What I'll Be Watching Over Break

In case you haven't already guessed based on the nature of this blog, I am a big "movie guy".  I have five films that I plan to see over the holiday break.

They include...



Trailer: Saving Mr. Banks on Disney Video

Saving Mr. Banks: The story of how Mary Poppins (one of my favorite musicals of all-time) went from book to screen!




Anchorman 2: Gotta stay classy, if you know what I mean.




American Hustle: Christian Bale as a fat, balding businessman?  Sounds intriguing.  Plus, Jennifer Lawrence!




The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug: Yep, I'm a LOTR lifer!




Grudge Match: I have a brother who is obsessed with Sylvester Stallone, so I'll be watching this one whether I like it or not.  Looks funny, though.  Kind of a lampoon of "Rocky".

Any thoughts, questions, wondering-s why "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" isn't on the list.  It's because I can't stand Ben Stiller, that's why.  Next question...

Ugly Sweaters

Since apparently today is "Ugly Christmas Sweater" day, here are some of the best (worst?) I found from around the web...

Now, granted, I don't know if any of them beat Mr. Potts' "golden dove"...

Some New Books Just Arrived!

Yesterday, we received a new shipment of books here in the Media Center.

No, they didn't come like this...

It was a more traditional delivery method (!)...

Here is a list of the new titles now available, with authors in ():

All Mates Together (Hopkins)
Auracle (Rosati)
A Beautiful Lie (Master)
Besties (Hopkins)
Bi-normal (Higgins)
Bifocal (Ellis)
Bitterblue (Cashore)
Black Like Me (Griffin)
Booth's Daughter (Wemmlinger)
The Car (Paulsen)
A Certain October (Johnson)
Darius & Twig (Myers)
Defining Dulcie (Acampora)
The Diviners (Bray)
Dying to Know You (Chambers)
Flip (Bedford)
Funny How Things Change (Wyatt)
Gym Candy (Deuker)
Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
Hourglass (McEntire)
The House of Hades (Riordan)
How I Became A Ghost (Tingle)
Infinityglass (McEntire)
Insignia (Kincaid)
Invisible (Bates)
Kindness for Weakness (Goodman)
The Last Dragonslayer (Fforde)
Leap of Faith (Blair)
Maggot Moon (Gardner)
The Book of Lost Things (Voigt)
Monstrous Beauty (Fama)
Murder on the Orient Express (Christie)
My Side (McClintock)
Neptune's Tears (Waggoner)
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Cohn)
Rash (Hautman)
The Raven Boys (Stiefvater)
Reality Boy (King)
Relativity (Bishara)
Roses (Mannering)
The Saturday Boy (Fleming)
Sean Griswold's Head (Leavitt)
Shane (Schaefer)
Sold (McCormick)
Split (Avasthi)
Steelheart (Sanderson)
Tandem (Jarzab)
Timepiece (McEntire)
Trash Can Days (Stienkellner)
The Waking Dark (Wasserman)
What Momma Left Me (Watson)
3:50 (McNeil)

Whew!  That should keep you busy over the holiday break.

It only works if you actually stop by and check one out, though!

Getting The Band Back Together?

For all of you die-hard Twins fans who look forward to this...

...even during the dead of winter (i.e. NOW), I have some big news for you.

Jason Kubel is back!  Last seen clubbing monstrous home runs in the Metrodome (and some doubles in Target Field), Kuuuuuuubel left as a fan-favorite.

Sure, he isn't the greatest come playoff time and especially against lefthanded pitching (Andy Pettitte has made him look the fool in multiple playoff appearances), but he can still crush the ball against average righthanded pitchers.

It's just a minor league contract, so nothing is set in stone, but he could fill a lot of offensive roles for a team looking for a spark.

Enjoy the weekend St. Anthony!

Late Books: The Plan

Just so you all are fully aware, I wanted to take a moment to explain the Media Center's current "plan" when it comes to overdue books:

Basically, if your book is more than a week overdue, your parents will receive an email telling them about it.  So, unless you want a stern look...

Or perhaps even a lecture...

I would suggest just turning in the books on time!  Save yourself the trouble.

Remember, you can always bring the book down here to the media Center and renew it if you need more time to finish.

We want to be the "nice guy" here...but we also want our stuff back, too!  Please don't make us angry.  You might not like us when we're angry...

But At Least We Get This...

Man, I just realized how depressing my earlier post was about the bone-chilling cold.  What a downer, huh?  Here is a positive about the snow that might cheer you up even just a bit:

At least here in MN we don't have to resort to this to make a snowman:

Seriously, FL?  A sandman?  Give me a break!  THIS is what I'm talking about:

So even though your car looks like a glazed donut in the morning and the snot freezes right in your nostils, just remember that at least we here in Minnesnowta have the capability to make an honest-to-goodness snowman.  Florida, you can have your sunny beaches and palm trees!

Warmer Weather...Or Not

If it seems like it is just too cold outside...you might actually be right!  According to venerable Star Tribune weather man Paul Douglas, we are currently experiencing much colder-than-normal temperatures for this time of year...

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/235342011.html

The last time we saw temps this low this early was 1996.  To put that into perspective, at that time Bill Clinton was beating Bob Dole in a Presidential election, "Space Jam" was in the theaters, and the Dallas Cowboys were winning a SuperBowl.  Yeah...its been a while.

Despite a brief warm-up the next couple of days (which will bring back the predictable snow flurries), you can get used to this for the foreseeable future...

Remember all those snow-less Decembers and 40 degree February's of the late 2000s?  Well, you know what they say about karma.

Oh, and the best news of all?  If projected outlooks hold up, the temperature on Christmas Day will be -25 F.

Does a sleigh take antifreeze?

The Hobbit

In just a couple of days, "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug" will hit theaters nationwide...


If you stop by the Media Center, we have "The Hobbit" in its novel form, as well as the entire Lord of the Rings series (and even a few other works from J.R.R. Tokien)...

"Hobbit" is a pretty short book, so you still have time to get through it if you are interested!

Two Historic Events...Remembered

Yesterday, the world lost a great man & leader in Nelson Mandela.  I wish I could say that I knew more about Mr. Mandela, but to be honest I probably learned the most about him from the Clint Eastwood-directed movie "Invictus", where Mandela was portrayed by Morgan Freeman.  A good movie, if you are ever interested...





Also, tomorrow (12/7/41) is Pearl Harbor Day.  In 2005, I was lucky enough (on a music trip with the University of Minnesota-Morris) to be able to see the harbor itself and the U.S.S. Arizona memorial:




My most vivid memory of that trip is standing on the memorial looking down into the waters of the harbor, where oil from huge submerged tankards (that were sank on the day of the invasion) is still leaking to the surface all these years later.

MRS. DONOHUE'S LINKS TO CIVIL WAR BATTLES

First Battle of Bull Run

Second Battle of Bull Run

Shiloh

New Orleans

Battle of Antietam

Gettysburg

Atlanta and Sherman's March to the Sea

Atlanta and Sherman's March to the Sea

Vicksburg

Vicksburg

Fort Wagner

Fort Wagner

Something To Consider...

Something to think about...

Just about ten-twelve years ago, we were still renting these...

Our phones looked like this...

And Internet shopping still required a lot of this...

Now...

Today's Forecast

Today's weather forecast in a nutshell...

How southerners would react to such an announcement:

How we here in Minnesota see things:

Brace Yourself...

The first day back from a Holiday break (in this case Thanksgiving) always bring with it a feeling like this...




That being said, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break, because I know I did.

The good news?

Just three full weeks remain before Christmas Break!  I think we can tough it out that long.