Gelatin Printing: Making Some Legit Posters

So I originally found this idea on Pinterest, but it comes from the blog of Cassie Stephens. Long story short, you make a batch of unflavored gelatin, you put ink on the gelatin, put some leaves on top of the ink, and when you put paper on top of that, you get a cool silhouette poster because the leaves don't let the ink get to some parts of the paper.

Originally I was going to do that exact idea, but then I started thinking that the participants might want to create their own silhouettes. So, I gave them some paper, stencils and scissors, and let them create the shapes we applied to the gelatin.

Cassie suggested a printmaking brayer to spread the ink, but we found we could also spread the ink using a ruler. You can obviously buy printing ink at a craft store, but we had library stamp replacement ink available, and that seemed to work.

P.S. When you are planning your shapes, be aware of their orientation. It'll wind up as an inverted image when it is applied to the paper, as our LIZARD poster attests to. The top image is what the poster looked like, and the bottom image is the shape we applied to the gelatin.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong: Teen Sitcom Motifs

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong 
by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks

Why did I read it?

Because the synopsis was interesting, and graphic novels are quick reads when you need to read, but don't necessarily have a ton of time. 

What happened?

Charlie may be the captain of the basketball team, but he wasn't planning on running for class president or anything. But his ex-girlfriend has other plans. Charlie's best friend, Nathan, is running for class president to secure funds for his robotics team. But, Holly (Charlie's ex) would rather the money went to the cheerleader's new uniforms.

So, enter the cheerleaders running Charlie's presidential campaign (that he would rather not do), and enter Nathan starting a mud-slinging battle to end all mud-slinging battles. 

All things aside though, Charlie can't decide whether dealing with Nathan and Holly, or his workaholic father and absentee mother is worse. And things will probably get worse before they get better...

What did I like or not like?

This book has the run time and the plot line of an episode of your favorite teen sitcom. There isn't anything too intense going on, it doesn't take too long to read, and the characters don't go through any life-altering revelations or ah-ha moments. But, it was enjoyable to read, and the art was put together nicely and told the story well :)

You've got your classic jock versus geek, class president mud-slinging campaigns, and ditching the parents to boot. But who doesn't need a nice-looking graphic novel version of these motifs every once in a while?

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.  

3 Ways to Make Paracord Survival Bracelets

So over the last couple years of doing programs, I've done Paracord Survival Bracelets a few times. Interestingly, each time I've used a different set of instructions. Now each one has their pros and cons, but I'm a huge fan of the most recent one I used. Check em out!!

1. Slide Release Buckle 

This was the first style that I used, but as it turns out, those slide buckles can be somewhat expensive. Noticing that, I just created a loop for the female end of the bracelet, and a big knot for the male end of the bracelet. This worked pretty well, but if the paracord stretches, the knot doesn't hold the bracelet together anymore. (I think this Instrutable has the best instructions for how to actually tie the cobra knots that make up your bracelet). 

2. Stretchable

When another Paracord program came up, I got really excited about this stretchable bracelet version. The basic idea is that you stretch it to get it on your hand instead of having a buckle or a knot. But, therein is also where we found the problem. The overall process of making the bracelet is the same, but to complete the bracelet you have to burn two ends of paracord together, and it isn't the easiest thing to do without burning yourself!! But, if you could keep your fingers from getting singed, this design could be really cool.

3. Loop and Knot: MY FAVE!!

Finally, at my most recent program I found this version, and it is my favorite by far. You still secure the bracelet with a loop and knot, but you have a length of cord that folds over and tightens the bracelet around your wrist. This makes it fit just the way you want it, without needing to buy any kind of fastener.

Zom-B: Whose the Bigger Monster??

Zom-B by Darren Shan

Why did I read it?

Shan has written a lot of books in this series, and one of the newest ones bounced across my desk this week. That and the short size of the book made me pick it up.

What happened?

Apparently, in a small town in Ireland, zombies attacked, condemning some to walk as the undead, and devouring the brains of others while they still lived.

But, B isn't necessarily convinced. Scared? Probably. In denial? Most likely. But, things at school will be the same (not worth much time), and things at home will be the same (a good thrashing for the smallest "supposed" infraction). 

So B keeps going on with life; terrorizing the younger classmates, joining Dad for some political meetings, and sleeping through lectures. But, B can't help but realize that there might be more truth than lies about the zombie thing, and that Dad's rantings might be more dangerous than B thought.

What did I like or not like?

As the title suggests, this book has some good, old-fashioned, bloody, gut-flying, scream-inducing zombie action. But, the build up to that point actually gets the majority of this first Zom-B installment.

Instead of focusing on the zombies, Shan focuses on what B realizes about hate, racism, bullying, and the monstrous side that has to be kept in check in all of us.

If blood and guts aren't your thing, than this probably isn't the book for you. But, Shan does a nice job of giving a fast-paced and exciting story that still has something to say.

Freegal: Free, Legal Music from Your Library

Have you ever tried to find "free" music online? Typically, you have to sign up for something you don't want, pirate the music from somebody, or get a bunch of free viruses instead of free music. But, I have a solution for you, as long as you have a library card =D

The solution is called Freegal, and its short for free, legal music, and that is exactly what it is.

First of all, Freegal, gives you access to the music of over 10,000 labels, most prominently Sony Music. Now, that doesn't mean it will have every song you could possibly want, but it does have a lot of them. In fact, I'm typically impressed with the amount of songs they actually do have.

Second of all, the music is completely free of cost (unless you are the library entity paying for the service which we already have) and DRM (digital rights management or that annoying thing that won't let you put YOUR music on multiple computers). Each song comes in MP3 format, and is super easy to download.

The only catch included is that each library card only gets 3 downloads a week. But, 3 free songs a week with no DRM, no cost, and no worry about spam or viruses?? Sign me up!! And actually that is the other nice thing. The only login is your library card number, and nothing else. So if you don't have a library card, get one, and if you do have one, start getting your free music.

P.S. Freegal will only work for those patrons that have a CIN (Cooperative Information Network) card, which pretty much covers the majority of Northern Idaho. There are a lot of other library systems that have Freegal, so if you aren't in North Idaho, check out your library and see if they offer the service as well.

Basketball Fun and Games

So I was originally going to do this post during the NCAA Final Four, and when that didn't happen I was going to do it during The NBA Finals, and when that didn't happen, I've decided to do it for Hoopfest.

Ball Toss

A basketball event wouldn't be a basketball event without a ball toss, and given the fun we had at our Football event, we definitely included it. This time, instead of knocking stuff off of a table, we were trying to land the balls inside of buckets. This wasn't as easy as it looked as the balls kept bouncing out.

Bouncing Polymer Balls

So I stole this Bouncing Polymer Balls recipe from About.com, and if we would have had more time to complete it, it probably would have worked. But, I wasn't as familiar with the recipe, so some of our bouncy balls came out more like sticky slime...but it was totally worth it. Basically you add borax dissolved in water to a glue and cornstarch mixture and knead it like crazy.

Bracket of Awesomeness

So I also borrowed this idea, this time from Air 1's Brant Hansen. Basically you create a bracket like most basketball tournaments, but instead of two basketball teams, you are pitting two awesome things against each other. Have your participants randomly populate your bracket with things that they think are awesome, and then vote as to which one moves onto the next round. Keep going until you have the awesomeness champion.