Rifftrax with Teens - Library Life

I was a teenager when I discovered Mystery Science Theater 3000 for the first time. It was pretty magical. While channel surfing I came to the sci-fi channel and found a bad old movie on. I soon realized that people were talking over it and making funny jokes! I think a bunch of my friends discovered it around the same time because we would talk about it and have inside jokes influenced by MST3K. Fast forward a few years when as an adult I mentioned to someone how much I loved MST3K. The friend I was talking to, Mark, said "hey those guys are still riffing movies." He showed me RiffTrax. I was ecstatic! It was just like MST3k but with newer releases!

Since it was something I loved so much as a teen, I thought the teens at the library might also get a kick out of it. After mentioning it to the teen librarian, we set out looking up what riffs we could use. We did Avengers first and got a 'meh' review from the kids. We tried it again with the Hunger Games and I was thrilled to see them enjoy it. Here is a trailer for your enjoyment.



This is such a great simple idea to do with teens! All that is needed is a viewing space, a copy of the movie, the audio commentary and a speaker system. We are lucky enough to have a TV in the teen center and showed it on that. I downloaded the commentary from RiffTrax. They cost around four to five dollars. I then put that track on an iPod and used an iHome to play it along with the movie. The hardest part was getting the commentary and the movie in sync, so at first some of the jokes didn't match up. However I had one teen who was hell bent on getting them to match!



Afterwards they asked when we were going to do RiffTrax again. Librarian win! So head on over to RiffTrax and try it out at your library. This could also work with millennials because, like me, they grew up watching MST3K and miss it. If you try it in your library, let me know how it works out!

Doctor Who - Library Life

In the Spring time while we were still planning programs for the summer, the teen librarian asked if I would be interested in holding a Doctor Who program. I nearly fell off the reference desk with excitement. I partnered up with another librarian and whovian, Monica and together we made a pretty awesome program. Here is what we did....

We couldn't have a proper Who program with out a TARDIS. We had a ton of PVC pipe in my garage so I had Timbo cut it up to my specifications. He did it because I am klutzy and not to be trusted with power tools.  After all the pieces were cut I took it to the library then began assembly! I wrapped it with blue butcher paper and used my silhouette machine to cut out most of the details.

Other than the TARDIS we had different stations for the kids to take part in while roaming around the room. This included bow-ties, making t-shirts, putting the Doctor's in order and a snack of 'Fish finger's' and custard. Afterward we tested their knowledge in Who trivia.

For the bow-ties, we used felt and ribbon. We assembled them using the glue gun. I have some pretty gnarly burns from helping them, however they all did a good job. I gave them each a safety pin so they can wear it. One kid passed up the bow-tie because he said he already has too many Whovian bow-ties.

The t-shirts did not go over so well. This was mainly because only one kid listened to our reminder phone call warning about brining a shirt. I showed them how to make the t-shirts at home. For the stencils I cut out some Who themed shapes.

With a program like this, these kids are going to need food. I didn't want to do something lame like pretzels. It had to be Who-themed! I came across this recipe for 'Fish fingers' and custard. The 'finger fingers' were actually cookies and the custard was vanilla pudding. Monica is quite an accomplished baking so she handled that. They came out pretty awesome and they tasted really good with the pudding.

I wasn't sure how the kids were going to do putting the Doctors in order. Most of the kids are Who newbs and are familiar with 9 and on. However they surprised me and with some team work they got it! This idea Monica got from this Teen Librarian Tool Box.

After all the bow-ties were made, the fingers fingers were eaten and the doctors were put in order, it was time for trivia. Monica and I had been working really hard to come up with some good questions. I think we did pretty good because we stumped some of the most die hard kids! One of my favorite stumping questions was: What do the Doctor Who actors, Freema Agyeman, Karren Gillian and Peter Capaldi all have in common? Answer: they were all in Doctor Who episodes before being cast as main characters.

Monica and I weren't the only ones dressed up. We invited kids to come in Cosplay. A few looked great, while the others opted for Doctor Who t-shirts. 

This program was so much fun and based on the reaction we most certainly are going to do it again in November for the 50th anniversary. I'm grateful for the help from Monica, the kids that came and the fact that I get to do things like this for a living.