The Phantom Toolbooth: An Oldie-But-A-Goodie

The Phantom Toolbooth by Norton Juster
with illustrations by Jules Feiffer

Why did I read it?

Because a friend told me to lol.

What happened?

Milo is a kid who doesn't know what to do with himself...ever. He comments, "there's nothing for me to do, nowhere I'd care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing." That is, until a magical toolbooth appears in his room, and takes him to the Lands Beyond and the Kingdom of Knowledge.

As it turns out, these lands have become troubled of late. In the golden age of the Kingdom of Knowledge, a wise king fought back the demons of ignorance and set up a glorious kingdom...but it wasn't to last. His two sons, King Azaz of Dictionopolis and the Mathemagician of Digitopolis, constantly bickered over the superiority of words or numbers. They eventually banished their step-sisters, Rhyme and Reason, and the kingdom quickly fell into disrepair, disorder, and chaos.

For instance, some of the inhabitants never took the time to look around, so their town slowly vanished without them even noticing..another group had fallen into absolute silence because they could no longer appreciate beautiful sounds...and some miners only ate when they're full and didn't stop until they were hungry...

But, there might be hope for the Kingdom of Knowledge. A newly curious boy from another world, a faithful and literal watchdog (a dog with a watch for a body), and an adult-sized Humbug are struggling and bungling their way through this broken world...and they don't seem to know any better than to save the world by turning it right-side up again.

What did I like or not like?

This book is the definition of an oldie-but-a-goodie. The book was first published in 1961, but its metaphorical lessons on not taking things for granted, learning as a noble pursuit, and putting importance on what is actually important will resonate with readers of all ages.

As the synopsis hints at, this book is full of pithy sayings, anthropomorphic concepts, and fantastic puns, and it's way too much fun to read. If you haven't read this book before, stop what you are doing and start reading it right now. If you have read it before, stop what you are doing and read it again =D
 

Honest Trailers: (Not) The Only Website Keeping Movies Honest

So you know those blog posts about HISHE (How It Should Have Ended) and The Editing Room?? Those sites that makes fun of movies in such a way that we admit that our favorite movies have problems but we still don't get mad at the people making fun of them?? Well, I have another one for you:

Its called Honest Trailers, its put together by a YouTube team called Screen Junkies and its tagline is "Watch as your favorite horrible movies get reviewed, spoofed, and made fun of right before your very eyes."

The two that I watched were Star Trek and Independence Day (and now The Amazing Spider-Man as witnessed by my including it above), and all three were pretty hilarious. Now, we all know whats wrong with our favorite movies (which is why all three spoof sites have the same movies on them) but its still funny to admit it as you watch these trailers =D

Check em out!!

P.S. The only reason I chose Star Trek, Independence Day, and The Amazing Spider-Man to include in this post is because I really, really enjoy the movies, not because I actually dislike them. Just so we're clear.  

Meanwhile: A Novel That Lets You Decide

Meanwhile by Jason Shiga

Why did I read it?

It was suggested to me at a reader's advisory workshop last year, and I happened to see it on the shelf yesterday. 

What happened?

Jimmy walks into an ice cream shop and has the choice of vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Sounds like the beginning of a normal book, right? Wrong! Have you ever read a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel? Well, this one is just like that...just on steroids and in graphic novel form.

Shiga pretty much gives you complete control of what happens in this novel. If you choose chocolate, then you follow the pipes to another page, where you will be faced with another choice. Each choice you make will decide whether or not Jimmy will wind up at home, with a stomach ache, attacked by a crazy ice cream shop owner,  traveling ten minutes into the past, or destroying the entire human race!

What did I like or not like?

Needless to say, this book is super cool. The design of the novel itself is ingenuitive as the pictures run vertical, horizontal, backwards, forwards, and up and down, and you jump from a page in the back to a page in the front to a page in the middle and back again as you continue to make choices.

Apparently, there are 3, 856 story possibilities, and as I've only figured out two of them so far, I'm going to hang onto the book for a little while (that is, if I can pry it out of the hands of my little brother hehe).

The Editing Room: Like HISHE in a Written Format

So while I was finding some images for The Amazing Spider-Man movie showing this Saturday (6-8:30pm if you want to come lol), I stumbled across a website that is pretty hilarious. Its called The Editing Room, and it basically abridges the scripts of popular movies. But, it doesn't only abridge them; it abridging them in ways that pokes fun at all the idiosyncrasies, errors, cliches, and plot holes that show up in the movie, and is therefore quiet hilarious.

Thinking about it, this website kind of reminds me of HISHE (How It Should Have Ended) in a written format. We all love movies, and even when a movie has a lot of problems, we still love it. HISHE and The Editing Room play on our love for movies while still admitting that they have problems.

While these problems are typically pronounced, we don't like to admit they have problems because we love the movies anyways. But, HISHE and The Editing Room turn these problems into hilarious videos and scripts, and so we forgive their blatant poking at our favorite movies lol.

While both websites are hilarious, I have a word of caution about The Editing Room. HISHE videos are typically devoid of language or sexual references. The Editing Room on the other hand seems to adapt their script to the movie it is based on. So, if the movie had language and sex in it, The Editing Room script has language and sex in it (and sometimes the abridged scripts has some language even when the movie doesn't). 

Let me know what you think =D

HISHE: You Can't Watch Only One

So a large part of Techno Tuesdays is to let you know about great resouces at your library, and online. But, another part is just to show off some cool websites. One such website is HISHE (How It Should Have Ended), and if you haven't heard about it, you are in for a treat.

There tagline is "sometimes movies don't finish the way we'd like." So, to rectify the situation, Daniel Baxter, Tommy Watson, and Tina Alexander do a monthly animation parody of a popular movie.

Now, two things about these parodies. First, they are hillarious! This group of creators are extremely talented and funny. Secondly, these videos are addicting! You know how some chips are marketed with "You can't eat only one?" I think that applies to these videos as well.

To give you a taste, I've attached a HISHE video. This one is called Super Cafe: Super Social Network, and it paradoies the characters of Batman and Superman. Enjoy!