This past week has been super boring! Tim was away at a conference and I worked pretty much every night of the week. I was also a little bummed at the weather. I'm ready for Fall, wearing boots and flannel and running through leaves like this little guy! Instead its still really super hot.
Here is what I have been up to.....
Speaking of Fall, busted out all of our Fall stuff. It turns out its pretty much ALL Halloween stuff. Not that theres anything wrong with that, Halloween is my fav. However I do want some fun Autumn decorations. So I broke out the trusty silhouette and made some myself. I came across the quote and I especially love it because its F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I finished my Doctor Who Scarf I told y'all about. It came out pretty awesome. Its huge, but I wanted it to be, DEAL WITH IT!
On Saturday Tim and I were total grown ups and we saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. When I took the first one home on DVD, Tim was like 'pssh....that looks lame' Then when it actually saw it he thought it was the funniest thing ever. Which is pretty typical Tim. Any who, I was looking forward to this one because these movies have just as many adult jokes as kid ones. I especially love Berry.
On Sunday we took a ride out to South Hampton to check out a festival there. We walked around town for a bit and saw some neat things. One of those neat things was at an art center that had an exhibit on the works of Chas Addams. He was a cartoonist with a sick and twisted brand of humor that I found quite enjoyable. He was also the creator of the Adams Family. He had some really cool comics and Tim and I are probably gonna order some prints.
I really love this picture called Halloween Taxi.
After the exhibit we walked around a bit. I got an awesome lobster roll that is worth mentioning. It was served in a croissant which made it all the more awesome. After walking around we stopped at an antiques shop to see their wares. We found this old time-y camera. I hope its not secretly possessed like some kind of horror movie. I also saw this really silly Hitler pin cushion. The old ladies running the place said its one of their favorites.
When ever I find something, anything that I think is super awesome I just need to share it with the world. Hence, this nifty new little feature: The BEST THING EVER (this week)
I do rather enjoy the lovely programming from the Nerdist YouTube channel. They have a wide range of shows on if my favorites is try this at home. I was glad to see that they added another show about making stuff, DIY dammit!
DIY dammit stars Joselyn Hughes and her partner Jones (an adorable Boston Terrier). Together they tackle crafty projects and make the world a prettier place. I love the projects that are featured on the show, from a light bulb vase to a dinosaur planter. What really sets it apart from other craft web shows is the humor that Hughes brings to it. She also acknowledges a problem I frequently face when tacking pinterest projects, they aren't always as easy as you think! The boy scout pillow project was especially funny and I enjoyed her meltdown.
You should head on over to the Nerdist channel and check it out!
Hey guys! Commercial Convo latest episode was published and it just so happens to feature me and Tim! Go check it out! In this episode we talk about two local commercials.....
I have had another jam packed week. Here is what has been going on....
Banned Book Week prep
Today is the first day of Banned book week! Its a week of celebrating everyones right to read and stop censorship. This is a big passionate issue in the library world. So we celebrate it every year and spread awareness. Another teen librarian, Colleen and I had a similar idea of a display for the week. We both came across this idea on pinterest. She handled the police line up backdrop. I used the chalk board technique to make the sign kids will hold up. I also made some fancy letters using a banned book! We hung it in the window and here is how it came out. (Fun Fact: the book pages I used are from an actual banned book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Attachments
Since reading Eleanor and Park a few weeks ago, my new favorite author is Rainbow Rowell. I've been trying to get a hold of everything she has written! I went through Attachments pretty quickly. I was a little hesitant because its technically an adult book. I usually don't read many adult books, however this is a book about people my age. It struck a chord because the characters were so relatable. I know people like them! Hell, the main character plays D & D!
It's about Lincoln, a guy who takes a computer safety job thinking he will be building epic firewalls and security systems at a local newspaper. He is disappointed to find out that his job is actually reading employee e-mails and tattling on people not doing work. Lincoln hates his boring job until he comes across the correspondence between Jennifer and Beth. He is taken with their humor and looks forward to reading their e-mails. He slowly realizes he is falling in love with Beth. The snarky, witty movie critic that Lincoln has never even seen or met!
Previously I tried reading She Hulk Diaries. I stopped half way through. It was so dumb and not real. It was like if Carrie Bradshaw was exposed to Gamma radiation. Reading this was a breathe of fresh air.
Maker Faire
I was pumped to attend Maker Faire 2013! My friend Megan joined me and we saw some pretty neat stuff. There were the Maker Faire regulars like the Life-Sized mousetrap and Eepy Bird and their mentos and diet coke extravaganza. We saw a lot of other cool science-y things from 3-D printers to giant butterfly bicycles. I was excited to see the craftacular! I met some other craters and makers. Megan and I made some soap. Mine is lavender and I think Tim is having some sort of allergic reaction to it. It was lots of fun, however I felt they have cut out a lot of craft stuff. I didn't see instructables or Etsy there at all so I am a little bummed about that. All in all I had a good time.
I got this really neato Game of Thrones t-shirt!
Baby Shower
My friend Marlene is expecting her first child! I'm really excited for her and this past weekend was her baby shower. I put together a nice little basket of fun baby things. It was a little tough, she wants the sex to be a surprise, so it's really tough shopping for gender neutral baby things. What's up with that society? Despite that little snafu, I made her a card and it came out really cute....
Sara is quite the busy girl! Not only is she a book loving, fan girl and author, she is the mind behind the blog What a Nerd Girl Says. There she talks about all of the latest books she's reading and I'm seriously jealous of all the author's she gets to meet. Sara was kind enough to answer a few questions about What a Nerd Girl Says.
Well, it kind of says it in the title. My blog was started as a place where I could go to talk and write about my passions and one of the biggest passions that I have is reading, especially reading young adult literature. My blog isn't a fansite, I'm not here to report news or any of that, but its more of a fan experience. I write about what I'm reading or watching, or who I'm meeting or where I'm going, all in the fandom world. So I'm constantly writing book reviews or movie reviews, and I'm doing event recaps of the different things I go to, and I'm always doing giveaways because I know that not everyone can go to these things. I'm hoping to add forums to my blog soon, to add a sort of interaction to it and to hopefully start a writing workshop with anyone who wants to try it!
Sara and some fellow bloggers and all the guest authors of the Ontario Teen Book Fest
What was your inspiration in starting you blog?
I was taking a children's literature class and we had to do all these journals and I found myself talking about YA a lot and defending it a lot to those who didn't really see it as a legitimate source of literature. My professor kept commending me for the journals I was writing and I basically started the blog as a way to continue to write about it, both just showing my like for it and to constantly defend and support it. I also had been reading my friend Jackie's blog (Seeking Bazinga) and I was loving it, and I just thought, well, I could do that.
It looks like your are involved in multiple projects aside from the blog.
I totally am. I am a busy person. I started the blog last summer, May of 2012, and it was when I had a lot more time on my hands, and now I'm really learning how little time I have for the blog, especially since its grown and grown! But its something I'm incredibly passionate about, and its something that I really enjoy so I stick to it. I am also a full time college student, working hard to get my BA in History (even considering a minor in American Studies, we'll see...) and I work as a nanny after school. When I'm not working on school work or the blog, I'm working on my novel. It will be my third, technically, but I have a good feeling about this one and I'm hoping its my first "real" novel. I also keep myself busy with events, like movie premieres and lots of author events, and I'm also a member of the second largest Harry Potter group in the world, the Los Angeles Dumbledore's Army, which is a 21+ HP fan group.
What sorts of books or fandoms are you really excited about?
Wow, this is a huge question because there is so much. I'm meeting Cinda Williams Chima in the next couple weeks and I can barely contain my excitement over that because she's just brilliant. I'm excited for books the The House of Hades by Rick Riordan, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, Champion by Marie Lu, Just One Year by Gayle Forman, Unsouled by Neal Shusterman, I could go on and on about books.
I'm also really excited about all my shows coming back like Once Upon a Time and the spin-off, The Vampire Diaries and THAT spin-off. I'm so especially excited for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary and Christmas special coming up. So many emotions are going to be going through for that one! I just got my first Doctor Who tattoo so that's on my mind a lot. I'm also really excited for movies like Catching Fire and The Desolation of Smaug, The Maze Runner, The Book Thief, etc.
On top of it all you have written two novels. What are your future plans as far as writing go?
In all honesty, its what I want to do with my life. Some way, some how, I want to be a writer. My goal is to become a novelist, and I work really hard at that, and I'm getting my college degree because I know how hard it is to accomplish that. But I definitely want to continue writing my blog because its a good exercise for my writing skills and I just enjoy it and I'm going to continue to write fiction in the hopes that one day I write something worth publishing. Ever since I was a tween and I was reading Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot, I've just always wanted to be a writer. I've never been the type of person who can write capital L literature but YA has taught me that I can be a good writer in my own voice and I hope one day to see my writing published on a bookshelf in a bookstore. Then I will probably squeal so loudly that I'll scare the employees just a bit haha.
How would you like to see your blog grow and evolve?
When I first started it, I just wanted to be noticed. I wanted everyone to notice, and I was huge on followers and views. And while I'm still conscious of followers and views, I've learned that its more about WHO is following you, not HOW MANY people are following you. I have great followers who I've become friends with her and who are awesome. I hope to continue to make my blog a community where we can talk about books and movies and TV shows, and mostly books haha. That's why I want to start a forum on my blog, to kind of give more of that community feel to it.
Be sure to head on over to What a Nerd Girl Says and check it out. You can also find Sara on:
Hello world. This past week has been quite productive. Here is my week at a glance....
I started the week off with craft night! This time around we made Mason Jar lanterns. I decided since Fall is here, to make a Jack-o-Lantern lantern. It looks boo-tiful. You can read more about craft night and how to make your own lanterns here.
I've had this key print burlap for a while. I made a super nice mail organizer a while back. I ended up with left overs and I was sure what to do with it. After noticing that our dinning room table was a little bare, I thought I table runner might be a nice addition. The print goes well with our antique style and burlap on a farmhouse table just makes sense. Here is how it came out!
September is Library Card Sign up Month, so here is a little display I did featuring everyones favorite frustrated foul, Pigeon. Check out the all the details here.
This past week I finally got my hair cut! Last time I chopped it was back in February. Tim's cousin is my hair dresser and is pretty much the only person I trust with my hair. She suggested trying something different with the bangs. I love how it came out. Then next day when I opted for glasses instead of contacts, I realized I look like Velma from Schooby Doo. That may be one of my Halloween costume options this year.
Later that same day I got a random text from Caitie asking if I wanted to go on a Michael's run with her. I can't so no to that place! So for the second time this week I went to the craft store. While we browsed the aisles looking at dumb stuff I grabbed some yarn. I haven't knitted in so long. I decided I needed a new scarf this year. After coming across this chart I figured i'd give it a go.
On Saturday we had our friends Michelle and Anthony over. You may remember me mention them in Q&As. We had them over for dinner and cooked an epic-ly delicious vegan meal. Afterwards we recorded an episode of the Commercial Convo with them. We discussed local commercials and how ridiculous they are. It was all in all a good time. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast on itunes so you'll be able to hear the episode!
Michelle Rubinstein and Anthony Viccora are two of my friends that are always creative and doing something. I remember them always mentioning how they wanted to start a podcast and once they decided to focus on discussing commercials, the Commercial Convo was born! A couple episodes in and they have discussed a few different ad campaigns, introduced some fun commercial based games with their guests and always take a moment for a television break.
I asked Michelle and Anthony a few questions about the podcast.
What made you guys want to
start a podcast?
M: Well, I really got into
listening to podcasts in 2008. I became obsessed with them and have always
wanted to have my own. I have always been intrigued with shows and interviews
done on the radio. There is something about just tuning in to hear a story and
having to use your imagination to come up with the visuals. We tried to make a
podcast with two friends of ours in 2009, but it didn’t quite pan out the way
we wanted it to.
A: I just thought it
sounded like a good time.
M: Ant’s a man of few
words, haha.
In the first episode, michelle,
you talk about where your interest commercials came from an AOL chat. Can you
talk a bit about that and how it led to an interest?
M: The AOL chat with
Yeardly Smith inspired me because it was refreshing to hear someone say to make
a conscious decision to tune into commercials and to not turn them off or
switch the channel. I really, at the time, had an interest in voice-overs, and she
explained that listening to different commercials can inspire you and help you
mimic certain voices. From that time on, I just always loved commercials and
looked at them in a different light.
Anthony where did yours come from?
A: I guess that I always
liked watching commercials, I never wanted to mute them or change the channel
but I never really considered how interested I really had been in them until
Michelle and I would talk about them. It’s funny because people always seem to
talk about how much they hate commercials but then end up in conversations
about which ones they hate and why or even ones they think are funny. I think
deep down everyone likes commercials to some degree or another, I mean nowadays
the entertainment value can be right up there with the television shows that surround
them.
M: It’s true! I really do
believe people love to talk about commercials to some degree.
Since the show starting you
guys must be watching commercials more critically. What are some of the things
that you look for?
M: Like Ant said, before
the podcast, we always watched and discussed commercials. Whether they were
funny, dumb or we liked the song used in the ad. That’s another big reason why
I love commercials, the music. There are so many times where I will shazam a
commercial just to get a song. We fell in love with the band Parov Stelar,
because their song“Booty Swing”
was used in The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas commercial. I’ve discovered
many bands just from watching commercials. Since we started the podcast, our
way of viewing them hasn’t really changed.
A: The first thing I always
look for is comedic value but besides that that, I always need the story makes
sense, (does that make sense haha?) I almost want to use the term plot hole to
describe what I mean. When something doesn’t make sense in the story of the
commercial it drives me nuts, I cant focus on the commercial and I lose all
respect for whatever they are trying to sell me…It’s hard to explain without an
example… there is a commercial for these lights that go on your glasses and
they show these situations where they can be helpful, they say “where are
Foster Grant Light Specs helpful” a woman is reading in bed and her husband is
trying to sleep that one is fine, but then they have a woman in a dimly lit
restaurant and she says “when I want lobster not liver” as if she was going to
just grunt and point at the menu and not exchange any words with the waiter and
accidentally get Liver…Like c’mon that doesn’t make any sense, it just drives
me nuts and I just lose all respect for the people who directed that commercial
and who wrote it and the fact that no one questioned that example…
What is your current
favorite campaign ad running?
M: I really always seem to
love Target’s campaigns. I think there back to school campaign this year is
really cute and simple. However, I just discovered AT&T’s new web-only
campaign for their Digital Life products. There are three commercials in which
someone is interviewing the home’s pets and they talk about how the house is
being controlled when no one’s home. It’s really funny, and I always wondered
what our pets think when no one’s home and we set automatic timers and what
not. It’s a cute POV..plus who doesn’t love talking animals? It’s the talking
baby commercials I can’t stand!
A: I would say a pretty
consistent favorite of mine over the last few years lately have been the Geico
campaign, not all of them are winners but for the most part I enjoy the heck
out of them, they usually do a pretty good job retiring the ideas before they
get too played out, an art that is clearly not something most people in the
entertainment industry don’t seem to understand, its happening too much in the
film industry, I mean the hangover is a trilogy, seriously how many times can
people see the same movie…getting back to commercials though the insurance
industry as a whole have been pretty entertaining to me.
M: Yeah! I love Geico
commercials. I also feel like they always do a great job and have a good
variety of commercials to advertise their insurance. Hey, it sold me. I have Geico…and
so does Ant.
A: Well what sold me was
the savings, I really did save 15%, actually it was more like 22% but still I
recommend them haha.
What is the worst Commercial
that just drives you nuts?
M: Referring back to my
comment about talking babies…The All-State commercial with the talking baby and
the Mime. I really feel that talking babies are just creepy and un-natural.
Even more un-natural then talking pets, haha.
A: I hate the same commercial!
Sometimes I’m surprised at how much it bothers me. What annoys me most about it
is that the first time I saw that commercial they hadn’t added in the baby
talking portion yet and I thought it was amazing, the mime I thought was very
entertaining and I enjoyed the exchange he had with them and his exit from the
conversation most of all. The next time it came on I literally stopped what I
was doing and watched with delight and as soon as the baby started talking my
smile immediately turned to a deep frown, the kind of frown that takes work to
put on, you know what I mean? It’s because of the muscles in your face aren’t
used to moving in that way, the commercial was ruined and now I cringe when it
comes on…
On the show you have your
guests take part in a commercial themed game.
Where did you guys come up
with this idea?
How do you decide what kind
if games to play?
M: It kind of came to us
all at once. When we decided to make this podcast, we were in the car driving
and listening to the radio, and there was a commercial on, and I said” Wouldn’t
it be funny to have a show, that is just all commercials? I bet people would
hate it and we would be the only ones into it.” Then later on we decided we
should just have a podcast about commercials. We discuss them anyway…we might
as well record it. We then started thinking about different games we could play
with guests like “Who’s that voice” and a game in which you guess the campaign
from listening to the song from the commercial. I’m pretty good at guessing
voiceovers from commercials, and I thought that would be a fun game.
A: Yea we just thought it
would be fun to do with people, kind of test how critically they actually could
listen to a commercial, we also had a game where we just said the tag line to
see if the person could guess what brand it was for. It kind of shows how
commercials and advertising gets into your head without you even realizing its
there…actually its kind of creepy when you think about it haha.
I love the tv show interludes.
It's a clever little twist. Where did that idea come from?
A: I just thought it would
be funny…Really above anything else I just like to make people laugh and I’m
really into puns and pun like things which I feel like the TV break is about,
kind of flipping things around.
M:
Yeah, haha, sometimes I just let Ant have his moment to shine you know, humor
himself.
Michelle you have a degree
in communications and Anthony you have one in business. Does your academic
background influence your interest in commercials?
M: A lot of my major was
made up of Advertising and Marketing classes. Most of the time our homework
assignment was to just watch commercials and be prepared to discuss the latest
campaigns in class. I absolutely loved this, so just from that I feel I’m more
into commercials than the average joe.
A: I don’t know that I
would say my major changed my interest in commercials because my interest in
them really didn’t have much to do with what I studied, but I can say that I
find it difficult to separate the business from the entertainment or message of
the commercial…I think about what the business sells and how its doing or what
they represent…Take Walmart for example, I hate Walmart and I have expressed
this multiple times while recording and because of this anytime a Walmart
commercial comes on I have a hard time enjoying any aspect of the commercial or
even listening at all.
Where would you like to go
with commercial convo? Is it something you plan on doing for a while? How would
you like it to evolve?
M: Naturally, I would love
to be able for this to take off and become something like The Nerdist or Stuff
You Should Know, and just become a full time podcaster. Wouldn’t that be dope?
Haha, but we’re just having fun and doing it as a hobby for now. It can be hard
because of our schedules to keep up with putting out a new episode, so I hope
in time we get on a better schedule with that. But for now, it’s all about just
hanging out talking about commercials.
A: I’d like to sell out
Amphitheaters and concert halls world wide and have thousands and thousands of
screaming fans who cant help but hang on our every word, that would be kind of
cool…Joking aside I really just do enjoy putting out something that people can
listen to and hopefully get a laugh or two out of it, or at least enjoy. As
Michelle said our schedules are somewhat preventative at times but I’d like to
keep up with it for as long as we can…I mean it’s not like there’s going to be
a sudden drought of material, if anything I bet over the next few years commercials
become more entertaining, more controversial and even more relevant to our
generation, a younger generation and it will perpetually give us something to
talk about.
We are in September, Fall time (ya-hoo!) This is also library card sign up month. To celebrate I made a very bulletin board display that is all about libraries!
I thought about doing another back to school display, like last year, however, I decided to switch it up a bit. Besides,the rest of the room was pretty decked out in with a back to school theme. First thing I needed for this display was a good quote! I am a librarian that like’s to pun-tificate and come up with cheesey rhymes, so I was excited when I found this quote on pinterest inspired by Arthur! Now that I had my quote, I needed a fun visual element. I decided on making a giant library card, but whose card would it be?! I chose one of the most fun characters that I could think of, Mo Willem’s Pigeon! Now that I had all of my ideas organized, it was time to put it all together!
For the background, I used a vynil table cloth from the dollar store. They make bulletin board displays so easy because they are lightweight and won't fade. I chose a nice red (because it goes with our library’s colors) For the giant library card, I used some oak tag and cut a square in it (for the ‘patron’ picture). I used some sharpie’s to make the library’s logo and it came out pretty good for free-handing it. Next my friend Annmarie drew a Pigeon on some teal construction paper. I added some extra details and stuck him on the card.
For the quote I used my silhouette machine for most of the letters. I wanted to emphasis ‘Library card’. I found this printable of an old check out card, it’s from The Creative Place blog. I used this printable and formatted it in Microsoft publisher and added the letters on the cards. I printed them out and attached them to some card stock because they were a little flimsy. I strung some yarn across the display and attached the letters using tiny clothes pins.
It came together quite nicely and I think it looks great! Now I’m starting to think about my Halloween display!
Before I talk about Crafty Night, I just wanted to share that I was featured on the blog, What a Nerd Girl Says. Go check it out!
My favorite time of the month is Craft Night! This time around I wanted to get in the Fall spirit so we made some festive lanterns and I also got in on some pumpkin chocolate latte!
It was another fun time and I was super glad to see a lot of library came out to support me! Michelle and Anthony also came out and made some fantastic lanterns. Tim also really got into it and is really proud of his under the sea themed lantern.
Towards the end of the night there were a batch of new people discovering craft night! I always get excited meeting new people.
If you missed out on craft night and want to make a lantern of your own, here is how to do it!
Materials & Tools
Mason Jar
Mod Podge
Tissue paper
Foam brush
Candle (either tea light or votive)
Instructions
Cut out pieces of tissue paper. Use what ever color scheme and go nuts!
Add a base coat of mod podge
Attach your tissue paper any way you would like
Once your jar is covered to how much you like, add another coat of mod podge
Once it dries, stick your candle in there and watch it an illuminated wonderland
