Because it's FUNNY

In the last few days I have overheard 4 different people mention the EXACT number of days left in the school year, one of them down to the hour. Summer is in our reach, guys, just a few more weeks to cruise through.

Your Teen Librarians (proper noun!) are working on a list of books that will make you laugh, because MAN it's been a rough winter and spring, and we're all ready. In the meantime, take a look of this list GQ compiled of the 100 Funniest Things in the History of the Internet. One month in internet years is like a decade in people years, so it's nice to be able to go back and revisit. You might even find something you've never seen before.

I had forgotten all about the GI Joe PSAs.

Did they leave something major off the list? Let us know in the comments!

Awesomeness!

 

 

1.

 

It wasn’t over a woman that war began, but it’s better
To see it this way, my myth professor loved to say, a man
From the South rumored to extort the bodies of college girls
Into higher grades. My girlfriend of the time told me so —

 

He was a creep, she
Got an A in the class and liked his joke about religion
As self-mutilation, it was Ramadan then and, O Helen,
I was fasting. I lie awake in a desert night east

 

Of the Atlantic on the verge of rain, the catapulted grains
Of sand on hot zinc roof, the rustle of leaves, the flap
Of peeling bark on trees whose names I do not know, and where
Would I find a botany guide here. Water flowed

 

Like a river from the Jabal once.
There were elephant pools, alligator
Streams, and a pond for the devil to speak in human tongues.
All desiccant names now after an earthquake

 

Shuffled the ground decades ago. It will rain soon,
I’m assured, since nothing has stopped
The birds from migration. All the look-alikes
Are already here: the stork, the heron.

 

The white flying flowers, the ibis, and the one
That aesthetizes you more.

 

Pulse: 1

Fady Joudah

http://library.minlib.net/search~S9?/ajoudah/ajoudah/1%2C1%2C3%2CB/frameset&FF=ajoudah+fady+1971&1%2C%2C3

 

Wednesday Tech Tips: XBox One, lights out, and other exciting tech news

Front and center on all the tech sites is the skinny on Microsoft's Xbox One.  Everything the eager gamer needs to know about hardware, software, and backwards compatibility (nay).*  Everything! except when you can buy it and how much it will cost.  Stay tuned.


While you are waiting, you can amp up your anxiety by thinking about this: a Congressional survey found that the national grid is hit with 10,000 cyberattacks a month.  Okay, so none have succeeded yet, but WHOA -- I am picking up some extra flashlight batteries, people.  And now is the time to find out how a massive power outage will affect your toilet.**  It's funny while the lights are on...


But is Sidney Poitier laughing?  Well, IS HE???


Alongside the chatter about Yahoo buying Tumblr are quite a few news stories about Facebook's waning star.  Prepare yourselves, young folk, for the barrage of companies creating Tumblr accounts to show you how cool they are.***










*But it can detect your heartbeat!  Which is amazing and creepy.  And potentially life-saving for couch potato, Hot Cheetos-nourished slackers.

**Let's also thank our stars the XBox One isn't functioning as an actual pacemaker.

***But not the librarians.  We know we're cool.

Harlem Shake Video is HERE!

Now it's retro, y'all...



Hooray for our Teen Advisory Board! You guys are the BEST!

What Price Beauty?

A Cool 37 million dollars for Gerhard Richter's painting Domplatz, Mailand-setting a new auction record for a living artist!
http://library.minlib.net/search~S1?/tgerhard+richter/tgerhard+richter/1%2C13%2C15%2CB/frameset&FF=tgerhard+richter+painting&2%2C%2C2

The 5th Wave

"This is DAMN and WOW territory.  Quite simply, one of the best books I've read in years."
—Melissa Marr





How is THAT for a blurb? The whole Teen Room is basically crawling out of their skin to read The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (author of the Monstrumologist Series). And it's finally here! Swing by and check it out (or request it, this one isn't going to sit on the shelf for long!)
 

Amy Poehler's Smart Girls

Happy Thursday everybody!

Hey, have you seen Amy Poehler's Smart Girls Channel?  It's a mess of dope videos with music, advice, and stories about girls all over the world doing amazing things!  And their motto, Change the World by Being Yourself, applies to everyone, the dudes and the ladies.  Go take a look.


You can have fun with this one too. 




I'll bet a lot of you out there have moms like this guy's mom.  I love how she gets sidetracked speculating about whether Keanu likes men or women, because that is totally the sort of thing I do when I'm watching football.  Someday I will start a sports commentary podcast with all women so we can talk about the game and the players' hairstyles and why Green Bay decided on those yellow pants.

I'm not the only one who thinks about these things!

Happy Birthday Richard Avedon 5/15/1920!

Miss you heaps!

Wednesday Tech Tips: Text Alerts

Want to know when your requested books have arrived, when your DVDs are due, and when that PlayStation game is overdue?

Of course you do!

But email is so very tedious.  ALL THOSE WORDS.  They take time away from what you'd really like to be doing, which is reading more books.

You can sign up for text alerts instead!  Here's how:

1. Sign into your Minuteman account.  You can do this from the library's homepage.
2. Select "Modify Personal Information" in the My Information box.
3. Enter your cell number under "Mobile Settings."

Texts are sent between 9AM and 6PM, so they won't interfere with your beauty sleep.  Unless it's Saturday.  Standard text messaging rates may apply (this depends on your plan, y'all).

Only one text will be sent when notifying you about multiple items, so your phone will not be perpetually beeping, thank heavens.  If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE, that's easy too.

• To opt out from the The Minuteman Library Network Alerts, send a text message with the word STOP, STOP ALL, END, QUIT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE to 82453 or 35143 from your mobile phone and we will unsubscribe you from our service. You will not receive any additional text messages via your mobile phone.
• You may also opt out by logging into your patron record and updating your patron record.

Hooray!  Now you won't be shocked when you come to the library after six months and discover your mom "borrowed" your card to check out all those Vin Diesel movies.  I, for one, am profoundly relieved.

Maureen Johnson sparks cover redesign

Yesterday Maureen Johnson tweeted how often male readers wish her books had less girly covers so they could read them without embarrassment.  The response?  Her followers redesigned popular book jackets, flipping masculine for feminine and vice versa.



Coincidentally, one of the Teen Board bloggers over at Teen Reads has also posted about "girly" books.  This is a topic that has got readers talking!

Have you ever turned down a book because of its cover? Or been surprised when the story was nothing like what the cover led you to believe?