Book to Movie Adaptations: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

     Now, this is going to sound very librarian-esque, but it is most oftentimes sensible to read the book before you see it's movie companion.  It's like the golden rule.  Sort of.  With some TV shows, it's excusable.  Sometimes its even reversible- for example Richard Castle's Nikki Heat series or the Derrick Storm Series, which was a TV show before it was a book.  But for novel to book ones, yes - book first.  I could go through a huge list of "case-in-points," but I'd rather give one strong book-to- movie review of my own.

     Yesterday I went to see Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, novel and screenplay written by Seth-Grahame Smith and directed by Timur Bekmambetov.  After reading Smith's book last summer during my stint of vampire fiction, which included Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire series and Meg Cabot's Overbite.  At first I thought "what the heck is this?"  Next I thought, "I'm stoked," because it's one of the coolest presidents slaying some of my favourite fictional creatures.  

     I read it in two days.  My initial thought was that the novel was very well researched because the history of Lincoln was pretty spot on.  My second thought was that the narration was incredible- not only did it have me flipping pages but it also was very vivid, to have fleshed out so many characters and be able to remember each one from the next.  It's witty, well though out, and a breath of fresh air.  While I knew it was a good read, I never thought they would think to turn it into a movie.  Initially it read as very action-y, but it felt more like a good B-movie than anything.

    Boy was I wrong.  A few months after reading the book, I read a /film article about how someone had picked up the project- first rumoured to be Tim Burton, but later realizing that this wasn't true.  And on and on went the list of articles pertaining to the project-in-making.  
     The end result was brilliant.  The casting was really neat.  By neat I mean they were perfect- from the mannerisms to the looks, they were just what I pictured when reading the book.  Henry- played by Dominic Cooper- was great!  In the book, I had a love/love relationship with him as Abe Lincoln's mentor.  Benjamin Walker- *insert sizzle sound here*- was a great hook.  I love taking a chance on movies with new actors, or at least ones I have yet to hear of, and less history means I can be more open minded about them and less about what they have done well on before.  (Though on the other hand I am having a huge following for Michael Fassbender, of late, and always follow Nathan Fillion's projects.)  As they aged him, which was well done, I believed in his character still.  I will admit that the aging department is one weak point of the film because Mary Todd didn't seem to grow older- perhaps because there are only a few photos to be found of her- nor did Will Johnson seem to age.  I was pleased to see Alan Tudyk in the cast, if only as a minor jerk and pivotal opponent.  And then there's Rufus Sewell, the man I love to hate.  Every movie I have seen him in, he's that guy.  The "I'm going to take _ from you and be a cool, collected ass about it the entire time."  Come on, a knight's tale?  
     Anyways, I could go into much more depth about the book, scene for scene, but, overall, my opinion is that the movie was really well done and highly complimented the book.  Perhaps this is because Smith was able to write in and out the changes from book to film, but the point is that it was comic fun- not necessarily a vehicle for mass mind changing (see vampires as root of all evil in cases of Slavery and Native American genocide) - but meant for a good time.  It did not disappoint.

Facebook for Seniors

     When I came to the University of Maine at Farmington, I was always asked the question "So, you're going to be a teacher?"  More of an implied statement than anything.  Regardless, when I was a freshman I didn't know what else there was to do with my BA in English, but I told them "no," firmly and left it at that.  Occassionally I'd give more thought to the idea, but the answer was still always "no, I do not want to teach children English."  When I began my internship at the library in February 2012- which quickly became a job by April-  I had no idea that I would be teaching Facebook to an unusual group of community members.  Senior citizens.
     On a normal day at the public library, we are closed on Mondays.  My day to day interaction with Seniors included fetching books from the glass floor or aiding them in printing from our computers.  But one day an older lady came in- let's call her Nancy- to see me at the circulation desk.  Nancy had a macbook pro.  The last time I had worked with macs and enjoyed it was middle school, when I used them to play with Garageband and Text-to-Speak.  Sure that's something neat that I can claim- that in 2004/2005 we were the guinea pigs of the state of Maine- but, since then, every interaction I had had with macs weren't my favourite times.  It's part of my job to aide the patrons as best I can when I am on the circulation desk. 
     Nancy's daughter had just had her first grandson and she was uber excited.  Her daughter and her relatives had sent her many emails containing photos of her new grandson and she wanted to save them to her laptop as well as burn them onto a CD.  Nancy decided that she was comfortable with iPhoto- a program I had never exactly played with- but she didn't know how to use it nor did she know how to save her images from her emails to iPhoto.  For the next amount of time, I took my time teaching her how to right click an image, using the mac, as well as how to save an image for multiple types of files that had been sent to her.  Once I had her comfortale with right clicking and processing what the prompts were, we proceeded to save them from her desktop to iPhoto.  If taught her this, rather than email straight to iPhoto, because some files sent to her did not give her that option.  Also, had she saved them incorrectly to iPhoto on her own in the future, they'd always been on her desktop.  Anyways-  then began the task of creating an album and remembering what photos had been imported already and which ones hadn't.  It didn't take long, but when we were nearing the end Nancy reminded me that she wanted to put them onto a CD so she could print them at Wal*Mart. Ok, I thought, now I'm really testing my memory.  I own a laptop, how hard can it be?  Nancy's computer made it hard.  Macs are suposesed to be designed to be user friendly, but it isn't helpful when they do not automatically prompt you to create your settings.  For instance, a laptop or desktop should prompt you when you insert a CD or DVD- Nancy's didn't. A laptop or desktop should make it clear that a pendrive has been inserted- her doesn't.
     At some point my director swung by to see the progress we were making and she managed to find where the blank CD was hiding.  I ended that experience still not caring about macs.  Again.
     Fastforward to today.  Today was my third day helping with macs, as well as ThinkPads.  I was wrong about being done with macs just as I was wrong about not having to teach.  While I'm not exactly teaching English, I'm teaching people to speak Facebook, to understand the largest Social Media website available.  Okay, so I'm not the "teacher," this experienced guy named Patrick is.  But I , as well as my director, assist and go between patrons as we see their need spread across their face.  The look of concern or worry on a Senior is quite clear.  We began the class getting them set up with GMail and, today, we are ending with creating a profile photo and uploading photos to an album.  We've taught some things that, being a Facebook Native(seven years running), I had begun to take as common knowledge.  Example, click on your name and you see your wall.  Click on "Facebook" and you refresh your homepage.  The globe icon means notifications, the two faces mean friend requests, and the double square means messages- as in email but for Facebook.  It's a pretty nifty class for an inexperienced group.  We've taught them how to "lock down" their profiles, meeting their security worries and battling them away.  Along the way, there were many funny moments.  Ones in which stories about kids were shared or funny faces of sons/daughters were posted to Facebook. 
    Oh Facebook, the place to tag and publish photos while a relative or friend is blissfully unaware.  And find "suggested friends" or advertisements seniors do not want.  Those moments were good too.

Getting Started

     Getting started can be weird. Take this blog for instance. My first blog was solely about video games, movies, and all around geekery. While I wrote once or twice about my displays at the library, it wasn't really about me. Now, I've never taken a class on blogging, but writing from experience seems to be the point. Although, I have to say, I have no intent to stop writing about Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter or anything Joss Whedon does.
     Anyways, finding out that I wanted to be a librarian was never a clear idea to me. I didn't have my "aha!" moment until this past February. Growing up, I knew two things. I liked animals and books were cool. When you're in elementary school, no one thinks about that kind of thing. You're too busy playing on the swings and avoiding cooties. In elementary school I remember my mum reading to me each night before bed. She'd recite Dr. Seuss and other easy reads. For elementary and middle school, I purchased a great many Scholastic magazine finds.  In truth, it was usually because of the bracelet or some trinkets that came with it. But I almost always read them anyways. Almost.
     Middle school is where the first seeds of career focus are planted. We struggle with the idea that our teachers have lives outside of school, develop "unique" styles of dress, and attend a great many functions. Band concerts, teacher/parent nights, high school plays starring the 'big kids.' Career fairs count too. On one such fair, I remember having to decide what lectures I wanted to shadow. My father, a rather unhelpful person in these kinds of matters simply stated "You like animals. Why don't you be a veterinarian." My younger self thought that was a pretty good idea. Sitting in the lecture, I was shown various pictures of pets in exam rooms. They were cute and you'd be able to handle all of them. And then the lecturer started discussing the not so great parts of a vet. Like putting an animal to sleep or cleaning their messes. I didn't like doing that chore at home and I could never hurt someone else's pet. I remember someone asking how long the Dr. had gone to school for and she promptly answered "Eight years or so." Eight years was too long, I thought to myself, and I quickly crossed it off the list.
     When I was in middle school my mum subbed at various levels of my school. Eventually she landed a job as an ed-tech and was much happier. For a while, it seemed, my parents didn't fight over paychecks. Teaching, I mused, might be an option. This I would ponder more over high school.

Fangirls United!

     Sounds like the title of a movie, right?  But it isn't.  What a shame.  Anyways, the title really kicks off my beginning point of my best Tuesday ever. 

     Ever since middle school I have been listening to this small band from the UK called Keane.  Composed of led vocalist Tom Chapplin, bassist Jesse Quin, keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley, and drummer Richard Hughes.  I discovered their first album, Hopes and Fears, randomly one afternoon and proceeded to buy it.  It sounded cool in the store, like breath of fresh air, and, as I discovered, calming for the mind.  I fell asleep various nights with it playing in my CD player.  I had dreams of meeting them, being swept away in England- which was made stronger when I spent a vacation in England-, and jamming with them.  Their band didn't have need for a saxophone player, but a high schooler can dream.  

     Anyways, several CDs later and I found myself in college, working for the college radio station.  Here I discovered Perfect Symetry and Under the Iron Sea.  I found these albums more abstract than the first, but I kept listening as they solidified a spot at #1 in my top three bands.  (Oddly enough the other two are Queen and Maroon5, with Coldplay nipping at their heels.)  Nonetheless, I played their tracks many nights during my college radio program, finding ways to incorporate one track or another with the theme- my radio show was themed after my first year because my co-host didn't have a strong collection of classic rock and, as we discovered, playing the same ritual songs each Sunday night at 8pm became a little boring.  

     As graduation neared, I had purchased a ticket for their June 12th show in Boston at the Boston House of Blues, a venue I had never been too but had heard amazing things about.  For $35 dollars, I couldn't go wrong.  I began listening to Strangeland, their album the American tour was based on, and their companions Mystery Jets, both of which made for a killer combo.  I quickly got my friend Kylie to go with me- concerts are more fun in pairs- and my friend Ben to give us furniture to crash on, and proceeded to save furiously so that I would be able to buy my staple concert purchase of a Tshirt and poster and/or keychain.  

     June came around before I knew it.  At the end of my last college semester, I had snagged a job at my local library for the summer, suffered a break-up from a two and a half year relationship, graduated college with my BA in English- I know, right?-, seen many friends move away to other cities, become accepted to an Information and Library Science program in Rhode Island, found a beach house and a roommate going for the same program, and grabbed up a second/third job to save a crazy amount of money to pay for said grad school.  Phew.

     Kylie and I had the tripped planned within a few days.  We hopped the 8AM AMTRAK headed to North Station from Portland, successfully on time, and then studied the Green Line maps.  It wasn't too difficult, we only had to sit on the T for forty minutes or so before we found Ben's house.  Let me just say, Boston apartments are crazy expensive and crazy little.  We discovered a really nifty sports pub called Harry's, shortly into out walk to find lunch, and scored really low-priced menu options.  The people there we cool, and cute, even when the almost knock you out with a pool ball- which the guy apologized for.  We watched the Euro 2012- Greece versus the Czech Republic- for a while before we decided we wanted coffee for desert.  Asking our cute, and nameless, waiter for a recommendation, we headed towards Cafenation.  A coffee shop "several blocks over" on Warren st.  Turns out, from Ben's place, it runs paralell, but unless you are in a helicopter, this is not common knowledge.  After coffee and two miles later, we rediscovered Ben's apartment- a little tired, a little damp, and a little hysteric.  

     Two showers and half an hour later, we got back on the T and headed for Kenmore- famous stop of the Boston Red Sox.  If you like baseball, now is your time to shout.  But if you're like me, meh.  We got in line shortly after arriving at the House of Blues, a couple of hours early, and quickly became confused by the three segment lines.  This was before they set up purple and burgundy line markers.  There ended up being four separate lines, one for The Foundation room, one for people who were given permission to  jump the line if they bought $25 dollars at the House of Blues bar, those in GA "seating", and those in the balcony or above.  Things got exciting when we noticed an RV next to the House and moreso when a black, window-tinted van pulled up several feet ahead.  Alas, no one stepped out of either before we headed indoors.  In line, we met some cool people, amongst them was an Israeli lady whom had seen Keane at almost every show they did in the US and then some, as well as other favourite bands of ours, such as Mumford & Sons.  We also met a mother and daughter from Portland, Maine- the only other two Mainers there and we found 'em.  They ended up being our "group" that night, which came in handy when we needed our bodies to take up space towards the front of the stage- fans can get pushy.  

     I ended up purchasing a Keane Tshirt and a really bright Keane American Tour poster.  I didn't purchase the Mystery Jets album because I wasn't sure if I'd really like them after I heard the live.  I did of course and now need to purchase them on Itunes.  Their opener lasted an hour, of which allowed me to adjust to the thumping base going into my chest and ribs.  Keane began not long after and you could feel the atmosphere in the room change- inhaling with anticipation.  When they came out I nearly went deaf.  Being five bodies from the stage, I scored some amazing photos!  64 out of 100something to be precise.  I could not have been more happy.  Mere feet away from Tom, hanging out in one of the greatest venues in Boston.  I had accepted my great night and wasn't ready to leave when they took their encore at 11:35pm.  Kylie and I shuffled around, taking in the paintings on the balconies and eventually heading outdoors.  It had started raining and the T stop for Kenmore was on the other side of the venue.  Then we saw it, the same RV from earlier!  What are the chances, we thought to ourselves.  Me, being the bigger of the pair of fans, asked Kylie if we could hang around- just for a little.  Next thing we know, they are putting up metal barricades around the doors we exited.  They didn't ask us to leave, just to step aside if we wanted to wait.  That was when we really knew.  Only a few minutes behind the barricades and Tim- the keyboardist/lyricist- came out and, smiling, started signing poster and snapping photos with people.  I was mind blown by Tim but then when Jesse and Richard came out I though "now way, does this mean...?"  so I received signatures from Jesse and Richard, by the time that happened another shout from the crowd(about twenty of us grinned and bared the rain) Tom came out!  I quickly snagged a photo with him- embraced in a hug- and had him sign my American Tour poster as well.  That photo is now my Facebook profile. The whole T ride back to Ben's I was beaming.  It was easily my best Tuesday ever!  What the odds of that happening were, I have no idea but I couldn't have prayed for better.  And thus starts the epic summer after my last undergrad college year.

Continuation from http://​madamshiny.blogspot.c​om ::a new phase

Hello everyone!  So, turns out when you graduate college you can loose control of your ".edu" account.  Rather than sync with my URI.edu acount, I am sticking with good old Hufflepuff- Horwarts is super reliable :D 

Today I write to you behind the scenes of a Facebook for Seniors class I am assistant teaching.  It is time for lunch, so this is really blog post 1 or 2. I will speak with you again shortly.