The 3DS is a fun hand-held and a decent enough upgrade to the DS and DSi, but one of the admitted drawbacks to converting to the system has been a lack of notable launch titles. It’s taken a while, but Nintendo has finally come through with a reason to for people to try out the 3DS, and that is Super Mario 3D Land (I’ll talk up the merits of the 3D re-release of Ocarina of Time another time, but for now let’s stick with Mario).
Super Mario 3D land shines in much the same way New Super Mario Brothers (available at Queens Library) did. It’s, at its heart, a run back to the classic side-scrolling platforming games, but using the current tech to allow a three dimensional plane for Mario to run in. It’s the tech of Mario 64 and Galaxy, but with the soul of the older entries, and specifically that of Mario 3.
The plot of the game is that not only has Peach been kidnapped yet again, Bowser has also gotten ahold of the leaves of the Tanooki tree. Mario 3 for the NES had introduced leaves that gave Mario a raccoon tail that let him fly, as well as a suit called the Tanooki suit that let him do that and also turn into a statue, a reference to the Tanuki in Japanese mythology. This game brings back a rough mash-up of the two, making it leaves that give Mario a full body suit that lets him glide a bit.
From there, it’s a lot of familiar platforming and enemies. It takes no time at all to get into the swing of things. The 3D in the system is used to great effect to add depth to the levels, and the best projection is done in sequences where Mario has to be made to run “out” of the screen while the platforms appear in the foreground in front of him. It’s also used well to add variety to the level design, ranging from 3D roaming to side-scrolling to overhead view and more. As a side note, in a reference to the recent 25 year anniversary of the Legend of Zelda, level 5-2 is done in the style of a LoZ dungeon, complete with the “Hidden Passage” sound effect.
At first glance, the game feels a bit short, but after you defeat Bowser and save the day, you’re given another eight worlds worth of levels to muck about in, now with a higher difficulty. There are also three giant coins to be collected in each level which are used to unlock extra levels as well as Bowser’s Castle.
The 3DS does not yet have a showstopper game, but while we wait for one, Super Mario 3D Land is certainly worth a look. The game is a lot of fun and a fun way to kill a little time … or a lot when you reach one of those levels that you know you can beat. Just one more try…
So it’s nowhere near Halloween, but I just finished reading the third book, The Night Eternal, in the vampire series from Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. (It started with The Strain.) It got me thinking about how much I love a good vampire book (or movie), and how I love the way authors and directors play with the enduring myth of vampires. It was kind of cool, for instance, that Stephenie Meyer’s first foray, Twilight, was set in the Pacific Northwest, where there’s quite a bit of rainfall and the landscape is just, well, dark. Or how about the way Anne Rice featured a vampire giving a long, involved interview about his life in (what else?) Interview with the Vampire? One of my favorite modern adaptations, Stephen King’s ’Salem’s Lot, does a great job of turning a small, picturesque New England Town into a blood-soaked nightmare for all but a handful of its inhabitants. And, for those of us who caught it on television way back when, it was nice to see David Soul of Starsky and Hutch take on the evil vampire. And, speaking of cinematic versions of great vampire stories, Will Smith did a phenomenal job of acting opposite a beautiful German shepherd in I Am Legend, adapted from Richard Matheson’s spooky tale.
With the exception of Starsky and Hutch, you can get all of the above titles (books and movies) at Queens Library. While you’re here, don’t forget the granddad of them all: Bram Stoker’s magnificent Dracula (though I would skip Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation). Happy hunting, sanguivores! (Full disclosure: I stole that last word from The Night Eternal).
Daniel Black’s They Tell Me of a Home is like watching an episode of The Maury Show or The Jerry Springer Show — without the commercials. Entertained by someone else’s drama, it kept me flipping pages.
Tommy Lee Tyson, the main character in this book, has some important lessons to learn. And his hometown in Arkansas, which he leaves so abruptly at age 18 — when, free from parental control, he gets as far away from as he can — is just the place to learn them. At the age of 28, Tommy Lee Tyson is returning home the same way he left, on a Greyhound bus with luggage in hand.
All families have a few skeletons, but no one could be prepared for the rattling skeletons this family has. To top it off, the strange relationship he's had with his parents is finally explained and he comes to a better understanding of why there has always been a strange tension. Predictably, Tommy Lee Tyson is faced with a life altering decision that’ll put him on the road to fulfilling his destiny. Though he is not quite emotionally prepared for what he has to face, his Ph.D. in African-American studies will come in handy.
Even though I expected it to end the way it does, author Black had a way of ending the novel with a curveball. He is an excellent writer and I look forward to reading his other books.
Copies of They Tell Me of a Home are available at Queens Library.
Sweating can be a physical problem—for some it may be difficult to sweat due to a medical condition called anhidrosis, for others perspiration can be uncomfortable and embarrassing especially when you’re the one who tends to perspire more than others and for women it can be one of the many symptoms of the M-word known as menopause—and a mental problem, as in sweating the small stuff. Are you a worrier? There’s an book titled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, the ideal guide for assisting those among us who tend to sweat the small stuff and for those who want to continue not sweating the small stuff.
This book is broken down into brief chapters pertaining to the simple things in life and the not so simple things in life that can have us breaking a sweat. After reading this book in its simplistic format, I’ve learned how not to sweat the small stuff. In one of the chapters Carlson advises not to sweat the idea of having a totally empty “inbox” because the fact of the matter is when we die our inboxes will be full. In the same way when you drive, no matter how fast you drive and no matter how many cars you pass, there will always be a car ahead of you. So why sweat it? There’s no need, Carlson assures us. Carlson also brings out a good point for us working people who commute in our vehicles, he suggest pulling over for a few minutes to release the weight of the day, so when you arrive home you’ll be free of excess baggage and the weight of the day that could otherwise cause an evening at home to short circuit. Now for those who rely on public transportation—many of us here in Queens—the same can apply just by allowing yourself to shift gears mentally by reading a book, listening to music or just by mentally releasing the day, freeing up your brainpower and energy for your evening agenda. Do this, and soon you’ll be on your way to living the life of “not sweating the small stuff” and remember it is all small stuff.
“Hi, I’m Bob.” This was the opening to my short-lived, recurring segment on Ha! (the cable TV station that eventually merged with The Comedy Channel to form Comedy Central).That series of short sketches was called “Bob, the Video Guy” and in 30 seconds I would review an entire shelf’s worth of movies.It was filmed at the Tower Video store on the Upper East Side where I was the manager. We only made half a dozen “Bob, the Video Guy” segments, but my career with Tower lasted 15 more years.Then I became a librarian and now I’m writing a blog, promoting some entertainment options available at your local Queens library.This entry’s theme is “My life as mirrored in the movies.”Two very good movies have been made about working in a record store, Empire Records (1995) and High Fidelity (2000).Both films get it right when it comes to music geeks, shoplifters and the record retail attitude.Empire Records is closest to my personal experience (many speculate the script is based on Tower Records) but despite the attention to retail details, the story is a little too far-fetched. High Fidelity comes in second overall but is hands-down the winner in the soundtrack category.That, plus great performances by John Cusack and Jack Black make it another almost-great movie.For me, the love story sections bring the movie down and I thought the book by Nick Hornby was better.Read it, watch it, and let me know what you think.What about the Jack Black video store homage Be Kind Rewind?Sorry, I didn’t like it.On to my new career as portrayed in You’re a Big Boy Now (1967) and Party Girl (1995).Francis Ford Coppola’s UCLA master’s thesis project You’re a Big Boy Now is the story of young Bernard who works for his father at the main branch of the New York Public Library.Dad is the curator of incunabula and doesn’t take kindly to his son’s naïveté and distracted work ethic. So Dad sets Bernard up in his own Greenwich Village apartment in the hope that his “big boy” will grow into a man.Hilarity and hi-jinks ensue as Bernard awkwardly comes of age amongst the denizens of Manhattan in the mid-sixties.Of the films mentioned here, You’re a Big Boy Now is my favorite and as soon as it gets a proper DVD release I will make sure that Queens Library gets plenty of copies.The Party Girl is Parker Posey, playing a NY raver who gets in trouble for her illegal rent parties.She seeks help from her godmother who is the manager/librarian at a branch of the New York Public Library. Working as a circulation clerk while falling in love with a falafel vendor, the party girl begins to grow up and show some signs of maturity.But is it too late?The scene where she catalogs her DJ roommate’s dance records foreshadows the inevitable conclusion and is truly hilarious, especially to a librarian who used to sell records for a living. Like me.That’s all for today.Until next time, I’m Bob.The Video Guy.
Rover is a well-loved sheep dog who has a nice big doghouse all to himself.It is a beautiful day but instead of playing, he is chewing on a bone. He is bored and wants someone to play with.However, Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate because all of a sudden a storm blows in.Rover is very disappointed.With that the refrain starts, “Rover’s in the doghouse, sleeping through the storm. . . Then a succession of animals, beginning with a cat, look for shelter.They tell him, “Move over, Rover!”As the doghouse gets more crowded, the illustrations start to show uncomfortable animals, squeezed in with not enough room for a pea.The kids will love hearing this book read to them over and over again and will enjoy the appearance of the skunk as well as the familiar refrain of “move over, Rover!” The rhyming text is great for a read-aloud.The illustrations capture the storyline perfectly.Check out Ms. Beaumont’s other great books, including: I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More; I Like Myself; Doggone Dogs! and Who Ate All the Cookie Dough?
It’s been called a Diary of a Wimpy Kid for girls, and to some extent that’s true. The Popularity Papers, by Amy Ignatow, has the humor, diary format, drawings, and recognizable school, family and social situations that make the “Wimpy Kid” franchise so popular. But The Popularity Papers offers tween readers more that just a silly take on adolescent life.The book is in the form of a shared diary. Sixth graders Lydia and Julie record their observations of popular junior high school girls, in the hopes that they themselves will be popular some day. The book is laugh-out-loud funny at times, but even more appealing are Lydia and Julie’s personalities, revealed through their written comments, drawings, and even their penmanship.Their “research” into the mysterious ways of popular girls eventually draws Lydia and Julie into new experiences that expand their circle of friends and begin to pull them apart. The friendship problems faced by the girls are sure to ring true to readers in grades 4 through junior high. The book is also filled with other characters that are multi-dimensional and believable, rather than the typical school-story stereotypes (mean girl, nerdy boy, etc.). Lydia’s Goth older sister Melody, for example, turns out to be more than just a sullen teen. Also refreshing is the book’s matter-of-fact treatment of Julie’s nontraditional family. She has two dads, but that’s not a problem or even the focus of the story.There’s a lesson in this book—that’s there’s more to a person than first meets the eye—but it’s conveyed in a way that is light-hearted, not heavy-handed. The many Diary of a Wimpy Kid books may be funny, but I’ll take The Popularity Papers for its combination of humor and heart.
The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Bartusiak.I just loved this title; “The Day We *Found* the Universe?”I thought “It was hiding somewhere?”Well, Edwin Hubble found it under his bed, or more accurately, Hubble built a telescope strong enough to see beyond our Milky Way, and on December 30, 1924, he shared his discovery with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and so astronomy as we understand it was born.This history of the study of astronomy is fascinating, and accessible to non-scientists.From chapters entitled “A Rather Remarkable Number of Nebulae” to “Your Calculations Are Correct, but Your Physical Insight Is Abominable” Bartusiak provides a basis to understand how the development of stronger tools to study our world does control how we understand it, and alludes to the problems of empiricism, how we can only know what we can see or hear.If we only know the universe through what instruments allow us to see, how can we understand how big infinity really is? And how can we possibly understand our world if we can’t know what we don’t know until we build stronger tools?
I was perusing the paperback romance display (yes, I like romances and I don’t make excuses for it) when I bent a little lower to check the authors towards the end of the alphabet.Like magic I was drawn to a pinkish purple cover and what I picked up was The Wish List by Gabi Stevens . With the thrill of discovery making my hands tingle, I read the back cover – ooh fairy godmothers live among us and Kristin Montgomery is just finding that out! Even better she has magical powers that will be manifesting during this “Time of Transition” although Kristin, content with her work as a CPA, isn’t sure she wants this major life change. Add in a southern California setting, a wizard, a sorcerer and other magical folks and we “Groundlings” are in for a very enjoyable time.I read and enjoyed the Harry Potter books and The Wish List is a similar kind of fantasy with more grownup sex appeal.There are some sizzling scenes, but it is hard to characterize this as a paranormal romance or a fantasy with romance which is why you may find this title in the romance section of the library or in the science fiction section.If you have been wishing for a book with magic, contemporary romance, and a sense of humor give The Wish List a try.
Are you shufflin'? Topping the Billboard this summer at #1 Top 100 is LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem. If you haven't heard of it yet, you are probably confined somewhere secluded and have not been out in the social world. LMFAO is a uncle/nephew electro-hop duo from California. Most of their songs entails "party rocking", which is a combination "partying" and "rocking", according to LMFAO. Party Rock Anthem became an international hit overseas. And now, it has taken over America. The lyrics are fairly simple. You're going to "party 'til you lose your mind; everybody just have a good time". And shufflin' is the dance for the song. "Shufflin" is essentially the a modified version of the "Melbourne Shuffle", a popular Australian dance move back the in the '90s. So what made this song number 1? If it can't possibly be the lyrics, then it must be the catchy soon-to-be-stuck-in-your-head beat. If not, maybe the music video is the seller. The MV is essentially LMFAO waking up to a world of shufflin' zombies, who gets obsessed with the song and shuffles constantly. Whatever the case maybe, I have a feeling that this is going to be the summer song of 2011.