2011 February Archive - Check It Out

Archive for February, 2011

Sawdust in Their Blood

There are still people who want to run away to the circus…and they actually do it. PBS’ six hour documentary, Circus, follows the daily grind of the one-ring, European-style Big Apple Circus along its 2008/2009 season. The curtain is pulled back on stage-crew grunts, performers and management alike from show-building during May until the 350th show and final tear-down. There are staggering and fabulous feats of human strength, agility, humor and invention, but there are also unexpected babies, a bomb threat, a recession, cancer, flaring tempers, retirement and other ills. Whether it’s to see the red-nosed clowns, twin jugglers, wirewalkers and trapeze act or to see the sawdust and blood under the big top, Circus has your all access ticket.

By MPPL on February 10, 2011 Categories: Movies and Television, Nonfiction

Donna S.’s Pick: Rosemary and Thyme

Rosemary and Thyme is a British television series. The title and soft soundtrack allude to the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Scarborough Fair,” which was inspired by a traditional English ballad. Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme are professional gardeners and amateur detectives solving crimes in the beautiful, English countryside. Enjoy!

Sarah's Key

Barb of Fiction/AV/Teen Services recommends Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay:

I highly recommend this compelling story of an American journalist, Julia Jamond, who is asked to write an article about the 1942 roundup of Jews by the French police in the Vel d’Hiv section of Paris. Julia becomes completely engaged in the story because her in-laws move into the apartment that ten-year-old Sarah lived in on the fateful night in 1942 when Sarah and family were forcefully taken from their home to be put in French camps and then to Auschwitz. You become absorbed in the story of young Sarah and her treasured key in 1942 and Julia and her family in 2002. Sarah’s Key is a book you cannot stop reading.

By MPPL on February 7, 2011 Categories: All Staff Picks, Books, Picks by Barb

LISTS: If You Like Street Lit…

Urban lit, ghetto lit, gangsta lit – whatever you call it, street lit is on the rise. Don’t know what street lit is? Guns, girls, gangs, glamour and the game. Street lit is written by and about the insurgent and often tragic lives of those living in the hard edges of the city.

Wanna get reading? Click here.

By MPPL on February 4, 2011 Categories: Books, Lists

Who is Patton Oswalt?

Patton Oswalt was a wasteland or so he thinks in his new memoir Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland. A wasteland teenager is bored and escapist enough to destroy their life and create a new one. Example: Oswalt was born into a military family in the ‘burbs and wasn’t happy until he’d mastered the dark, lone-standing, spotlighted comedy stage. Oswalt’s book is a memoir in fictional and autobiographical essays. There are remembrances of odd jobs, crazy relatives, nightmare gigs, dungeons and dragons and pop culture aplenty all told in the same style as Patton Oswalt’s standup comedy – rambling, yet thoughtful – with plenty of digressions expressed in footnotes, lists and illustrations.

By MPPL on February 3, 2011 Categories: Books, Humor, Nonfiction

Diane’s Pick: Stardust

When Tristan vows to retrieve a fallen star, played by the radiant Claire Danes, from the magical realm beyond the town of Wall, he tangles with evil witches, evil dead princes and some unique pirates. This whimsical film, based on the award winning novel by Neil Gaiman, shines brightly.

By MPPL on February 1, 2011 Categories: All Staff Picks, Books, Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Movies and Television, Picks by Diane