New CDs for November

November 2, 2015October 27, 2015 - Bill Leave a comment

Sarah Bareilles — What’s Inside: Songs from a Waitress

With her fourth full-length album, Sara Bareilles offers up a taste of the music that she has created for an upcoming Broadway musical, which is based on the 2007 film. Included is the single She Used to Be Mine.

Justin Bieber — Purpose

The highly anticipated album features Justin Bieber’s recent hit singles, What Do You Mean and Where Are U Now, and draws influence from an array of genres and collaborations. The iconic album chronicles Justin’s personal and artistic growth as he solidifies his place among the biggest stars of the time.

Kurt Cobain — Montage of Heck

Along with serving as an aural complement to the acclaimed documentary about the late Nirvana lead singer, this collection allows a rare and unfiltered glimpse into Kurt Cobain’s creative progression.

Enya — Dark Sky Island

Enya’s latest album is inspired by lyricist Roman Ryan’s work on a series of poetry books themed around islands, specifically the island of Sark’s decision to be designated as a dark sky island.

Kirk Franklin — Losing My Religion

On his eleventh album, Kirk Franklin once again establishes himself as the frontrunner in Gospel music. The thirteen song project explores timely themes and classic sentiments, while offering renewed testimony to Franklin’s status as a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer.

Ellie Goulding — Delirium

Ellie Goulding’s bold and brilliant new album represents an almighty step change, shaping a new narrative for the next stage in this remarkable singer’s journey. It also includes the single On My Mind.

Ceelo Green — Heart Blanche

Atlantic recording artist CeeLo Green’s eagerly awaited new studio album which is the superstar’s first full-length release in nearly five years. Singer/songwriter, producer, performer, TV personality, fashion icon, entrepreneur, and so much more, CeeLo Green is among the most creative and unique artists of this or any era.

Hunter Hayes — The 21 Project

Four-time Grammy nominee Hunter Hayes releases a unique and special collection. Each disc on the three CD set includes seven songs, each one performed differently-acoustic, studio, and live. It gives fans a special look into his creative mind.

Tim McGraw — Damn Country Music
In a year that has seen him performing at the Academy Awards and named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Tim McGraw releases a brand new album. Included is the new hit single Top of the World.

One Direction — Made in the A.M.

One of the world’s biggest pop bands returns with their highly anticipated fifth album, their first since the departure of Zayn Malik. The album features Drag Me Down, which has quickly become one of their biggest singles to date.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra — Letters from the Labyrinth

The latest album from Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the first since 2009’s Night Castle, is being released just as the band heads out for their highly anticipated Ghost of Christmas Eve winter tour.

New CDs for October

October 20, 2015October 15, 2015 - Bill Leave a comment

5 Seconds of Summer — Sounds Good Feels Good

5 Seconds of Summer release the highly anticipated follow-up to their chart-topping debut album, which has sold over three million copies worldwide. Included is the new single She’s Kinda Hot.

Ryan Adams — 1989

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Ryan Adams has made headlines with his track-by-track re-recording of Taylor Swift’s hit fifth album.

Toby Keith — 35 MPH Town

Two years after the release of Drinks After Work, country superstar Toby Keith is back with a brand new album. Along with the title track, it includes the hit single Drunk Americans.

Demi Lovato — Confident

Demi Lovato has no plans of cooling down as she swings into the fall season with her highly anticipated fifth studio album. The first single, Cool for the Summer, was an MTV VMA nominee for Song of the Summer.

MercyMe — MercyMe, it’s Christmas!

Ten years after releasing The Christmas Sessions, MercyMe returns with a new holiday collection that features reinterpretations of classic Christmas songs as well as original songs.
Pentatonix — Pentatonix

Grammy and Dove Award winner Chris Tomlin rings in the holiday season with a mix of festive Christmas classics and original songs. There are also special guest performances from All Sons & Daughters, Lauren Daigle, Kristyn Getty, and more.
Chris Tomlin — Adore: Christmas Sounds of Worship

Carrie Underwood — Storyteller

Country superstar Carrie Underwood is back with her fifth album, her first since 2012’s chart-topping Blown Away. It includes her latest hit single Smoke Break.

The X-Files

October 19, 2015October 13, 2015 - Rachel Leave a comment

The X-Files is coming back to television on January 24, 2016! And October is the perfect month to re-watch the original series. Why? Because the show is creepy. The perfect amount of creepiness to put you in the mood for Halloween. If you never watched The X-Files, you may mistakenly believe that the show is only about aliens and UFOs. While there are a lot of episodes that involve aliens, there are plenty of other episodes about creatures that go bump in the night. If you enjoyed shows such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Twilight Show, you will enjoy watching The X-Files.

The show began airing in 1993 and it was on television for nine seasons for a total of 202 episodes. The show is centered on a pair of FBI Special Agents, Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully. There are many times that it comes in handy that Scully is a medical doctor. Along with keeping you healthy, she can perform autopsies. Mulder is a talented profiler, but he was drawn to the X-files because of his strong belief in the supernatural. As the series progresses, we learn that Mulder’s younger sister was abducted by aliens when they were children. But as mentioned earlier, the show is not entirely based on aliens. Agents Mulder and Scully investigate all sorts of different creatures such mutants, vampires, werewolves, and people with genetic abnormalities and psychic abilities. A theme of the show is that the United States government is aware of a lot of the creatures and people that Mulder and Scully investigate. Even after witnessing strange phenomenon first hand, Agents Mulder and Scully often find themselves being shut down by “someone” higher up in the government. The thought that the government may be keeping secrets about strange life forms is an unsettling part of the show.

If you do not want to watch all 202 episodes of The X-Files, here is a list of the episodes you must watch before the new episodes air on January 24, 2016.

Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, recommends that you watch:

1. “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)

The one that introduced Mulder, Scully, their defining characteristics, their relationship, their world.

2. “Deep Throat” (Season 1, Episode 2)

This episode introduces the idea of a government conspiracy/cover-up of extra-terrestrial activity and a mysterious informant, code named Deep Throat

3. “Beyond the Sea” (Season 1, Episode 13)

The episode that sees Scully become the believer after the death of her father overlaps with the case of an allegedly psychic serial killer

4. “The Erlenmeyer Flask” (Season 1, Episode 24)

There’s a shocking death, and from this point forward, the conspiracy storyline becomes the driving narrative of the show

5. “The Host” (Season 2, Episode 2)

There’s something sinister lurking in the sewers in this classic monster-of-the-week episode

6. “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” (Season 3, Episode 4)

In one of the greatest X-Files episodes ever, Peter Boyle guest stars as a morbid psychic.

7. “Memento Mori” (Season 4, Episode 14)

Though it features the usual alien rhetoric, this episode is best remembered as the one in which Scully learns she has cancer.

8. “Post-Modern Prometheus” (Season 5, Episode 5)

A Frankenstein-inspired tale about a lovelorn monster. It’s notable for its beautiful black-and-white cinematography.

9. “Bad Blood” (Season 5, Episode 12)

The signature episode from a young Vince Gilligan, Mulder and Scully investigate a vampire case told in flashback from Mulder and Scully’s POV.

10. “Milargo” (Season 6, Episode 18)

A favorite of the X-Files writing staff, Mulder and Scully contend with an author whose gruesome fiction becomes reality.

Top Ten (written by) Vince Gilligan Episodes: (fan favorites)

1. “Bad Blood” (Season 5, Episode 12)

Mulder and Scully investigate vampires from two very different POVs.

2. “Drive” (Season 6, Episode 2)

A man has a terrible headache and forces Mulder to drive him at high speeds.

3. “Pusher” (Season 3, Episode 17)

A man with psychic abilities is able to make things happen just by saying it aloud.

4. “Folie a Deaux” (Season 5, Episode 19)

A man claims his boss is a giant cockroach.

5. “Small Potatoes” (Season 4, Episode 20)

A man with a tail can morph into other men.

6. “X-Cops” (Season 7, Episode 12)

That’s right. It’s the show Cops starring Mulder and Scully.

7. “Unruhe” (Season 4, Episode 4)

A killer lobotomizes women with an ice pick, but their images show up at a photo booth surrounded by ghosts.

8. “Hungry” (Season 7, Episode 3)

A mutant with an insatiable appetite.

9. “Je Souhaite” (Season 7, Episode 21)

A magic genie causes havoc.

10. “Sunshine Days” (Season 9, Episode 18)

Murder at the “Brady Bunch house”

http://decider.com/2015/04/07/vince-gilligan-x-files-top-10/

x believe — The X-Files I Want to Believe movie

The library has the DVD sets of The X-Files as well as the film adaptations. There are also books and graphic novels about The X-Files at the library. Check them out today.

A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk

October 9, 2015October 5, 2015 - Rachel Leave a comment

You may recognize Bob Odenkirk as the character Saul Goodman from the AMC drama, Breaking Bad and its spin-off, Better Call Saul. But Odenkirk has been a comedy writer for a long time and he has written many things that have made you laugh over the years. He got his start at Chicago’s Second City and went to write at Saturday Night Live alongside Robert Smigel and Conan O’Brien. Odenkirk is the creator of beloved SNL character, motivational speaker Matt Foley, portrayed by Chris Farley. He also wrote for Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Ben Stiller Show, Get a Life, The Dennis Miller Show, and Mr. Show with Bob and David. A Load of Hooey is Odenkirk’s first book of sketch comedy.

A Load of Hooey is in print and on audiobook. I listened to the audiobook and I’m glad that I did. Bob Odenkirk is one of the voice actors, along with David Cross, Jay Johnston, Jerry Minor, Megan Amram and Paul F. Tompkins. Listening to these talented actors made an already funny book even more delightfully funny to listen to. Who knew that you could laugh at Hitler? Bob Odenkirk made that happen. I laughed at Adolph Hitler thanks to the talented writing of Bob Odenkirk. And it is not just hated people that Odenkirk writes sketches of. Nope. He even goes after beloved former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. And it’s funny.

So if you enjoy watching sketch comedy, need to listen to a book in the car, don’t have a lot of time, (this audiobook is 2.5 hours long) and you want to laugh, I recommend checking out the audiobook, A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk. Or you can read it. But it’s funnier to listen to. But you should check it out, either format.

Banned Books Week: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

October 1, 2015September 30, 2015 - Allison Leave a comment

Just in time for Banned Books Week, a challenge has been filed in the Knox County (Tenn.) School District against the New York Times bestseller “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot.

Published in 2010, the book is medical biography that explores issues of medical ethics, race, poverty, and health care inequality. In 1951, 31-year-old Henrietta Lacks underwent treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins University. While she would die from the disease, her tissue samples – taken without her knowledge or consent – would be used to create HeLa, an “immortal” cell line. HeLa was sold around the world, and was critical to many medical developments from the polio vaccine to AIDS treatments. Despite this, Lacks’ family never learned of use of HeLa until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent.

The book intertwines Lacks’ life with larger issues of human medical experimentation, in particular on African-American patients, and the heartbreaking loss of a young mother of five. The book also addresses issues of violence and infidelity, the description of which a parent of a 15-year-old student assigned to read the book over summer break objected to. Also at issue was the description of Lacks’ intimate discovery of a lump on her cervix. Claiming that the book was inappropriate for teens, the parent stated, “I consider the book pornographic,” she said, adding that it was the wording used that was the most objectionable. “It could be told in a different way,” she said. “There’s so many ways to say things without being that graphic in nature, and that’s the problem I have with this book.” The author, Rebecca Skloot, who worked for 10 years on the book alongside Henrietta’s daughter, stated on her Facebook page:

“… A parent in Tennessee has confused gynecology with pornography … I hope the students of Knoxville will be able to continue to learn about Henrietta and the important lessons her story can teach them. Because my book is many things: It’s a story of race and medicine, bioethics, science illiteracy, the importance of education and equality and science and so much more. But it is not anything resembling pornography.”

The student, who had been assigned the book as part of his school’s STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) program was given a different books to read. However, the parent is still pushing to have the book removed from the curriculum district-wide. Other parents have taken issue with the attempt to remove the book, saying that banning the book would deprive their children of the opportunity to learn about important science and social issues. Doug Harris, Knox County Schools Board of Education chair stated, “Always, good people can disagree,” Harris said, “and I think on this book that’s probably the case.”

____

Flood, Alison. “Henrietta Lacks Biographer Rebecca Skloot Responds to US Parent over ‘porn’ Allegation.” The Guardian. 9 Sept. 2015. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.

Habegger, Becca. “Author Weighs in on Knoxville Mom’s Push to Ban Book from Schools.” WBIR.com. 9 Sept. 2015. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.

Banned Books Week: 1984

September 30, 2015September 29, 2015 - Bill Leave a comment

The last time I checked, the bleak dystopian future was still firmly entrenched as the film fad genre over yesterday’s vampires and zombies. I’m looking at you, Divergent and Hunger Games.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest none of these trilogies would be possible without the granddaddy of them all, George Orwell’s 1984. Written in 1948, this piece is required reading for high school seniors for the pop culture references alone, a la Big Brother and thought crime. You won’t be able to find your way out of an Orwellian abyss without it.

Pepper in references to this work and your modern-day conspiracy theory is half-written! Technological and poltical relevance almost 70 years later is some staying power, if not clairvoyance on the part of Orwell, who passed away in 1950.

1984 was banned in the former U.S.S.R., and challenged in 1981 in Florida on the grounds of being “pro-communist”, no doubt by the irony-impaired.

Soul Food Love by Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams

September 23, 2015September 4, 2015 - Ann Leave a comment

A mother-daughter duo reclaims and redefines soul food by mining the traditions of four generations of black women and creating 80 healthy recipes to help everyone live longer and stronger.

In May 2012, bestselling author Alice Randall penned an op-ed in the New York Times titled “Black Women and Fat,” chronicling her quest to be “the last fat black woman” in her family. She turned to her daughter, Caroline Randall Williams, for help. Together they overhauled the way they cook and eat, translating recipes and traditions handed down by generations of black women into easy, affordable, and healthful – yet still indulgent – dishes, such as Peanut Chicken Stew, Red Bean and Brown Rice Creole Salad, Fiery Green Beans, and Sinless Sweet Potato Pie.

Soul Food Love relates the authors’ fascinating family history (which mirrors that of much of black America in the twentieth century), explores the often fraught relationship African-American women have had with food, and forges a powerful new way forward that honors their cultural and culinary heritage. This is what the strong black kitchen looks like in the twenty-first century. (description from publisher)

Homemakers by Brit Morin

September 22, 2015September 4, 2015 - Ann Leave a comment

The rules of homemaking have radically changed. Today’s generation is digitally connected 24/7 and often more focused on climbing the career ladder at the office than the stepladder at home. But the home “maker” evolution has just begun.

Thanks to advances in technology, tomorrow’s men and women will find themselves using new gadgets and apps to cook, clean, decorate, and even manufacture everything from decor to clothing, from right inside their homes. In Homemakers, Brit Morin, founder of the wildly popular lifestyle brand, app, and website Brit + Co, reimagines homemaking for the twenty-first century, making it as simple as possible to go from amateur to pro with easy charts, tips, recipes, DIY projects, and tech shortcuts.

Simple, beautiful, and stylish, Homemakers offers the digital generation a wealth of innovative ideas and how-tos for a more creative life. (description from publisher)

The Perfect Egg by Teri Lyn Fisher

September 21, 2015September 4, 2015 - Ann Leave a comment

Eggs are one of the world’s superstar foods: inexpensive, protein-rich, versatile, and easily renewable. Every food culture has its own take on eggs – for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and the dazzling variety of dishes in The Perfect Egg is not to be missed.

The ladies behind the popular blog Spoon Fork Bacon challenge us to set aside our usual over-easy assumptions and reimagine eggs: from Beet Fettuccine Carbonara to Spicy Korean Bibimbap, and from Baked Egg Boats to Tea Eggs. Along the way, they unscramble the history of egg cultivation and consumption, and crack open the story on egg anatomy, egg types, and what the grading system really means. Additionally, they cover the do’s and don’ts of important techniques from boiling to aerating to pickling eggs.

The Perfect Egg is a fresh, unique, and singularly modern take on the most humble of foods. (description from publisher)

Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster) by Dave Barry

September 18, 2015September 2, 2015 - Rachel Leave a comment

Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster) is read by the author, Dave Barry. I used to read Dave Barry’s column in the newspaper and I always imagined as being this goofy guy with a squeaky voice. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice his voice is to listen to. This audiobook is three and a half hours long, so it is great to listen to for a short road trip or on your daily commute. The book is full of different stories and musings by Barry that are easy to listen to and enjoy.

My favorite story in this book would have to be repairing things in your house. Barry talks about how going to a hardware store is the most depressing experience. Unlike commercials for Home Depot, people are not smiling and excited about the projects that they are going to do. They walk around the store terrified and unsure of what to do. And, no one is able to go home and magically transform their house in thirty seconds, looking proud and satisfied. Instead, normal people have to hire contractors. And contractors bring their headaches, even to a writer who works from home.

Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster) is full of humorous stories from Dave Barry’s life. He discusses travelling to Brazil for the World Cup of soccer with his wife and daughter. It turns out that the tour guide books lied; not every person in Brazil will try to rob you. Barry talks about his childhood, growing up in the “Mad Men” era, watching his parents have cocktail parties and then how his generation turned out to be hover parents. Barry even has a pair of Google Glass and he talks about how ridiculous he looks wearing it.

These are just a few examples of the stories that are in Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster). Barry will have you laughing out loud with his relatable yet ridiculous stories.

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