Marvel Civil War: Whose Side Are You On?

Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event
by Mark Miller, Steve McNiven, Dexter Vines, and Morry Hollowell

Why did I read it?

So that same brother that told me about The New 52 Justice League? He also loves him some Avengers, Captain America and Iron Man, so he's been chatting about Marvel Civil War for a while. Once again, I couldn't help but add it to our Teen section.

What happened?

Everybody and their mother has their own reality TV show, so why shouldn't super heroes? Young heroes do battle with villains and capture petty criminals for the thrill of the TV watching populace. But, when a chance at higher ratings winds up destroying an entire city block, people aren't amused anymore.

This flagrant disregard for a citizen's safety brings up the age-old question of super hero registration. Iron Man, SHIELD, and the United States Government are tired of heroes running around without any accountability or training. Heroes are therefore required to register with SHIELD, or hang up the tights.

Obviously, this doesn't sit well with some heroes. Secret identities help protect their already shaky personal lives. Captain America is asked to hunt down heroes who won't comply, but instead, he agrees with them and starts a resistance movement for freedom. Soon teams are torn apart, alliances are broken, and families are split right down the center. Whose side are you on?

What did I like or not like?

The idea of heroes fighting heroes isn't new. There have been plenty of crossover comics. But, the idea that the entire Marvel universe is in a state of Civil War is way too cool to pass up. Whoever your favorite hero is, they most likely wind up on one side or the other, and you'll probably get to see them fighting against another hero.

But underneath the action are the ideas of responsibility, loyalty, freedom, and who heroes are actually fighting for.

Dafont/FontStruct: Find (or Make) the Perfect Font

So you're working on that flyer for your next event, and the fonts on your computer are lame, and
WordArt just won't do it this time. Well I've got some suggestions for your perusal.

Dafont

This site is an archive of freely downloadable fonts. You can search by alphabetical listing, style, author, popularity, or by what's new.  The only downside that I can find is the superfluous nature of the ads on the site.

If you are feeling inspired or are just awesome at font creation, you can submit your font for consideration, and they might add yours to the ones available.

FontStruct

So if the huge number of fonts on Dafont don't fit your fancy, you could use FontStruct to make your own font instead. FontStruct has an online builder that will then let you share and download your original font.

The basic concept of the builder is geometric shapes put into a grid pattern, which allows you a lot of freedom and creativity.

The beautiful thing about both of these sites is that they are free, and any of the fonts can be used on Windows or Mac.

So don't settle for the same lame font. Find or create a new one!

Library Teen Film Fest: Red Carpet Event

So you've decided to do a Teen Film Fest, you have a million films entered because you promoted the craziness out of the thing, and now you are wondering what to do with all of it. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Host a Red Carpet Event at your library. Go all out with trophies, decorations, a red carpet, cash prizes, and everyone dressing up all fancy.

2) Have your judges pre-screen the videos. This saves you the headache of trying to create certificates on that night, and lets the judges breath easier because they don't have to make snap decisions. But, it wouldn't hurt if they still attended the event and had some nice things to say to the filmmakers.

3) Share them like crazy on Social Media. You just had middle and high school students create content for you. Don't miss the opportunity to promote their work and your library in ways that you might not have been able to do before.

4) Send the films to a local TV station. If the films are good, why not send them over to the local TV station and see if they'll play them? They might not, but you never know...

5) Stream the event live, or have a celebrity (librarian, director, building manager) interview guests and the filmmakers and edit it into a post-Red Carpet Event video.

That's the end of this series on our Teen Film Fest, but I'll be back (next Monday).

Justice League: Back to Square One

Justice League, Volume 1: Origin
by Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams

Why did I read it?

My brother may or may not be a little bit obsessed with the Justice League heroes. He isn't one of those guys that buys up every comic that comes out, but he does keep abreast of top stories and things. So, when DC announced its New 52 lineup, the re-imagining of classic heroes like Batman and Superman, he was quick to mention it to me, and I was quick to add it to the library collection.

What happened?

With his innovative gadgets and technology, Batman has traced an extraterrestrial threat in his own backyard. But while battling this newfound evil, he very quickly realizes that he is outmanned, and isn't the only one interested in this phenomenon.

A nearly indestructible alien (Superman), a scarlet speedster (The Flash), an accidental teenaged hero (Cyborg), an amazon princess (Wonder Woman), a space cop (Green Lantern), and an undersea monarch (Aquaman), all want a piece of the action.

The only problem is that the Dark Knight doesn't know whether to trust these inexperienced, sometimes dangerous "heroes" or fight against them. But, the stakes of an almost worldwide invasion might just make that decision for him.

What did I like or not like?

I'm a big fan of comic books, and this collection is absolutely beautiful. The quintessential elements of the DC heroes are definitely present, but they are reenvisioned in a fresh new storyline.

The concept of a well-established team like the Justice League being taking back to square one is really interesting. How did this team start? Who will be the leader? Who is their nemesis? The action is quick, the plot is interesting, and this comic is a great new start or introduction to the world of the Justice League.

Wordle and Tagxedo: Create Awesome Word Clouds

Wordle

Tagxedo

So some websites are better shown than talked about =D Wordle and Tagxedo are two of them. They specialize in creating Word Clouds. What does that mean? Take a look below.

Basically, you enter text, a document, or a website that you want to awesomeify, and these sites create one of these fancy word clouds for you. While they are created randomly, you can adjust the font, color, and layout if you would like. Both sites offer different ways to share your work, but it seems that Tagxedo makes it a little bit easier to share anywhere you want. Check 'em out!

Library Teen Film Fest: 5 Promotional Things To Try

1. Find out if your local schools have video production classes, and promote to those students directly. Most likely, these students will be excited about participating, and will have the necessary equipment too.

2. Ask a video production company to offer an internship or a day pass to the creator of the top film.

3. Create a promo video (this one was from last year).

4. Include a Public Service Announcement category, and send the winner to the CSLP Video Challenge (The Collaborative Summer Library Program has teens from across the nation submit PSAs, and then uses them to promote summer reading).

5. See what other film fests do. Obviously there are the big film festivals like Sundance and Toronto, but there are also many libraries (Yorba Linda, Houston, Topeka and Shawnee, and Greenwood for instance) that have done film fests before. Each one of them does it a little bit different, but they are definitely worth checking out.

Next Week

I'm going to chat about cool things you can do at the film showing event, or as we like to call it, The Red Carpet Event (because who doesn't want to see their project on a big screen?).