5 random parts of a customer conversation that are eminently requestable

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesConversation w/customer went from Dr Who to awesomeness of @neilhimself to graphic novels to Supernatural to conventions & back to to Dr Who 3 days ago via HootSuite ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

The other day I worked at Tupu Library on Dawson Road. Long story made simple: they were a little short staffed for the day and desperate, so they asked me to work. (Yes, I am your last call when you are desperate). And I had such fun! I haven't worked a front counter like that since before we became Auckland Libraries, and I hadn't realised how much I had truly missed it. I was fortunate enough to meet a very lovely customer, Rebecca, while I was at Tupu Library whose love of reading and all things geeky made for the best conversation that day. Rebecca was returning a Doctor Who book (which makes up a part of today's list) and, me being the horridly nosey person I am, asked her for her opinion of it which, in turn, led to this post: 5 random parts of a customer conversation that are eminently requestable. All beginning and ending with Doctor Who, I might add. Because everything leads back to Doctor Who.

Top 5 fictional TV shows

List by Danielle, Natalie and Tosca

"Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover."
~ Homer Simpson

Danielle: The inspiration for this list came from a New Books list find, Paul Hornschemeier's Life with Mr Dangerous, a slice-of-life graphic novel about getting your creative mojo back that includes an homage to a surreal little cartoon called 'Mr Dangerous'. I got to thinking: what other meta-fictional TV shows might we have known and loved in our reading & watching? Thanks to Wikipedia, I have an incomplete but very entertaining list, which includes some of our choices below.

Top 5 TV shows to watch with the lights out

List by Danielle

"You know, there's no version of this that ends well."
~ Danny, Harper's Island

Happy Halloween, everyone! I don't think we've quite got Halloween figured out in New Zealand. It feels like we're never quite sure whether we get into trick-or-treating or not, and a lot of the costumes the neighborhood kids show up in are a bit of a half-hearted and embarrassed plea for free goodies, but I wasn't the only person buying up large in the pick-and-mix choccy aisle at the supermarket yesterday. There's a 'Festival of Light' happening at a local church (to offset the celebration of darkness), but my three year old went to daycare today dressed as his favourite hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, complete with spiked and spray-painted blue hair, makeshift blue pointy ears and his fastest running shoes. There, he was celebrating the day with about a gazillion pink fairy princesses, a couple of Disney princesses and a lone Spiderman. No zombies, no vampires, and no witches (unless you count the teachers - and no, I'm not being nasty, the teachers actually dressed as witches this morning).

That said, I think there's plenty of room for celebration of all things spooky amongst consenting adults, so here are my top picks for TV shows to watch in the dark, or maybe by the gently flickering light of your pumpkin lantern...

Top 5 authors, dvds, musicians, songs and tv series that remind me of Trace

List by Tosca

"No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow."
- Euripides

On 11 March 2009, staff at Manurewa Library lost a much loved friend and colleague to cancer. I remember the day we received the phone call. I remember what we were all doing. Most of all, I remember that we were numb with shock and pain and grief. It was a heartbreaking and devastating blow for all of us. This post is nothing more than a chance to remember a friend.

Top 5 tv clowns whose serial killer tendencies confirm why I will forevermore be scared of clowns

List by Tosca

"And where are the clowns?
Quick - send in the clowns
Don't bother - they're here."
- Stephen Sondheim from 'A Little Night Music.'

I've never liked clowns so the above lyric always seemed more like a threat that killer circus clowns would take over the world rather than the song of irony and regret it seems to be. With an imagination like this I'm never lonely! Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns but, seriously, what's not to be afraid of? They're creepy and monster-otherworld looking. I don't have coulrophobia. What I do have, though, is a very healthy, albeit somewhat irrational, dislike of clowns. I can remember when I first became scared of them - years ago my parents took me to see a circus and I remember being afraid of the too bright clothes, the orange wig and the too wide smile that looked like it ate children for dinner. Soon on the heels of that, my love affair with the tv series Little House on the Prairie ended abruptly when Laura, my idol of the time (I was 5 or 6 - don't judge me) had to dress as a clown (season 6, episode 5). I felt so betrayed. An episode of David Soul's Unsub series (1989) featured a child-killing clown (which sure as Hades didn't engender any warm and fuzzy feelings) but the final crushing blow came when Brian Dennehy, an actor whose work I'd always liked (yes, even as a kid) played John Wayne Gacy (1992) and ensured that my intense dislike for clowns was set in stone. Any tv episode where they're the bad serial killer just confirms why they scare me and I live for the moment they get their just desserts at the end, whether it's an arrest, surrendering, being exorcised, opting for death by cop or, even better, having it's huge inanimate head used for target practice by a hot FBI agent. Welcome to my silly list of top 5 tv clowns whose serial killer tendencies confirm why I will forevermore be scared of clowns.

Top 5 DVDs I kid myself I'm actually going to have time to watch while on annual leave

List by Tosca

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I'm on annual leave this coming week and I have a stack of cookbooks and fiction (romance, murder mysteries, historical fiction, steampunk etc.) to keep me more than amused. Between that and catching up with mum, seeing dad in hospital, visiting my grandaunts in Kaitaia (my mum's Ngai Takoto and that's where her dad's from), catching kaimoana and trying to soak up the sun (without catching sunstroke which I've never yet managed to do), I'm sure I'll have more than enough to do. But just in case I don't, I'm taking 5 DVDs with me. I sternly told myself that five was my limit and that none of them were allowed to be Supernatural season one, Supernatural season two, Supernatural season three, Supernatural season four or Supernatural season five. (My obsession with Dean and Sam Winchester borders on the obsessive/possessive). It was touch and go for a moment as to whether or not I'd cave and take them, anyway :) My final selection is a combination of movies and tv shows. I figure I'll try the first episode in each series, that way if I can't stand them then no harm no foul. Just a quick list.

Top 5 most recent dvd/book disagreements Merrin and I have had

List by Tosca

"Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings."
- Anonymous

Friendships are wonderfully funny things, aren't they? They challenge you to be better, yank you up by your bootstraps when your get up and go has got up and gone, tell you when you've done well and give you a short, sharp reality check when your head gets too big. I consider myself extremely lucky to know such people...even when we don't always agree on the big things - like Vampire Eric vs. Vampire Bill - or the little things - like National vs. Labour ;)

Papakura Library guest post: Top 5 songs featured on Glee

List by Emily

"Madonna belongs to me and I will not be copied. It's in my contract."
 - 'Coach Sue Sylvester' as played by Jane Lynch

From Wikipedia: Fans of Glee are commonly referred to as "gleeks", a portmanteau of "glee" and "geek".

I admit it - I am a Gleek. If you’ve been living in a cave this year and/or don’t watch television, Glee is the hit TV show about a high school glee club (aka show choir) that features numerous song covers sung onscreen by the characters. There is great variety in the songs that are covered, ranging from chart toppers to show tunes, old favourites to recent hits.

Top 5 favourite Doctor Who episodes

List by Kalani

Compiled by Tosca

"Yeah? Well, I'm the Lord of time!"
- Doctor Who (as played by David Tennant), from 'The girl in the fireplace,' series 2, volume 2

Kalani, my 6 year old nephew, is a Doctor Who fanatic. He has seen every Eccleston, Tennant and, more recently, Smith episode. There are, however, only 5 he likes to watch over and over again. Lately, he has been making noises about being allowed to watch my Torchwood discs. That definitely ain't gonna happen anytime soon. I'm not prepared to talk to him about the adult themes. Ever ;) Kalani's reasons for each of his choices are his own and are unedited - which you can probably tell by the excessive use of exclamation marks.

Do you have a favourite Doctor Who episode? If so, leave us a comment and tell us what it is :)