Week 30

100 Greatest Books
of All Time.

Week 30

What is your favourite book of all time?
Cast your vote by commenting here at the bottom of this post,
posting a note on our facebook page or adding it to our in-house ballot box.
Each Friday we will tabulate the votes and post them on our
Facebook, Twitter and Blog accounts.

One vote per visit please.
The final Top 100 will be announced at the end of December.

The Stand by Stephen King

is still in the lead with 14 votes.

This week's nominees: 

 

 Bible

 The Client

 The Outsiders

Shellseekers

 The Hobbit

The Stand 

 

Tipperary

Prisoner of Azkaban

 The Preacher

Each Friday we will tabulate the votes and post them on our
Facebook, Twitter and Blog accounts.

One vote per visit please.

The final Top 100 will be announced at the end of December.

August 29 - Happy Birthday

Because it's my wonderful older brothers birthday today - Happy Birthday Jason! - lets do a birthday edition.

Happy birthday to:

- 1387 Henry V, king of England (1413-22)/France (1416-19).
-1632 John Locke, Wrington England, empiricist philosopher; disproved substance.
-1686 Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel, composer. Pachelbel rant? 
-1844 Edward Carpenter, English poet (d. 1929).
-1915 Ingrid Bergman, Stockholm, actress (Casablanca, Cactus Flower), (d. 1982). 

-1958 Michael Jackson, Gary Indiana, recording artist and King of Pop (Thriller, Bad), (d. 2009). Thriller Video 

 
 -1986 Lauren Collins, Canadian actress.

Word of the Day
Time for another new addition to the blog. Something that will increase your knowledge and make you seem super smart to all your friends, the word of the day from Merriam-Webster online.

Today's word is:

Genial: favorable to growth or comfort, marked by genius or diffusing sympathy or friendliness.

Can you use it in a clever proper sentence. Show us in the comments section.

Books and Movies: The Goods.

This great site found it's way into my mailbox the other day (thanks Mrs. Gates) it highlights all the great summer reading lists check it out for some must reads to get in before school starts back up.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending September 1st. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat.

  Movies that have been released in theaters recently are: Closed Circuit, Getaway and One Direction: This Is Us.
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day
 
A man and his son were walking down the street. The boy saw a dog walking and sniffing at the ground. What makes the dog sniff at the ground dad? That is INSTINCT son.
A bit later his dad saw a dog sniffing another dog. Do you know why he's doing that son? I do dad, like you said before that’s END-STINK.


Job Interview Question
You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:
1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?
Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.
You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect dream lover again.
The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer.
He simply answered: "I would give the car keys to my old friend, and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the woman of my dreams."
Never forget to "Think Outside of the Box."

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!

We'd love to have feedback from our readers about what you'd like to see more-of or less-of on the blog. Suggestions, comments and criticisms are all welcome!!

August 26 - National Dog Day

If you love your pooch as much as I love mine then this is just another great day to tell him/her that you love them. Its National Dog Day, we'd love to see some pictures of your pets, dog or not in support of this awesome day. Show some love for your furry friends and spend some quality time with them today. Here are 50 ways you can celebrate today.

Here is some doggone history.
 
-580 Chinese invents toilet paper.
-1498 Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà.

-1784 Cape Breton Island was made a separate colony from Nova Scotia.
-1845 Mary Ann Nichols, first victim of Jack the Ripper was born (died. 1888).
-1907 Houdini escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 sec.
-1910 Mother Teresa, [Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu], Skopje Ottoman Empire, nun and Founder of Missionaries of Charity (Nobel Peace Prize 1979) born.

-1929 1st US roller coaster built.
-1946 George Orwell published "Animal Farm".

-1957 Wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen, whose international "Man in Motion" tour raised money for spinal cord research, rehabilitation and wheelchair sports, was born at Port Alberni, BC.
-1977 Bill 101, Québec's French-language charter, was passed by the National Assembly. 
-1980 Macaulay Culkin, NYC, actor (Home Alone, My Girl, Richie Rich) born.

-1980 Chris Pine, American actor born. 

 

Word of the Day
Time for another new addition to the blog. Something that will increase your knowledge and make you seem super smart to all your friends, the word of the day from Merriam-Webster online.

Today's word is:

nocuous: harmful

Books and Movies: The Goods.

This great site found it's way into my mailbox the other day (thanks Mrs. Gates) it highlights all the great summer reading lists check it out for some must reads to get in before school starts back up.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending September 1st. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Holy Orders by Benjamin Black.

 
Movies that have been released in theaters recently are: The World's End and You're Next.
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day
 
How many ears does Picard have? 

Three. A right ear. A left ear. And a final front ear.

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!

Week 29

100 Greatest Books
of All Time.

Week 29

What is your favourite book of all time?
Cast your vote by commenting here at the bottom of this post,
posting a note on our facebook page or adding it to our in-house ballot box.
Each Friday we will tabulate the votes and post them on our
Facebook, Twitter and Blog accounts.

One vote per visit please.
The final Top 100 will be announced at the end of December.

The Stand by Stephen King

is still in the lead with thirteen votes.

This week's nominees: 

 The Hobbit

 Outlander

The Outsiders 

Each Friday we will tabulate the votes and post them on our
Facebook, Twitter and Blog accounts.

One vote per visit please.

The final Top 100 will be announced at the end of December.

 

August 22 - The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (a review)

Warning, may contain spoilers.

Like most of the staff at the library, I too was super excited for the opening night showing of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Having just re-read the series in anticipation for the movie and craving a little refresher, I sat in the theater with my fingers crossed hoping it would do the books justice. However, like most books turned movie I left the theater in speechless shock at the overwhelming wrongness of the movie. In a review of the movie by the New York Times, they proclaim the movie to be "Excessively busy and occasionally cheesy...As a result, too much of the film feels like shorthand, a trail of teasing crumbs to lead us to the inevitable sequels." (You can find the full review here). And I can't help but agree they skipped through so much of the book and left out good characters and major plot builders needed for the success of the rest of the movies. I had to wonder if the writers even read the book, or did they just run out of money while filming. The book takes places in a myriad of places, from coffee houses, to clubs and old police stations, where as the movie focused too much of its attention around the institute, even going as far as doing the big battle seen at the institute (which if you have read the books you'd know that's not even close to the right place).

I found the movie to be full of irritatingly inaccurate representations of the book. My list of such inaccuracies and annoyances include. A portal in the institute (there are only two in the book, neither of which are close to the institute), snowing inside the library at the institute when Clary and Valentine blow up the portal (hmm, I do recall Valentine smashing his portal into glass shards, but no snow) and a noticeably non-ratlike Simon (in the movie he gets captured by the vampires so they can get to Clary and hung in what looks like an elevator shaft. Where as in the book he mistakenly gets taken by a vampire as a rat back to the vamp hotel and has to be rescued by Clary and Jace, not the whole Lightwood gang). Besides that I found one other thing odd, the growth of Clary's powers of rune creation. They did not develop nearly as fast in the books and she definitely did not draw them on her own skin to freeze a horde of demons or do the mundane task of putting her house back together.

As disappointed and let down as I feel about this movie, I do have to give it a smidgen of credit. I found Jace's character to be spot on, not only did they give him lots of direct quotes from the book, but Jamie Campbell Bower portrayed his character Jace with a flawless and effortless ease.

Now on to some normal blog natured topics.

Word of the Day
Time for another new addition to the blog. Something that will increase your knowledge and make you seem super smart to all your friends, the word of the day from Merriam-Webster online.

Today's word is:

inscrutable: not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood : mysterious

Books and Movies: The Goods.

This great site found it's way into my mailbox the other day (thanks Mrs. Gates) it highlights all the great summer reading lists check it out for some must reads to get in before school starts back up.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending August 25th. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes.

Movies that have been released in theaters recently are: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The World's End and You're Next.
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day
 
What did the horse say when the cow moved next door? 

There goes the NEIGHborhood.

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!

August 20 - read it through and a prize may ensue

Today is just for you. Happy Tuesday everyone!!!!

 Lets look at what happened on a Tuesday throughout history.

-1000 The foundation of the Hungarian state, Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
-1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie reaches Blair Castle Scotland.

-1804 Charles Floyd, only fatality of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, died.
-1896 Dial telephone patented.
-1954 Al Roker, Queens NY, weatherman (NBC, Today) born.

-1957 Marathon swimmer Cindy Nicholas, who became the first woman to complete a double crossing of the English Channel, taking 10 hours off the previous mark, was born at Toronto.
-1962 James Marsters, American actor born.

-1972 One of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture Abraham Moses Klein died at Montréal.
-1974 Pres Gerald Ford, assumes office after Richard Nixon's resignation.
-1974 Amy Adams, American actress born.

-1992 Demi Lovato, American Actress born.

-1993 Mother Teresa hospitalized with malaria.
-1998 The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Québec could not secede from Canada without first negotiating the terms of secession with the federal government and the other provinces.
-1999 The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec cannot secede unilaterally, but the rest of Canada would be obligated to negotiate if a clear majority of Quebeckers voted Yes to secession on a clearly worded question.
-1999 The US Department of the Interior removed the peregrine falcon from the list of endangered species. There are now 1650 breeding pairs in North America, up from only 39 in 1970. 

 
Word of the Day
Time for another new addition to the blog. Something that will increase your knowledge and make you seem super smart to all your friends, the word of the day from Merriam-Webster online.

Today's word is:

mot juste: the exactly right word or phrasing.

Books and Movies: The Goods.

This great site found it's way into my mailbox the other day (thanks Mrs. Gates) it highlights all the great summer reading lists check it out for some must reads to get in before school starts back up.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending August 25th. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for The Long, Long Line by Tomoko Ohmura.

Movies that have been released in theaters recently are: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day


How can you tell if a vampire has a cold?
He starts coffin’!

 *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *    *

A vampire bat came flapping in from the night covered in fresh blood and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.
Pretty soon all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it.
He told them to knock it off and let him get some sleep but they persisted until finally he gave in.
“OK, follow me,” he said and flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats behind him.
Down through a valley they went, across a river and into a forest full of trees.
Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly milled around him.
“Now, do you see that tree over there?” he asked.
“Yes, yes, yes!” the bats all screamed in a frenzy.
“Good,” said the first bat, “Because I DIDN’T!”


If you can tell me why the jokes of the day have to do with vampires, come down to the Sylvan Lake Library and claim your prize. (hint the answers in the blog)

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!

August 18 - Bad Poetry Day and Serendipity Day

Bad Poetry Day is always on August 18th, was created by wellcat.com and described as a day to gather some old friends and write some truly bad poetry and send it off to your high school teachers. Try your hand at writing some awful poetry, if your brave share it with friends, family and our comments section below. Or if your in the mood to check out some good poetry, stop on by and check out our poetry section, maybe you'll find some inspiration of your own.

Today is also Serendipity Day (http://serendipityholiday.com/). Serendipity can be defined as

an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident, and can be enjoyed by:

• doing something unexpected like...
• something anonymously philanthropic
• taking a big step toward liberating a dream
• helping someone take a step towards their own dream
• acting silly
• stepping out of your comfort zone
• telling everyone you love, that you love them
• contacting a long lost friend or acquaintance
• making a new friend  

Let see if anything serendipitous happened on this day in history. 

 

-293 BC The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded, starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica. 

-1227 Genghis Khan, Mongol conqueror, dies.

 

 

-1587 1st English child born in New World (Virginia Dare).

-1634 Champlain wrote to Richelieu, his last words on record, reporting that he had rebuilt the ruins of Québec and had built an armed trading post at Trois-Rivières. He also noted that several new families had arrived in the area, giving him renewed hope for the survival of settlement in the area.

-1774 Meriwether Lewis, Charlottsville VA, solider and public administrator (Lewis & Clark Expedition), (d. 1809) is born. 

 

 

-1782 Romantic Age poet and artist William Blake (24) marries Catherine Boucher, 5 years his junior, in St. Mary's Church, Battersea, London. 

 

 

-1834 Mt Vesuvius erupts. 

 

 

-1893 Conductor Sir Ernest MacMillan, who was internationally known as a conductor of symphonic and choral music and a leading figure in Canadian musical organizations, was born at Mimico, Ont. 

-1936 Robert Redford, Santa Monica California, American actor (Sting, Candidate, Natural, Great Gatsby) born.

 

-1990 B F Skinner, psychologist (Skinner Box), dies of Leukemia at 86.

 

 

-1992 Christopher McCandless, subject of the book Into the Wild (b. 1968) dies.

-1922 Joseph Shoctor, founder of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre, was born at Edmonton.

-1952 Patrick Swayze, Houston Texas, actor/dancer (Dirty Dancing, Ghost) born.

 

 

-1956 Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel" reaches #1.

-1979 The Dempster Highway officially opened, the first all-weather road across the Arctic Circle. 

Word of the Day
Time for another new addition to the blog. Something that will increase your knowledge and make you seem super smart to all your friends, the word of the day from Merriam-Webster online.

Today's word is:

Redound: to have an effect or to become transferred or added. 

Books and Movies: The Goods.

This great site found it's way into my mailbox the other day (thanks Mrs. Gates) it highlights all the great summer reading lists check it out for some must reads to get in before school starts back up.

If your looking for some good reads, the New York Times Best Sellers list ending August 18th. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik.

Movies that have been released in theaters recently are: JOBS, Kick-Ass 2, Lee Daniels' The Butler and Paranoia
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day

lol = Drowning Man. 

*lol* = Drowning Cheerleader. 

 

What kind of bird sticks to sweaters? 

A Vel-Crow.

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!