Cat's Eye View (at Mooresville Public Library)

Philadelphia Freedom

2012-03-12T16:22:00.003-04:00

Boss Lady and Wild Thang are attending the Public Library Association (PLA) national conference in Philadelphia this week, and they are already doing the tourist thing. Want photos? Here are a few emailed to moi by the adventure duo themselves.

Wild Thang & Boss Lady

by the Liberty Bell

Wild Thang & Boss Lady Standing

Next to Robert Indiana's Love Sculpture

in Philadelphia (the "City of Brotherly Love")

Did you know that world-famous artist Robert Indiana lived in Mooresville, Indiana as a child? He attended the Mooresville Academy School and Newby Elementary School. Indiana once credited his Mooresville art teacher with instilling his interest in art.

MPL_flashcard__28_MV_Academy_Bldg_1-border

The MPL ~~Indiana~~ Roving Reporter Room has several biographical items about Robert Indiana in its collections, and the Library has a Robert Indiana poster on display adjacent to the Media Alcove.

Sadly, everybody forgot to have "Flat" Cauli II (or any of the other "Flat" Caulis, for that matter) ride along on the trip with Boss Lady and Wild Thang. That's a real shame. I completely forgot all about it, too. I blame my minions for not reminding moi.

I wonder what other wonders ("I wonder, wonder, who-ew-ew-ew ... who, who wrote the book of love?" Oh, sorry--broke out into song there) are in store for us from Philadelphia? More photos, I'm hoping. I wonder when they'll find time to attend PLA workshops? Just asking.

Wouldn't Mind a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
PLA News Beat

P.S. This seems like a good time to reprise my Library's video, "MPL @ PLA," created by Wild Thang and Broadway Gal.

P.P.S. "Philadelphia Freedom" (1975), by the (short-lived) Elton John Band, was released as a single. It did not appear on the original LP Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975), although this music video's background image would suggest otherwise. It was added to the playlist of the reissue CDs during the mid-1990s and the 30th anniversary reissue edition (2005).

We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto

2012-03-12T13:16:00.000-04:00

Broadway Gal just announced that the first chicksoon has hatched! It is Toto, who now officially becomes one of my ~~winged dinners~~ great new chick pals at the Library. Toto made an amazing eggs-scape (you know, by hatching out of the egg), but it is a tiring process, so a nap is certainly in order.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto
(I Didn't Know Eggs Were Named After States)

Read all about the chicksoons hatching at the Library's Hatching Chicks Blog. I bet Broadway Gal is a proud surrogate momma! Did you know that newborn chicks imprint on whomever they first see and believe that s/he or it is their mother? So Broadway Gal should soon have a clutch (or peep) of baby chicks parading after her all around MPL Youth Services. That would be a hilarious video! Minions, make it so.

Toto Looks Pretty Wiped-Out From An Amazing Eggs-cape,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Chicksoon News Beat

P.S. Metal legend Zakk Wylde demonstrates the "chicken pickin'" technique of guitar playing. Be sure to watch from the 4:00 minute mark to see a close-up of "chicken pickin'," and you'll be able to hear why it's called that. The sound (from 4:00 to 4:09 or so) reminded moi of a chicken call. See what you think.

A Book Trailer Worth 25 Grand

2012-03-11T14:12:00.000-04:00

The title to this blog posting is misleading. Actually, my Library has a book trailer that has been viewed more then 25,000 times. It just topped 25 grand today, which is why I'm mentioning it.

Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell

(MPL Book Trailer #91)

Scowl-Face originally made this book trailer to enter in a Public Library Association (PLA) library video contest, only to subsequently discover that the contest officials were looking exclusively for live-action videos featuring library kids. That wasn't specified in the email inviting entries, but emails are often ambiguous. So he uploaded the book trailer to the MPL YouTube Channel and expected it to garner a few hundred hits at best. He would have been happy if it had reached 500 viewings. But 25,000? In your dreams, Scowlly, I said at the time. Nobody would watch one of our book trailers that much.

Fortunately for the Library, I was completely off-base with my predictions. Scowl-Face just completed his 150th book trailer last week, which was about some children's book, I think. I don't actually pay too much attention to what Scowl-Face is up to.

Tree Girl, by T. A. Barron

(MPL Book Trailer #150)

Ironically, Tree Girl has been compared with Island of the Blue Dolphins in terms of its strong female central character and her sense of isolation and personal discovery. Not that we knew such things when we made the book trailer. We just like to match subject matter with The Music Man's great soundtracks. (The songs come first, and then we find something to make a video about that more or less corresponds.)

Thanks to all those folks out there in cyberspace who have watched these (or any of our) Library videos. We hope you have enjoyed them. In fact, if you've enjoyed them half as much as we've enjoyed making them, then we've enjoyed them twice as much as you. (Thanks to Monty Python for that great joke, probably written by Michael Palin and/or Terry Jones.)

Love Jokes Involving Word Play,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Video News Beat

P.S. The progressive metal band Platypus released an instrumental, "25," on its CD Ice Cycles (2000). Seemed like a good fit for this blog post.

Sing Now, Parody Later

2012-03-11T12:20:00.001-04:00

Last December Broadway Gal arranged an excellent performing duo to record her parody lyrics to "Rocky Top," to which the Library staff planned to make another fun-filled video, like our parody of Taio Cruz. But we've all been really busy in 2012, what with the Library's centennial celebration, the new marketing strategies, and canned tuna-in-oil. So I thought you might as well enjoy hearing (and seeing) the recording of Broadway Gal's song lyrics.

Did you catch my name in the lyrics? That guarantees a hit tune, right there. This will be a wonderful soundtrack to our parody video.

We'll make that movie one of these days. Maybe that could be a project for Savvy and her teen minions. Savvy just conducted a teen tech workshop, so they should be pumped. Plus, the Library now has a truly nice digital camera.

Maybe I'll Appear in the Video,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Video News Beat

P.S. No need for a separate musical closer today.

Another Lost Hour of Prime Snoozing Time

2012-03-10T23:17:00.001-05:00

All I know is that I'll never get back the hour I'm about to lose tonight.

Yes, once again we must "spring forward" an hour for Daylight Savings Time. We blogged about this last March, and I especially enjoyed my musical closers to that posting. All this falling backward and springing forward makes me feel like I'm getting nowhere fast.

For most of us in Hoosierland, we didn't used to do this DST nonsense. Time was just what it was, all year 'round. We didn't mess with the clocks to make it seem like daylight longer in the summertime. If we wanted a midnight sun, we'd move to Alaska or the Yukon. I guess we could choose Siberia, or Iceland, or northern Sweden or Norway, not to mention Greenland or the non-Yukon parts of northern Canada. In fact, let's back that joke right up and just say "we'd move inside the arctic circle" as the punchline.

Here's an old chestnut, but it's still good for a chuckle. Let's update the lingo to say "elderly Native American." In some cultures, age and wisdom are respected and revered.

Didn't DST originate during World War I to conserve coal? Hey, minions, research this point for moi. I'd do it myself, but there are naps to take. I need all the sleep I can get. I'm about to lose an hour of precious snooze time.

Does This DST Thing Screw-Up the MPL Time Clock, Boss Lady? Just Asking,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Time Change News Beat

P.S. "As Time Goes By," from the movie Casablanca (1942), has been covered by hordes of musicians, but nobody sang it better than Dooley Wilson in the film. This is one of my favorite tunes.

Secrets Carry a Price

2012-03-09T16:37:00.000-05:00

Searching for one's roots can be a scary experience, particularly for an orphan. Nine-year-old Rowanna (or just Anna) discovers that the mystery of what happened to her parents--and herself--is like stumbling through a dark forest infested by ghouls. But there are secrets to be disclosed, and the High Willow, distant and foreboding, whispers tantalizingly to Anna. She must know the truth, but is she prepared for the price that must be paid to learn it?

Tree Girl, by T. A. Barron, is a mystical adventure for young readers ages 9 through 12. Like the author's other magical fables, this novel explores mythic encounters counterpointed against children's real-life worries and questions about themselves and their lives. It has been published in a variety of formats since it appeared a decade ago, but Evergreen Indiana has you covered. There are several copies available in the online E.I. catalog. Your copy awaits your online hold, if you have an E.I. library card.

Willow Trees Are Fun to Climb,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Young Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S. "The Trees," by Rush, seemed like an obvious musical closer for this posting. The song was featured on the album Hemispheres (1978).

The Lorax Meets Dewey in a Snake Pit Diving For Pearls With Taio Cruz

2012-03-09T00:07:00.000-05:00

Click to Bigify

My Library created a new book trailer this week, which has entered into the current top ten viewing list for the MPL YouTube Channel. Perhaps now we've actually made a book trailer that viewers want to watch.

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

(MPL Book Trailer #149)

Two other book trailers are staples in the Library's current top ten viewing list.

The Snake Pit, by Mary Jane Ward

(MPL Book Trailer #27)

Dewey the Library Cat, by Vicki Myron (with Bret Witter)

(MPL Book Trailer #56)

I love library cats. No surprise there.

A newcomer to the present top ten viewing list is a John Steinbeck classic.

The Pearl, by John Steinbeck

(MPL Book Trailer #104)

I feel like Friday Features has been neglecting our other videos. We have much more than book trailers on the Library's YouTube Channel. Let's troll for some samples, shall we?

We've not far to look. My Library's signature promo trailer has returned to the current top ten.

Librarians Do Taio Cruz, by Mooresville Public Library

(written, directed, and edited by Suzanne Walker,
MPL Youth Services Librarian)

Then there's Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan's latest early literacy video about the letter T t, which also made the Friday Features top ten this week.

The Letter T t, by Miss Jaymi & Sammy the Toucan

(Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun)

There's still more! Try these program trailers on for size, even though they didn't make the top ten list. We really need to balance all those book trailers.

Downtown Mooresville at the Movies

(MPL Treasure Trove Video #3)

Watercolors With Grace Cole

(MPL Program Trailer #17)

Please check out our playlists for more videos. Something for everybody, I'd wager.

Love Those Time-Lapse Video Clips,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Friday Features News Beat

P.S. In this YouTube video, artist Darryn James Rae paints three cats. Well, not literally painting actual cats; it's a painting of three cats. Art is quick and easy with time-lapse photography. (Great soundtrack music by Martin Rae, by the way.) Visit the artist's website for more information about his work.

Now On Display: Library Realia (Since 1855)

2012-03-08T21:33:00.002-05:00

As part of Mooresville Public Library's 100th Anniversary bigbash, my minions are putting together a display of MPL history. An entire 157 years of interesting stuff (going back to the town's first paid membership lending library in 1855) will be in the ~~Indiana~~ Roving Reporter Room display cases. Drop by to take a gander! Or a goose. I'm not particular about winged dinner gender.

Here is some of our Library realia already on display. Watch for more! It's a work-in-progress.

Want a quick summary of the Library's history? You could check out the MPL Treasure Trove blog, too, if you want more detail. Check the menu along the right side of the blog for previous postings for 2012.

Lots of Cool Stuff to See, If We Can Get It Organized,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library History News Beat

P.S. Displays of library artifacts from the past 157 years made me think of Relics (1971), a compilation album by Pink Floyd, which included "Remember a Day," composed by Richard Wright and released on the band's second LP, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). This was psychedelic Pink Floyd, back in the Syd Barrett days. That's a lot to remember, just in and of itself.

Walkabout is Fitness Fun

2012-03-08T11:07:00.001-05:00

Remember two months ago when I blogged about our upcoming outdoor walking program at the Library? Well, guess what's almost here already! C'mon, that's a gimme. No tuna-in-oil for getting that one right.

Want details? You know where to click. Oh, and watch the program trailer below, too.

Programma Mama says we should recap for my new readers instead of forcing them to read my old blog posts. I can do that, thanks to cut-and-paste and a little editing. Outdoor walking at MPL begins March 27, 2012, for which you may now register using our online events calendar or by calling (317) 831-7323 (registration is required, as space is limited).

Donna McFarland of the Martinsville YMCA will be conducting two exercise walking sessions beginning at my Library's courtyard, which you can see pictured on my blog page somewhere. Both sessions begin March 27. The morning walk starts at 7:45 a.m. and runs (pardon the pun) until 8:45 a.m. The evening walk begins at 6:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m. The morning walks will be held on every THIRD Tuesday of each month (after March 27), but the evening walks will fall (again, pardon the pun) EVERY Tuesday of the month (again, after March 27). You should arrive early if possible to stretch and chat. Bring your own water bottle. Trust me, you'll be parched after two blocks.

This is a wonderful opportunity to exercise in a pleasant, low-impact activity with supportive participants and an expert in physical fitness to oversee the venture. You owe it to yourselves to get some exercise, and walking is the ticket. Get a move on already. Those feet won't walk themselves.

Walkabout is Fitness Fun

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Exercise News Beat

P.S. In the rock-opera Tommy, The Who sang about Captain Walker, who was purportedly lost during a British air raid in World War II (but appeared later in a pivotal point in the story). Pete Townshend began the tale with "Overture," heard here--or herd hear?--from the album Tommy (1969).

P.P.S. Captain Walker later appeared to Tommy in a delirium-induced dream/out-of-body psychical journey that is musically captured in "Amazing Journey," as Tommy struggles to adjust to his new psychosomatic condition that has rendered him deaf, dumb, and blind. (It could also have been an illness-induced near-death experience.) This part of the story is often mistaken for a hallucinogenic drug trip, but that's out-of-sequence with the plot line. Tommy doesn't meet "The Acid Queen" until side two of the album (when he was older), and "Amazing Journey" appeared on side one (when he was still a child). I know someone who wrote a Master's thesis about this album (and the subsequent movie [1975]), so this is pretty complicated stuff, both musically and literarily.

ZOOM, Scowl-Face! Gee Whiz!

2012-03-07T17:27:00.000-05:00

Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan just made their latest early literacy video. This one covers the letter T t, and they talked of books about trains, tyrannosaurus rex, and tornadoes.

Not that you could really see anything. Where did Scowl-Face place the digital camera--the next county? If the video screen below is too small, just click the YouTube logo in the lower right-hand corner to watch it on YouTube, where you may enlarge it to full-screen. (I can't get full-screen to work on my blog. Fix it, minions! Just saying.)

ZOOOOOOOM, Scowl-Face!!! For crying out loud! That's why you have a variable lens on the Library's new digital camera. Somebody has GOT to show that boy how to set-up a shot. Buffalo Gal, that's your department. At least this week there were books filling the empty space to Wild Thang's right (the viewer's left).

Well, it's a pretty complicated camera, and ol' Scowlly isn't the sharpest claw at the Library (using a feline analogy). Since it's a learning process, I'll cut Scowl-Face some slack. But not much.

Camera Operators Can Be Replaced--Just Saying,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy News Beat

P.S. Speaking of photography, "Picture Book," by the Kinks, is a fun song from the LP The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968).

Now He Wears TWO of Them

2012-03-07T11:47:00.000-05:00

International Fanny Pack Day is March 10 (last year it was March 12, as I mentioned in a previous blog posting). It is celebrated each year on the second Saturday in March. They even observe it in Idaho.

Mixing Chic With the Ridiculous

(Never a Good Fashion Statement)

Bet This Dude Has a Pocket Protector

in His Shirt Pocket

Wearing one of these things is embarrassing enough for anyone. But two? Really--who wants twice the humiliation? Scowl-Face, apparently.

Angelina Jolie, He's Not

(Thanks, Broadway Gal, for the photo and the great pose suggestion. I didn't think ol' Scowlly could look any dorkier than usual, but this rachets up nerdy several notches.

Angelina Jolie at the 2012 Oscars

What is the deal with fanny packs? Isn't that why people wear cargo pants?

Plenty of Pocket Room

(Cargo Pants For Men)

For Ladies--Not So Much

I'm not sure that fanny packs make much sense when you're carrying valuables. Thieves would go right for them faster than you can open a can of tuna-in-oil for moi. Of course, some versions come with enhanced security options.

What's So Valuable In There?

This whole lock business is making fanny packs dangerously analogous to non-gender, or "unigender" (i.e., unisex), chastity belts. (You'll have to find your own picture of that.)

So what's next for the whole fanny pack scene? What may we expect Scowl-Face to be wearing next year?

The Cap-Sac

I had to ask.

Hey, Put Some Extra Brains in There, While You're At It

If cranial storage capacity is not your style, how about an over-the-shoulder, backstrapping utility belt? You can look like this gal.

This reminded moi of those fighter dudes who wore ammunition belts over their shoulders.

"We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!"

(Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

DC Comics' Sergeant Rock

Nice cargo pants, sergeant. Plus the ammo belt is kind of like a fanny pack (but don't tell him that.) Those .50 calibre ammo belts Sgt. Rock had slung over both shoulders must have been for Easy Company's machine gunner, because the cartridges wouldn't fit into either his Thompson submachine gun or his automatic pistol, both of which took .45 caliber shells.

Forget that, however. Scowl-Face could never pull-off the ammo belt look, even using fanny packs. His family has some cool military relics, though. Scowly's maternal grandfather served as a captain in the U.S. Cavalry that hunted for Pancho Villa in 1916-1917, and, as was traditional for cavalry officers during the time, he kept his Browning Model 1911 .45 caliber Army pistol (his particular firearm was made in 1913). On Scowl-Face's father's side of the family, a relative served in the Spanish-American war and kept a Colt U.S. Model 1894 .45-caliber Army revolver.

Browning Model 1911

.45 Calibre Army Pistol

Colt U.S. Model 1894

.45 Caliber Army Revolver

Well, let's just hope that Scowl-Face doesn't escalate this whole fanny pack nonsense any further. There are limits to absurdity, surely.

Apparently not.

The Only Good Fanny Pack Carries Canned Tuna For Moi,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Clothing Accessory News Beat

P.S. Want to hear/see "Fanny Pack," by Owen Benjamin (2008)? You asked for it.

Savvy Geeks Steampunk

2012-03-06T10:33:00.004-05:00

Guess what Savvy, MPL Teen Librarian, geeks? Give up? Already?! Well, I won't keep you in suspense.

Click Image to Bigify

What is steampunk, my older readers might query? This website offers a good explanation. Savvy has written about this science fiction/fantasy subgenre in her blog. She also did the readers' advisory thing and reviewed the young adult book she's holding, Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld (first in the series). Is the book available in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog? Well, since Savvy is holding a copy, I'd say, "Roger that." Want to place an online hold with your E.I. library card? You know what to do. (I've included other Westerfeld books in the Leviathan series in my hyperlink, for your convenience.)

What is geeking, some of my newer readers may inquire? I've got a blog posting about that. Actually, I've posted several, like so and so on and so forth. The Indiana State Library has something about geeking, too. We also made a couple of promo trailers about geeking your library. Want to see them? Naturally.

That is a really cool costume, Savvy. You add beauty, charm, and grace to the ~~Indiana~~ Roving Reporter Room. I love it when our staff dress up in character. Scowl-Face said you thought you looked googly-eyed in those welder's goggles, but, as Wild Thang frequently observes, what are crafts without googly eyes? Well, perhaps that also applies to costumes. Anyway, you look fantastic. I can say that without getting into trouble, because I'm a cat.

Steampunk sounds really intriguing. Maybe there's room for a steampunk novel about moi? After all, H. G. Wells based his puma character in The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) after one of my previous incarnations. Just saying. Don't believe moi? Well, you should watch our book trailer. That won't address the issue, but it's a decent book trailer.

Great Photo, Savvy, Even If Scowl-Face Took It,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Geek the Library News Beat

P.S. Here's a video about the Steampunk Exhibition at Oxford University (2009-2010).

A Car-NAY-Gee Library

2012-03-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

As part of my Library's 100th anniversary bigbash this year, Scowl-Face is continuing his long-winded, albeit informative, series of blog postings. His two most recent bring us up to speed on several critical library developments from a century ago--namely,

That's pronounced Car-NAY-Gee, for those playing along at home. When I was a kitten, I heard Andy's name pronounced CAR-Nuh-Gee, like the late sports anchor on WRTV-Channel 6 in Indianapolis. Only his first name was Tom, and he was a terrific dude (quite funny on the studio set). I met him there back in the 1980s (in one of my previous nine lives) when I was a featured cat on the noon broadcast's shelter adoption segment. (I was adopted shortly after appearing on camera. It was an excellent feature on the extended newscast.)

Anyway, whenever anybody talked about Andrew Carnegie, one of the founding foursome of United States Steel Corporation, his surname was pronounced like Tom's surname. Was this like Versailles, Indiana, being pronounced Ver-SALES, instead of Ver-SIGH, like we French say it? Or Russiaville, Indiana, is pronounced ROOSH-ee-vill by Hoosiers instead of the obviously-spelled RUSH-a-vill (i.e., like the country Russia plus ville)? Do Indiana folks just talk funny? President WARSH-ing-ton? Do a load of laundry, like, WARSH it and dry it? The White Lick CRICK? By that peculiar pronunciation, I suppose the scientists who confirmed that DNA was a double helix were Watson and CREEK.

Hey, it's okay for moi to joke about Hoosier dialects. I'm born-and-raised an Indiana feline, so I have permission to kid around. It's my birthright.

What was I writing about again? Oh, yeah, Scowl-Face's blog. If you enjoy being buried with factoids, it's surely your tin of tuna.

Seriously, the Blog's Worth a Look-See,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Anniversary News Beat

P.S. Fast-forward this ten-minute audio clip to the 8:22 mark and listen through 8:55, and you'll hear Andrew Carnegie's voice captured on a Thomas Alva Edison recording cylinder. This is an interesting collection of famous 19th and early 20th century voices. I was surprised how some of the people sounded. Did anyone's voice surprise you? Comments, please and thanks.

A Quarter Thousand Vids

2012-03-05T14:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my Library uploaded its 250th video to the MPL YouTube Channel. That's a quarter thousand. Sounds like a lot when you say it that way.

I just blogged about our latest book trailer, so let's not be redundant. Let's watch something else from the Library's uploaded video collection. The Lady With the Red Hair picked a number between 1 and 157, which is the total number of book trailers we have made. She chose book trailer #119. Wonder which one that is?

MPL Book Trailer #119

The Lottery and Other Stories, by Shirley Jackson

Too scary? Take a look at our median book trailer (i.e., half-way between 1 and 157, rounded up to the next whole number).

MPL Book Trailer #79

The Victorian Internet, by Tom Standage

Of course, when we focus upon book trailers, we ignore all the other great videos uploaded to the Library's YouTube Channel. Take a peek at our playlists to see what else you may watch. There's something for everyone. After all, there are a quarter thousand videos up there.

As Always, Thanks For Watching,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

YouTube Channel News Beat

P.S. Speaking of Victorian Days, want to learn just a few of the human inventions developed during Queen Victoria's lifetime? Horrible Histories has got you covered.

Still Timely After 41 Years

2012-03-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

How many grown-ups out there have read The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss? If you raised your hand, then that's fine, and you deserve a special treat. If you didn't--Well, c'mon! You've had 41 years since this children's environmental classic was first published. Everybody should read this book. It is more timely today even than it was nearly a half-century ago.

Seeing the new movie isn't the same as reading the book. Check it out if you have an Evergreen Indiana library card. If not, then visit your favorite library and use whatever library card you have (or get one) that allows you to check out items there. You could also buy your own personal copy, if you're so inclined. But you should read it, then read it to your (grand)children (or have them read it themselves), and share it with other friends and relations.

The Lorax (1971) is as important an environmental awareness book as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), which is also available in our E.I. online catalog. Even now, after over half a century, their warnings remain unheeded by too many.

Two words, everyone. Unless Stone. 'Nuff said.

See the Movie, Too, If You Want,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Young Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S. "Big Yellow Taxi," by Joni Mitchell, must be the premiere folk-rock environmental ballad of the 1970s (perhaps of the 20th century). The song was originally released in 1970, and a live version was re-released in 1975. If your band hasn't covered it yet, Google the lyrics and snap to it. A great song deserves to be played often.

Nature Has Her Say

2012-03-03T12:07:00.000-05:00

We felines perceive reality differently than humans. We see, hear, and smell better than people, and our senses of taste and touch are probably as good, if not better. But our perceptive powers go beyond mere sensory capabilities. Cats have extrasensory capacities as well, which are well documented in the books of biologist Rupert Sheldrake. I've blogged about Sheldrake's works before, so we needn't rehash here. Suffice to say that you should not automatically discount others' extrasensory experiences simply because you cannot discern what is, to you, invisible but nonetheless existent.

Conversely, one shouldn't uncritically accept allegations that someone's awareness detects what others cannot see, hear, smell, or feel. Hallucinations occur with a variety of medical or psychological ailments. If somebody suggests that s/he, for instance, can sense elemental beings and nature spirits, we should maintain an open mind, but we must also use our critical thinking to analyze and scrutinize whatever evidence is presented before drawing any conclusions.

Cheri Barstow claims to perceive entities from the natural world. These are the nature spirits, devas, elementals, and other beings that populate folklore from around the world. In her book, Elementally Speaking: The Nature Spirits' Guide to Their World (Trafford Publ., 2006), the author listens to what these alleged living energies have to say. Our book trailer sums up.

Is Barstow crazy? Is she actually aware of beings that are invisible to most humans? If so, is she transcribing accurately what they are communicating? You'll need to decide for yourselves about all that.

Scowl-Face has an interesting trick he employs when reading "far out" nonfiction. If, after delving about a third of the way into such books, he decides that he cannot accept the reality of what's being presented, he mentally transfers the writing from nonfiction to fiction. That way, he can continue reading and enjoying the book as an exercise in creative imagination. Some nonfiction reads better as a novel.

The world of nature spirits and elementals is no stranger to our book trailers, as you can see below. We've covered this topic before.

MPL Book Trailer #94

Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings: Working with the Intelligence in Nature, by Marko Pogačnik (Findhorn Press, 2nd rev. ed., 2010) (ISBN 9781844091751).

Whether or not you believe what these authors are saying, their works are interesting. They're seeing the world differently, and that, if nothing else, can be entertaining. At best, it may also be enlightening.

Finely Tuned With Nature, Moiself,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S. Look closely at the apparently blank space above. See the play button with "The Beatles" underneath? That's actually an embedded video there. Click the play button to hear "Mother Nature's Son," by the Beatles, from the group's self-titled album, which is more commonly known as the "White Album" (1968). Paul McCartney wrote this tune when he was practicing transcendental meditation during the group's India retreat. TM is a cool way to feel connected with the world around you.

Friday Features Welcomes the Man in the Moon

2012-03-02T02:18:00.000-05:00

Friday Features welcomes the Man in the Moon to the top ten videos currently being viewed on the MPL YouTube Channel.

Click to Bigify

The Man in the Moon, by William Joyce

(MPL Book Trailer #128)

Besides our book trailer for the children's classic, The Man in the Moon, another newcomer to the top ten list is something to croak about.

Fun Facts About Frogs!, by Carmen Bredeson

(MPL Book Trailer #130)

Ordinarily, I think of hopping dinners as, well, quite bluntly, meals, but this nonfiction book will definitely get the jump on anyone interested in early literacy. Both titles are available in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog (just click here and also click here).

As Always, Thanks For Watching Our Videos,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Video Viewership News Beat

P.S. To Our Children's Children's Children (1969), by the Moody Blues, was a tribute album to humans first landing on the moon that year. In "Floating," Ray Thomas imagined what it might have been like to have been there with the Apollo XI astronauts. What if traveling to the moon were as easy as taking a family holiday to any terrestrial vacation spot? As the song suggests, your inner child would have liked it.

Sammy's Big Letter Day

2012-03-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

It's Sammy the Toucan's big letter day! Wild Thang (Miss Jaymi) and Sammy covered the letter S s in their early literacy video this week.

If you're interested in developing young readers, be sure to visit Wild Thang and Sammy's blog, Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun. The letter S s blog should be posted sometime today, if not sooner. (UPDATE: Okay, Monday, March 5, at the latest.)

One of these days, I'll get to introduce Wild Thang and Sammy's blog, as well as The Miss Jaymi Channel, as their "award-winning" blog and videos. Time will bear moi out on this. Remember--you heard it here first.

Are There YouTube Video Awards? Just Asking,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy News Beat

P.S. How's this for a great musical closer? "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," as visually interpreted by our own Wild Thang! Just plain fantastic, I'd say.

We Have Wienerdogs!

2012-03-01T11:37:00.002-05:00

We have wiener slobberdogs (or, simply, wienerdogs) at my Library. Well, faux dachshunds, at any rate, thanks to Judy T.

Wienerdogs Using the OPAC

to Search For Slobberdog Books

"Where Are the EASY Reader Shelves?"

Really Getting Into This Book, They Are

Hey, Wienerdogs! The Title Says It All

How realistic are these faux wienerdogs? Pretty much. This breed of slobberdogs is looooooong.

Dachshund

Pretty Spiffy in That Sweater, I Must Say

We've Seen This Guy Before

(Click Here to Reprise That Blog Posting)

I suppose it's okay that our faux wiener slobberdogs are permitted to stay inside my Library, even though I am not allowed to remain inside all the time (and never where allergic patrons are). I'm a freedom feline and tough to boot. Cold winds don't faze moi.

What other "decorations" are there in MPL Youth Services? Well, there are loads of faux animals. But there's also a nice book display for March (as always, click the photo to bigify):

Have you seen any of the Library's book trailers or other videos in which we use 2006 photos of the Library? In particular, there were some pictures of the Youth Services information desk (at which sat Cataloger Queen, whose Russian name I gave her has slipped my mind entirely, and whose old "Cauli name" from a year ago has likewise escaped my consciousness). "Which videos?" you say. (Go ahead. Say it. I can wait.) No sooner said than done. Here's one with that six-year-old YS photo in the credits. (But please watch the entire book trailer. It's one of my favorites.)

The Quest For Fire, by J. H. Rosny

(MPL Book Trailer #86)

We have used the 2006 photos in our videos because the Library addition had just opened then, and everything looked so neat. Well, Youth Services has expanded its artsy decorations during the past six years. Make with modern photos, minions! These were taken yesterday. If you click to bigify the pictures, you might just see Cataloger Queen. She is, naturally, cataloging. She was in the 2006 photos, too. But not the same items, of course. Cataloging is a complex process, but it doesn't take six years to catalog something. It only feels that way sometimes.

I see that the Shining Knight has his (or her? Can't tell from outside the armor) scarf, thanks to Broadway Gal or the Decorinator, I'm guessing. He (or she) protects the chicksoons, as you may recall.

Well, anyway, let's get back to the wienerdogs. They're welcome to hang out anywhere they like in the Library, provided they stay away from my special places. If they've read my blog, and it is unimaginable that they wouldn't have, then they should know where these spots are situated. Reminders? I can do that. And that, too.

Don't Trip Over Our Faux Wienerdogs,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Critters News Beat

P.S. This dachshund sings a sad Russian song (2007). (Well, I'm guessing the guy's speaking Russian at the end, but I couldn't hear it very well.) With guitar playing that bad, I'd wail out a tune, too.

The Personification of Suave

2012-02-29T21:53:00.001-05:00

by Scowl-Face

MPL Guest Blogger

Buffalo Gal just told me that Davy Jones died today of a heart attack. He was 66 years old.

Davy Jones (1945-2012)

The Monkees were a huge phenomenon in the mid-1960s pop-rock world. Over a two-year period, the group's singles and albums outsold the Beatles. Much of the credit for the Monkees meteoric rise to fame goes to the Emmy-winning primetime television series created by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, and the marketing genius of Don Kirshner, who died this past January.

The Monkees hit British TV (1967)

(L to R: Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones)

But the Monkees' success was due at least as much, if not more, to the talent and charisma of the four lads who comprised the group: Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Although they were rock-and-roll musicians fabricated for a TV show, the foursome transformed the group and themselves into a bona fide band. Davy Jones was instrumental in that success, equally with the other three Monkees.

Jones was not known for his musicianship--he most often played tambourine--but he had an absolutely fabulous singing voice, and he was a solid actor with Broadway credentials. Like Micky Dolenz, who had been a child television star, Jones knew how to play his Monkees character for laughs, but he also lent a charm and grace that made him endearing on the TV screen. He personified suave. He also tugged the heartstrings of millions of young ladies around the world, who adored both his television persona and his live, stage-performing presence. Guys were jealous of his handsome looks and easy, confident demeanor with girls, but they also liked Davy personally (as fictional character, real-life singer, and actual person). You could imagine hanging out with him--or any of the other Monkees, or all of them together--and having a really fun time.

I'd like to honor Davy by including what I consider his best Monkees composition (yes, he wrote songs for the group). It was not the most important Monkees song that he co-wrote--that, in my humble opinion, was "War Games"--but "Time and Time Again," which Jones co-wrote with Bill Chadwick, has all of his charm, sophistication, and good cheer. It's just a really fun pop song.

"Time and Time Again" appeared as a bonus track on the 1995 Monkees CD re-release of the album Changes (1970), which featured only Jones and Dolenz, as Tork and Nesmith had previously left the group.

During the group's two-year television run on NBC, I wasn't allowed to watch the show. My Mother disapproved of those "long-haired hippies." When the program landed on CBS as children's Saturday morning fare, I was able to see all the episodes without annoying my Mom. They changed my musical awareness of popular American rock-and-roll.

Of all the Monkees songs on which Davy sang lead vocal, which was my favorite? Oddly, it was a song he never liked.

"Daydream Believer" (1967) as shown during the

music segment from the television show

Did you have a favorite Davy Jones-sung Monkees tune? Or, perhaps, something from his solo career? I'd like to know. Comments section, please and thanks, as Cauli would say.

Davy Jones had all the talents necessary to become a successful pop star, as Don Kirshner recognized. But to those of us who watched him and his pals on TV, he was a good friend, who we will truly miss.

P.S. I can't find a decent video of "War Games," but the song was included on a Monkees CD rarities release called Missing Links (1990), the first of (I think) three volumes of such previously unreleased material. "Time and Time Again" was also included on this compilation. So, instead, please allow me to offer Davy's screen test for the sitcom series that became The Monkees (1966-1968).

P.P.S. Thanks, Cauli, for this chance to pay tribute to one of my childhood heroes. Two cans of premium tuna-in-oil, as per our agreement.

Leppies' Return Invasion

2012-02-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

You can tell it's almost March around my Library, because the Decorinator has brought out the leprechauns again. You may remember them from last year. Looks like some scary additions have been made.

Flowers Are a Nice Touch

I don't remember this dude from last year, but he scares moi all the same. Li'l Reader Dude must be frightened, too, because he's as still as a statue. The flowers are a nice touch, though. I'm guessing Paul Hadley would have given this leppie a miss as a watercolor painting subject.

Hey, would you like to see more paintings on display at my Library? Sure you would. Click the images below to play. But you already knew that.

Back to the leppy invasion.

Limber Leppies Doing the "Splits"

That hurts just looking at it.

These Hats Look New

Leppie Slobberdog is "Old Hat," Though

Hank Makes a Dashing Irish Dandy

Willie, Too, Looks Sharp

No More Lucky Charms Cereal For These Leppies

Another Fantastic Adornment, Decorinator,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Decoration News Beat

P.S. See what your parents were watching on television from this Lucky Charms commercial (1972). See why I find leppies scary?

Grateful Kitties & Slobberdogs

2012-02-29T09:40:00.001-05:00

On Monday this week (Feb. 27), "Flat" Caulis III & V, along with my minions, drove to Martinsville, Indiana to deliver the pet food donations that Library patrons graciously provided last week for Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day (Feb. 22). There were many happy kitties and slobberdogs, thanks to the generosity of our patrons. But they would be much happier if they could be adopted to good families and have nice homes. Just saying.

"Flat" Cauli III next to the Morgan County Humane Society van

"Flat" Cauli V, being even flatter than III (no cardboard backing), had to remain in the car because of the strong winds. We didn't want V to become airborne! Needless to say, "Flat" Cauli V was quite put-out. But she was pleased with our mission and was glad we could deliver kitty and slobberdog food to those in need.

We may receive a few extra donations, which we will take either to MCHS or to a Mooresville charity that distributes food products to people with pets.

Thank You For Your Help, Patrons,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Charitable Donations News Beat

P.S. "Lord, Help the Poor & Needy," by Cat Power (Chan Marshall), implores listeners to remember those less fortunate. The song, which has a great blues feel, was included on the CD Jukebox (2008). Cat Power is a cool name for an Indie rock band.

Look But Don't Rotate

2012-02-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Boss Lady found a wooden revolving literary display in the Library basement, and it was perfect for us to use as an art display for our Cauli art appreciation drawings. Thanks to the Decorinator, the display was covered in cardboard and then yellow construction paper (another of Boss Lady's ingenious ideas). Well, Decorinator selected the paper color, and she constructed the entire refurbishing. Decorinator is an ornamental genius when it comes to Library adornment. Scowl-Face stood slack-jawed and dazed, which for him was a meaningful contribution.

Our young patrons' artwork is presently displayed prominently by the elevator, immediately inside the Library's front entrance. (Another Boss Lady brilliancy.) Is it any wonder why Boss Lady is in charge? You should stop by the Library to take a personal look. Until then, take a gander at these photos (as always, click each picture to bigify).

Why two photos of the signs atop the display? Twice the Cauli for your money, I'd venture.

Although the display is technically a revolving type, please do NOT try to rotate it. It might fly apart. A screw fell out when Boss Lady and Scowl-Face were hauling it upstairs. (Boss Lady is as strong as an elephant.) They don't know exactly what the loose screw was holding in place, but it could have been something vital to the structural integrity of the display. So just let it sit quietly. Remember--look but don't touch.

I can honestly say that I have never been drawn so well by so many young artists. Coloring line figures is an underappreciated art form. In these drawings you will immediately observe an extensive array of creative energies. Let them carry your emotions to loftier heights, or at least toward the vending machines.

Thanks to all of our young patrons who shared their artistic abilities. I hope they had fun. We're certainly enjoying their fine efforts.

I'm No Art Expert, But I Know What I Like,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Patron Art News Beat

P.S. The Music Man composed an entire CD of percussion pieces based upon musical interpretations of famous Salvador Dali paintings. The collection is called The Persistence of Memory (2011), which is available to check-out in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog. Like all of the Library's composer's original musical scores, we have used them as soundtracks in our book trailers and other videos, such as the sampling below.

Cauli Art Appreciation Contest Winners

2012-02-28T15:22:00.000-05:00

By Junior, of Junior's Farm

MPL Special Feline Correspondent
Arts & Crafts News Beat

A team of artistically-inclined felines judged the drawings that our early literacy library patrons submitted on Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day (last Wednesday, February 22, 2012). This is a crack team of kitty artisans who know fine art when we see it.

Meet the rest of the judging panel:

Cauli Le Chat, MPL Feline Roving Reporter

Harley Quinn, MPL Feline "Cub" Reporter

Cauli, of course, is well known to her readers, and her qualifications speak for themselves. Harley is new to the world of art evaluation, but she's quite keen to do a good job. Actually, she's quite keen about everything.

HARLEY: Ohboyohboyohboyohboy . . . I am SOOOO thrilled to be selected on the judging panel for all of this wonderful artwork! It is all so terrifically creative and imaginative. I can't wait to get started!

CAULI: Settle yourself, Harley. Take some deep breaths.

It was a difficult decision, because there were so many excellent drawings. Everybody who participated is a winner to us! There were four categories of drawing styles, or "schools" (as we artsy types call them):

I've provided hyperlinks to the human definitions for this artistic terminology. We felines have our own interpretations, though.

Here are the winners in each category. To preserve privacy, we are using only the artists' initials followed by a line (e.g., "J____ W____"). In cases in which the initials are the same, we used the first two letters of an artist's first name. Those whose initials are given: You know who you are.

REALIST

WINNER

"Buttercup," by Sh____ B____

RUNNER-UP

"Purple Tail Cauli," by L____ M____

IMPRESSIONIST

WINNER

"Silent Cauli" by B____ P____

RUNNER-UP

"Kaleidoscopic Cauli," by K____ B____

AVANT-GARDE

WINNER

"Purple Haze Cauli," by Sy____ B____

RUNNER-UP

"Rainbow Cauli," by G____ C____

POST-MODERNISM

WINNER

"Electric Red Static Cauli," by L____ J____

RUNNER-UP

"Happy Cauli Goes Green," by D____ M____

Thanks to everybody who participated. Remember to keep drawing! Your art is your unique expression. NOBODY ELSE can draw exactly like you can, and the world would be a lot less fun if we didn't have YOUR artwork to enjoy.

Paws Up to All Our Young Artists,

Junior, of Junior's Farm

MPL Special Feline Correspondent

Arts & Crafts News Beat

P.S. "The Painter," by Neil Young, comes to us courtesy of his album Prairie Wind (2005).

P.P.S. "Colours," by Donovan, was first released as a single (1965). It helped establish Donovan's folk song-writing reputation. He liked to be known as the "Scottish Woody Guthrie" instead of the "British Bob Dylan." He had his reasons.

Quite a Ukrainian Yarn

2012-02-27T22:26:00.001-05:00

The Mitten is a Ukrainian folk tale adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1989). It was one of the Music Man's childhood favorites. How fitting that we may now incorporate his original musical composition as the soundtrack to our book trailer.

Jan Brett's illustrations are wonderfully descriptive, and the text is simultaneously expressive and compressed. The result is a tightly-told tale that moves the reader along smoothly. The ever-increasing size of the mitten's occupants makes us anxious to see what happens next, while the story's climax provides a genuine belly-laugh and the satisfaction of knowing that all's well that ends well.

Early literacy readers (i.e., preschoolers) will enjoy listening and looking at this book during read-aloud, and children in the early elementary grades will have fun reading it on their own. The drawings evoke an old-fashioned, folklore-style format that presages characters and developments. The art is fabulous.

Although there were no felines in this book, I was truly entertained by the assortment of woodland critters that graced the pages. I felt like they were alive, right there in front of moi. That makes for exciting and engaging reading.

Good Thing Yarn Stretches Plenty,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Young Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S. "The Mitten in the Snow" is a children's song adapted from Brett's book that may be sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." Click here to have a nice sing-along with your kids.

P.P.S. Jan Brett explains in this video (2009) a little about her inspirations for her children's books and how she approaches illustration.

For Pete's Sake!

2012-02-26T17:51:00.001-05:00

For Pete's Sake! That's today (February 26), sure enough. You can look it up.

The phrase, "For Pete's Sake!" has long been used as an alternative to expletives. I have used it myself, as you might recall.

So, how should we celebrate? Listening to "For Pete's Sake" is as good a start as any.

"For Pete's Sake," composed by Peter Tork and Joseph Richards, appeared on the Monkees LP Headquarters (1967) and was selected to play over the closing credits for the group's second (and final) television season on NBC (1967-1968). It should have convinced doubters that there was genuine musical talent among the Monkees--Tork could play an assortment of musical instruments and, along with group-mate Michael Nesmith, could compose music as well--but critics were too deeply entrenched into the "Prefab Four" image of the group to put that aside. Headquarters was a bona fide group effort, with the four Monkees themselves playing their own instruments (with a few session players helping out), arranging the album's songs, composing some songs of their own, and handling all of the vocals. Any pop band from the 1960s would have been pleased to have presented such a collective creative effort as its work, but it didn't sway any critics. They blasted the group just the same.

Headquarters immediately shot to number one on Billboard's Pop Album charts, where it remained for a week. The following week, the Beatles LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) assumed the top position and remained there for 15 weeks. But Headquarters stayed on the charts and eventually sold over two million copies. It was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2006), right along with Sgt. Pepper's and many other grand albums.

So, why is it For Pete's Sake Day today? Who is this Pete, and why are we doing everything for his sake? Well, there is the Apostle, Saint Peter. Maybe that's who we're saking for. (If that's not a verb, it oughtta be.)

Peter the Apostle, by Guiseppe Nogari (1743)

Of course, the Monkees' song title was a play-on-words about Peter Tork, but we should remember that one of Tork's major musical influences was folk legend Pete Seeger. Could For Pete's Sake Day be for Mr. Seeger? Probably not, but, then again, why not?

Pete Seeger performing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" on a

Stockholm television program (1968).

Pete Seeger wrote the first three verses to "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (1955), to which Joe Hickerson appended additional verses (1960). The song was re-released in 1961. Seeger's original composition was published in the folk magazine Sing Out! Like many of Seeger's folk tunes, it carried a political message that resonated with many people (and still does), while irritating the establishment (and still does).

What other Petes could we be celebrating today? Peter the Great? Peter Piper? Peter Pan? Peter Peter, Pumpkin-Eater?

Perhaps Peter Graves, Peter Yarrow, or Peter Sellers? I could go on like this for hours. Days, quite possibly.

Whoever the Peter whose sake you're celebrating today, I hope you and Peter have fun and enjoy yourselves. Open some canned tuna-in-oil. Works for moi.

Have Fun Today, For Pete's Sake,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Holiday News Beat

P.S. When Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1993) spoofed the movie The Beginning of the End (1957), one of the host segments featured Crow T. Robot doing a play about the life of the film's star, Peter Graves, when he attended the University of Minnesota (at which Graves studied drama. Truly.) Much of the joke here is that the segment drags on, like the movie, waaaay longer than it should. The MST3K gang were absolute comic geniuses about such subtleties.

Cauli Art Contest

2012-02-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

As part of Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day this week, Wild Thang had her charges draw official Cauli art. Let's have a look!

These were the drawings we had as of this past Wednesday. There have been plenty more made since! Wild Thang is holding a contest, and I get to judge the best of show. That's an awesome responsibility, one which I take quite seriously. In my book, everybody who created Cauli art deserves praise.

Meanwhile, our donation campaign for canned cat food and dog food for Morgan County Humane Society is going nicely. Today will probably be our last day to collect cans, because we're heading to Martinsville, Indiana on Monday (2/27/12) to deliver the donations. "Flat" Cauli III wants to accompany my minions and moi. She feels left out in the traveling department, since most of the other "Flat" Caulis have traveled far and wide, as reported in my blogs.

Good job handling the donations, "Flat" Cauli V.

Drop by the Library today with more canned pet food donations. We'll appreciate it.

Cauli Art is Way-Cool,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Programs News Beat

P.S. Thinking of moi leads easily to "Phenomenal Cat," by the Kinks, which appeared on the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). As is true with most Ray Davies' tunes from this period, there is social commentary and philosophy to discern, if you're into that.

Tober Banishes Winter

2012-02-25T00:08:00.000-05:00

This has been a truly strange winter for Indiana. Now that a cold snap has returned, I protest to the powers-that-be. It has been an unusually mild winter thus far, at least around my hometown, and as it is almost the end of February, I think winter has forfeited its right to go cold and snowy on us. That should have happened in January, and since winter missed its chance then, it's unfair and against my rules to bring arctic chills back to Hoosier land this late in the game.

Hoodie Hoo'ing at Thorntown (Ind.) Public Library

Monday, Feb. 20, 2012

So I'd like to follow the lead of Tober, the Thorntown (Indiana) Public Library Cat, and his staff and patrons to banish winter. On Monday, February 20, it was Hoodie Hoo Day in Thorntown, at which time (noon, to be exact) TPL staff and patrons engaged in a winter-warding ceremony that looked a whole lot more effective than any shadow-seeing from Punxsutawney Phil was.

Check out Thorntown's video on Tober's blog by clicking here. You'll see that this group means business.

Winter, you've been officially hoodie hoo'ed. Go away now. We can repeat this ceremony as long as it takes.

Wind Chills Tonight in the Single Digits (Fahrenheit)? Are You Kidding Moi?

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Hoosier Weather News Beat

P.S. Hey, Boss Lady. Moi, sleeping inside our Library tonight. It is SO happening. I've got Scowl-Face's key fob to the secret locking staff door.

P.P.S. "A Hazy Shade of Winter," by folk-pop legends Simon & Garfunkel, was recorded and released as a single (1966) and later appeared on the album Bookends (1968). Paul Simon was one of the greatest folk-pop lyricists and musicians of the 20th century. He's still cranking out great songs today. As for Art Garfunkel, every guy Scowl-Face knew in high school choir wished desperately that his voice was as wonderful as his. Garfunkel's, I mean. (Who'd you think I meant? Scowl-Face couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.) Seriously, that's a true story.

P.P.P.S. The Bangles recorded a cover of "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (1987) to include on the movie soundtrack to Less Than Zero (1987). The group recorded a live rendition of the song for AOL Sessions (2003), shown here in this nifty online video.

Sound Like a Pirate on Cauli 4 Kids

2012-02-24T15:42:00.000-05:00

Since the featured letter of the alphabet was R r on Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan's early literacy blog and video, we can all sound like pirates! That's what we did on my Cauli 4 Kids blog this afternoon.

Go ahead--Give it a try. RRRRRRrrrrrrrr! Pretty fun!

Shiver Moi Timbers,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy News Beat

P.S. Does my Library have any book trailers about race cars? What do you think?

Wild Thang Scorches YouTube Viewing Stats

2012-02-24T14:40:00.001-05:00

I already did Friday Features earlier today, but I just took a peek at Wild Thang's YouTube Channel, and here's what I noticed.

Click to Bigify

The Miss Jaymi's Channel has graced YouTube for just a little over five months already, and her total video viewership is 11,675. Do you know how long it took the MPL YouTube Channel to reach 10,000? Moi, neither. I was hoping you'd know so we could make a meaningful comparison.

Wait, I can look it up! Done and done. It took nine months. That was actually faster than I remembered. It felt like much longer.

Anyway, the point is that Wild Thang's Channel is scorching YouTube in terms of library viewership statistics. Well, for libraries the size of ours, that's a huge number of viewings in such a short time. Quite impressive, I'd venture. Wild Thang and Sammy are to be congratulated. Boss Lady, that means raises all 'round. Or raisins. Something like that.

Kudos to Wild Thang and her partner, Sammy the Toucan, for making early literacy a "must-see" on YouTube. After a couple of years, your videos will be pulling big numbers. the MPL YouTube Channel's 244 currently uploaded videos are presently being watched at a monthly rate of . . . let's see, now . . .

Click to Bigify

Just Saying,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
YouTube Statistics News Beat

P.S. Speaking of viewing statistics skyrocketing upward, I'm reminded of the beginning of the LP To Our Children's Children's Children (1969), by the Moody Blues, in which one hears a musical cacophony intended to simulate the launching of the Saturn V rocket carrying Apollo 11's astronauts to the moon earlier that year. Following close behind is the first track, "Higher and Higher," written by MB percussionist Graeme Edge. The Moodies were heavily into Eastern philosophy and mysticism at the time, as one may readily discern from the dramatic tone of the instrumentals and, especially, from the spoken lyrics. This album, though, has a more direct purpose: To praise the greatest human achievement of the 20th century (according to some folks). Listen to the entire work, though, and you'll find philosophy aplenty. The Moodies never disappoint when it comes to life lessons learned.

A Tribute to Jules Le Chat (1998/2001?-2012)

2012-02-24T13:07:00.001-05:00

Last Friday (Feb. 17, 2012), my dear friend and relation Jules Le Chat passed over. Like moi, Jules (or Juliet, as Kindly Couple called her) was an outdoor Library hang-arounder. In June, 2004, The Lady With the Red Hair and Buffalo Gal discovered Jules waiting at their car in the Library parking lot. She had been hanging out at the Library for awhile, asking passing people for assistance. She was extremely thin, badly groomed, and obviously in need of much loving care. She was clearly an adult kitty--the V-E-T subsequently gauged her age at between 3-6 years--so she had knocked around the streets of Mooresville for quite some time, unless she had been "dumped" at the Library, which was admittedly a possibility. Her distinguishing physical characteristic was a partially-amputated tail, presumably due to a catastrophic injury, that earned her the nickname "Stumpy" from moi (although I only used it in jest--Jules could take a joke with grace and good humor).

Jules Le Chat in a Playful Pose (2011)

The Lady With the Red Hair and Buffalo Gal knew just what to do. They entered the Library and spoke with CompuGal, who was then head of Adult Reference Services, to see if anyone affiliated with the Library could shed light on Jules' plight. There were no leads there, so our gallant ladies took Jules around the neighborhood to inquire if she "belonged" to any humans living nearby. Nobody claimed Jules, and the Library, then as now, was unable to have a full-time resident feline living inside the building. So Kindly Couple intervened and adopted Jules, who enjoyed the subsequent eight years living comfortably in a country homestead close to town.

Jules was a sweet, kind, loving cat. She was regal, refined, and friendly to everyone--humans, felines, and canines included--although she occasionally did the feline predator thing and caught winged dinners, meeses, and tiny burrowdogs (i.e., moles). She was a wonderful representative of our species. We loved her with all our hearts and miss her sharing our physical lives here on earth.

Jules was no free-loader, either. She worked hard as one of my special feline correspondents for the Library. If you have followed my blog since the beginning, you have probably read some of her work. If not, now's your chance.

Jules' introduction to my readers;
Jules reported on spring resurgence among the Library's landscaping;
Jules observed the vagaries of spring weather in Indiana;
Jules did some art appraisal work.

Now she is gone but never forgotten. We know she has joined Shiloh, our late friend and great slobberdog guardian, who crossed over nearly a year ago next month. Other felines from Kindly Couple's family over the past three decades--Fluffy, Jack, Einnie, Dozer, Punkin, Callie Jo, Daisy Dog, and Daughter--were also there to guide Jules in her transition to the Summerland, where we hope one day to rejoin her. I reckon she has met up with the rest of her tail. Spirit bodies are always whole, particularly when the spirit is as wholesome, pure, and loving as Jules.

The Lids Remove Themselves in Heavenly Canned Tuna-in-Oil,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Feline Tribute News Beat

P.S. "Hey, Jules" was Paul McCartney's original title for a song written for John Lennon's son, Julian. It was subsequently changed to "Hey, Jude" (1968), which became the Beatles' biggest selling single release, remaining atop Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Singles chart for nine weeks and charting the American top 40 for something like 26 weeks or longer. The song has arguably the greatest refrain ever written for a pop tune. Jules Le Chat would be pleased to have the song dedicated to her for today's musical closer.

Friday Features Welcomes Evergreen Indiana

2012-02-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

On this week's Friday Features, Evergreen Indiana has entered the current top ten video viewing list for the MPL YouTube Channel.

Click to Bigify

One of our program, or promo, trailers showcasing the Evergreen Indiana Open-Source Integrated Library System has cracked the current top ten viewership list. If you're new to E.I., our promo trailer will break the ice.

Evergreen Indiana Open-Source ILS Promo Trailer

(MPL Program Trailer #12)

Another newcomer to the present top ten videos is our book trailer featuring one of humorist James Thurber's funnier collections of stories.

The Thurber Carnival, by James Thurber

(MPL Book Trailer #34)

If you've never read Thurber before, Thurber Carnival is an excellent place to begin. If you're into the readers' advisory thing, and you have a high tolerance for Scowl-Face's bleatings, then this is the blog posting for you.

Evergreen Indiana--Both a Library Card and a Consortium,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

YouTube Video Viewing News Beat

P.S. This Columbia Pictures/United Productions of America (UPA) cartoon (1953) animated James Thurber's characters from "The Unicorn in the Garden," a short story Thurber wrote for The New Yorker magazine (October 31, 1939). The humorous story was Thurber's most famous "modern fable," and it was included in The Thurber Carnival (1945).

Feeling Fully Appreciated, Thank You Very Much

2012-02-23T14:16:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling fully appreciated after yesterday's festivities. In fact, besides Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan's video, I have a lapel pin to prove it.

"Flat" Cauli II Models My Lapel Pin

(Click to Bigify Photos)

Yep. Fully Appreciated; That's Moi

Feeling Fully Appreciated, Thank You Very Much,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Staff Holiday News Beat

P.S. Speaking of appreciation, Ann-Margret, portraying the character Rusty Martin in the movie Viva Las Vegas (1964) opposite Elvis Presley, sings "Appreciation," which appears to have been excluded from the reissued soundtrack CD (2003). Perhaps I'm just overlooking it in the track list.

P.P.S. Another, less memorable 1964 movie that Ann-Margret starred in was Kitten With a Whip, which received a justly-deserved riffing from Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Episode 615). Here Mike and the 'Bots crack wise during a sequence in which, strangely counterpointing the characters' ages and circumstances, annoying cartoons play on the TV in the background.

Behind the Scenes With Wild Thang & Sammy the Toucan

2012-02-22T19:39:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder how Wild Thang (Miss Jaymi) and Sammy the Toucan shoot their early literacy videos? Let's go behind-the-scenes to watch this dynamic duo in action.

That's MPL videographer Rachel Buchanan (on the left) using the Youth Services digital camera to film this segment of Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun. (To watch all of Wild Thang and Sammy's early literacy videos, visit Miss Jaymi's YouTube Channel.) Scowl-Face is using the Library's new Canon EOS 1100D Rebel T3 digital camera to film the "behind-the-scenes" angle. (Actually, Scowlly just does a poor job framing the shot. Hence this "behind-the-scenes" video.) He used the new tripod, so that's why the camera isn't shaking every which way but loose. Truly fabulous resolution! This is the Library's "go-to" HD video and digital still-photography device from now on.

I surely appreciated Wild Thang and Sammy devoting this entire early literacy video to moi for Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day today. "Flat" Cauli II was great as my "stand-in" while I was out roaming the streets for the latest news stories. Unfortunately, because of Scowl-Face's ineptitude in camera angling, the ceiling lights reflected rather harshly off "Flat" Cauli II, washing-out her features. These things happen in show business.

I was further pleased by the early literacy reading suggestions that Wild Thang and Sammy recommended. Those cat books were terrific choices! One of my favorite books was featured. (You can see it on my blog background.) Guess I'd better fetch our book trailer.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, by Laura Numeroff
(Felicia Bond, Illustrator)

(MPL Book Trailer #142)

Hearing Wild Thang and Sammy talking about the letter R r reminded moi of pirates, too. I've got that covered.

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

(MPL Book Trailer #49)

My Library blogged about this book as well. Cybrarians call it "cross-pollination" among the social media.

Weren't Willie and Hank dressed as pirates last October for Halloween? Let's reprise some blurry photos.

It was a wonderful day of appreciation for moi. Thanks to everybody for making it so special.

When Is Sammy the Toucan Day? Just Asking,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

My Holiday News Beat

P.S. "The Cat Came Back" (1956), by Sonny James, was released as a 78 r.p.m. record in the UK. Not bad sound for a brittle disc made from shellac resin.

Yep. My Day. Appreciate Moi

2012-02-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

Yep. It's my day (Wednesday, February 22, 2012). Let the appreciation begin!

My Appreciation Banner at the MPL Circulation Desk
(Thanks, Wild Thang!)
[Click to Bigify]

Wild Thang will be giving out "kitty chow" during her early literacy programs this morning, and youngsters will receive an official Cauli Le Chat Pawtographed "Cub" Reporter Press Kit, along with a Cauli coloring page. Wild Thang is having a contest to see who can best color moi (on paper; not actually my body being colored, like in that book I reviewed last April).

We've collected some canned cat food and dog food to donate to the Morgan County Humane Society, but more is welcome. If patrons could drop off their canned donations at the MPL Circulation Desk, we would be most appreciative.

My pal Sparkle the Designer Cat mailed moi an appreciation card. Actually, it was a Valentine card. Want to see?

Claws come in handy to open envelopes

Sparkle personalized my Valentine card

That is so nice! Thanks, Sparkle

Your card made my day, Sparkle. I appreciate you, too.

Drop by the Library today to help us celebrate my special day. Show your appreciation through your cat food or dog food donation to MCHS. I'll be around outside, roaming the neighborhood to cover all the breaking news. Plus there's food at several choice locations in the immediate vicinity of 220 West Harrison Street, where the Library is situated. It doesn't have my name on it, but I know it was left out for moi.

Happy Appreciation Day For Moi,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

My Appreciation Day News Beat

P.S. When it comes to appreciating oneself in song, "U Can't Touch This," by MC Hammer, must rank near or at the top. The song appeared on the album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (1990).

P.P.S. Naturally, we can't include MC Hammer's megahit without the classic parody by "Weird Al" Yankovic. "I Can't Watch This" appeared on "Weird Al's" album Off the Deep End (1992). A fan created this funny video to accompany the song.

Dinner is Served!

2012-02-22T00:06:00.000-05:00

Just in time for Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day (TODAY!), I saw yesterday that the Library's Youth Services Department was preparing for my special banquet, which hasn't been announced but surely must be scheduled. There was no mistaking the signs.

Would-Be Winged Dinners For Moi?

Those eggs remind moi of something.

Hey! Those Are Incubators

Temperature Inside is Nearly 100 Degrees Fahrenheit

That settles it! I'm now certain that those eggs are chicksoons.

Some Freer Family Expert Chicksoon Wranglers

I recognize those dudes. They're from the Freer family, with whom "Flat" Cauli I spent some quality farmpaw time. So there can be no question whatsoever that these eggs are destined to become ~~winged dinners~~ chicksoons.

Eggs Are Warm and Cozy

Remember last year when Broadway Gal had a hatching chicks blog complete with live-action videos? Happening again.

Don't miss a minute of the action! Check out the hatching blog to remain abreast (no pun intended) of the latest developments.

Who's going to stand guard this year over the chicksoons? Last year, it was the Library's Knight in Shining Armor. Who will rise to the occasion this time?

I can always count on "Flat" Cauli II.

Watching and Waiting,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Chicksoon News Beat

P.S. "Watching and Waiting," by the Moody Blues, appeared on the album To Our Children's Children's Children (1969). I doubt Justin Hayward and Ray Thomas were thinking about chicksoons when they wrote this tune, however.

Andy Cuts Us a Whopper Check

2012-02-21T17:12:00.004-05:00

Ten thousand dollars may not sound like much money today, but between 1912 and 1915, it was sufficient to construct a brand new public library in Mooresville, Indiana. If you'd like to know where the money came from (the cryptic title character, "Andy") and who the other key players were in the financing, development, and construction of our Library, you'll have to read Scowl-Face's latest blog installment. Hey, I sympathize. Some sacrifices must be made to acquire knowledge. Or sleep.

Sleep, Definitely,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library 100th Anniversary News Beat

P.S. The then-richest man in the world paid to build MPL. This was way before Bill Gates.

P.P.S. The first MPL board of trustees probably sounded a little bit like the Beatles covering "Money (That's What I Want)," which appeared on the Fab Four's LP, With the Beatles (1963). Here's a video clip from a (probably) British television program on which the Beatles performed the song live. Well, they probably played along to the overdubbed recording that was broadcast during the show.

How May We Multi-Serve You Today?

2012-02-21T15:19:00.002-05:00

During a departmental meeting today, at which I was secretly curled-up on a book case catching a few Zzzzz, Boss Lady shared a story illustrating just how extensive and diverse our Library services are. Want to hear it? You bet you do.

MPL Circulation Desk

Last week a patron visited the Library to make a photocopy. He needed to make a copy in which his driver's license appeared on a particular form, but he was having trouble arranging it on the photocopy machine. One of our helpful circulation staff placed the form on the bypass feed and oriented the driver's license so that it appeared exactly in the correct location.

Library's Public Photocopier (Across From Public Computer Lab)

Pleased as punch, the patron thanked our staffer, asking where in town he might go to send a fax (he needed to fax the form somewhere). At our circulation desk, we happen to have a fax machine for public use. Our patron was even more pleased.

Library Public Fax Machine (at the Circulation Desk)

"That's great," said the patron, "but I'll have to come back to fax it. I need to go to a bank to get this [form] notarized." No, he didn't, said our courteous staffer. We happen to have two notaries public on the premises, one of whom was working at the time our visitor needed his notarization. So our patron had his document notarized forthwith, followed with a "fax chaser."

Technigal (one of two MPL Notaries Public)

Armed and Ready to Notarize

You can imagine just how wonderfully thrilled our patron was to have three of his immediate needs met simultaneously. When it comes to patron services, our Library is MUCH more than books and movies.

Drop by to see all the really cool services and resources we have available for you. You need an Evergreen Indiana library card to check-out materials from our various collections, but otherwise anybody, as a general rule, may utilize our other services (including reference and computers), attend our multitudinous programs, and receive free informational materials as available throughout the Library.

Remember to ask for BizMeister or Technigal when you want something notarized. Maybe Technigal will be wearing those fishnet stockings she wore to Programma Mama's lodge murder mystery program last Saturday.

How may we multi-serve you today?

We Can Do That,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Services News Beat

P.S. "Help!" by the Beatles, was both a hit single, an album, and a movie (1965)--but not necessarily in that order. This video clip borrows from the beginning of the movie.

Stop the Presses!

2012-02-21T10:43:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog posting that Savvy hit the local newspapers. Well, not literally. Why would anyone hit a newspaper? Put one under the litterbox--sure, no problem. But hit? I don't think so.

Click to Bigify

Thanks to the Mooresville-Decatur Times for running this photo story in its paper edition. (It's online, too, but you have to log-in to see it.) A picture is worth a thousand words.

Newspapers Are Also Good For Cleaning My Paws and Claws,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Staff News Beat

P.S. Savvy is synonymous with sophistication. There were lots of popular songs in the 1930s about sophsitication, but "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails," recorded by Al Bowlly (with The Freshmen) (1935), is one such tune. People used to get dressed up back then when they were stepping out.

A Hundred Grand is Mighty Grand, Indeed

2012-02-21T02:27:00.000-05:00

Just in time for Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day (Wednesday, February 22, 2012), the MPL YouTube Channel has reached 100,000 viewings.

Click to Bigify

Our all-time top ten viewing list (as it currently stands) appears below.

Click to Bigify

Many thanks to all our patrons worldwide who have watched our library videos. We appreciate your taking time to see what we've been doing, and we sincerely hope you have enjoyed our work. We presently have 243 uploaded videos.

How should we celebrate this milestone? Watch one of our videos, I guess.

MPL Book Trailer #46

Good-Bye, Mr. Chips, by James Hilton

(Currently #5 on our all-time top ten video viewing list)

Thanks For Watching!

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Video News Beat

P.S. Let's reprise one of my Library's "treasure trove" (local history) videos, which features some of the photographs included in the MPL ~~Indiana~~ Roving Reporter Room Collection.

Savvy Signs the YAZ

2012-02-20T19:52:00.000-05:00

Savvy, the MPL Young Adult (Teen) Librarian, has been signing-up a storm in the Young Adult Zone (YAZ). Check out Savvy's photo, which Boss Lady forwarded in an email.

Savvy's new YAZ Posters

Quite nice posters, I'll say. This encouraged moi to try out the Library's new digital camera.

Click to Bigify

Boss Lady purchased a Canon EOS 1100D Rebel T3 digital camera for the Library at the end of last year. This is the most fantastic digital camera I have ever laid paws upon! It is truly the cat's pajamas.

Close-ups? I can do that.

Click Each Photo to Bigify

(Not My Fault If They Don't)

Pretty neat signs, Savvy! Teen Tech Week looks like it's going to be chock-full of technological excitement. How about the high-tech quality of these photos, as a prelude? Thanks, Boss Lady, for buying your staff a really cool graphics tool. Now we can take photos or shoot videos like professionals. That's assuming we can figure out how to work the thing.

Built-in Flash Was a Surprise, Let Moi Tell You,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

YAZ News Beat

P.S. "Freeze Frame," by the J. Geils Band, appeared on the album by the same name (1981). The group must have really liked photography.

A Feline Perspective on Presidents' Day

2012-02-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

Since it is Presidents' Day today (February 20), I thought you might enjoy reading about our presidential kitties. My pal Sparkle the Designer Cat has posted an informative blog honoring several of our fellow felines that have lived in the White House. Click here to read all about it.

Socks (President Clinton's Cat)

Maybe I'll Be a Presidential Cat Someday--Just Saying,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Holiday News Beat

P.S. It's a presidential election year. Who should we elect? Cats can answer that. You can find Bad Kitty For President in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog.

Bagged and Ready

2012-02-19T19:06:00.000-05:00

To celebrate Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day (February 22) this week, the "kitty (kiddy) chow" trail mix is bagged and ready for munching, beginning with Wild Thang's early literacy classes tomorrow morning. I'm guessing that Baby Time will probably pass, as baby people don't get teeth as fast as us felines. Twos and Threes Time will get some bags, and Story Time (which is ages 4-6 or something like that) will certainly want some, too. But what is this "kitty (kiddy) chow," anyway?

Actually, the stuff is officially called "puppy chow," but it's a people recipe, as you can see if you click here. (There are many different recipes out there, which are easy to find if you run a basic Google search.) This is the recipe that The Lady With the Red Hair used, thanks to Wild Thang's alert email. T.L.W.T.R.H. made a batch of 35 bags this afternoon (first time ever for this snack), and so we're hoping that it turned out okay. Scowl-Face helped with the bagging, which is about as much as we could have expected from him.

Here's what the snack looked like, more or less.

As you can see from the photo, it's made from Rice Chex cereal, covered in a chocolate and peanut butter mixture that's coated with confectioner's sugar (i.e., powdered sugar). Somehow, it all sticks together. There may be more ingredients, but that's what I saw when I jumped onto the counter (and was promptly mushed off).

Here's hoping Wild Thang's young patrons will enjoy this tasty treat. We took it over to the Library and left it on your desk chair, Wild Thang. Not my fault if the chocolate melts on your seat.

We Can Make More If We Need It, Wild Thang,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy Snack News Beat

P.S. My Chef Greg is a helpful cooking video series that I found on YouTube. In this episode, Greg and his helpers show us how to make one version of "Puppy Chow."

Our Early Literacy Valentines, Wild Thang & Sammy

2012-02-18T00:02:00.000-05:00

Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan have posted their latest early literacy blog and video, both of which this week celebrate Valentine's Day.

Let moi just say how much I really appreciated Wild Thang giving a call-out to my special day next Wednesday, February 22, 2012. That's Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day at my Library, and we will be celebrating in our early literacy reading programs by doing some super-fun activities. "Flat" Cauli II (and possibly III) will be there. As for moi, I'll be out-and-about gathering stories for our patrons. That's what we feline roving reporters do! So Sammy can relax. Anyway, it's Valentine's Day week (that kind of makes sense), so nobody gets to eat anybody, regardless of who's the predator and who's the prey.

I should point out that I never eat my library colleagues, so Sammy is perfectly safe from moi. Even though I'm a cat and Sammy is a bird, we don't have to do the whole predator/prey thing. None of the "Flat" Caulis would bother Sammy, either. They, too, are library team players. We're perfectly happy with canned tuna-in-oil, if you please.

I can understand Sammy's trepidation, however. He knows I sometimes call birds "winged dinners," which certainly sends a predatory signal. Sammy is a typical flying feathered fella--he is rather high-strung, as I'm sure you've noticed--so it's only natural that he would be dubious around us felines. But he can breathe easy. I give my word as a library co-worker that no winged dinners will be self-served during working hours.

For Wild Thang's early literacy programs next week, the Lady With the Red Hair has promised to make something called "puppy chow," which is actually a young human snack food. Wild Thang emailed us the recipe, and since I can't cook (and Scowl-Face is useless in a kitchen), we're asking T.L.W.T.R.H. to make it so. She volunteers at my Library, even though she works a whole bunch at her Library. Librarians are just such wonderfully helpful folks.

I think we should call the human "puppy chow" something more Cauli-relevant. How about "kitty chow?" Everything sounds better when it's Caulified.

We're hoping for some photos of next week's fun to post on upcoming blogs. Say cheese, everybody.

I Say Tuna, Myself,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy News Beat

P.S. Wild Thang and Sammy posted this valentine music video on their early literacy blog for this week. You'll enjoy it. Actually, to fit the holiday theme, I should say you'll love it.

Slobberdogs Stampede into Friday Features

2012-02-17T00:09:00.000-05:00

This edition of Friday Features (i.e., what's currently being watched on the MPL YouTube Channel) sees a slobberdog stampede into the current top ten list. Fortunately, the slobberdog books are well worth reading.

Click to Bigify

Our book trailers may give some idea as to what these literary slobberdogs are up to.

If You Give a Dog a Donut, by Laura Numeroff (Felicia Bond, Illustrator)

(MPL Book Trailer #120)

Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home

and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals, by Rupert Sheldrake

(MPL Book Trailer #24)

You may find these books in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog. Just click here and then click here.

Maybe next week we felines will make a comeback into the current top ten viewing list. I call upon all kitties to watch our book trailers about cats. Just do this Google search: MPL youtube book trailer cat, and you should find plenty of feline book trailers by my Library. You could also browse our playlists on the MPL YouTube Channel or search that channel for cat book trailers.

C'mon, cats! Let's show those slobberdogs some real viewing numbers!

Next Friday, Cats Will Rule!,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

YouTube Statistics News Beat

P.S. Slobberdogs can perform useful chores around the homestead. Consider, for instance, this slobberdog called Monkey, who cleans the house and attends to other domestic chores while his human is away.

Farewell, School Media Master

2012-02-16T00:05:00.000-05:00

School Media Master, a member of my Library's Circulation Team, and about whom we have blogged before, is the new children's librarian at Brownsburg (Indiana) Public Library. That will be a challenging and rewarding position, and we wish her well in her new adventures. We will miss her friendly customer service, skilled reference assistance, and good humor in the face of computer frustrations.

Every librarian has a demanding job, and librarians' skills are multifaceted, versatile, flexible, and diverse. They're just so darn clever! I should know--I've spent years hanging around my Library and have gotten to know many of them quite well. What impressed moi most about School Media Master was her relaxed, even-tempered persona. Nothing could derail her. That shows amazing poise, capability, and sophistication. Remember, not everybody I work with is so cool under pressure (e.g., Scowl-Face, if I were naming names. He puts the history in histrionics!).

Brownsburg Public Library (near downtown Brownsburg, Indiana)

(Photos courtesy of FunCityFinder.com)

Brownsburg Public Library (BPL) is a fine library with excellent facilities, as well as superb collections and technological resources. Most importantly, BPL is blessed with a highly-trained, helpful staff, who have a good sense of humor. (I've seen that video with Technigal and the other BPL staff. I'd show it here, if I could. You know I would.) Talented folks up yonder in Brownsburg.

BPL is familiar territory to some of our staff, as Technigal, who used to be Anime-Manga Gal, worked there until recently when she was promoted to full-time at my Library. (Score: MPL 1, BPL 0). But now, with its full-time acquisition of School Media Master, BPL has scored a goal (if this were soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it). So the "staff hiring away" score stands tied at 1-1. When does the second half begin in this game? Do I have time to run to the concession stands?

Best of Luck, School Media Master,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Staff News Beat

P.S. Enjoy the official video of Thrill the World, held on October 29, 2011, in Brownsburg, Indiana, at Brownsburg Public Library. The 24 dancers were styled after Michael Jackson's famous music video, Thriller (1983). Visit BPL's YouTube Channel to see more fun videos.

My Library Goals For 2012

2012-02-15T00:09:00.000-05:00

This week (probably next as well), MPL staffers meet with Boss Lady to discuss their library-related (i.e., work) goals for 2012. Although I haven't been scheduled for such a meeting, I thought it might be useful to outline my library goals for the year.

Goal #1: Create my graphic novel
Goal #2: Reach 100,000 viewings on my Cat's Eye View @ MPL blog.
Goal #3: Make more live action, voice-over library videos

Broadway Gal suggested a cool website that used photographs with "word balloons" (in a graphic novel typeface) to indicate characters' dialogue or thought processes. This would be MUCH easier than finding an artist to draw my graphic novel. What's more, I could use "Flat" Caulis as my character, since I'm technically not allowed inside the public-travelled portion of the Library (due to patrons' allergies), and, anyway, I'm much too busy as an official feline roving reporter to be stalled by a prolonged photo shoot. So this is quite doable.

What's my current total blog viewership statistics? 63,029 as of 9:22 p.m. E.S.T. on Valentine's Day. If I were to average 8,500 viewings per month for the remaining 10 months, then that would be 85,000 viewings for 2012. I need 36,971 to reach a hundred thousand. I think that's a goal that could reasonably be met this year.

So far, the videos I produce for my Library have been okay, but I'd really like to improve them by employing more live action and voice-over. Music has been superlative, thanks to the Music Man, so there's no need to change things in the soundtrack department. We need more of a Cauli presence in the videos, so "Flat" Caulis should play a more visible role in future videos. Perhaps some sort of readers' advisory, what's-on-the-shelves approach similar to "Library Picker" at Messing Library, the Middle School at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS), only without the high-tech bells-and-whistles. Want to see what a middle school library can accomplish?

Each of these goals is quite achievable during 2012. So let's get started! You've already helped reach goal #2 by reading my blog. Thank you. As for the other two goals: Minions, make it so.

Glad to Have Minions, Frankly,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Goals News Beat

P.S. Thinking about goals and achievements and the road in-between that leads in every direction but the one you feel you've taken, let's consider "Closer to Fine," by the Indigo Girls, from their self-titled album (1989). There's more than one answer to these questions. Crooked lines are not necessarily wrong paths. What happens along the journey is happening, so best to pay attention. The roads will take you where you're going, as long as you're heading that way anyway.

Where to Put Your Canned Cat/Dog Food Donations

2012-02-14T13:45:00.001-05:00

There's a special place to put your donations of canned cat and dog food to celebrate Cauli Le Chat Appreciation Day on February 22, 2012. When you enter the Library, just look to your right, over by the interior book drops.

See "Flat" Cauli V down on the floor? Well, there's also a sign up above. Too small to see properly? I can fix that.

Please Place Your Donations Here!

(Says "Flat" Cauli V)

The animals at the Morgan County Humane Society (in Martinsville, Indiana) will be forever thankful for your generosity.

We Appreciate Your Help,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Feline & Canine Shelter Aid News Beat

P.S. Speaking of cat food, here's a Friskies cat food television commercial, but Betenoreus, who parodied the advertisement on YouTube, substituted Eight Miles High (1966), by the Byrds, as the soundtrack. (I hate to tell you this, Betenoreus, but Eight Miles High is not a psychedelic drug song.) Still, the Byrds give the commercial a whole new angle.