP Beatles For Sale (1964) and as the A-side to a single released in the U.S. (1965).


My Signature Tagline Appears Below the Postscript This Time (i.e., the Whole Horse-Cart Before Thing),

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
New Website News Beat

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Greater Part of Excellence

"The greater part of his excellence was the product of his own genius." -- Samuel Johnson (1765), reprinted in "Preface to Shakespeare." Famous Prefaces: The Harvard Classics. 1909-1914.

If Samuel Johnson had been writing in the early 21st century instead of the 18th century, and if he had worked at my Library, he might well have scribbled that famous quote a bit differently:

"The greater part of her excellence was the product of her own genius."

Mr. Johnson, of course, would have been writing about our own Wild Thang, Miss Jaymi Edwards, who will be leaving MPL's staff on Friday, August 3, 2012, for new adventures and challenges.

Wild Thang at the MPL Youth Services Reference Desk
at the Library's 100th Anniversary Celebration
(May 12, 2012)

As the Library's early literacy specialist, Wild Thang demonstrated excellence in young children's programming, blogging, and videography by invoking her genius in developing highly engaging patron programs that were simultaneously educational, informative, and enjoyable.  She would be quick to deflect this praise by offering that it's just a matter of surfing the web and borrowing established ideas.  That response is both modest and inaccurate.  While it is true that Wild Thang trolled the Internet for interesting ideas to use, it takes true brilliance to meld a variety of suggestions into results bearing one's unique hallmark.  Each program, blog posting, or video that Wild Thang crafted became her own creation, imbued with her personality, organization, learning style, and, mostly, her spirit for fun.

Her young patrons and their caregivers could readily testify that a Miss Jaymi program was a fully-energizing sensory experience that would stimulate young children's interest to know more about practically everything.  This was due to Wild Thang's universal coverage of myriad topics and her use of innovative methods that her charges found absorbing and entertaining.

Wild Thang was also a full-service reference librarian.  She intimately knew MPL's youth services collections; that goes without saying.  What was truly impressive was her underlying understanding and knowledge of resources that adult patrons wanted.  She willingly undertook reference questions in every department, because she knew that information access knows no collection codes or artificial boundaries.  A librarian must wrest answers from every available source when patrons need them.


I'm using the past-tense even though we still have a couple more weeks in which to enjoy Wild Thang's extensive skills.  It is by way of mental and emotional preparation.  We (staff and patrons alike) must condition ourselves to MPL life after she has left for greener pastures.  It is a painful process, but we are comforted in the assurance that her new employer, and the new customers served, will be beneficiaries of the kind of excellence that impressed the likes of Samuel Johnson.  Being in the company of Shakespeare is an outstanding feather for your cap, Wild Thang.  Wear it proudly.




I Hereby Declare Wednesday, August 1, 2012, as Wild Thang Appreciation Day, (If It's Okay With Boss Lady),

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Staff News Beat


Friday, July 20, 2012

It Would Be a Perfect Bowling Score

The MPL YouTube Channel now has 300 uploaded videos in just a little over two-and-a-half years of operation.  That would be a perfect bowling score.

Perhaps we should include one of those videos that doesn't receive as much play as our top ten.  Three hundred is quite a stack to sift through, even if it is digital.  Minions, find moi a nice MPL movie.

MPL Book Trailer #128
The Man in the Moon, by William Joyce

This is a wonderful children's book, and I really like how well the soundtrack music fits.  But that's the outstanding feature of all of the Library's videos showcasing our composer's original music.

Thanks to everybody who has watched and enjoyed our videos.  They have been fun to make.





Wild Thang Knows A Lot About Bowling,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library YouTube Channel News Beat


P.S.  There's a great bowling reference in "Ordinary Average Guy," by Joe Walsh, which was included on the album of the same name (1991).  Here is the official music video for the song.  I'm a big fan of stop-motion animation, but that manikin dude creeps me out.


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Savvy & Programma Mama Pique Your Pinterest

Click Image to Bigify

Savvy, MPL Teen Librarian, and Programma Mama, MPL Adult Programs Coordinator, have started an MPL page on Pinterest.  Here's Programma Mama's description from the Library's Facebook page:

If you have Pinterest, you should check out the Mooresville Public Library's Pinterest page! That's right, we have joined Pinterest. So now you can really keep track of what we are doing at the library.

No reason to stand here gawking about.  Click this hyperlink already!

Have we piqued your pinterest?



Bad Puns Are Free,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Technology News Beat

New Wild Thang & Sammy the Toucan Videos & Playlist

Yesterday was videography catch-up day in MPL Youth Services.  We filmed a new Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun video (starring Wild Thang & Sammy the Toucan), plus Sammy gave a library weather report as a special bonus feature.  If you don't watch both, you'll lie awake all night wishing you had.



The MPL YouTube Channel now has a new playlist:  Sammygrams: What's New in MPL Youth Services.  All your favorite Sammy the Toucan videos!  Plus hatching chicks @ MPL videos!  Winged dinners all around!  (Well, not you, Sammy--after all, we're library colleagues.)

MPL YouTube Playlist:  Sammygrams
(What's New in MPL Youth Services)


Loads of Great Video Fun There, To Be Sure,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Youth Services News Beat


P.S.  This is what Nicaraguan toucans (or this one, at any rate) sound like to people when they (people) visit a zoo.  Or maybe the zoo was in Nicaragua.  The people were speaking English, though.  I wonder what they (people) sound like to toucans?

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Boss Lady Delivers My Bonus Pay

As special compensation for this blog surpassing 100,000 viewings, Boss Lady has delivered my bonus pay.  It may not be canned tuna-in-oil, but it is quite fine nonetheless.

Twelve Pack of Premium N'yum N'yums
Quite Tasty, Thank You Very Much

See what you can get when you work hard and meet deadlines?

Of course, my "cub" reporter, Harley Quinn, had to nose around to see what all the fuss was about.

Cheek-Rubs Marking Territory
Don't Work on This, Harley
(They're Still Mine)

Here's a snippet of my conversation with Harley about my pay bonus:

HARLEY:  Ohboyohboyohboyohboy!!!  Can I have some, pleeeeeeze, Cauli?  Please, please, please, please, please, plEEEEEEEEEEEze?

CAULI:  You should say, "may."

HARLEY:  Why do I have to wait all the way until next May?  I'm hungry NOW!

Well, all that cheek-rubbing and belly-aching soon drew a crowd of my special feline correspondents.

Biscuit, Commander of Feline Enforcers XIV,
thought he had best inspect the merchandise
while Harley continued her cheek-rubbing

Thanks are certainly in order for Boss Lady.  This was truly a grand gesture of gratitude for my delivering some serious statistics for the Library's blogging.  I and my feline colleagues really appreciate it.




What Will I Get When My Blog Hits 200K?  Just Asking,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Salary News Beat



P.S.  How about "Workin' For a Livin," by Huey Lewis and the News, from the LP Picture This (1982).  Don't get Scowl-Face talking about the time he flew from Salt Lake City to Missoula, Montana with Huey Lewis.  You'll never hear the end of it.


P.P.S.  Thinking about Harley begging for my pay bonus chow reminded moi of the single "Magic Bus" (1968), by The Who, when Roger Daltrey, in the role of the bus passenger, sang that he wanted to buy the bus, but the bus driver, played by Pete Townshend, sang in reply that he can't have it. Some critics argued that the song was inspired by the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour bus (1967), but Townshend wrote the song during recording sessions for the album My Generation, which occurred two years earlier, and was released in the U.S. as The Who Sings My Generation (1966).


Flat Five Takes a Dive at Westfield Washington

"Flat" Cauli V, or Flat Five for short, has filed her report from her trip to Westfield Washington Public Library (WWPL), in Westfield, Indiana.  Vicki Parker, WWPL Children's Services Manager, organized Flat Five's itinerary during her visit, and it was replete with fun activities and new adventures, all in a grand library facility.

Click Image to Bigify


With Miss Vicki's help, Flat Five filed an excellent roving reporter story, complete with wonderful photos.  We converted it into a PDF file.  Click the icon below to take a peek.  Or click here.  Your call.



For moi, the absolute highlight of Flat Five's report was her unexpected swim in the swimming dinners friendly fishes tank.

Flat Five standing in front of WWPL's Friendly Fishes aquarium
(Thinking bad thoughts, eh, Flat Five?  Just saying.)


Those friendly fishes are WWPL's official library critters, so, of course, they were off-limits for snacking purposes.

Flat Five made so many new friends at WWPL.  The great pictures are worth another look-see.





For Flat Five's photo captions, be sure to read her PDF report embedded above.

Thanks again to Miss Vicki and all the terrific staff at Westield Washington Public Library.  You, too, should visit WWPL next time you're in the neighborhood.  Say, a quick Google map would be helpful.  As always, click the images to bigify.



WWPL is adjacent to Asa Bales Park.  Asa Bales, who was originally from Mooresville, was one of the founders of Westfield (1834), along with Ambrose Osborne and Simon Moon (there were two Simon Moons associated with the Mooresville area, so it can be confusing.  This blog post, and especially this book, might clear things up a bit.)  Asa Bales moved to Westfield around 1832 (where he opened a general store) after first settling in Mooresville.  He was the first person to move into Mooresville after it was founded by Samuel Moore (1824).  Bales built a house on the south side of East Main Street near the present location of the Mooresville Times building but, before that, he boarded with Samuel Moore while he (Moore) was starting his general store at the heart of town (1820s-1870s).  Bales served as the town's first postmaster (1826) and was also a member of the first town board.  He also owned the first tavern in Mooresville, and the town's first school was held at his house.  Bales became secretary and trustee of the Mooresville School Society and was a driving force in the town's educational development.
 
It's nice to know that WWPL is situated adjacent to a park that commemorates a prominent Hoosier pioneer who was intimately connected with Westfield and Mooresville.  It makes our two communities, and, consequently, our libraries, feel closer together.

I thought it might be helpful to circle some of the other Indiana communities that Flat Five has visited in her library critters world tour.  In addition to Westfield Washington Public Library, these have included Thorntown Public Library (noted above) and Morgan County Public Library (in Martinsville, noted below), as my previous blog posting reported.



Great job, Flat Five!  First-rate reporting.  I'd give you a raise, but you work for free, so I'll triple your salary.  Three times zero . . .  Well, it's the thought that counts.


Stay Tuned For More Library Critters World Tour News on My New Blog (on the New MPL Website, Due to Launch Soon),

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Critters World Tour News Beat





P.S.  Here's a YouTube video showcasing highlights of Westfield Washington Public Library's summer reading programs (2010).

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Everybody Wins at Zydeco's on July 25

Click Image to Bigify



On Wednesday, July 25, 2012, from 5-9 p.m., Zydeco's Restaurant (11 East Main Street, downtown Mooresville, Indiana) is once again holding another "fun-raiser" to support the Library.  To make your reservations, call (317) 834-3900.  You'll enjoy great food, have loads of fun, and a portion of the proceeds goes directly to the Library.

Our helpful staff will be on-hand to distribute free library brochures, handouts, and other goodies.  Be sure to make a reservation, though.  Space is limited, and turnout should be huge.




Hope To See You There,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Fundraising News Beat


P.S.  The Food Network's TV series Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives visited Zydeco's in October and December, 2010.




Monday, July 16, 2012

Book Trailers Bring Out the Mystery on Your Bookshelf

Readers of Library Journal who are interested in the mystery genre know Teresa Jacobsen, who has reviewed new mystery titles for the periodical since my kittenhood, way back in the day.  Recently she contacted my minions to ask about moi and our YouTube Channel's mystery/drama book trailer playlist, which, you may remember, I recently split into two playlists to make them easier to use.

Guess what?  Ms. Jacobsen mentioned moi in her current mystery review (July 2012 issue).  If I wore socks, you can bet they were knocked off by that!  Wow!  She said some very nice things (thank you very much!).  This is pretty exciting for our little library.  Well, for moi, anyway.

Want to see the article?  I hope so.  I had the Lady With the Red Hair photocopy it.

Click Images to Bigify






Actually, Scowl-Face looks like he was trying his best to hog the limelight.  He "forgot" to mention that the Lady With the Red Hair worked with him to create most of the Library's mystery book trailers.  In fact, some were primarily hers, and he helped just a little.  But we appreciate the shout-out, especially in a publication as important to librarians as Library Journal.  If you're a librarian, you read LJ, plain and simple.

Ms. Jacobsen mentioned our book trailer for Miranda James's File M For Murder.  Minions, make with the reprise.

MPL Book Trailer #151
File M For Murder, by Miranda James

We love Diesel and his human, Charlie Harris, who is a catalog librarian, just like the Lady With the Red Hair.  As a mystery-solving team, Charlie and Diesel get into some tight spots, but they're smarter than the bad dudes, so things work out by the last page.  We've made book trailers for other titles in the Cat in the Stacks series, which are included in our mystery book trailer playlist.  Conveniently, it appears below.



Our new drama playlist is below, too.



Separating them was an improvement.  It saves having to search through all those drama titles to find the mystery ones.  Now, you don't have to!  Two for the price of one, as I said in my previous blog posting.

Thanks again for Ms. Jacobsen's kind words about my Library's videos and blogs and, particularly, about moi.  Now I get to use one of my favorite lines from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray:   "[T]here is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."




Hope You Enjoy Our Mystery Book Trailers,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Book Trailers News Beat


P.S.  Speaking of the limelight, Rush released "Limelight" on the LP Moving Pictures (1981).

MPL YouTube Channel Hits 150K

Sometime earlier this morning, the MPL YouTube Channel reached 150,000 viewings, although the public counter is somewhat lower.  Go figure.



The channel now has 298 uploaded videos, but reaching this viewership milestone is significantly due to our top ten (especially top two) videos:

Click Images to Bigify

One hundred thousand of those viewings occurred during the past 12 months, with the top two videos garnering 23,497 and 19,765 viewings, respectively, during that period.

Currently, our top video performer (in terms of viewings) is Animal Alphabet Song Video, by Miss Jaymi (MPL early literacy specialist Jaymi Edwards, whom I call Wild Thang), which pulls down over 4,000 viewings monthly (4,222 for the past 30 days, for instance).  None of our other videos comes close to that count.  So congrats are definitely in order for Wild Thang.  I'd recommend canned tuna-in-oil as a celebratory gift, but that's just moi.  Wild Thang might prefer a new bowling ball.  Just saying, Boss Lady.

My Library began making videos for its YouTube Channel two-and-a-half years ago, so reaching 150K in viewership is something of an achievement, I'm thinking.  Statistics are a big deal at libraries, so we like to track them.



Hope We Hit 300 Videos Uploaded Soon, So I Have Something to Blog About,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Social Media News Beat




P.S.  Let's close with Miss Jaymi's Animal Alphabet Song Video, which is currently the most-watched video on the MPL YouTube Channel.  Be sure to visit Miss Jaymi's own YouTube Channel for many interesting and informative early literacy videos.


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Journey Into a Starry Night

Broadway Gal has just released a storybook entitled The Journey to Our Starry Night Mural, which she prepared to commemorate our patrons and volunteers who created this magnificent work of art.  Okay, well, Vincent van Gogh created it first, but let's not split hairs, shall we?

In our previous blog post, we saw the work during its early stages.  Want to see the completed mural?  Drop by the Library to see it in person.  Live too far away to visit?  I think we have some digitized images from Broadway Gal's pamphlet to post.  Click each image below to bigify.


But now, a word from our sponsors.


This is a children's storybook, so let's have a read.  Again, click images to bigify.






My minions had to do some quick Photoshopping for the following photos, because Scowl-Face wasn't sure whether or not we had obtained parental permissions to upload identifiable pictures of the participants.  Where faces are visible, we made some slight modifications.




Pretty fantastic interpretation of Vincent's masterpiece, don't you think?

We borrowed Vincent's face from a famous painting for our Photoshopping.  Now everybody is a famous 19th century Dutch post-Impressionist painter!

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Great job, Broadway Gal, Wild Thang, Miss Alicia, and all the creative painters who volunteered their time and talents to this beautiful project.

We should do a promo trailer for this.  Minions, make it so.

Naturally, the storybook is available in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog, although it's a reference item, so you'd have to read it inside the Library.


You Can't Spell A-R-T with F-U-N, But It's Still Fun,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Arts & Crafts News Beat

P.S.  Junior of Junior's Farm, our special feline correspondent for arts & crafts at the Library, was taking a snooze, so I dictated this blog post for him.  That'll teach him to sleep on the job.


P.P.S.  What can you spell with A-R-T?  Well, art, obviously.  How about tar or rat?  Or even "tar rat" together?  Hey, that reminds moi of one of our book trailers.




Friday, July 13, 2012

Andromeda Musically Meets the Milky Way

While we're awaiting the decision about which blogs will be moving to my Library's new website, I guess I should continue posting until we have to discontinue using Blogger.  (I had thought that "zero hour" for Blogger was today, but I was premature.)

How about a little music review?  Since my Library has its own composer, we don't have to root around too far.


Andromeda (2010), by our composer, whom I call the Music Man, offers three movements that musically express the collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies (millions of years from now, I'm hoping). The liner notes explain things better than I can.  Click the images to bigify.  You can also read the liner notes (maybe) when you play the music videos (which are beneath these pictures).




Want to listen?  Sure you do.  Make with the play buttons, minions!

Music Video (sort of) for
"The Andromeda Cometh"
by Danny Buckley

Music Video (sort of) for
"Neon Genesis"
by Danny Buckley

Music Video (sort of) for
"Cosmic Liturgy (Doctrine
of a New Beginning)"
by Danny Buckley

To better appreciate just how superb this music is, watch three of Scowl-Face's ho-hum book trailers and hear how the selections from Andromeda really bring them to life.

MPL Book Trailer for
The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


MPL Book Trailer for
Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell


MPL Book Trailer for
In Tune With the Infinite, by Ralph Waldo Trine

This is why my Library's nearly 300 videos uploaded to our YouTube Channel sound so good!




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Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Music Review News Beat