Rex Libris :)

Ahhh I love being a librarian...if only it could be this cool. :)

My review of Rex Libris (Graphic Novel)

I have a Goodreads site and I wrote this when I was still the librarian of Rockwell Charter High School.  I bought the book because I knew it would appeal to the boys at the school and really wanted to encourage them to come to the library.  It worked!  Not to mention that one of my TA's told all the other TA's that it was required reading and convinced all of the kids that wanted to be TA's in the future that they had to read it too.  It flew off the shelves.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  I only wish I could buy a copy of the library bound edition for my personal library.

As a librarian I endorse this book wholeheartedly, it is intelligent, funny, interesting and oh-how-i-wish-i-could-get -overdue-books-back-like-Rex-fantastic. Rex and his band of librarians protect the world from evil and will do anything to retrieve an overdue book and fine. What a great story! This hardcover version covers Comics 1-5 and the rest of the remaining 7 comics are included in the book Sea of Monsters if you want to see if Rex ever gets the Principia Mathematic from the now destroyed Vaglox. There are lots of add-ons in the book like messages from Barry Horst the "publisher" of the comic, he "pops" into the story-line occassionally, extra Rex comics from various artists, and an ad for toy librarians. I want those, especially the one of Hypatia "Kicking Evil Ass"!! This comic is so intelligently written I have to wonder if James Turner is a fan of Jasper Fforde. Of course I couldn't resist James Turner's description of librarians for his small expose at the back of the book on the Ordo Biblitheca. That is me to a T. (I wish) Rex, Simon-the-megalomaniac-cursed-to-be-a-sparrow-for-4,000-years (telekinetic semi-sidekick), Hypatia (fellow femme fatale librarian agent and possible love interest for Rex) and Circe (former evil goddess turned cookie baking librarian...she also cursed simon and sometimes turns irritating patrons into pigs, but she's mended her evil ways....hmmm we'll see about that) are all terrific characters. Not to mention the bad guys with overdue books and fines that must be tracked down. I cannot say enough how intelligently this comic is written, you might need to arm yourself with a dictionary to figure out what Rex and his fellow librarians or ever Barry are saying, but isn't that what we should have with us when we read all good literature. Enjoy! 

I bought this book not knowing anything about it, solely for the fact it was about a librarian "superhero" and for the fantastic cover art, for the High School at which I am the librarian. It is a terrific find. My 2 sons ages 12 and 14 LOVED it and are anxious for me to get the rest of the comics so that they can see what happens. My 12 year old's favorite part is the fact that Rex constantly has a book with him and uses the knowledge he gets from within his books to defeat the bad guys.


Cool things to see :)


http://www.jtillustration.com/rex/dewey_secrets.html

Iron Man

My aunt told me a story about Caleb.  It happened while she was watching him for me so I could go to my graduate school orientation. Caleb likes Iron Man...nay loves him!  He has two Iron Man costumes and a bunch of Iron Man toys.  My aunt took Caleb out to make a snowman in the back yard.  She had gotten him some Iron Man gloves but they were just the knit kind.  She told Caleb that maybe they might not be warm enough, that he might want some warmer gloves.  He told her No! he didn't need other gloves because these were made of iron and would be just fine.  After about 10 min out in the snow I guess the iron wasn't working so well because he humbly requested some warmer gloves so he could finish making his alien snowman.  Hehe!

Trains, Ferries, and Subways--Part 3

2/19/11--This is a short entry but by far the most emotional so far.

As I was sitting at the ferry station, I noticed a man coming towards me.  He was so obviously gay, I thought oh my goodness I can't wait to write about him.  His walk, his mannerisms...the clothes he was wearing...He was a tall, thin, african american man.  He had his long hair wrapped in a turban like twisty thing, and his beautiful skin and large eyes were amazingly accented by the pure silver eyeliner outlining his eyes, his lashes were lush and heavily mascara-ed.  He was impeccably dressed and minced as he walked.  He took these short steps, walking almost on his tip toes so that he almost glided...if he wasn't so bouncy.

He sat behind me and asked me,  "young miss, could you tell me what time the ferry arrives?"  "I believe they come every half hour, so 9:00"  "thank you...oh I'm sure I could have used these old trifocals to look at the ferry schedule over there, I can see anything from a million miles away with these things."  He made me smile, it made for a pleasant way to start the day.

He called someone on the phone, calling them honey and 'chile.  I thought he was sweet and he started telling his story,  "yes he came over for dinner, he presented me with flowers and a ring and said all that about being life partners..."  I stopped listening but I felt happy that he had found someone...unfortunantly I missed the explanation for what happened next..."I turned him around and he was all blue in the face, I had to lay him down on the ground and do chest compressions.  I was on the phone with 911 and I was able to get him breathing until the medics came, but he died on my floor.  They just left him there and I had to maneuver his body onto the bed.  I wasn't weirded out...I mean yes I was touching a dead body and that is strange, but it was still him..."

The ferry came and I had to get up and leave.  I wanted to tell him I was sorry and how horrible that was!  I wanted to ask him why they just left his partner there on the floor?  I wanted to ask if he had said yes or no to the proposal? But he was still talking on the phone and I didn't want to interrupt.  I was so sad for him.  I hope he is ok.  What a place I live in, that I get to peek into so many different lives...I move in and out of this persons frame of reference, and at each point of contact I learn about someone, or I get a smile that makes my day better or I smile and make their day better.  How lucky am I?

Tourist attraction

I am now a tourist attraction!  Let me explain...I saw a couple (obviously tourists from the huge camera around their neck) grab a man that rode the train and ferry with me and ask him if they could take his picture.  He wasn't famous and he wasn't strange or odd looking...quite simply he was a New Yorker and as such he and all the rest of us New Yorkers (it is so awesome to be able to be included in that group) we are now subjected to being in any number of touristy pictures just based on the fact that we live here.  It's a weird concept.  I don't feel like a tourist attraction, but I live in a city that boasts millions of visitors every year,  I'm one by default.  I wonder how many tourist pictures I'll wind up just from the action of walking in the background?  I have already been asked numerous times for directions while exiting out of the building my classes are in in Manhattan.  I have yet to be asked to take a picture for someone, but I have been captured in a tourist photo while walking behind the subjects on my way off a subway.  If they decide to keep the picture I'm now in some random person's album of their vacation as background.  Isn't being a New Yorker a wonderful thing!

Those baby blues...

Max the girl magnet and he doesn't even know it.  He created quite the stir in his new school and I have this on the authority of the Dean of his Academy.  Not only do all the girls just mingle around him hoping for his attention, they actually started dressing up and applying make-up on the second day to try to woo him.  The Dean took one of them aside and told her, "You are supposed to be making him feel welcome, not uncomfortable by flirting with him all the time!"  The girls response was, "But have you seen his eyes...he has those really big blue eyes!!"  Gosh that poor boy will never know what hit him!  You go girls!!

Low Riders

I am amazed that this style is still around!  Why does it continue to persist?  Do these boys really think it makes them look more attractive?  Their pants half way down their legs, their baggy underware showing...as they waddle around constantly pulling them up so they don't slip all the way down...cuz THAT would be embarrassing!!  I mean seriously if we already have a good view of your underware why does having your pants around your ankles seem less fashionable?  Why don't they just get rid of the pants all together...it's not like we aren't missing much and this way they can show off their gams.  Plus it gets rid of the problem of the pants actually falling down when they are being chased by someone.  I spend half the time hoping they are just gonna puddle around their ankles while traveling up the stairs so I can watch them struggle to get back up again...nonchalantly.  The other half the time just wanting to pants them as they walk by.  They must not have mirrors at home and they certainly don't have any idea idea how they look while they are walking.  It does not create that manly man swagger that should have...instead it looks like they have a full diaper and have to waddle cuz it's chafing the inside of their legs.

Oh well to each his own, I just hope that sometime in the near future they will think of something else to wear.  Even those skinny girl jeans that the emo boys wear are not as annoying as this fashion statement.  I'd like to meet who started it and ask him his motivation.  It has to be somewhat satisfying to see something you created take off in such as fashion as to secretly humiliate every boy that wears their pants around their thighs.

Kindle Nation

I have noticed that a lot of people on the Subways have Kindles or Nooks.  I have caught myself looking at them and thinking wow I wonder what intelligent book they are reading...Proust...Poe...Collins?  And then I have to laugh...who knows what they are reading, a steamy romance novel perhaps.  We'd never know!  When you used to have to tear off the covers of your pulp fiction and trashy novels while riding public transportation...those are days gone by.  Now we can all get Kindles and look like the intelligent readers we want to be.  Read on!!

Trains, Ferries and Subways--Part 2

2/3/11--There were actually two guys who got on the train carrying a sheet of plywood...thank goodness it wasn't rush hour, I have no idea where they would have put it.

So the U.S. Coast Guard sometimes guards the ferries as they go back and forth between Manhattan and the island, which is a little unnerving only because it doesn't happen everyday.  So what happens on those certain days that they are patrolling.  Now what I can't figure out whether that is a harpoon on the front of the boat or a really big and pointy gun.  If it's a harpoon...why do they need a harpoon?  What are they protecting us from...Moby Dick?

Side note for me to put on my Goodread's list.  I saw a girl reading House of Leaves, the cover looked really interesting.  And yes books are judged by their covers!  I should have asked her if it was any good, before she left the subway.

2/5/11
There was a very sweet man with his 1 year old son on the subway.  He was just so dang sweet with him, kissing him and hugging him.  The woman across the aisle from me keep making ahhh'ing noises over it.  I can't blame her, I wanted to do the same thing.

Sometimes there is some really good busking at the ferry and sometimes not so much.  Today was a good day.  Nicola sounded great!  I wish I had a few bucks to put in her guitar case.

I spent the day wondering...what's in those subway tunnels, it would be cool to explore if I can forget about all the bugs and rats in there.  I also noticed that The Lady has her back to Jersey, for some reason I always thought that she had her back to NYC...I'm not sure why.  There is also a really interesting church in between two sky scrapers across from the ferry.  It looks so tiny but beautiful.  Additionally I think Batman or Bruce Wayne lives on top of one of the skyscrapers right near Battery Park.  It's a fantastically cool looking building, I'd love to see what it looks like inside.  Who lives there? Is it just an office building?  And last thought of the day was yup Newark really is the bastard step child, it is trying so hard to be a "real" city, but when you look across the river to Manhattan....there just isn't any comparison.  Poor Newark.

2/9/11

On the subway I noticed the man sitting across from me.  I really want to know what his story is.  He was an older white man.  He reminded me of a music producer or movie producer who used to do indie labels, but wasn't quite at the top of his game anymore.  He just doesn't want to admit it, so he continues to play the part.  He had white hair and it looked longish from the front...it was all in dreds.  I wanted to ask him what was up with the hair.  When he got up and walked off the subway I wanted to run after him and beg him to let me take a picture, because when looking at him from the front was hair that was trying too hard, but when seen from behind was amazing.  His dreds were done up in a fancy ponytail in the back, the amazing part...his hair hit the back of his knees and he wasn't a short man.  I really want to know his story!!

Two film students on the train talking about script stories and lamenting the...and-he-was-never-seen-again-until-he-was-dug-up-3000-years-later scenario.  It cracked me up, plus they were super serious about being too serious about movies and how it was ruining the drive to actually want to go to school, since all they were learning was how to be serious about movies.

Three 20 something young men with expensive suits on the ferry.  They were discussing playing black ops.  They actually reminded me of a really stuck up pally in WoW.  I hated co-tanking dungeons with him, because he was a gear snob and not a very great tank...but he sure thought he was.  If I closed my eyes I swear they all sounded like this guy when he would talk in vent...eugh!

2/10/11

The very loud gang members who sat behind me on the ferry...they sure were happy and very very loud...almost drunk loud.

The girl putting on mascara without a mirror on the moving subway.  I was waiting for her to poke her eye out.  Besides I don't think she looked any different when she got done...I don't think it was worth the risk of injury.

I wish I looked like the girl sitting across from me.  Thin and beautiful, with hardly any make up on.  Quirky but stylish clothes, I loved it from her lace up army boots to the leg warmers and funky tights and chunky sweater.  She even had pink in her wavy brunette hair.

The little 2 year old girl across from me that pitched a fit when her mom tried to get a scarf around her neck.  The girl did NOT want that thing on...and the reason.  "MOM!  I can't talk with this on!" I thought of Mira, that is totally a Mira excuse.

2/12/11

There was a lady outside the ferry who was screaming about Jesus.  She was Asian and had a super deep voice and seemed very upset that we didn't all know Jesus.  I'm never sure what to think of those people.  It is not how I would choose to express my faith, but who's to say her way isn't valid?  I'm just not sure that it gets across what Jesus is all about, I think it just makes most people embarrassed for her instead of getting them to think about Jesus.  But maybe she touches that one rare person who actually needs to be screamed at to be saved?  I don't know.

The man screaming directions for the subway into his phone on the ferry.  His phone kept cutting off, so he had to repeat the directions like 7 times.  I'm not sure if the person on the other end was deaf or he just happened to talk super loud.

There was a pirate on the ferry...complete with large nose ring!  He looked like Barbarossa, but not quite as cool.  I'm not sure why he was dressed up...I'm pretty sure we are no where near Halloween.  Although I should have looked all over for Jack Sparrow...now THAT would have been awesome!

Barbershop quartet on the subway busking for money on the subway cars.  I really wish I had money to give them...they were way more deserving than the "homeless" guy who was "down on his luck and had not eaten all day"  yet was wearing jeans more expensive than I can afford.

The friendly little girl who waved to every person who got on the subway car.  She was very sweet.  A little bundle of happiness in a world that often doesn't look past their own private bubbles.

There were actually workmen working on the Bleeker St. station, it was pretty cool!

Until next week! I love this city and I'm so blessed to be here.  I can't believe I get to travel past the Lady every time I go into the city.  I can't believe I can visit the New York Public Library and walk these streets! I love seeing all these different people.

Dirty Harry

Friday as I'm going to pick up kids from school, I get Caleb in the car.  As I'm setting my GPS...yes I know but there are so many dang one way streets it's just easier if Ms. Garmin tells me where to go.  I'll figure it out on my own eventually, but the last thing I want to have happen is getting lost while trying to pick my kidlets up from school.  :D  But I digress....As I'm setting all this up an very tall African American man talking on a cell phone is walking past the car.  Caleb says (quietly thank goodness)

"Hey you man! You lookin' at me? You wanna piece of me?"

Now I KNOW he hasn't seen Dirty Harry...so the only thing I can think of is that I think there is a line in Kung Fu Panda like this...but it was pretty funny nonetheless.

I've always wanted an indoor swimming pool!!

Ever try going without a washer and dryer for almost two weeks?  Not so bad when you're single or maybe if there are just two of you...if you have that extra stash of emergency ugly underware somewhere.  But try doing that with 5 kids...yeah not so much fun.

Yesterday Charlie finally finished installing the outlet so I could plug in my dryer and fixed all the electrical, so I was able to exclaim for the first time in my life.  OH MY GOD!  I'm so grateful I can finally do laundry.  Yes I was actually excited to begin.  I put the washer and dryer just where I wanted them.  Placed some flowers in the window.  Set up the laundry baskets and loaded them full of every single article of clothing we all own.  Placed the ironing board just so...put the kitty litter box so it was out of the way and invisible and quite possibly almost unsmellable.  Put away my boots, the scale (like I ever use it...who wants to be purposely depressed) and basically set up everything nice and neat.  I even put a nice cushy rug down on the floor....over the floor drain (its so unsightly...what could possibly go wrong?)  And started my first load of laundry.  Excellent everything worked out perfectly!  Put that in the dryer and started my second load.  The dryer dinged just as the second load finished.  I opened the door and stepped in....SQUISH!!  WTH?

I looked at my soaked feet to find a pool...a swimming pool...a lake filling up my laundry room.  My first thought was...oh crap, I hope it doesn't leak all over the downstairs  Charlie will not be happy.  Quickly followed by...ugh I have to clean all this up and figure out what happened.  After much grumbling and walking around with a blanket under my feet and mopping my heart out, I figured out the drain hose wasn't properly tightened and remedied the situation post haste.  So what did I learn?  Well first my rug is now not covering the drain...oh lovely drain!  Second make sure everything is tightened before starting a washing machine for the first time.  Oh and I'm pretty sure I'm over the indoor swimming pool fantasy, I think I pass...it's a pain in the butt!!