Tag Archives: film

HPL Staff Gives Thanks

25 Nov

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I asked my colleagues at the Hoboken Public Library what books or TV shows or digital media they were thankful to find this year. Following are their favorites, which are available at the library or through interlibrary loan.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

-Kerry Weinstein, Reference Librarian

 

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Photo by Shannon Campbell

Shannon Campbell, Children’s Librarian
After 19 years of education, with an astronomical amount of papers, projects, and presentations, I finally graduated this year in May. I spent the entire summer knowing that in the upcoming fall, I had no professor or class to report to, no looming deadline hanging over my head for a paper or project. It felt freeing, and absolutely scary. I didn’t have the next step all laid out like I had for the previous 19 years. I looked to everyone and everything for advice and comfort, and found it in the book Graduates in Wonderland: True Dispatches from Down the Rabbit Hole, by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale. The story is constructed through a series of emails the girls send to each other the years following graduation. They talk about their successes, failures, fears, goals, dreams, people and places they have fallen in love with, and people and places they fell out of love with. It very much expressed the mindset I was in at the time. The cherry on top of the cake was my friends and I had sent the book to each other with notes in the margins reflecting our feelings on any of the topics as we read through it. It was very much like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but book-club style! Not only did I have the authors to look to for comfort, but I also had my friends through their words. That particular copy had been to NYC, Shanghai, California, and of course, Hoboken. To sum up what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving: my supportive friends, my education, and the authors of this book that perfectly express the scary (and amazing) journey of entering into adulthood.
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Carolyn Hartwick, Account Clerk
I am grateful for a June 24 Staff Picks – British Edition post by Clay Waters.  One of his recommendations was for the British television series Life on Mars starring the delightful John Simm.  At the time I was a bit lost with no Sherlock, Doctor Who, or Walking Dead to catch up on so I binge-watched the 16 episodes in early July and then hummed David Bowie tunes to myself for the rest of the summer.  It was a great show, delivered quickly though BCCLS interlibrary loan, and something I am glad didn’t pass me by thanks to the Hoboken Library Staff Picks blog!
wolfpack
Heidi Schwab, Emerging Technology Librarian and Program Coordinator
What I took away from the award-winning documentary The Wolfpack is that even though the brothers, their mother and sister were living in a very bad situation, there is such a sweetness and kindness to them. It is amazing how they protected their mother and were sympathetic to their mentally-ill father who kept them locked up.  After growing up basically prisoners they retained their innocence and positive look at the world. This is a perfect Thanksgiving movie because we learn that even people who grow up in terrible circumstances can grow up to be positive and relatively happy in a way.
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Kim Iacucci, Young Adult Librarian

This year I am thankful that I read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I read and enjoy a lot of books every year but there are very few that live up to the phrase “page turner.” This book is so surprising that the minute I finished I wanted to start over from the beginning to see how the pieces fit together. It’s not an easy read. There’s war, torture and loss. But also friendship, love and hope. Highly recommended.

 

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Aimee Harris, Head of Reference

I’m thankful that we will be offering some great new services next month to our patrons: JobNow and HelpNow from Brainfuse.  Help Now provides students with online homework help from qualified tutors between 2 PM and 11 PM.  There are also always available video tutorials and practice tests for exams like the GED and SAT.  There is assistance for adults with skill building and who may need help with essays, business letters, or other writing.  JobNow provides assistance for job seekers with their resumes, interview coaching and more.  Check them out starting in December!

 

 

enchanted-april

Rosary Van Ingen, Adult Circulation Services Department Head

My pick for the #gratitude post is The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. This novel, set in post-WWI Europe, celebrates love, friendship and family. This book never fails to remind me of the beauty and power of friendship.

 

 

night-gardener

Sharlene Edwards, Senior Children’s Librarian

I am so happy to have recently picked up The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier. When it was published last year, I put it on my mental to-read list and continued on my adult fiction kick.  My to-read list is predictably long and unrealistic, and I would have most certainly forgotten about Auxier’s juvenile fantasy novel if I hadn’t spied HPL’s Young Adult Librarian hurriedly reading the last ten pages before starting her work day.  I brought it with me on my train ride home that night, and, by the end of page one, I knew I was going to fall completely in love with Auxier’s creepy Victorian tale about two young orphans who find themselves desperate for food and shelter at the door of an infamously strange house in the woods. Quickly the children learn that there are sinister forces at work in their new residence. The occupants, an unhappy family who is burdened by a mysterious illness, are under the dark thrall of a wishing tree. After finding myself in a bit of a reading slump, Auxier’s beautifully written novel reminded me of the power of artful storytelling.

MSCR blog 11.15

Kerry Weinstein, Reference Librarian

This year I am thankful to have founded, with Rosary, the Mile Square City Readers book club. We have a wonderful, opinionated group that brings fresh perspectives and interesting insights to the books we read. I have tried to start a few book clubs in the past that didn’t last too long, and I’m excited to have this great club to talk books with once a month.

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Film versus Broadway, Birthday Edition: Mamma Mia!, Kinky Boots, and The King and I

19 Aug

Back in February I wrote about Broadway shows that I have recently seen and their film and music companions. I decided to write another installment to talk about two shows I’ve recently seen because the tickets to these shows were birthday presents for my mother and a friend, respectively. Also, my own birthday is coming and I wanted to write about which show I would like to receive tickets for as a gift. 🙂

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Mamma Mia!

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Mamma Mia!, a jukebox musical featuring selections from ABBA’s catalog, follows Sophie as she tries to learn who her father is before her wedding without her mother Donna finding out. Tickets to this show were my birthday gift to my mother. While we missed the opening songs of the show, on account of traffic from President Obama’s motorcade in Times Square traveling to see Hamilton that day, we still a fun time. Audience members are invited to dance at the end of the show!

Mamma Mia! ends its Broadway run on September 12, 2015 and will be the eighth longest running show. If you can’t make it to the live show, you can borrow the film adaptation from 2008 that stars Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. For a time that was my niece’s favorite movie when she was six years old, which proves that ABBA’s music appeals to new generations! My favorite numbers are “Waterloo” (because how many love songs name-check the Emperor Napoleon?) and “Lay All Your Love On Me.” Mom’s favorite song is “Voulez-Vous”, and my niece loved “Mamma Mia!”

Hoopla Digital has the soundtracks to both the film and the musical to stream. The DVD and CDs of the film and Original Cast Recording soundtracks are available to borrow from BCCLS libraries as well. If you need more of an ABBA fix, their greatest hits album Gold is available to borrow and to stream in Hoopla. There is also Muriel’s Wedding, a 1994 Australian film where ABBA’s music is prominently featured.

Kinky Boots

kinky-boots

Seeing Kinky Boots was a birthday present for a friend, and thankfully our arrival was not delayed by the President’s motorcade. This Tony Award-winning show, which was brought to Broadway by Harvey Fierstein with music and lyrics written by Cyndi Lauper, is about how Charlie Price tries to save his family’s failing men’s shoes business by teaming up with a drag queen named Lola to produce quality “kinky boots” for drag performers.

Acceptance and tolerance, plus friendship, family, and loyalty, are major themes of the show. And of course, sexy shoes are featured. There is even a song called “Sex Is In the Heel”.

The source material is a 2005 British movie of the same name, which I found to be darker than the musical. Cyndi Lauper’s music definitely brings levity to the story. If you love Cyndi Lauper as much as I do (She’s So Unusual was the first cassette tape I owned!) then you will adore this show, as her style shines through in the music. The closing song, “Raise You Up”, will do just that.

The original film is available to borrow from BCCLS libraries, and the film’s soundtrack can be streamed on Hoopla. The Broadway Cast soundtrack is available to borrow as well. My favorite Cyndi Lauper album She’s So Unusual can be borrowed too.

The King and I

king-and-i

Ok, I haven’t seen this Tony Award-winning revival that stars Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe. Yet.

The King and I is based on the book, Anna and the King of Siam, tells the story of Anna, a British woman who travels with her young son to Siam (now known as Thailand) to teach the children of the King, and her life in the King’s court in a culture that vastly differs from hers.

The King and I is one Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musicals. I’ve seen Oklahoma! at the Paper Mill Playhouse and South Pacific in a recent Broadway revival that starred Kelli O’Hara, but The King and I holds a special place in my heart. As a kid I participated in a production of this show, and remember every single song. “Shall We Dance” and “Whistle A Happy Tune” are the perhaps the best known, but I always liked the show-within-the-show of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe that had a Buddhist twist.

You can borrow the 1956 film adaptation, which stars Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner, at BCCLS libraries; the film soundtrack is Hoopla. The Broadway soundtracks (original cast and current cast) can be streamed on Hoopla Digital.

As mentioned in the first paragraph, my birthday is approaching … so here’s my appeal:

Dear friends and family,

Should you be reading this post, which I will share on my personal social media networks for you to see, a ticket to The King and I would be a very welcome birthday present*!

-Written by Kerry Weinstein, Reference Librarian

*Tickets to Hamilton are welcome, too. President Obama has good cultural taste, based upon his summer reading choices and Spotify playlist, so I trust his theater picks.

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