Hot This Week: May 13

The critically acclaimed Silver Linings Playbook debuts atop this week's DVD list. Kenny Chesney's latest release tops the CD chart, with Michael Buble and Justin Timberlake staying strong as well. The new Women's Murder Club novel from Patterson/Paetro leads this week's fiction titles; in non-fiction, the memoir from Amanda Knox comes in at #3.

DVD

1. Silver Linings Playbook
2. Django Unchained
3. This Is 40
4. The Guilt Trip 
5. Life of Pi
6. Parental Guidance
7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
8. The Impossible
9. Lincoln
10. Zero Dark Thirty

 CD

1. Kenny Chesney, Life on a Rock
2. Michael Buble, To Be Loved
3. Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience
4. Fantasia, Side Effects of You
5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist
6. Blake Shelton, Based on a True Story...
7. P!nk, The Truth About Love
8. Bruno Mars, Unorthodox Jukebox
9. Randy Rogers Band, Trouble
10. Imagine Dragons, Night Visions

Fiction

1. 12th of Never, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
2. The Hit, David Baldacci
3. Whiskey Beach, Nora Roberts
4. Best Kept Secret, Jeffrey Archer
5. Daddy's Gone A Hunting, Mary Higgins Clark
6. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
7. Fly Away, Kristin Hannah
8. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
9. Paris, Edward Rutherfurd
10. The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout

Non-Fiction

1. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
2. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris
3. Waiting to Be Heard, Amanda Knox
4. Cooked, Michael Pollan
5. Bunker Hill, Nathaniel Philbrick
6. The New Digital Age, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen
7. Carrie and Me, Carol Burnett
8. The Duck Commander Family, Willie & Korie Robertson
9. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
10. Dirty Wars, Jeremy Scahill

The Voyages of the Starship Enterprise

Written by Jon Williams

Despite the fact that the solstice is still over a month away, the summer movie season is in full swing with Iron Man 3 opening last weekend, The Great Gatsby this weekend, and Star Trek Into Darkness coming to theaters next week.

The Star Trek phenomenon began in 1966 with the original television series starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and James Doohan as the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise. Set in the 2260s, the series dealt with the crew’s adventures as they explore the galaxy in the name of the United Federation of Planets.

Creator Gene Roddenberry’s original series ran for three seasons, totaling 79 episodes (80 if you count the series pilot, which was originally rejected by NBC and went unaired until 1988). That wasn’t enough to satisfy fans, though, and it was followed up with an animated series in 1973. This show featured the voices of the original cast in the same roles, and ran for two seasons.

At that point, the small screen was no longer big enough for the further voyages of the Enterprise. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the series’ first foray onto the silver screen in 1979. It was followed by five sequels (released every 2-3 years and culminating in 1991) that featured Captain Kirk and his original crew.

As it turned out, even this wasn’t enough for Star Trek fans. So, in 1987, the franchise spun off with an entirely new television series. Star Trek: The Next Generation starred Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, Denise Crosby, and Wil Wheaton as the Enterprise’s new crew, set about a century after the original.

The Next Generation was well received by both critics and fans, and it received a longer run than the original series, spanning seven seasons and 178 episodes. It also carried on into a theatrical run, beginning with the film Generations, which released soon after the series finale in 1994. William Shatner, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig reprised their roles from the original crew as a means of passing the torch to the new crew. Three other films were made featuring the Next Generation crew.

Following The Next Generation, three more television series were set in the Star Trek universe. Beginning in 1993, Deep Space Nine was set concurrently with The Next Generation, and took place aboard a space station orbiting the planet Bajor. Voyager, which premiered in 1995, deals with a different Federation starship returning home to Earth from 75,000 light years away. Then, 2001 brought Enterprise, a prequel series detailing humanity’s first voyages into interstellar space.

As popular as these series have been, nothing has captured Trek fans’ imaginations in quite the same way as the original crew. That set the stage for 2009’s theatrical reboot, featuring a time-travel plot that allowed the familiar characters to be brought back with new actors portraying them. Star Trek Into Darkness will pick up where that film left off, as the second adventure for the “new” crew of the Enterprise.

With the new film coming into theaters, Trek fever is sure to be at an all-time high. Make sure you have plenty of Star Trek series and movies on your shelves for patrons to enjoy. SmartBrowse ‘Star Trek’ on our website for a complete selection of films and TV seasons on DVD and Blu-ray.

Hot This Week: May 6

Not much changes on this week's DVD list, with last week's popular titles staying strong. The CD chart, on the other hand, sees five titles debut, including the new #1, the latest from pop crooner Michael Buble. Newcomers on the fiction list include titles from such names as David Baldacci and Sophie Kinsella. The non-fiction list sees a major shakeup, with only four titles carrying over from last week.

DVD

1. Django Unchained
2. This Is 40
3. Life of Pi
4. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
5. Lincoln
6. Parental Guidance
7. Zero Dark Thirty
8. Argo 
9. The Impossible
10. Les Miserables

 CD

1. Michael Buble, To Be Loved
2. Fantasia, Side Effects of You
3. Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience
4. Phoenix, Bankrupt!
5. Fall Out Boy, Save Rock and Roll
6. Blake Shelton, Based on a True Story...
7. Rob Zombie, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor
8. Kid Cudi, Indicud
9. will.i.am, #willpower
   
10. P!nk, The Truth About Love

Fiction

1. The Hit, David Baldacci
2. Whiskey Beach, Nora Roberts
3. Fly Away, Kristin Hannah
4. Paris, Edward Rutherfurd
5. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
6. Wedding Night, Sophia Kinsella
7. Daddy's Gone A Hunting, Mary Higgins Clark
8. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
9. The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout
10. The Mystery Woman, Amanda Quick 

Non-Fiction

1. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris
2. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
3. Cooked, Michael Pollan
4. Trident K9 Warriors, Mike Ritland and Gary Brozek
5. Dirty Wars, Jeremy Scahill
6. Carrie and Me, Carol Burnett
7. Gulp, Mary Roach
8. The Duck Commander Family, Willie & Korie Robertson
9. I'll See You Again, Jackie Hance
10. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

McCartney Remasters Wings Over America

Written by Jon Williams

On May 28, Paul McCartney will re-release Wings Over America, a 2-disc live set originally released in 1976. McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings recorded their concert from June 23, 1976, at the Forum in Los Angeles. The 28-track album contains many hits from Wings and McCartney’s early solo career, as well as mixing in a few Beatles classics.

This will be the latest release in McCartney’s Archive Collection, a project giving McCartney’s albums a similar remastering treatment that the entire Beatles catalog received in 2009. The first album in this collection was Band on the Run, widely considered to be the best of Sir Paul’s post-Beatles oeuvre, in 2010. This was followed in 2011 by McCartney (his first solo album) and McCartney II (his second “solo” album, released in 1980). Then in 2012, he re-released his 1971 album Ram, which was credited to himself and his wife Linda.

These re-releases are being overseen by Paul McCartney himself, and often include bonus tracks including B-sides, unreleased songs, and live versions.  The schedule for upcoming releases runs through 2016. The exact order seems to be in flux, but the next ones on the list are rumored to be Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound.

Of course, these re-releases aren’t the only things McCartney fans have to look forward to. He’s working on an album of new material with producer Mark Ronson to follow up his 2012 Grammy-winning album Kisses on the Bottom. He’s also embarking on a world tour beginning tomorrow and running through August, with dates in South America, Europe, and both the U.S. and Canada.

With the Beatles’ debut album, Please Please Me, being released in March of 1963, Sir Paul McCartney has been a heavyweight in the music industry for more than fifty years. Make sure you have a broad selection of his music on your shelves for patrons to enjoy.

Looking to the Stars

Written by Kyle Slagley

It seems like space exploration has gotten a lot of press lately. On October 14, 2012, Fearless Felix Baumgartner traveled to “the edge of space” and skydived from an altitude of 24 miles in what would be the most-watched live online broadcast ever. Now, thanks to the privatization of space travel, space tourism is getting closer to becoming a reality.

That being said, I think one of the biggest reasons for the public’s renewed interest in space travel lies solely in the hands of Canadian Astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield (as well as the Canadian Space Agency). For the first time – or at least the first time on this scale - Cmdr. Hadfield is showing the average person across the world what it’s like to live in space. Thanks to YouTube, we now see what happens when you wring out a wet cloth in space, how to clean up a spill in space, or how water is recycled on the International Space Station.

If you get your patrons, particularly the younger ones, hooked on CSA’s YouTube station, once they’ve exhausted all 175+ videos, they may come to you looking for some longer titles. Here are a few that we recommend.

Earth from Space (DVD or Blu-Ray): This two-hour video gives viewers some of the most definitive imagery of our planet as seen from space. It gives extensive detail on how environmental elements that are hundreds or thousands of miles apart interconnect to form the complex and delicate ecosystem of Earth.

Space Flight Collection from the Discovery Channel: A four-video anthology, each touching on a different element of space flight, from the first moon landing through the future of space travel.

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Outer Space: Bill Nye was the go-to man for pretty much any science-related question for children of the ‘90s. He explained it in an entertaining way that wasn’t overly complicated. In the Outer Space episode, Nye travels to the Mount Wilson Observatory in California to discuss the speed of light in space. Also check out the Space Exploration episode where Nye talks about the technology used in space.

Kids @ Discovery – Space: In this video, Canadian astronauts detail how the arm of the ISS that was built by the CSA, which has four cameras and can lift 100 tons, was built and functions. They also show viewers the rigorous training they go through and some of the equipment that is used in space.

Food In Space: This is a topic that every kid will want to know about! Do astronauts get pizza? What about ice cream or soda? Watch the video to see how the astronauts prepare and eat their meals.