November 2 - Sherlock Holmes Weekend and NANOWRIMO

Looking for something to do this blustery Alberta weekend? We recommend staying in and have a Sherlock Holmes marathon, old, new and everything BBC. If you do have to go out in this awful...ly-awesome snow make the Library your number one stop and check out our plethora of Sherlock Holmian related items, book, movies, TV shows. Why?  It's Sherlock Holmes Weekend of course. Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Junior are willfully waiting for you and your TV screens. If Sherlock Holmes isn't your idea of a good adventure, we'd settle for anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a suitable alternative.

Even though we may be spending our weekend being wooed by the talents of Watson and Holmes, taking a moment today in recognition of All Souls' Day and all those close to our heart who have left us.

On a more fun note you can also spend your focus today on enjoying International Games Day @ your library spend some time gaming at your local library or anywhere for that matter, playing games and enjoying the company of friends and family. International Games Day @ your library is an initiative that may be celebrated today or, as my research has told me, November 16th. Libraries all over the world come together to celebrate their inner gamer; board, card and computer game junkies are all welcome.

For you Sesame Street fans go crazy it's Cookie Monster Day. The most convincing reason being today is Cookie Monsters Birthday, there are however other reasons to love Cookie Monster. He makes improper grammar and sentence structure funny and makes even the most conservative go "Omm-nom-nom-nom" with every cookie eaten, even if its only in their head.  Take a look at this song guaranteed to make you want a cookie. If that song inspired you to make some cookies, try out this cooking channels cookie recipe and "share it maybe?"

Now that all the fuss for things to do today is out of the way, I have one word for you NANOWRIMO!!! 

That's right, we are officially now in NANOWRIMO season. National Novel Writing Month is upon us. Two more words for you.com DO IT!  nanowrimo.org commit to the awesomeness that is novel writing and star your own creation. Big or small it doesn't matter, let your inner author fly and see what you come up with. Who knows you could strike a flame and have something great come of it.

Word of the Day

Today's word is:

Eristic: characterized by disputatious and often subtle and specious reasoning.

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

Books and Movies: The Goods.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending November 10th. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Blood on a Saint by Anne Emery.

Movies recently released in theaters: Ender's Game and Free Birds
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day

What cookie makes you rich? 
A fortune cookie! 

Why did the cookie cry? 
Because his mother was a wafer so long! 

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

October 13 - Teen Read Week, English Language Day

Have some book fines your looking to clear up well today's the perfect day, it's the last day to of the Library's food for fines week and the start of National Food Bank Week. Do something great for the community just in time for Thanksgiving and clear up your library fines in the process. 

While your down at the library clearing up those fines, why not bring your teen along with you and get them a book they'll fall into. Trust me when I say we have some of the best experts of young adult literature. Check out the unknown, browse through the centuries, expand your genres and be bitten with our amazing selections of novels. Today is the start of Teen Read Week, if your too busy today doing family activities don't worry you'll have six more days to get down and find a teen book or find your teen a book.  This years teen read week theme is "Seek the Unknown".

As a last way to celebrate today, if you can't get down to the library that is, enjoy your day by celebrating the English language or playing a game of chess. That's rights it's also English Language Day and National Chess Day. You can honor these days by reading some old English literature, Shakespeare perhaps, or by learning how to play chess, challenging your family members or starting a mini-thanksgiving tournament. We'd love to hear how you are celebrating Thanksgiving, if its using something we've mentioned here, then all the better, share it below.

Word of the Day

Today's word is:

Pecuniary: consisting off or measured in money.

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

Books and Movies: The Goods.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending October 20th. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Backward Glass by David Lomax.

Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day
  

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!!

September 29 & 30 - International Translation Day

 
Well technically today is not International Translation Day as my title might suggest, tomorrow is though, so it is tomorrow I'll talk about for a minute. International Translation Day is celebrated every year on September 30 on the feast day of St. Jerome. St. Jerome translated the Bible and is considered the patron saint of translators. Have no idea how to celebrate International Translation Day, not to worry, I have a great suggestion for you. Start learning a new language, and what better way to start, then typing in funny words, sayings or sentences and have international language translators spew the equivalent in another language back at you. Come use one of our FREE computers at the Library or if you prefer to go the old fashioned way, we have these things called books that help you to learn different languages and tell you lots of interesting things about other languages and cultures. Check out google translate for a free online translation tool. We'd love to see what creative and funny translations you can come up with, feel free to share them below.

Tomorrow is also Ask A Stupid Question Day, I don't believe there is such a thing as a stupid question and here at the Library we will answer, to the best of our knowledge and that of the books around us, any question you bring to us. Come on down and challenge us tomorrow, bring your best and/or toughest question and see how we do. Remember, there is no stupid questions!!

Word of the Day

Today's word is:

Betwixt: between

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

Books and Movies: The Goods.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending October 6th. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Levels of Life by Julian Barnes.

Coming up on October 3 Gravity and Runner Runner come out in theaters.
Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day
 

"I've just had the most awful time," said a boy to his friends. "First I got angina pectoris, then arteriosclerosis. Just as I was recovering, I got psoriasis. They gave me hypodermics, and to top it all, tonsillitis was followed by appendectomy."

"Wow! How did you pull through?" sympathized his friends.

"I don't know," the boy replied. "Toughest spelling test I ever had."

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!!

Tolkien Week

 (click on Tolkien, you'll see why!)

Tomorrow also happens to be the start of Tolkien Week. Tolkien week is celebrated on the week that Hobbit Day falls on. Hobbit day this year is tomorrow the 22 of September. Both Tolkien week and Hobbit day started in 1978. Hobbit Day is celebrated on Frodo and Bilbo's mutual birthday. Last year Peter Jackson celebrated Tolkien Week and Hobbit Day by showing the trailer for the Hobbit movie. So here you go folks, the trailer for the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

As an extra addition to Hobbit day tomorrow, why not encompass some other great celebrations.Ice Cream Cone Day, National White Chocolate Day, and most especially Wife Appreciation Day (pay careful attention to that one fellas).

Now for some history.

-19 BC Virgil, Roman poet, dies at 50.

-1192 English king Richard I the Lion hearted, captured by by Leopold V, Duke of Austria.
-1327 Edward II, king of England (1307-1327), assassinated at 43.
-1591 French bishops recognize Henri IV as king of France.
-1621 King James of England gives Canada to Sir Alexander Sterling.
-1814 "Star Spangled Banner" published as a poem.
-1866 H. G. Wells, Bromley, Kent, , English writer (War of the Worlds, Kipps), (d. 1946) born.

-1920 Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends, Bullwinkle).
-1931 Larry Hagman, Fort Worth Tx, TV actor (I Dream of Jeannie, JR-Dallas), (d. 2012) born.

-1934 Songwriter Leonard Cohen, who was one of the most influential and popular 1960s Canadian writers and whose songs gained him an international reputation, was born at Montréal, Qué.

-1937 J. R. R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' is published.

-1947 Stephen King, Portland, Maine, sci-fi/horror author (Carrie, Shining, Kujo) born.

-1967 Faith Hill, American singer.

-1950 Bill Murray, Evanston Ill, Wilmette, Illinois, actor/comedian (Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters) born.

-1986 38th Emmy Awards: Golden Girls, Cagney & Lacey & Michael J Fox win.


Word of the Day

Today's word is:

Acquiesce: to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively.

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

Books and Movies: The Goods.

If your looking for some good reads, check out the New York Times Best Sellers list ending September 29st. Publishers weekly also has a weekly best sellers list.

Check out the Kirkus book review for Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu.

Check out the movie listings for Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.

Joke of the Day
 

What is Gollum's favorite bird?

A Smea-gull!

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 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"!

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"!