Messing Library

BOOK REVIEW  |  Every year, around Halloween, I always try to grab some kind of book to get into the mood of the season. When I was younger (and again when I started working at MICDS) I often picked up something by John Bellairs; the creepy stories with classic illustrations by Edward Gorey (in some of the books) made for great Halloween reads.

The other thing I usually do around this time of year is read a short story by Richard Matheson. This year I re-read one of his best-known stories "I am Legend" in anticipation of the third time the story has been made into a movie... this time with Will Smith as the last man on Earth in a messed-up version of New York City.

This story might seem a little dated for some readers, but it's as entertaining as any other horror-type plot on the market today. That's because it's written by the guy (Matheson) that's pretty much considered the Godfather of horror writing.

It's also interesting because the first actor to play the main character in a movie went to school at Country Day (and we named a theatre after him a few years ago).

What's it about? Huge virus turns everyone on Earth into zombies... except one guy who goes around killing them while they sleep during the day. During the night, every night, they come in hordes to try to kill him in his barricaded house.

Pick this one up. Give it a read. Here's its Google Books page.

Upper and Middle School students got together on Tuesday to volunteer at the St. Louis Area Foodbank. It was the first of several monthly MICDS trips planned for the 2007-2008 school year. Students took a bus to the Foodbank warehouse in Earth City, received a brief tour and orientation from the manager, and then sorted and boxed food for a few hours before returning to campus. The Foodbank relies on volunteers from many schools, businesses, and organizations to get help to those in need. Each week, approximately 43,530 St. Louis area residents receive food prepared by volunteers at the Foodbank. That translates to over 2 million people fed by more than 13 million pounds of food. CLICK HERE to see some photos.

BOOK REVIEW  |  Whoa! This one was weird. I almost put it down after the first few pages because it was just too strange. But the cover was pretty cool, so I stuck with it and read the whole thing. The front cover was some kind of a sketch of a huge mosquito, and the back was an anatomical drawing of a human-ish hand/wrist. That alone was enough to make me buy it.

This book was half humor, half horror, half chess game between the characters. (I know, that's three halves... that's how weird this book was) Here's the summary: this guy is a reported for a cheap tabloid that deal with the unexplained. He gets a letter from a guy who claims to have a legendary, 4000 year old, man-eating (well, I guess it would be man-drinking) mosquito. Reporter goes out to investigate and gets stuck on island where crazy mosquito guy lives. The two get friendly, then things go downhill. People die. Other weird bugs come into the story. More weird things happen.

This actually got pretty interesting during the second half of the book. Once you suspend reality and accept that a huge mosquito could exist, the book is hard to put down if you really want to see what the big deal is regarding this bug. I was amazed, however, that noone mentioned "Off!" or "Cutter" during the entire book. Click HERE for its Google Books page!

On a day off for both the Varsity Rams and the 8th Grade Rams, members of both football squads decided to spend time together working on football skills on Friday. Varsity players coached 8th graders in a variety of skills and techniques by position. Lineman learned pulling techniques and blitz pick up, running backs and quarterbacks learned correct handoff, pitch, and option technique, and receivers learned how to stick a good route. Thanks to the Varsity players for contributing both their time and their knowledge on their day off! CLICK HERE to see some photos.

GAME REVIEW  |  I haven't played a Zelda game since N64's "Ocarina of Time", the one that's pretty much considered the best video game of all time by everyone. I was an addict. I'd play late at night and get up in the morning for more.

That was before I had a job.

So when the GBA Zelda game, "The Minish Cap" came out, I figured I'd give it a try, but I was a little nervous. I didn't think it would have the great story of "Ocarina" or the incredible sound. While I liked the original 2D Zelda, I wasn't sure how much I would like it now; I didn't want to ruin my great Zelda experiences with a bad one. But with one swing of Link's sword, and upon hearing his trademark yell, I knew "Minish Cap" was going to be a good one.

I was delighted to see all the same characters from older games (plus some new ones), along with a soundtrack that took all the old familiar songs and remixed them in a catchy way. Unlocking a door towards the end of the game gave me access to a record player in a house where you could play all the songs from the soundtrack (some of them are on the library iPod now). The story, like the soundtrack, was familiar but fresh enough to make it a great game. Click HERE for more info.