Cedar Mill & Bethany Libraries Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Cedar Mill Library
The Cedar Mill Library's podcasts include teen book discussions, library performances, oral histories from local immigrants, and discussions with the founders of the library about its origins. The Cedar Mill Library is a nonprofit community library located in the Portland Oregon metropolitan area.
"Chowder Chat Forever" - immortal words from Dylan as we say goodbye to our two seniors in this episode of Chowder Chat recorded on May 18th, 2026.
Books and movies discussed:
- Borat
- Scythe
- I could give you the moon
- Train Dreams
- Persepolis
- Crown of Midnight
- Twilight
- In the After
How well does the teen council know the library? They have shared a lot of information about the library throughout the year, but who remembers the details?
Some of the questions they get asked are:
- How many books can you check out with a WCCLS library card?
- What service do we use for reading challenges like Summer Reading?
- What's the app that you can use to check out ebooks?
These questions and more are expored in this episode of Chowder Chat. Recorded on April 13, 2026.
The teen council debates and votes on their own March Madness bracket this year to decide which teen book is the best. The usual suspects are in the mix, but there are a couple surprises. Listen in to see which book bests all the rest. Discussion was recorded on March 9th, 2026.
Books and movies discussed are:
Ten things I hate about you Taming of the Shrew
New Books coming soon! They Want Us Dead by CL Montblanc Flirting with Murder by Amanda Sellet Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai Last Kiss of Summer by Jessica Felleman
March Book Madness
American Born Chinese vs Dragon Hoops Cinder vs the Lightning Thief Divergent vs Scythe Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone vs Keeper of the Lost Citites Hunger Games vs Legend Inheritance Games vs the Summer I Turned Pretty Giver vs Maze Runner Outsiders vs. Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Listen to the podcast to learn who wins.
Our teen council spoke with members of the Sunset High Youth HPV Awareness club for this podcast. They also report on their favorite recent reads and music they enjoyed after the recent Grammy Awards.
The Youth HPV Awareness Club seeks to help teens understand how reduce their cancer risk. To learn more about the group and their work, check their Instagram page or the larger organization that supports teens across the state.
- https://www.instagram.com/sunset_youthchamps
- https://youthhpvchampions.org/
We also discuss two new books that are coming soon. Which one would you read?
- Midnight on the Celestial by Julia Alexandra
- In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer
Other books discussed during the podcast. Some of these are adult books, so make sure to check age ranges on the titles if you aren't sure the book is right for you.
- Pablo Neruda Odes
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
- A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
Music we love right now.
- Bad Bunny
- J. Cole
- Bob Dylan
- Hayley Williams
- Tate McRae
Our teen council talked about how their reading stacked up in 2025 and what some of their favorite reads were. They look at some new books coming out in February and what their reading goals are this year. Recorded in January 2026.
Books Mentioned:
Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph
New books:
Hearts Gambit by JD Myall Fall of Iris Henley by Jennifer Graham They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours
Older favorites:
Shadow and Bone
Scythe
Project Hail Mary
Can sports be as exciting as comics? That's the question that Gene Luen Yang set out to answer with this graphic nonfiction work, Dragon Hoops. Our teen council discusses the book for our December Chowder Chat episode.
The teen council also discusses their recent reads along with some advanced reader copies that the library received lately. They are all listed below.
Favorite Recent Reads:
Coldwire by Chloe Gong
Drive by Daniel Pink
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
Monument 14 by Emmy Labourne
New books coming soon - Should you read them?
The Last Vampire by Romina Garber
Oxford Blood by Rachael Davis Featherstone
The Swan's Daughter: a possibly doomed love story by Roshani Chokshi
Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph
Is fantasy better than dystopian fiction? Historical fiction vs. realistic? Our teen council debates which genres are better. They also share book news, local sports and what new books are coming to the library soon. Recorded on November 10th, 2025
Books discussed are:
Coldwire by Chloe Gong
A Fate So Cold by Amanda Foody
My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
The teen council interviewed Peter Leonard, the Executive Director of the Cedar Mill & Bethany Libraries, on October 13th, 2025. He is retiring soon after 29 years here at the library. Learn about what has changed in our libraries, why he thinks libraries are still important, and why he wanted to work in libraries in the first place.
Read the book he recommended, the Goldfinch.
Meet our new teen council, much like the old teen council with some new members! Our members tell us a bit about themselves, what books, movies, and music they like, their favorite apps, and what things annoy them.
Our Favorite Books:
- Project Hail Mary
- Scythe
- Twilight
- Foul Lady Fortune
- Hunger Games
- Eragon
- Sunrise on the Reaping
Favorite Movies:
- Zootopia
- Ratatouille
- Harry Potter
- Friends TV show
- Up
- Coco
- Catching Fire
- Donnie Darko
- Kpop Demon Hunters
Which new books should we read?
- Moonsick by Tom O'Donnell
- Balancing Act by Paula Chase
Our teen council talks about what makes a good book to movie adaptation. In the age of streaming, is it better to adapt a book into a tv show? Which teen books need to get adapted next?
Books and movies that get talked about are:
- Percy Jackson
- Harry Potter
- Hunger Games
- Throne of Glass
- Project Hail Mary
This discussion was recorded on May 19, 2025
Deep into the school year, our teen council is immersed in school competitions for Model UN and their a capella group among other things. There is loads of homework as well. Listen to our crew discuss what they've been working on and how they do their best studying. Do they listen to music? Does it matter where they sit? And what to do about the distraction that is the phone. Listen to the discussion about these topics and more. Our teen council recorded the latest edition of Chowder Chat on April 14, 2025.
The teen council discusses the new Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping. Learn what they are looking forward to in the new book, which book is their favorite in the series and how far each of them think they would go in the Hunger Games. Hint, most of them think hiding is a good idea. Recorded on March 10, 2025.
The teen council kicks off their book club by reading and discussion Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
Is it a dystopian novel or a unique mix of scifi and fantasy? Does the familiarity of the Cinderella story make it more engaging or take away from the story? Should you read the sequals? Listen to this discussion to see what we thought.
Other titles discussed are:
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
No No Boy by John Okada
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
The Teen Library Council chatted with members of the Youthline organization about their work with teens in crisis on January 13th, 2025. Genevieve and Monica explain what a peer to peer crisis line for teens is like, what their goals are, and how teens can volunteer with them if interested.
You can find more info about Youthline at https://www.theyouthline.org/
Some of the other resources mentioned are below.
988 - https://988lifeline.org/
The Trevor Project - https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
Trans Lifeline - https://translifeline.org/
Black Line - https://www.callblackline.com/
The Teen Council discusses their top reads of the year, what they are reading currently and what they are thankful for.
Books discussed are:
Cinder Daughter of the Deep 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Throne of Glass Court of Thorns and Roses (for older teens and adults) Amulet graphic novel Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz (for older teens and adults) Slaughterhouse 5 (for older teens and adults) One House Left by Vincent Ralph Dune (for older teens and adults) Great Gatsby (for older teens and adults)
Our new season of Chowder Chat kicks off with a discussion of our teen council's favorite creepy books, movies and TV shows. They also talk about library events, favorite Halloween memories and what they are currently reading.
Some books mentioned are for older teens or adults.
Books discussed are:
- Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
- It by Stephen King
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
- Severance by Ling Ma
- Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
- Goosebumps
- Westfallen by Ann Brashares
- The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf
- Babel by RF Kuang
- Dune by Frank Herbert
Three recent college graduates talked about their college experiences on June 6th, 2024. They answered questions and shared their thoughts on how to handle homework, managing your own schedule, how to make friends, what to bring and what to leave at home among other things.
The Teen Council discusses what they have planned for the summer along with books they think are good summer reads and books that they are looking forward to reading.
Don't forget to participate in our summer reading challenge too!
https://librarycedarmill.beanstack.com/
Books mentioned in this episode.
- Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
- Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
- Squire by Sara Alfageeh
- Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
- When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn
- 14 Ways to Die by Vincent Ralph
- Nanny Wanted by Lizzie Barber
- Dead of Night by Simon Scarrow
- Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
- This Book Kills
- Dry by Neil Shusterman
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
- Wool series
- Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The teen council discusses the book, We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez, which is one of the books in our Mark Oshiro reading challenge this month. Hear their reactions to this intense story about young Guatamalan immigrants in this recording.
Other books discussed were:
Lessons in Chemistry
Lord of the Flies
The Cost of Knowing
Macbeth
The teen council met on March 11th to talk about what they've been reading and watching lately. Find out what they recommend this month and get ready for the Mark Oshiro reading challenge next month.
News:
Teen Art Contest ends on March 30th The Mark Oshiro Reading Challenge starts on April 1st
Recommended reads:
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal Shift by Hugh Howey
Recommended TV shows:
Lupin on Netflix (rated for adults) Friends Community
Next month's read:
We Are Not From Here by Jenny Sanchez Torres
The teen council met in February 2024 to discuss their favorite recent reads by Black authors. Books discussed are:
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood (publishes in May 2024) Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar Perry Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
On January 8, 2024, the Teen Library Council interviewed the student writing group, Ad Meliora. They talk about what writing contests they have and the workshops they teach. They also share some of their favorite reads.
Ad Meliora website
Books discussed:
Babel
Minor Feelings
Pachinko
Homegoing
Anne of Green Gables
Lie Tree
Eragon and Murtaugh
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Grace of Kings
Poppy War
The Cedar Mill & Bethany Teen Council discusses some of their favorite winter reads and holiday movies as they prepare for Winter Break 2023.
Join our Winter Reading Challenge
Books discussed are:
Monster Orphan Spy by Matt Killeen Night Circus by Erin Morgensten (book for adults) Love in Winter Wonderland by A Bello Wool by Hugh Howey (book for adults) A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin (book for adults) Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans (made for adults)
Movies discussed are:
Anastasia Home Alone How the Grinch Stole Christmas Horton Hears a Who California Christmas Christmas Chronicles
Teen council dives into all things Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes as we eagerly await the movie to come out. We also discuss books with many narrators and how these can be somewhat confusing unless handled well. There are many things we are thankful for this year, which we discuss as well.
Don't miss our tips for students studying for AP and IB tests (Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate).
Books and websites discussed:
Winter Reading
Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo
RevisionDojo IB (help with IB testing)
Guest List - Lucy Foley
A Game of Thrones - George Martin
Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo
Kahn Academy
Dry - Neil Shusterman
Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
Infernal Devices - Cassandra Clare
Cat Farris presentation
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins
Find out more about your child’s literacy development and their progress towards becoming an independent reader. Learn how the Science of Reading can help you support your child’s literacy development in Kindergarten through 3rd grade. Presented by Rachell Keys.
Rachell Keys is a School Psychologist currently working for the Northwest Regional Education Service District. Over the past twenty years she has worked to improve literacy outcomes in Oregon and nationally. She has pursued her passion to help all kids become successful readers in a variety of ways. Rachell taught courses on reading instruction at Portland State University, worked as the Literacy Coordinator for the Tigard-Tualatin School District, supported schools in Oregon as part of the Reading First initiative and tutored individual students during the pandemic.
This recording is part of our 2023 Parent Information Series. Slides of the presentation are available on our website.
Chowder Chat is back with an episode about some favorite spooky shows along with a few books.
We'll cover Stranger Things, Locke & Key, Sawkill Girls, Percy Jackson and more. Hear about some upcoming events and some of our favorite things to do in October.
The teen council discusses books for Pride, what they are looking forward to this summer, and what they've been reading lately. This is the last episode for this school year.
Titles and events discussed:
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Across the Spiderverse and the soundtrack
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
Oppenheimer
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Song: Best Day of My Life by American Authors
Singer Lizzie McAlpine
Her song Ceilings
Freedom Festival in Portland
Kesha Ajose Fisher
Kim Johnson
What we're reading:
Verify by Joelle Charbonneau
Fahrenheit 541 by Ray Bradbury
Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
This month, we talk about study tips and mental health, two closely related subjects for many teens, particularly this time of year (Spring). We also talk about our recent reads.
Books discussed are:
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Animal Farm by George Orwell Educated by Tara Westover The Likeness by Tana French Farrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
New York Times bestselling Young Adult author Ellie Marney joins the Teen Council via Zoom from Australia to discuss her books and the writing process. This interview took place on April 10, 2023.
Ellie Marney is a crime writer and author of None Shall Sleep, The Killing Code, and many other series and standalones. Her newest book, the second installment of the None Shall Sleep series– Some Shall Break– will be released in June 2023.
Marney has lived in many places around the world including Indonesia, India and Singapore– but now she lives in Australia with her family. To promote Australian women authors, she helped create the LoveOzYAbookclub and advocates for others to help them find their voice.
You can find her at elliemarney.com or @elliemarney on Instagram and Twitter!
Authors and books mentioned in this podcast:
Steig Larrson
Lee Childs
Susan Hill
Nightbirds by Kate Armstrong
The council discusses graphic novels that they have enjoyed this month in honor of the library's Crosshatch reading challenge which runs through May 6, 2023. Titles discusses are:
- Archie comics vs. the Riverdale TV show
- Amulet
- Darth Vader comics
- American Born Chinese
- Persepolis
- X-men
- Hawkeye
- Excalibur
- Big Nate
The teen council discusses romance books in Young Adult and when adding romance to an adventure story elevates both genres. They also discuss what they are currently reading. Books discussed are as follows:
In the Woods by Tana French As Long as the Lemon Tree Grows by Zoulfa Katouh Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Plague by Michael Grant The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Diviners by Libba Bray Legendborn & Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn Mondays Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson We also include a snippet of our interview from January 2023 with Librarian Jen Blair. Most of the audio was unusable but a full transcript can be read at https://library.cedarmill.org/teens/chowder-chat-interview-district-librarian-jen-blair/
The Teen Council met on Dec. 12, 2022 to discuss their favorite books, movies and music of the year. Some of the titles mention are as follows:
Books
- The Good Girl's Guide to Murder - Holly Jackson
- Touching the Void - Joe Simpson
- Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte
- Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas
- City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
- Eragon - Christopher Paolini
- The Light in Hidden Places - Sharon Cameron
- All My Rage - Sabaa Tahir
- Kaikeyi - Vaishnavi Patel
- Lobizona - Romina Garber
Movies & TV
- In the Heights
- The Swimmers
- Wednesday
- Friends
- The Private Affair
- The Great British Bake Off
- Is It Cake
- Adventures of Merlin
- Grey's Anatomy
- The Conjuring
- How to Get Away With Murder
- Evolution of Lactose
- Stranger Things
- Black Panther 2
- Riverdale
- Marvel TV shows
- The Batman
- Batman the Dark Knight
Music
- Midnights - Taylor Swift
- Yet to Come - BTS
- Pink Venom - Blackpink
- Jung Kook - Dreamers
- Shut Down - Blackpink
- Anson Seabra
- Phoebe Bridgers
- Harry Styles
- Conan Gray
- James Arthur
- Heartbreak Anniversary, For Tonight, Lie Again - Giveon
Staff from the Cedar Mill & Bethany Libraries gather in December 2022 to discuss our favorite books, movies, TV, games, music and more from 2022. You can place holds on these titles on our website.
Topics discussed are:
1:12 Our favorites:
- Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow – Mark
- Nona the Ninth – Christine
- The Monk & Robot series – Marti
- Vespertine - Sabrina
- The Darkness Outside Us – Will
- Isla to Island – Laura B.
7:42 Bethany Library Favorites
- The Stars Did Wander Darkling - Christine
- Demon Copperhead
- Nightmare Alley and Cabinet of Curiosities
11:03 Books for Children
- Mel Fell - Laura B.
- The Used-to-be Best Friend
- The Marvellers
13:26 Books for Teens
- Iron Widow – Will
- Firekeeper's Daughter – Christine
- All My Rage - Mark
- Teen Council favorites - Mark
17:11 Graphic Novels and Manga
- Devils Candy – Sabrina and Christine
- The Well – Mark
- The Nice House on the Lake – Marti
- Play It Cool, Guys – Christine
- The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza - Laura B.
22:10 Fiction for Adults
- The Spear Cuts Through Water – Marti
- Less is Lost – Will
- Remarkably Bright Creatures – Laura B.
24:36 Nonfiction for Adults
- Confessions of a Bookseller - Christine
- Worn: A People’s History of Clothing- Sabrina
- The Flag the Cross and the Station Wagon – Will
- Emma Dreams of Stars (GN) – Laura B.
28:15 Movies, TV and Streaming
- Bullet Train - Marti
- Turning Red
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Andor – Mark
- The Offer - Mark
33 Music and Podcasts
- The World ep 1: Movement - Sabrina
- Cool People Who did Cool Stuff - Mark
35:22 Video Games & Online Games
- Unrailed! - Sabrina
- Redactle - Sabrina
37:15 Board Games
- Wingspan - Mark
- Terraforming Mars – Mark
38:34 Our Favorites part 2
- I Must Betray You – Mark
- Home is Where the Heart is (Good Dog) - Laura B.
- Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower- Sabrina
- This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch - Christine
The teen council discusses book facts, news and their favorite YA historical fiction and nonfiction in this month's episode of Chowder Chat. Books discussed include A Brief History of Time, Meemaw, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Cellar, The Diviners, Light in Hidden Places, Bamboo People, Night, I Survived..., and the Lovely War.
Our teen council recommends their favorite scary reads and spooky films in this month's 5th season kick off podcast. Find a new favorite like Sawkill Girls. Maybe one of their favs will lead you to a new favorite as well.
The teen council talks about summer reading and how you can participate along with some of their favorite series to read in the summer like Sarah Maas.
The Teen Council discussed their current reads and presented dueling book facts in this episode recorded in April 2022.
Local writer Afton Nelson is interviewed by the Teen Council about what it takes to write as a profession. She talks about how to be a freelance writer, what it's like to be a ghostwriter, how she approaches writing for publications and writing her own novel.
The Teen council discusses some recent gothic horror books, Spiderman No Way Home and the Book of Boba Fett Star Wars show.
The teen council discusses fun winter picks and then recaps how 2021 went and what some of their favorites from the whole year were. Yes, Marvel and Disney Plus are prominently represented.
The Teen Council interviews author Jenny Jiang about her self published picture book, Just Like Flowers. Why did she decide to write and her own picture book? What tools did she use to write it? What's the reception been like? All of these questions and more are asked and answered in this episode of Chowder Chat. Place the book on hold too.
The teen council dives deep into the history of junk food, the new Loki tv shows and what movies they are eager to see. Summer Break is upon us as season 3 concludes. Looking forward to Season 4 in the Fall.
The teen council goes over the Cedar Mill & Bethany Teen summer reading program in this episode. They share a great set of fantasy books to dig into along with some popular TV shows for teens, fun facts, dad jokes and more.
In this Chowder Chat, our teen council delves into their favorite Young Adult mysteries, we get a fun fact about book publishing in Norway, we hear about a Netflix horror show called Locke and Key and we get the monthly Marvel report on Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
On this Chowder Chat, we discuss some of the best dystopian series for teens. In our book spotlights, Your Inner Fish and Hero Next Door are highlighted. And in our musical feature - we look at Julian Lage as an acoustic guitarist. Of course, we have dad jokes and the Marvel report as usual.
This month, each teen council member talks about something that they are passionate about, from WandaVision to great historical fiction to good/bad Dad Jokes with some music suggestions thrown in for good measure. It's an eclectic mix, so tune in to find out what's on their radar this month.
The teen council discusses some of their goals for the new year and they pick out the newly published Young Adult book that has them the most excited for January.
Listen to a recording of Megan Barella's Toddler Talk workshop- Learn how to understand your toddler's world and make raising a toddler more enjoyable using brain science, tools, modeling and more! Follow along with the Toddler Talk slides from her presentation.
Our teen council reviews some of the Young Adult books that they are looking forward to and they share some of their holiday traditions that may look a little different in this year of COVID.
Four staff members at our libraries discuss their favorite reads and media from 2020. We also share some favorites from other staff members who couldn't join us. Add some great choices to your 'to read' pile after listening to this conversation.
The teen council picks the new book releases that are exciting them this month from the latest from Marissa Meyer to a new post apocalyptic adventure. They also share their Thanksgiving tradition and debate what the best Thanksgiving food is.
The teen council members look at a list of the best Horror books out there and select a few that they might actually read. Most of them shy away from scary tales, but these 'jumped' out at them. These are not the typical choices either.
Librarians from around Oregon met in early September 2020 to discuss graphic novels, comics and manga - what we like, what gets checked out and issues that come up when buying comics for our libraries. We recommend many great things to read as well.
Our teen council is back with another podcast episode from their pandemic lives. Plans spoiled, older books read and more origami along with what the first day of online school was like in this new school year.
The song used for the intro is "Traveling horse by Lobo Loco" courtesy of a creative commons license.
Oregon librarians from Tigard, Beaverton, Aloha and Cedar Mill discuss comics and graphic novels: what we like, what got us interested in comics and what library users are asking for these days. Aloha Library services: https://alohalibrary.org/ Beaverton City Library services: https://www.beavertonlibrary.org/437/BCL-To-Go Cedar Mill & Bethany Libraries services: https://library.cedarmill.org/services/ Tigard Library services: https://www.tigard-or.gov/library.php
Independent College Counselors, Eric Delehoy and Devon Simpson, share what to think about when you are writing a college application essay. They include lots of practical advice as well as how to approach this writing activity. Recorded on July 8, 2020.
Our teen council discusses what they've been doing during the pandemic from home besides school. Books were read and shows were watched. Someone even created a massive origami project. One show discussed is for mature audiences.
Several staff members gather to talk about what it means to read about food. We cover a lot of ground in talking about food in adult fiction, literature for kids and depictions of food in graphic novels. Maybe we'll talk about one of your favorites.
Cedar Mill & Bethany Library staff recommend some favorite or recent audiobooks available to download through our Overdrive and Libby service. We throw in a few podcast favorites as well as we discuss what to listen to right now.
Some of our staff talk about some of the great content they've been watching on the library's streaming service called Kanopy. From family drama to horror to documentary to scifi and self help, there is a little something here for everyone.
0:08 Mark: My name is Mark Richardson. I’m a librarian at the Cedar Mill and Bethany Community Libraries and we are again here to talk about some of the library services that we have to offer our patrons with your library card. Today we are going to focus on a service called Kanopy. It is a streaming service that has a ton of great content on it and we’re just going to highlight some of the things that we find interesting in Kanopy today. We’re just going to get started. I’ll ask everyone to do a brief introduction and talk about their first video.
0:47 Patrick: Hi. I’m Patrick and I’m a Circulation Assistant at both Cedar Mill and Bethany Libraries. The first thing I’d like to talk about is a documentary that went out about a month ago on Kanopy. It’s called The Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin. It’s a documentary that aired on the American Masters part of PBS last year. It’s a little over an hour and it’s a gorgeous animated overview of her development as an author and feminist. She’s the author, a sci-fi author of The Left Hand of Darkness, the Earth Sea books, Lathe of Heaven. It’s a really great documentary. It has interviews with authors like Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Sam Delany. I kind of wish it could have been twice as long as it was. It was a really fantastic documentary.
1:37 Mark: Yes, that was one I was going to talk about, too. It was interesting to me that while I watched it that she’s a Portland author so it’s pretty cool to see Portland represented and hear about the kind of struggles she had breaking into the sci-fi author world and also to hear how important A Wizard of Earthsea was to some of those other authors. I really wasn’t really aware of how ground-breaking it was for other people. It was interesting to hear those other authors talk about that book.
2:13 Patrick: I was a little bit too young for the first Earthsea book to really have had much impact but to hear everyone talk about it, to hear Gaiman talk about it, and who was the author….. Michael Chabon and also China Mieville talk about how much it was a formative work and also the documentary talking about how much her father’s work as an anthropologist informed her development was great. It’s really, really neat.
2:40 Mark: I agree. Karen, you’ve got one?
2:45 Karen: Sure. This is Karen. I’m a Reference Librarian at Cedar Mill Library. My favorite on Kanopy is a movie that is a couple of years old. It is called Hunt for the Wilderpeople. It’s a movie that was directed by Taika Waititi. Some of you already know him from What we do in the shadows. It is a great movie. It’s one of those that at the end, I said “wow, I can’t forget this one.” It’s about a kid who is kind of on his last chance and ends up in the New Zealand bush on the run with his cranky foster uncle played by Sam Neill. It’s just a great movie. It’s categorized as an adventure and a comedy and a drama. It’s just touching and sweet and I really enjoyed it.
3:55 Mark. Excellent, sounds like a good one. Liz, do you have something for us?
3:57 Liz: I’ve been having fun with Kanopy. I don’t know about those of you that have family or other loved ones who are in different places and we used to have movie nights. So we have been doing …. We (my family) all have smart phones that allow us to have unlimited data so we have been calling each other and watching the same thing. So we’ve been co-watching so stuff and we started doing Kanopy, which was great since we all subscribe to Kanopy. The thing we watched last week was my 12 year old nephew’s suggestion. He wanted to watch a documentary called The Most Dangerous Man in America, which is about Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s’. Now my nephew, he really wanted to watch it and it turned out my brother and I had a lot to talk about it, too, because we were his age when this whole thing came down in the 70’s. We’re a quite a bit older. We had some really good conversations about it, it’s the Most Dangerous Man in America about Daniel Ellsberg. We had fun, making comments and going back and forth. If you’re curious about why my nephew got interested, he saw the movie The Post about Ben Bradlee and the Washington Post during that time and he was really interested to read and hear more about the real story. And it’s very relevant to now since there are lots of different things going on. So that’s been really great and it’s been really fun finding things that invoke conversations.
5:26 Mark: I would say that a great YA (Young Adult) non-fiction book called Most Dangerous about the same subject and I’ll recommend that to teachers who want to get a real, relevant history book that is very engaging for teenagers.
5:45 Liz: The documentary was especially interesting because it spoke a lot about his relationship with his wife and how she was there, how she was so engaged at the time. Bringing her into the documentary really added a whole new factor I hadn’t seen before and I remember reading about it.
6:06 Mark: Awesome…Marti, what have you got?
6:08 Marti: I’m Marty and I’m in the Circulation Department so I’m at the front desk at the library. The first thing I wanted to recommend is a movie called Eighth Grade. It is a heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time coming of age story of a 14 year-old girl and how she’s dealing with all those awkward moments in the teenage years--how to make friends and becoming interested in boys and dealing with her dad and how social media and her YouTube channel are affecting her life. I thought it was so realistic. The actress was discovered on You Tube and she had just graduated Eighth Grade when she filmed the movie. I laughed, I cried and even though I didn’t have a cell phone or much social media when I was growing up, it was so similar to my middle school experience, it makes you think about the added experience that teens and pre-teens have today. I was curious whether anyone else here had seen it and whether it resonated with you. I know you guys are a little bit older than me, so…
7:12 Mark: I watched it for a little bit. It was very difficult for me because I was thinking of my daughter and some of the rough patches she’s had. It was very real and very raw.
7:32 Marti: It is rough and raw but it’s real. At the end it just comes together beautifully and she learns so much about herself.
7:43 Mark: Maybe I should go back and finish it.
7:45 Marti: Watch the end
7:50 Shannon: A lot of us had trouble in Eighth Grade and that whole middle school time. I can’t imagine growing up in the face of social media with cameras on you all the time and phones and pictures. It’s just a different world and the struggles are so much more in your face now that there used to be than in our days when we were growing up.
8:11 Mark: Ok, Shannon, so you have one for us?
8:13 Shannon: I’m Shannon from the Circulation Department so you'll often see me at the front desk of the library. One of the shows that I enjoyed on Kanopy was a PBS NOVA show called Kilauea: Hawaii on Fire. It was about the eruption that happened on May 3, 2018, so just almost two years ago. They went back and looked at some of the video of things that were happening at the time and interviewed some residents that were displaced by the eruptions and they also showed some of the scientific experiments are going on. For example, they would take samples of the lava and grind it up into a powder and they could tell what the origin of that lava was, like a DNA footprint. The first lava that was coming out was actually from an eruption fifty years prior so it was being surfaced by these new eruptions and they could tell from those DNA footprints. Then there was another lava flow that was in there that came from an eruption even older than the first eruption happened previously fifty years before. You guys want to hear a really heartwarming story that they mentioned in there? So they were talking about the use of drones and the volcano eruptions and how they were studying it because helicopters can't get as close as the drones can and helicopters can't fly twenty four hours. They were looking at drone footage that was happening and they saw these blinking lights. They started looking closer at the blinking lights and realized it was an SOS signal. Some person was trapped basically not knowing where he could go versus where the lava flows were. They ended up finding him based on his cell phone SOS signal and using the drone to guide him safely out of all of these lava flows.
10:24 Mark: That sounds really great. My name is Mark and I’m the Teen Services librarian at Cedar Mill and Bethany and we get to do lots of things with teens. Some of the great things that are on Kanopy are all the Great Courses content. I don't know if anybody's listened to those or watched those before. Their audio and DVD’s in the library but on Kanopy there's a lot of videos from the Great Courses content. There's one I've watched recently called Practicing Mindfulness. There are 24 episodes on that so there's quite a bit of content around it. In this stressful time that we're living through, it's really nice to go in there and have some of those videos that really help you to work on focusing on being calm in the face of what is clearly a difficult situation for all of us and just trying to remind myself to stay in the moment and focus on that and maybe not focus so much on the past or the future and just kind of be in the moment that we're in. I found that to be pretty helpful and I suspect other people might as well. It's done by a PhD named Mark Muesse. In the first episode in particular, he spends a lot of time talking about the evidence that mindfulness is helpful in a lot of different areas. That was useful to hear and I would recommend that went to anybody who's struggling with stress a little bit. It was a good one. Do we have someone who wants to go again?
12:05 Patrick: The next item I have is a film that also kind of ties into our current situation. It is a New Zealand science fiction film called Quiet Earth. It's about a guy who wakes up one morning to find that nearly everyone, or everyone he thinks at first, have vanished. He soon finds out that's not entirely true. It's a slow kind of deliberate film about isolation and the importance of connecting with people and that's really apt for where we're at today. It's moody and atmospheric and from 1985 from New Zealand. That’s the second New Zealand film today along with The Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
12:53 Mark: Awesome.
12:55 Marti: I think that's been in my queue on Kanopy since we got Kanopy at the library so I really need to get on it.
13:00 Patrick: It's a great movie.
13:03 Mark: Karen, you have another one?
13:06 Karen: Like you, Mark, I've been going through a lot of the Great Courses. I've been focusing on of the food and cooking episodes that they have. They've got a lot of these in a category they call Everyday Gourmet. They've got different things and right now I'm in the middle of a six-episode series on spices. It's the essential secrets of spices in cooking. That's been really good and then the next one that is up for me with cooking is going to be about vegetables and cooking with different vegetables. Each episode is a different type (of vegetable) and I love that with the use food lectures they actually are in the kitchen and they're cooking and so it really is like a food show and I've really been enjoying them.
13:56 Shannon: Karen, I first got started on the Great Courses after we went to the Garlic Festival last year. I looked up cooking with garlic and they’re a lot of fun. The latest one that I just got hooked on is when they were talking about different types of knives you can use and their purpose. Those are great courses.
14:21 Mark: Liz, you have another one?
14:24 Liz: This is Liz again. I didn’t introduce myself before. I work in Adult Services and I do a lot of stuff on the web and I’m the Web Services Librarian. One of the things I am enjoying about Kanopy is finding older films and trying to see them from different points of view but also trying to find something I can watch with my nephew. One that I'm recommending right now is called The Lost World from 1925. It's a restoration. The film based on an Arthur Conan Doyle story. He wrote speculative fiction as well as detective stories. The Lost World is pretty much the origin of all the other “dinosaur on a deserted plateau in the jungle” stories whether you are talking about King Kong or any of Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park actually has one of its episodes called Lost World and it's a direct reference to the Doyle story. You can also read the Doyle book online in Overdrive or from Gutenberg.org (Project Gutenberg) so you can read the novel as well. The film that is in Kanopy has been restored and it has a lot more footage than they've had around for over seventy years. It's a silent film and it doesn't have a lot of title cards. It does have a romance in it that you have to kind of tolerate while you wait for dinosaurs but hang on to the end because you end up in London and there's a lot of rampaging. I think it's a great, quiet one that I would share with family and also with kids who are really interested in and have really liked Jurassic Park but want to know more or are interested animation because it's also a landmark there, too. There's a lot of in the jungle and various conversations going from London to the jungle and back so I recommend Lost World for your curious crew who likes adventure.
16:16 Mark: Marti, do you have another one?
16:20 Marti: I do. My next one is called Coherence. It's a sci-fi thriller about a group of friends you meet for a dinner party the same night that a comet is passing nearby. The power goes out during their party so two of the people go to a house down the street that they notice it still has its lights on and they want to ask if they can use their phone. Nobody answers the door but they do find a box on the doorstep that has photos of all the party guests and numbers on each of the photos and they realize something really strange is going on. That's really all I want to say because it gets twisty-turny after that but I thought it was a unique take on the genre.
17:03 Mark: Sounds like an escape room.
17:06 Marti: Yes, you could see it that way.
17:08 Mark: Shannon, do you have another?
17:12 Shannon: I do. This is Shannon again from the Circulation Department. I am a kind of a science geek. I love science and one of the things I found on Kanopy recently was a six part series called Earth’s Furies. It is a six-episode series covering the science of avalanches, earthquakes, lightning, mega fires, tornadoes, and volcanoes. As I was watching all of the series, I kept thinking about how great these would be for parents who are at home right now and they're wanting some good quality educational materials that are well-produced and have educational value for students. It would probably be something more for late elementary, middle school, and high school. It isn’t geared toward young kids but it's got a lot of great information. They’re about an hour long each, so definitely something for parents who are looking for some great content in the science field. Again, there are six of them so it's a wonderful series called Earth’s Furies.
18:18 Mark: Patrick, you’ve got another one?
18:20 Patrick: So let's pivot away from science fiction and New Zealand and documentaries to an indie comedy that came out a couple years ago. It's called The Little Hours. It stars Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, lots of TV folks, Kate Mitcucci, Dave Franco, John C. Reilly, and Molly Shannon, too. It's set in Fourteenth Century Tuscany in a convent. It's based in part on one a couple of the stories from Boccaccio’s The Decameron. Dave Franco plays a guy who’s on the run who hides out in this convent and let's just say he awakens some urges in the nuns that we're heretofore unexplored so we'll just kind of leave it there. It's very R-rated but is a fantastic movie.
19:10 Liz: I remember hearing about that and I saw the trailer and I went “Oh. nothing could possibly go wrong.”
19:18 Patrick: It is ridiculous but it's all contemporary dialogue so they act like it's last year but it's set in the Fourteenth Century. The sets are like completely historically accurate so it's really good.
19:30 Mark: Marti, I think you have another one.
19:34 Marti: Yes. So again, going in a totally different direction, I am a big horror movie fan and one of my favorite horror movies from 2018 is on Kanopy. It’s called Summer of Eighty-Four. It’s about a small town where some young boys have been disappearing. The main character, Davey, is a big conspiracy theory buff who likes urban legends. He starts becoming suspicious of the activities of his neighbor who is also a local cop so he convinces his friends, a rag-tag group, to spend the summer spying on and following the cop trying to solve the mystery and prove that he is the serial killer plaguing the town. It has that Eighties nostalgia feel that's really popular with Stranger Things and all that lately so I highly recommend it.
20:22 Shannon: I have it on my list and I'm watching it this weekend. I am so excited to watch that and glad you brought it up because you reminded me that I have that on my list.
20:29 Marti: Yes, I think you'll like it.
20:34 Mark: Did anybody have anything else they wanted to bring up from Kanopy?
20:40 Shannon: I can add one more, Mark. I think we’ve seen this so we can talk about it. One of the things I was surprised to find a Kanopy was the series Super Size Me, where Morgan Spurlock eats McDonald's for a month straight. They tracked his both physical and psychological changes as he went through this. It's on Kanopy now -- Super Size Me, plus Super Size Me 2, where he came back and did the sequel to that. Did anybody else remember watching that, watching his body change and his mental health.
21:25 Mark and Liz: Yeah, it was insane.
21:28 Shannon: He had to stop because it was getting too terrible. I remember they were tracking his liver and tracking some of the things and the doctor basically said “No more. You can't do this.”
He had to go through like a detox period to get back to a healthy state.
21:48 Mark: I just want to point out right now that I know people on the podcast can't see this but Marti reached over and took a giant drink from what looks like a Super Size cup right as Shannon was talking about that. Yes, I'm sure it is water and healthy. (laughing)
22:06 Liz: You know, it's crazy but there are a lot of interesting people posting a lot about “darn, I'm gonna be so healthy after this, you know, being stuck at home and not being able to eat all the favorite things I have.” It's a sub-genre of blogging right now.
22:22 Mark: I don't think that's true but we'll see. (laughing)
22:30 Shannon: But I have to say if we look to Morgan Spurlock for what happened to him as we think about all things we’re eating during this time period, I think I may have a salad tonight.
22:43 Liz: I have one more to mention on a really upbeat note that I have on my Kanopy watch list right now that just got added only a couple weeks ago. It’s The Farewell. This is a movie that Awkwafina and the film got mentioned a lot at the Oscars last year and got a Golden Globe for Awkwafina, the actress.
It's such a lovely story, a family-related story happening in Asia. I've really been kind of saving it up for a time when I wanted to connect and think about the issues of saying goodbye and we how we spend time with family. So I think The Farewell would be great.
23:20 Mark: I noticed that was on there and it's on my list as well. Alright, I appreciate everybody listening and all of you guys coming in giving us good recommendations. And Shannon has one more thing.
23:27 Shannon: We just wanted to remind you that during the next few months Kanopy is giving you twenty view credits per month versus the ten that you normally get so go ahead and get on there and try it out. Also, on Kid’s Kanopy, they have a lot of things they’re not charging credits for. And for the Great Courses that Karen was talking about, they charge you just once for the whole course –oh, Karen is saying no they might have changed that.
24:08 Karen: Actually, they don't charge you any credits for courses.
24:10 Shannon: Right, they're not charging any credits right now. Thank you for pointing that out so we can get out there and take advantage of the extra bonuses Kanopy is giving all of us right now.
24:25 Mark: Yes, that's an excellent point. Again, with your Washington County library card you have access to the service. Just go to WCCLS.org and click on the digital resources and Kanopy is one of the tabs down there. We are checking our email and listening on our phones so if you need to contact us, please do so and we'll be back in the library pretty soon.
24:51 Liz: Find us online at library.cedarmill.org. Check the contact page and we will be happy to hear from you.
Some of the staff at the Cedar Mill & Bethany Libraries got together to discuss what we've been watching lately and ways you can stream movies with your library card.
0:03 : Introductions
Mark Richardson: Hi there, my name is Mark Richardson. I am a librarian at the Cedar Mill and Bethany Community Libraries, and we are currently closed. But one of the things that we do a lot of the time while we're at the library is give people recommendations on books and audio books and movies, so that's a service that we want to continue doing. Most of us are at home now. Still working, but yeah, this is one of the things that we really miss right now, is interacting with people and talking to them about the materials that we have in the library. So we are going to do a podcast where we talk about some of these things that we've been watching. Today we're going to focus on TV shows, but I also want to mention that with your WCCLS library card there's a great service that we offer called Kanopy that you can access and has a lot of great streaming options. So we're going to talk about TV shows in general today, but we may bring up Kanopy a bit here and there, and that's something that we may talk about later in a future podcast. So with that being said, like I said my name is Mark, and I do a lot of teen stuff at the library, do events, answer questions, and that sort of thing. And go ahead Sonia.
1:20 Sonia: Hi, my name is Sonia. I work at the Cedar Mill Library in the Circulation Department, and I work primarily with our Circulation volunteers, who do most of our materials handling.
1:33 Mark: Great. Patrick?
1:35 Patrick: Hi, I'm Patrick Coleman. I'm a library assistant at both Cedar Mill and Bethany libraries.
1:43 Mark: Shannon?
1:44 Shannon: Hi, I'm Shannon. I am the Head of Circulation at Cedar Mill Library, so I work in the front area helping people check out materials, check in materials, find things, and all sorts of things.
1:56 Marti: Hi, I'm Marti, and I work at the Cedar Mill Library branch in Circulation, and so I'm helping people check things in and out, find stuff, and I also do a lot of our social media posting.
2:06 What we’ve been watching
Mark: So I guess I'll go ahead and go first, and then I'll just, we'll go around and we'll talk about some of the things we've been watching lately.
2:15 Mark: So the first thing that I wanted to talk about is a show that started out as a movie--and this one is available on Kanopy, that's where I watched it--and it's called "What we do in the shadows". It is hard to explain, but I'm going to give it a shot. It's a mockumentary about three vampires who've been alive for hundreds of years, and somebody's filming them like it's a documentary. It's just very absurd and funny. And it's how they're dealing with modern life, even though they've been alive for hundreds of years. And there's an older vampire who looks like Nosferatu. And they're all living in a house together, and they're arguing and getting in fights for different things. And I guess they’ve turned it into a TV show, but if you are a fan of mockumentaries, like "Flight of the Conchords", or, you know, "Best in Show", or some of those things, this might be the thing for you. But it is a very specific acquired taste, so it's not for everybody, but I thought it was pretty funny in parts and it's worth a watch. Yeah, like I said, I think it is gone on to become a TV series as well, and I'm not sure which channel it's on, but this one was pretty interesting. So that that would be my first recommendation.
3:40 Mark: Sonia, do you want to go?
3:43 Sonia: Sure. So I watch TV shows mainly on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime. Last week I finished up the latest season of "Kim's Convenience", which was Season 3. It's a show that I've been following that came recommended by one of the staff members that I work with the library. And I checked it out, and I really enjoyed it. It's a show that's set in Toronto, and it's about a Korean-Canadian family who runs a convenience store. And it's one of the great shows that I've seen that has family dynamics, so parents and then their interactions with their grown children and their family and friends. It was really funny. So that's the first show that I would recommend, "Kim's Convenience", on Netflix.
4:48 Mark: Great. Patrick, what about you?
4:52 Patrick: Well, Mark's already talked about the film version of what I'm wanted to talk about, but "What we do in the shadows" the TV series is airing on FX, and Hulu has the complete first season right now, and is airing the first couple of episodes from season two, the season that's going on right now. It's a different cast. It's still four different vampires living in this house, and they're basically being terrible vampires. They have no idea what they're doing, and stumbling and shenanigans left and right. One of the highlights, Matt Berry from "The IT Crowd" is in as one of the vampires, and he's always really amazing whatever he is. Still filmed "documentary style", and it's a fairly short half hour comedy series, about ten episodes in the first season, so it's a quick watch.
5:45 Mark: Great. Shannon, what about you?
5:48 Shannon: Recently I've been watching "Chernobyl", and then the follow-up, "Life after Chernobyl", on Hulu. I think one of them you have to have the HBO add-on to get to the main series of Chernobyl. What it covers is the 1986 disaster, the nuclear disaster surrounding Chernobyl, and the events leading up to it. How some scientists were figuring out what was going on, despite all of that media presence in Russia that was being controlled at the time, and goes all the way through the follow-up "Life after Chernobyl" where scientists have gone in to the area that was once affected and are doing tests now to figure out what's going on with the wildlife, what's going on with the water systems, and things like that. What's interesting is you can also, on Libby, check out the audio book or an e-book on Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy, and if you're really interested in it, there's also, on Kanopy, there are some different things: "Heavy Water, a film (for) Chernobyl”, and "The Babushkas of Chernobyl" is also available on Kanopy, so there's lots of different resources surrounding this nuclear disaster.
7:13 Mark: Cool. Yeah, I watched that recently, and I went immediately to the e-book and started reading that book, it's very interesting. Marti, what do you want to talk about?
7:25 Marti: So I binge-watched all of the first season of "Avenue Five", which is a short dark comedy on HBO. And it stars Hugh Laurie as the captain of a luxury cruise liner spaceship, and it's supposed to be on like a three month vacation journey, but due to the ineptitude of the staff, they get stuck in space for three years before they can make it back to earth. So it follows the staff and the passengers trying to deal with the situation, and it's just absolutely ridiculous. It's a mix of terrible situations with absurd and sometimes crude humor, but it was a nice escape and I got a lot of laughs out of it, so if you happen to have HBO, I recommend that.
8:08 Mark: Awesome.
8:09 Shannon: Marti, I've been watching that too, and it's such a contrast for Hugh Laurie, when I think about him in his role at "House", and then I see him on this. I keep waiting for him to, you know, have a different character persona, but he is--it's delightful seeing the range of acting that he can do.
8:26 Marti: It is, and he goes back and forth in the show between his British and his American accents, so it's even better.
8:34 Shannon: He does.
8:35 Mark: Is Josh Gad in that one too?
Marti: Yes.
Shannon: Yes.
8:40 Mark: Okay, I thought I saw a picture, and I was like "what is he in", so...
8:44 Marti: And I forget his real name, but the guy who plays Jared in "Silicon Valley", he basically plays the same character in this, except a little more depressed, but he's hilarious, I love him.
8:57 Shannon: The funniest thing is the absurd scenes that come up as they're dealing with different life events on it, it's pretty funny. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, just like Marty.
9:08 Patrick: Yeah, it's from the creators of "Veep", so it has that same kind of vibe, and it is really great.
9:15 Mark: Well I'll put it on my list, it sounds good. So the second one I wanted to talk about is ... I just started watching it this week, I think it just came out on Sunday, and it's on ESPN, and also showing on Netflix as well, and it's called "The Last Dance". And it's a documentary about the nineteen nineties Chicago Bulls, and in it they're focusing on the last season that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and that whole team was together. They had won five championships, and then this was the sixth season, and there was just a ton of drama that was going on that season. And they had agreed to let a documentary film crew film this, you know, the stuff that went on that season, so this is the culmination of all that film work. But it's really interesting because, each episode they'll like go back in time. Like the first episode, they went back and they showed all this stuff of Michael Jordan as a kid and, you know, what he kind of went through to become the basketball player that he is. And then the second episode, they did the same thing with Scotty Pippen, so I'm really looking forward to hearing the story of all these amazing players that I remember when I was younger, and, it's just, you know you forget how incredible Michael Jordan was, but then you start to see all these old film clips of him playing and it's just phenomenal. And, yeah just the whole drama around it and that last season and how things are kind of falling apart, it's just very interesting that you would have this amazing team of players, and that it's a business decision to let that fall apart, when they are playing the best basketball that really any team's ever played. So, if anybody's missing sports right now, I would highly recommend checking out "The Last Dance".
Mark: Sonia, you have another one?
11:15 Sonia: Yeah, so last week I put a question out asking our co-workers what their recommendations were for binge-worthy Sci-Fi/Fantasy shows, and I got a lot of great recommendations. And one of the shows that I started watching is called "Dark Matter"; it’s on Netflix. I think it originally aired on Sci Fi, and there are three seasons on Netflix right now, I believe. I started watching it over the weekend; I'm really enjoying so this is one that I'm sticking with. It reminds me of any shows that are set in space, like Stargate Atlantis, or Star Trek, or The Expanse, which is another show that I really enjoyed that's on Amazon Prime. And it’s about this crew of six people who wake up on a space ship with no memory of who they are, and how they got there, and they’re navigating their, you know, they're trying to find out things about themselves and about their friends, and they know that someone's wiped their memories, and they suspect that it's one of the crew, but they don't know what the motive was, and who it could be, and then they’re dealing with other people who know them from their past, but they don't know who the other people are, so it's actually pretty interesting, the mystery and the drama that’s going on, and there's some fun scenes in there too. It’s pretty interesting to watch.
13:02 Mark: Excellent. Patrick, do you have another one?
13:04 Patrick: Yeah, my next one is the Netflix hour-long drama called “Ragnarok”. It’s set in Norway and actually is a Norwegian import. It's about a young man named Magne, who moves to a new town, and he finds out he may or may not be Thor reborn. And it's about him going up against the forces of evil in this town; also about climate change and glacial retreat, and his interactions with friends and family, as he's on the (autism) spectrum, and it's a really interesting portrayal of somebody who is “there”. And it's a six-episode season that they're going to be doing more of, and that’s a short but a really great series.
13:50 Mark: That sounds good. Shannon, do you have another one?
13:57 Shannon: Yeah, another one that I've been watching is on Netflix; it's called “The Staircase”. It's a thirteen episode, it’s more of a documentary featuring Michael Peterson, who is accused of killing his wife, Kathleen Peterson, through a fall down a staircase. So we do know that she did die of a fall on a staircase. He is accused of that, and as they started exploring his life and the accident that happened in their home, they soon discover that Michael Peterson, decades before, lost a close friend of his when he was living in Germany, and she died from a fall down the staircase. And Michael Peterson ended up adopting that person’s two daughters, ‘cause the father had died earlier, so it comes around to “Wow, this is really coincidental” that two people in his life have died through a fall down the staircase. Then, they do cover the trial and everything that happens, and there is some updates eight years later in the case that takes some really questionable twist and turns, when they find out some new information. I don't want to spoil it for you, but it is called “The Staircase”, it is on Netflix. They did a really good job of videoing it from the very first part of the moment that she had fallen down, this film crew had been there through the eight-year journey, and longer.
15:32 Mark: And let me just say, isn't it amazing that there are film crews everywhere filming everything at this point? What is going on?
15:41 Shannon: I have to say, it is so true Mark, I mean the film crew was there and some of the things that came up in the twist and turns in the trial, some of it eight years later, references the fact that the film crews were there, and caught some of the stuff on evidence, and it was easier to go back, ‘cause they weren’t there, initially. There's not enough twist already in there, so it is a very interesting series and, the two daughters that he did raise are adults in this series, so you get to hear from them, as well as his own children, and the children of Kathleen Peterson, and her daughter and her sisters as well.
16:23 Mark: Sounds like a good one. Marti, what do you have next?
16:28 Marti: My second recommendation is a slightly older one -- I am just starting a rewatch of “Community”, and if you didn't catch this the first time around, it's a comedy about a group of misfits at a community college who get together as a study group, and it just follows their crazy antics throughout their years at the college. They play around a lot with tropes, and they're constantly riffing on other TV shows and movies, so it's really fun if you're a pop culture fan or a film buff. And it's one of those shows where they've mastered the art of the call-back, and running jokes that span across seasons, so it's perfect to re-watch, because you're always going to catch more jokes the second or third time around, and the more you pay attention. Even if the plot lines get out of control at times, the characters are really realistic, and I found myself identifying with all of them at different points, so all seasons; six of them are available on Netflix now, so even if you did already watch it, perfect time for a rewatch.
17:33 Patrick: Also, not a lot of shows will have an episode based on “My Dinner with Andre”, so … that in itself gets credit.
17:41 Mark: That is very true. Does anybody have a third recommendation? Okay, Shannon, go ahead.
17:49 Shannon: I wanted to have everybody kinda chime in on this one. When Sonia had originally put out the call for suggestions for binge-worthy shows, “Locke & Key” came up. “Locke & Key” is the story of three kids and their Mom who move back to their Dad's family home on the East Coast after his death, and they find these magical keys in the home. And the first key is found by the youngest of the family, Bode, very cute character in this show, and I do know, Mark, you had mentioned as soon as we started talking about the show, about the graphic novels, do you want to share about those?
18:34 Mark: Yeah, I would say I do a lot of the graphic novel buying for the library, and I've read graphic novels for a long time. “Locke & Key” is one of my favorites of all time. The artwork is stunning, and the story is just solid, it's written by Joe Hill, who is Stephen King's son. You know, it's creepy, it's for adults, but really well done, so it's a great graphic novel if you get a chance, and I know it is available on Overdrive and Libby as an e-book. So if you want to check it out, you can get on there and place a hold on it.
19:14 Marti: Yeah, that's one that I cannot wait to watch; it’s on my list.
19:20 Sonia: That was a really great one, and I believe I had looked for the print versions of the graphic novels, before the libraries had all shut down, and this was way, I believe, in the beginning of March, it was when the when everyone was talking about the series, so all the books had holds on them, but I'm glad to know that the e-book version is available.
19:43 Mark: And that one's on Netflix, right?
19:45 Shannon: Yes, it is on Netflix; it's one season right now.
19:48 Mark: Anybody have anything else they want to add?
19:54 Patrick: Yeah, I had one more Netflix drama.
Mark: Okay.
19:55 Patrick: It’s called “The Gift”, it's an hour long Netflix drama. It's a Turkish series this time, and it’s actually filmed in Turkey and is in Turkish. It's about a painter named Atiye. She discovers … she's a painter and since since childhood she’s been painting these oddball … this image on everything. Kind of an odd one with loops and whorls, and an archaeological dig turns that symbol up in a place where she could not possibly have seen it, and she slowly discovers that she might have inherited a mystic power that she's only barely beginning to understand. And it’s a real slow burn, but it's not just about that, it's also about her family, and her upcoming marriage, and a lot of really cool cultural Turkish stuff that (you) really don't see in TV or movies much. It’s a really neat watch, eight episodes a single season on Netflix.
20:58 Mark: That sounds like a great one as well. If you guys ever need any more advice on what to watch right now, we are still available. If you want to email us, the email is AskUsCML@wccls.org, and we are checking it daily, and we will definitely get a response back to you. We really miss seeing everybody at the library; we are hoping to get back as soon as we can. So everybody stay safe, and hopefully we will get to see you again at the library real soon.
Staff at the Cedar Mill & Bethany Community Libraries got together to discuss what they are currently reading while staying home during the Covid 19 pandemic. All of these titles are available as downloadable ebooks or audiobooks through Overdrive and WCCLS at https://wccls.overdrive.com/. The audio is pretty quiet in parts so bear with us.
The Teen Council muses about mysteries and that they have enjoyed over the years. There are a few dad jokes too. This was recorded before schools and libraries were closed due to Covid 19 concerns.
The Cedar Mill and Bethany Library teen council shares many things that they used to hate but now love from Marvel movies to roller coasters to Kung Fu Panda 2. Find out what turned their anxiety into love in this February podcast.
The Teen Council interviews their own fearless editor, Isaac. Find out what superpower he would choose, what his favorite cookie is and other deep thoughts in this revealing and silly episode of Chowder Chat.
The Cedar Mill and Bethany Teen Council looks back at their favorite things from 2019 including movies, tv shows, books and events from school. A small character from Star Wars even gets a mention.
The teen council recalls a few stories from Halloween and life in general. The difficulties of being on the shorter side are discussed.
Our new teen council delves into all things Halloween in this Chowder Chat episode. From reading It by Stephen King to what fun costume ideas they have this year, the teens are all about things that go bump in the night.
The teen council records their final episode of this school year. They say goodbye to some team members who are going to college and talk about what favorite books they want to reread this summer. They are also looking for fresh ideas for new content in the Fall. Share your ideas!
The Cedar Mill & Bethany Library Teen council weighs in on what their favorite summer reads are and which books remind them most of summer. Finally, it wouldn't be Teen council without a rundown on the latest Marvel movie as the teens share their thoughts on Avengers Endgame.
The Cedar Mill and Bethany Teen Council discusses their favorite superhero movies and, surprise!, the Marvel Cinematic Universe dominates the list. Captain Marvel in particular gets a lot of love in this episode, so buckle up, podcast fans. This one is quite a ride.
The Cedar Mill Teen Council shares their opinions (and there are many) about Young Adult books that have been turned into films and tv shows recently. Twilight? yep. Harry Potter? you betcha. Percy Jackson? Count on it.
The Cedar Mill Teen Library Council talks about the movies and TV shows they are most looking forward to in 2019 with lots of humorous commentary included. There might even be thoughts on what they are least looking forward to.
In this Chowder Chat, the Cedar Mill Teen council discusses their favorite books, music and movies from 2018 with a heavy focus on the merits of ABBA. Find out what these local teens discovered over the past year that they enjoyed.
Teen council members discuss their different Thanksgiving traditions, what pies they like and what they do for fun on rainy days. It's a wide ranging conversations that covers the Clue board game, NaMoWriMo, rock climbing and much more. Recorded on Nov. 5, 2018.
Members of the Cedar Mill Library Teen Council share their views on pop culture, literary news and anything else they want to talk about it on Chowder Chat. The first episode delves into the scariest books or movies they have experienced, from the Nun to Coraline and many things in between. Intro and outro music from URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/KieLoKaz/Walker_Traffic/Rainy_Nights_KieLoKaz_ID_159 Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
As part of the Cedar Mill Library's 40th anniversary celebration in 2014, librarians Mark Richardson and Lynne Erlandson sat down with Vi and Bob Metzler, two early advocates and volunteers at the library who were instrumental in laying the foundations for the thriving library we have today. Vi and Bob talk about the early days of the library, some of the bigger challenges and what it was like for Vi being one of the first paid librarians at the library.
Lori Buffington recalls how she and her mother, Marvel Noyes, got involved with the founding of the Cedar Mill Library back in the mid-70s. Lori remembers the earliest incarnation of the library when it was the Book Van, before there was even a building. She remained involved in a variety of volunteer positions over the years and gives us a good picture of how the library has grown since those early days. To celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2014, we're looking back at how CML began with these interviews. Be sure to look at our earlier Founder Histories with Georgia & Jack Thurber, Muriel and Allen Van Veen, Mary Packer and Janette Gill.
Our Teen Library Council met in March to describe young adult titles that were recently published. Find out what you should be reading next here! The titles they talked about were:
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han
- The Winner's Curse - Marie Rutkoski
- Tales from my Closet - Jennifer Anne Moses
- Rise of the Arcane Fire - Kristin Bailey
- Will in Scarlet - Matthew Cody
- This Side of Salvation - Jeri Smith-Ready
The Cedar Mill Teen Library Council has a new batch of recent or about-to-be published books to talk about. They met in January and recorded this new book roundup to give you the inside scoop on these new titles. Give it a listen and enjoy! Books discussed are as follows:
- Inhuman by Kat Falls
- The Hit by Melvin Burgess
- Neverwas by Kelly Moore, Larkin Reed and Tucker Reed
- Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore
- Save the Enemy by Arin Greenwood
- Defy by Sara B. Larson
- Landry Park by Bethany Hagen
Our Teen Library Council has been reading new books all summer and fall and they have the inside scoop on what you should read and what to skip. Listen and find out what's worth your time in teen novels today. Books reviewed are as follows:
- Torn by David Massey
- A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron
- Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow
- Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel
- How to Catch a Boggle by Catherine Jinks
- Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender
- Forevermore by Cindy Miles
- Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
- Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine
- If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
Our Teen Library Council has been in a reading frenzy lately. They've got the scoop on several recently published teen books, just in time for summer reading. Listen and find out which ones are worth your time. Books on the discussion list this month are:
- The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter
- The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan
- Romeo Blue by Phoebe Stone
- The Outlaws of Sherwood Street: Giving to the Poor by Peter Abrahms
- Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg
- Hold Fast by Blue Balliett
- Twerp by Mark Goldblatt
- Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Local teens from our Teen Library Council read a bunch of newly published books and they've got the scoop on whether they are worth your time or not. The books discussed in March were:
- Darwin Arklight and the Insidious Bleck by AJ Hartley
- Always October by Bruce Coville
- The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
- Money Run by Jack Heath
- Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz
Members of the Teen Library Council discussed a new round of recently published YA novels in February of 2013. Get details about basic plot points, character info and whether they liked the book or not. The following titles were discussed:
- The Innocents by Lili Peloquin
- The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist
- Just One Day by Gayle Forman
- Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery
- A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
- The Cloak Society by Jeramey Kraatz
- Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
Traveling from Hong Kong to New York for college was quite a culture shock for Cleo Leigh. Listen to her story as she shares how she came to Oregon and other challenges as an immigrant. Cleo met with Sunset high students in May of 2012 to tell her story.
This recording from September 2012 has members of our teen library council discussing several early Fall releases of Young Adult books. They give brief descriptions and opinions on the following:
- Starling by Lesley Livingston
- Hidden by Sophie Jordan
- Spookygirl by Jill Baguchinsky
Members of the Cedar Mill Teen Library Council met in November 2012 to discuss several books published around that time. Expect a recap of basic plot points, character descriptions, what they thought of the books and who the book is published for to be discussed. The titles discussed are:
- Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery
- Secret Prophecy by Herbie Brennan
- False Memory by Dan Krokos
- Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs
Susanna Breiling spoke with some Sunset High School students in May of 2012 about her experiences growing up in Argentina and Sweden in the 70s before settling down in Oregon as an adult. Her interview is a part of our ongoing Oral History Project.
Jo McCutcheon shares her observations about America from her perspective as an immigrant from England with Sunset High School Seniors from May 2012. Jo moved to the US in the early 80s at the age of 26 after falling in love with a US citizen. This is part of the Library's ongoing discussion series with local immigrants