Iron Man 3

Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel, Disney and who ever else actually owns the rights (i.e. not PBCLS)

Iron Man 3 hit theaters this weekend and has received mixed reviews. Critics LOVE it (and so do I) but some die-hard fans are disappointed by some major changes (no spoilers, I promise). I recommend catching it in 3-D IMAX, if you have the opportunity. The action is thrilling and the plot’s not bad either.

There’s still time to rewatch the first two movies before you enjoy the third. The Avengers movie comes up on the search for “Iron Man” and “Robert Downey”. Take it as a sign to watch that movie, too – it’s relevant to Iron Man 3. Pick up your copies at your local library branch or place holds on them today so you can have them before the weekend. You won’t regret it*.

*Disclaimer: If you have school finals this month, please study for them before starting your amazing Marvel Movie Marathon. The library encourages the use of study rooms and reference materials as well as reading, in general, and graduating this semester.

Manga (and More) May

I can’t believe April is already over! It’s time again for our monthly program listing. Follow the jump link for a list of programs relevant to your interests. Don’t forget to check out our other fabulous programs offered throughout the county.

Internet Safety Week

It’s Internet Safety Week at the Palm Beach County Library. Many branches are having programs dedicated to helping parents and children understand the importance of internet safety and become aware of potential dangers inherent in having an online presence.

Swing by your local library for more information about staying safe on the ‘net and check out these resources from Net Cetera:

OnGuardOnline.gov
Practical tips from the federal government and the technology community to help people be on guard against internet fraud, secure their computers and protect their privacy.

FTC.gov/idtheft
The Federal Trade Commission’s website has information to help people deter, detect and defend against identity theft.

StaySafeOnline.org
The National Cyber Security Alliance seeks to create a culture of cyber security and safety awareness by providing knowledge and tools to prevent cyber crime and attacks.

CommonSenseMedia.org
Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.

GetNetWise.org
A project of the Internet Education Foundation, the GetNetWise coalition provides internet users the resources to make informed decisions about their and their family’s use of the internet.

CyberBully411.org
Cyberbully411 is an effort to provide resources for youth who have questions about or have been targeted by online harassment.

ConnectSafely.org
ConnectSafely is for parents, teens, educators and advocates for learning about safe, civil use of Web 2.0 together.

iKeepSafe.org
iKeepSafe educational resources teach children of all ages, in a fun, age-appropriate way, the basic rules of internet safety, ethics and the healthy use of connected technologies.

NetFamilyNews.org
A nonprofit news service for parents, educators, and policy makers who want to keep up on the latest technology news and commentary about online youth, in the form of a daily blog or weekly email newsletter.

NetSmartz.org
The NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

WiredSafety.org
WiredSafety provides help, information and education to internet and mobile device users of all ages.

PBCLS Makeover

The Palm Beach County Library home page and web catalog have gotten a makeover. Check them out and tell me what you think about the new look.

Don’t forget to check out Freegal, the library’s new digital music download portal. The link is on the top right of the catalog home page.

Geoff Johns is Amazing

I was originally going to write a review of Batman: Earth One and then I realized that two other amazing stories I have recently read were also written by Geoff Johns. So I decided to review them all together and remark on how Geoff Johns is a fabulous comic book writer. Four birds, one stone.

Batman: Earth One
I’ll start with my original review of Batman: Earth One. This is a spectacular reimagining of Batman’s early years. While the original back story concept remains intact (Mr. and Mrs. Wayne are murdered, leaving a young Bruce Wayne to cope without family which ultimately leads him to become The Batman) the rest of the story has some interesting twists. For starters, Bruce is raised by ex-military, friend of the family, Alfred Pennyworth. We witness Bruce experience some scrapes, bruises, and lessons learned as Batman hones his skills to protect Gotham from its seedy underbelly.

Aquaman: The Trench
It seems the most surprisingly popular of DC’s new releases is New 52 Aquaman. Aquaman is most notable as being a cheesy character with seemingly undesirable powers. However, in the New 52 series, Aquaman proves himself more than capable of keeping up with the other “supers” and plays an integral role in rescuing the city from an underwater threat.

Johns does a wonderful job of addressing the audience’s potential dislike of Aquaman by beating everyone to the punchline. In fact, he allows Aquaman to suffer many jokes from supporting characters about his useless abilities to “talk to fish”, etc, but lets Aquaman prove to us that he has what it takes to catch our attention in a positive way. If you have ever felt that Aquaman was not worth your time, this series will definitely change your mind.

Justice League: Origin
Johns does an unsurprisingly amazing job of bringing together DC’s New 52 Justice League. For a serious story, Origin is refreshingly humorous. Issue 1 begins “5 years ago” (I guess that would be 6 years, now) following Batman chasing down an alien when he runs into Green Lantern Hal Jordan [Hal to Batman: You're REAL? :3 ] One by one, potential JLers are introduced to the audience and their reluctant teammates.

The characters behave just as you would expect newbie supers to act who have never met (trust issues) and are simultaneously loved and hated by the populace. They have believable human reactions (fighting each other during their first introductions because they don’t realize they are both “good guys”). We get to see the origin of Cyborg, the addition of Aquaman to the JL (see the above review for why that’s so awesome), and a young(er) Hal Jordan as Green Lantern before all the crazy stuff happened with the Guardians (be sure to catch up on Green Lantern, Red Lantern, and New Guardians, in Rise of the Third Army and Wrath of the First Lantern story arcs). This story was so great I actually bought volume 2 when it came out. ["What?" says my beloved blog-readers, "Jess, you BOUGHT a book??" I know. That's how good this story is. By the way, we now have volume 2 in the library system.]

FanGirl Moment
It’s no coincidence that I love every book I read by Geoff Johns. His writing style is captivating and the reader can tell that Johns loves his characters. He fills each character to the brim with personality and keeps them consistent throughout each series that he writes. He knows his characters down to their 2-D, comic book souls. He stays true to each of them and never compromises their integrity to sell his story.

Check out more stories by Geoff Johns and tell me which ones are your favorite(s).