Special Effects Artist Ray Harryhausen Passes

Ray Harryhausen

The world has lost a giant in the world of special effects.  Stop motion/Dynamation pioneer Ray Harryhausen passed away at the age of 92 on May 7. Countless Baby Boomers remember 1953’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (in which Ray Harryhausen brought to life The Beast, based on “The Fog Horn,” penned by his good friend Ray Bradbury.)  We also remember the octopus in It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955), the flying saucers in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), the Ymir in 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957),the myriad of creatures in The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), and especially the skeleton scene in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). When asked which was his favorite of the creatures he created, Mr. Harryhausen was quoted in the May 7^th edition of The Guardian as saying, “It would be Medusa. But don’t tell the others.” Medusa appeared in Clash of the Titans (1981). Mr. Harryhausen received a career Academy Award for Technical Achievement (the Gordon E. Sawyer Award) in 1992. At the program, actor Tom Hanks famously said, “Some people say Casablanca or Citizen Kane–I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made!”

(Check for 3 Worlds of Gulliver and Clash of the Titans on DVD in the Alameda County Library, and Ray Harryhausen: an Animated Life and A Century of Stop Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman, both by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, in the non-fiction book section.)

Mr. Harryhausen may have left this world, but the mythical creatures he created will be enjoyed by generations to come.

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Greg Heffley Is Coming Back !!

The newest diary of Greg Heffley – Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 8 will go on sale in the United States in November 2013. Following major marketing and social media promotions in the U.S.,  seven international publishers will launch their respective campaigns around the world. The United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, and Norway will release the book in their respective territories just after the U.S. debut.

Books in the core Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney include:

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007),
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2008),
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (2009),
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2009),
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (2010), and
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (2011).
7. The Third Wheel,  (2012)

Jeff Kinney has also written and illustrated The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (2011) and The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (2011).

Here are some trivia for the series to share with you:

• On November 13, 2012, book 7 in the series, The Third Wheel, released with a 6.5-million-copy first printing in North America.
• These books are a fixture on the USA Today bestseller list (the first book in the series has remained in the top 150 for more than 200 weeks) and the Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.
• The series has remained consistently in the top spots on the New York Times lists since the publication of the first book.
• More than 85 million Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are in print around the world.
• The series have been sold in more than 44 territories in 42 languages.
•  Author Jeff Kinney was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in the world.
• Three movies based on the book series have grossed more than $250 million internationally.
• The book series won Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2010, 2011, and 2012 (and is nominated for one in 2013)
• Jeff Kinney won a Children’s Choice Book Award in 2012.
• These books have won numerous awards voted on by students and teachers around the globe.
• The Wimpy Kid Island on poptropica.com, a virtual world for kids, remains one of the most visited on the site.

Kinney’s work has been widely praised for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books.  If you are struggling on leading your kids into reading, if you hadn’t heard about this series from your kids, if you wanted to know why you couldn’t always find Jeff Heffley in the library, click here to reserve your copy; and stay tune for the newest development of the Wimpy Kid ….

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Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Coming To Southern California

Hogwarts (at Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Florida)

 

Hold on to your sorting hats—The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is coming to Universal Studios in Southern California! This is great news for West Coasters and folks who don’t like to fly and so can’t visit the extant WWOHP in Orlando, Florida at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

According to the collider.com (who made the announcement at the end of 2011) the earliest WWOHP would open is 2015, according to “a previous report” (it would be part of the already existing Universal Studios Hollywood.)

We will look forward to hearing more about this project!

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Attention!! Diary of A Wimpy Kid’s Fans!!!

Greg Heffley is coming back to you in different ways now.

The third movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, landed in theaters on August 3.  The movie picks up the story where 2011′s Rodrick Rules left off and incorporates plot elements from the third and fourth titles (The Last Straw and Dog Days) in the book series.  In preparation for the theatrical release of Dog Days , Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products has launched a national retail campaign, carrying a full range of Wimpy Kid products – bookmarks, book lights, and a prank kit (moldy cheese and flies in ice ~~ Yuck!!) in one of the nation-wide chain stores.   This makes it seem like Greg is everywhere around you.

The newest and seventh book, The Third Wheel, is scheduled to be published on November 13, with a first printing of more than 6.5 million copies.  It will be published nearly simultaneously in seven countries in Europe, Australia, and Asia.  If you would like to know whether Greg gets a date for the Valentine’s Day dance, you won’t want to miss this book.

The Wimpy Kid series has sold more than 75 million copies worldwide and is available in more than 41 countries so far. The two previous films based on the books have grossed nearly $150 million globally.  This is how popular Greg has become.

So now you know why you often couldn’t find him in the library.  If you want to meet him, hurry up and reserve your copy here.  Be aware that the waiting list is getting longer and longer now.  After you reserve it, just be patient and wait for your old friend to come back and meet with you.

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What a Fun and Cultural Summer!

The 9-week “One World, Many Stories” summer reading game started on June 13 and will be coming to an end on August 13.  To celebrate this international theme, Centerville Library added a little taste of other cultures in many of our summer events.  At ventriloquist Tony Borders’ show, his cool and crazy critters from around the world brought kids a very fun time full of facts about animals from different continents.  Gary Lapow’s show made a houseful of kids laugh, dance, and sing ”All around the world” with sign language.  Magician Dan Chan stunned the audience with his amazing tricks and “Bian Lian” (face-changing), a Chinese national secret dramatic art.  The week after the second Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie came out, we held two Jeopardy games for kids to see how much they know about the world of wizards and witches. Then last week, 250 kids participated in the International Crafts and Games Day, and went home with hands full of world crafts and their names translated into other languages.  What a wonderful reading theme and cultural summer!  To see pictures or videos of Centerville Library’s summer events please visit our Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/CentervilleLibrary or click on the direct links below:

• Kids Library Camp–photo album, video, more videos
• Tony Borders’ Cool and Crazy Critters–photo album, video
• Gary Lapow’sFood, Fun, and Foolishness Songs Around the World–photo album, video 
• Dan Chan the Magic Man–photo album, video
• Harry Potter Jeopardy–photo album, video
• International Crafts and Games Day–photo album, video

We will have  another summer program on August 4 featuring Thomas John, a very funny juggler.  It will be held outdoors in the library’s patio.  Don’t miss Centerville Library’s last show of the summer! 

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Harry Potter

 

Tonight is the night …Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II starts playing at midnight. Do you have your tickets? I just purchased mine this morning and am super excited to see the final Harry Potter film. I’m also a little sad that the whole thing is coming to an end. I’ve been a Harry Potter fan for many years now as I’m sure many of you have been too. The first time I saw a youngster at the library carrying around the huge Goblet of Fire book I knew there must be something special about the series and the author J.K. Rowling. As I read the series I delved into the wizarding world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts and was mesmerized! So if you are like me and you have read all the books, seen the movies and are wondering what to do next…wonder no more. Come and check out the Harry Potter Jeopardy game at the Centerville Library next week. The Jeopardy game is for kids but parents will want to watch too. If you are a fan then you’ll want to test your Potter knowledge!

Tuesday July 19     Beginners Level: books 1 – 3 grades 4 and under

Thursday July 21      Expert Level: books 1 – 7 grades 8 and under

Schedule for both days as follows: 2:00-5:00

2:00-2:45  Quiz Contest

No participants are allowed in 15 minutes after quiz starts.

2:45-3:45  Grading
3:45-3:50  Quiz winners announcement

4:00-5:00  Jeopardy!

Only quiz winners will compete in the Jeopardy game   but everyone is welcome to watch. If no contestants can give    the correct answer, the question will be open to the audience.
  

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Explore, Learn

Exploring , it is what the curious mind does. It can be in nature, on a city street , in a book , on a computer. It is how we learn. All of our summer reading programs have the theme of exploring this year. Today I learned about a new program here in Fremont, The Wonderopolis Challenge. This event, sponsored by The National Center for Family Literacy ,encourages families to explore the wonders of Fremont. Complete 3 of the 6 challenges and your family will be eligible to win a trip to Washington , D. C.

Check it out and explore!

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Youtube to the rescue

If you just need to find something to do for a few

minutes, or you want to remember something from

a movie or song, a great place to go is Youtube.com .

It works like Google search to find songs from old

movies and the best part is you can then relive the

moment. I have several short clips of favorite scenes

from movies on my Iphone to watch when I want.  This is

a great way to enjoy the experience over and over.

A great app to access Youtube from your

smartphone is MXtube. It is super fast and easy

to use to download clips.

A few of my favorites clips right now are:

Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song [Official Alternate Version]

Lost in Space Forever

A Knight’s Tale Dance Scene

You can probably tell where my tastes, or lack of it

lies, but use it to find what you like and then enjoy

enjoy ENJOY!

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Donald Duck

 Happy Birthday Donald Duck!

My favorite short-tempered duck made his debut on this day in 1934 in the Disney Silly Symphonies cartoon called The Wise Little Hen. According to Disney cannon June 9th is Donald’s official birthday. So let’s celebrate Donald Duck by watching his first movie below.

If you would like to learn more about Donald Duck check out the Disney Wiki page about him here.

Be sure to check out the Library’s collection of Donald Duck books and movies here.

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Old Friends Revisited: J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”

Recently I discovered the DVD Special Extended Editions of the “Lord of the Rings,” which include much, much more than the theatrical releases.

First, the extended editions of ” The Friendship of the Ring,” “The Two Towers,” and the “Return of the King” all have much extra footage, enriching the story immensely.

Second, these editions also include interviews with director Peter Jackson, screenwriter Philippa Boyens, composer Howard Shore, and all the principal actors, to scratch the surface of the extra features. So many hours of creative details and insights!

One of the delightful details: Peter Jackson wanted a harmonious cast. And on location, Hobbit actors Elijah Wood (Frodo), Sean Astin (Sam), Dominic Monaghan (Merry) and Billy Boyd (Pippin) all lived together in one trailer and became great friends — a friendship that was translated onto the screen.

The Alameda County Library is fortunate to own all three editions. Look for the “Lord of the Rings” New Line Platinum Series.

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