What’s Making Us Happy This Week

Jennifer

Read Write Web posted a blog entry about the Danish Alexandra Institute just releasing a comic book called “Inspiring the Internet of Things“. It is about how we can benefit from networking everyday objects. I just think it is an awesome PR campaign and a neat idea. As RWW says, “The idea must seem geeky to the average person…Well, geeks, that’s why we run the world.”

Snow

I’m happy that VIZ is launching a new yaoi line. I’m a boys love junkie and am always eager for more. We’ve posted the press release here at NFNT.

Robin: Me too, Snow!  I’m curious to see how the line progresses.

Jenny: Ooh, ooh, me, too, Snow!  🙂

Sarah

I’m happy about all of the awesome comic related Halloween costumes out there like the Batman on this page.

I also liked reading this article that seems to beg the question of why so many women need to have the “sexy” version of characters.  C’mon, sexy female Wolverine???  Some, however, seem to represent their characters well.

Then, of course, there’s this awesome comic reviewing library staff person dressed up as that iconic librarian turned superhero, Batgirl (I know, I know… Wrong costume for Barbara Gordon, but I just couldn’t do skin tight spandex at the library.)

Robin: Sexy Elmo!?  Unsee!  Unsee!  I love Comics Alliance’s yearly sexy costume commentary. 😀  Although hopefully my punk Athena will come off not so much sexy as more badass, which is what we all aim for in costumes, I would hope.

The Mary Sue just pointed me toward the awesomesauce antidote to “sexy” halloween costumes: instructions on how to make historically accurate costumes of queens, notable women, glamour girls, and goddesses!  SWEET.

Who doesn’t want to be Ada Lovelace?  I mean, really.  And hey, another excuse for Kate Beaton linkage!  Also, a change link to the fabulous 2D Goggles: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.  Why is this not a continuing series/book I can buy for my library?

Sarah: Wow!  That site is amazing!  Hmm, I wonder if I have enough to time to sew something before Halloween…

Allen: Pfft. Sexy Optimus Prime. Call me when there’s a Sexy Lazer Beak costume and then I’ll just need to find a woman who’d be willing to wear that :p

Snow: Terrific costume Sarah! The little girl in me who used to pretend that she was Wolverine’s niece when my best friend and I played X-Men (she was Storm), totally wants that Wolverine costume.

Sarah: Thanks, Snow! We had superhero day at the library a few weeks ago, and who would be better than Batgirl in the library? I was always Rogue when my best friends and I played X-men, but I did tend to steal Wolverine’s powers all the time.  In our version that included the claws, so it was the best of all worlds.

Jennifer: Wolverine did have a supposed daughter in one of Marvel’s spinoffs, Wild Thing (Rina Logan). She was the daughter in an alternate reality of Logan and Elektra. She had all Wolverine’s abilities like heightened senses and healing factor, but her claws were psi-claws.

Jenny: Great costume, Sarah!  The only comic books I read as a kid were Groo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and G.I. Joe, so I never got to play X-men.  🙁  I made up for it later, though, by getting sucked into the Marvel Universe after college.  I don’t think I’ve encountered Wild Thing yet, but I always think of Elsie-Dee as Wolvie’s adopted daughter.  😛

Allen

As for what’s been making me happy this week?  Not graphic novel related: Grand Theft Auto V was announced (no surprise, but still, that series makes me really happy).

Graphic novel related: I finished two novels, Maus (I know, finally, right?) and Blankets by Craig Thompson. Both were fantastic.

Robin: It’s never too late to catch up on the classics — I still remember reading Blankets all in one go and staying up till 4am to finish it.  I’m half-way through the equally if not more astounding Habibi, although it’s making me wish I could read Arabic.

Sheli

Hahaha! I just watched the first episode of Reborn!  How did my library miss this anime/manga?! Gonna have to work on that.

Jenny: “Ciaossu,” Sheli.  😛

Jack

Yesterday the workshop on Comics in Libraries that I organized for the BAYA, the Bay Area Young Adult Librarians group, finally happened, and it was awesome.  I presented a lecture on comics organization and collection development with my colleague Amanda Jacobs-Foust, and presented a short film featuring teens talking about manga.  Then we had an author panel featuring the brilliant Jason Shiga, Derek McCulloch (author of Stagger Lee), Tyler Ortman from No Starch Press (publisher of the Manga Guide to… series), and Mark Siegel (founder of First Second Books)!  Plus we gave away an annotated bibliography that I am insanely proud of, and had a Comic Book Petting Zoo featuring some of our favorite books and three iPads so people could experience reading digital comics.  All-in-all it was a fantastic event… and I’m really happy it’s over!

Andrew

I’m happy that my Finn (as in Adventure Time with Finn and Jake) costume is shaping up and I have permission to wear it to work on Sunday when all the kids are here for trick-or-treating in the library!

Abby: I’m being Princess Bubblegum!!

Jenny

Anime News Network‘s Tiger & Bunny “Build Your Own Hero” contest is making me smirk this week.  I bet there’ll be some fun submissions!

Gail

I am going to be a complete geek and say that what is making me happy is my new myBib app (CNET download link) which I am keeping track of my graphic novels, manga and resource material in separate files that I can check whenever and wherever I have my trusty iphone. No more purchasing duplicates — this is because I don’t purchase for a public library just a private one — my own.

Matt Morrison

We got the first of the new electronics for our Teen Room, including a new XBox 360 with a 250 GB hard drive and a Kinect!  I’ve been spending most of the afternoons checking to make sure everything is working properly with the teens and that all of the old save game information transfered properly.  So yes, I actually found a way to make my job pay me to play video games. 🙂

Bill

My week is full of happiness thanks to the release of Kirby’s Return to Dreamland (Wii) and PixelJunk Sidescroller (PS3), not to mention Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (my reserve copy at the library can’t come in soon enough!). But, even better, my favorite holiday is fast approaching. I love Halloween! My wife and I will be celebrating 7 years of marriage come October 31, and we are heading to a YMCA Family Camp with our kids this weekend to kick off the festivities.

Brazos

I’m happy about this trailer:

This is definitely a movie I’m excited to see.  In a very roundabout way it reminds me of Akira.  Very cool concept.

Anna

Watching episode after episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Robin

On a totally non-comics note, THESE are what’s making me happy this week. Especially Cinna.  Because Lenny Kravitz is going to rock that part.

Abby: Seconded, Robin!

Abby

That and, since we were talking about Adventure Time, this song, which is sung by the creator of the show. It’s been stuck in my head for days.

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