 

It’s been a while…. but we’re back!

Well, it’s been quite a while since we’ve posted anything here on Curiositas – but that just means we’ve been busy!!

In the first half of this year our library’s many extra-curricular clubs have continued to thrive, with Caught Read Handed Book Club and Photography Club recieving record high attendance numbers. Our Chess Club’s FCC Knights have been to a few inter-school tournaments and are gaining a reputation as fierce competitors, bringing home a few trophies! CiNECiTY, our library Film Club continues to screen a diverse range of classic, foriegn and arthouse films on Wednesday afternoons during Terms 2 and 3.

We will also be hosting a couple of excursions to the Melbourne Writers Festival in August, where students will hear authors discussing their latest books and the books they love or have inspired them. If you’re interested in attending one of the two whole day outings, please come and speak to the library staff. You may have heard that some keen FCC students have formed the inaugural Melbourne Writers Festival Youth Program Advisory Committee!! If not, then read all about it here.

As well as providing all these amazing extra-curricular opportunities our library continues to support our school community in the delivery of the curriculum by helping staff with resources for class, providing a fantastic range of online and print reference material which is searchable via our library website and by continually updating our vast fiction book collection. We have a huge range of diverse novels, biographies, picture books, comics and graphic novels and we are always buying in more.

And speaking of new fiction take a look at some of these great new books now available in our library:

One Would Think the Deep by Claire Zorn onewouldthinkthedeeponewouldthinkthedeep

It’s 1997 and seventeen-year-old Sam is mourning the sudden loss of his mum. Sam has always had things going on in his head that no one else understands, even his mum. And now she’s dead, it’s worse than ever. With nothing but his skateboard and a few belongings in a garbage bag, Sam goes to live with the strangers his mum cut ties with seven years ago: Aunty Lorraine and his cousins Shane and Minty. Despite the suspicion and hostility emanating from their fibro shack, Sam reverts to his childhood habit of following Minty around and is soon surfing with Minty to cut through the static fuzz in his head. But as the days slowly meld into one another, and ghosts from the past reappear, Sam has to make the ultimate decision … will he sink or will he swim.

broBro by Helen Chebatte

What happens when you mix teenage boys, a fight club and ethnic rivalries?  You get war. Romeo Makhlouf knows the rules. Stick with your own kind. Don’t dob on your mates or even on your enemies. Respect the family. But even unwritten rules are made for breaking. Fight clubs, first loves and family ties are pushed to the limit in Helen Chebatte’s explosive debut novel.

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona


Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she’s suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she’s comin’ for you, Jersey! It’s history in the making from acclaimed writer G. Willow Wilson (Air, Cairo) and beloved artist Adrian Alphona (RUNAWAYS)!

The Road to Winter by Mark Smith

Since a deadly virus and the violence that followed wiped out his parents and most of his community, Finn has lived alone on the rugged coast with only his loyal dog Rowdy for company. He has stayed alive for two winters—hunting and fishing and trading food, and keeping out of sight of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang that controls the north, led by a ruthless man named Ramage. But Finn’s isolation is shattered when a girl runs onto the beach. Rose is a Siley—an asylum seeker—and she has escaped from Ramage, who had enslaved her and her younger sister, Kas. Rose is desperate, sick, and needs Finn’s help. Kas is still missing somewhere out in the bush. And Ramage wants the girls back—at any cost. The Road to Winter is an unforgettable novel about survival, honour, friendship and love. It announces an extraordinary new talent.

Black by Fleur FerrisBlack

Ebony Marshall is in her final year of high school. Five months, two weeks and four days . . . She can’t wait to leave the town where she’s known only as ‘Black’. Because of her name, of course. But for another reason, too. Everyone says Black Marshall is cursed. Three of her best friends have died in tragic accidents. After Oscar, the whispers started. Now she’s used to being on her own. It’s easier that way. But when her date for the formal ends up in intensive care, something in quiet little Dainsfield starts to stir. Old secrets are revealed and terrifying new dangers emerge. If only Black could put all the pieces together, she could work out who her real enemies are. Should she run for her life, or stay and fight?

blacksadBlacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido 

Private investigator John Blacksad is up to his feline ears in mystery, digging into the backstories behind murders, child abductions, and nuclear secrets. Guarnido’s sumptuously painted pages and rich cinematic style bring the world of 1950s America to vibrant life, with Canales weaving in fascinating tales of conspiracy, racial tension, and the “red scare” Communist witch hunts of the time. Guarnido reinvents anthropomorphism in these pages, and industry colleagues no less than Will Eisner, Jim Steranko, and Tim Sale are fans! Whether John Blacksad is falling for dangerous women or getting beaten to within an inch of his life, his stories are, simply put, unforgettable.

Feel free to come and chat with us in the library if you need any help with schoolwork, research or finding a book to read. We’re always happy to help.

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CiNECiTY – A Fistful of Dollars

This week we screen A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, the classic spaghetti western by Sergio Leone.

A-Fistful-of-Dollars-Poster-antiheroes-21516449-1005-1564Director: Sergio Leone

Cast: Clint Eastwood

Marianne Koch

Gian Maria Volonte

Wolfgang Lukschy

Writers: Victor Andre Catena

Jaime Comas

Sergio Leone

Genre: Spaghetti Western / Action

Duration: 90 min

Colour: Colour

Released: 1964

Countries / Languages: Italy, Spain, West Germany / English, Spanish, Italian

BACKGROUND NOTES:

  • This film was identified as an unlicensed remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo which was released 3 years earlier. Leone says Yojimbo was an inspiration, along with other classic Hollywood westerns and Servant of Two Masters, an Italian play by Carlo Goldoni in 1746.
  • Like most Spaghetti Westerns, this film was a lot more violent than American westerns due to Europe’s lack of censorship codes such as were around in Hollywood.
  • Though made on a low budget, Leone ushered in a then-groundbreaking filmmaking style, emphasising long, tense close-ups, widescreen camera compositions, and hauntingly unusual music by his old schoolmate, Ennio Morricone. Leone’s films have been likened to action based operas, and his style was much imitated.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

  • American audiences were shocked by this film on its release in 1967. Why do you think Eastwood’s character caused such a ruckus in the 1960s? Is the Man With No Name truly “amoral,” as many commentators have called him? What are his motives?
  • Can you see the influence of this film’s style on today’s action movies? Think of modern directors like Quentin Tarantino, John Woo and Martin Scorsese…

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The new Early Harvest magazine from 100 Story Building

Early Harvest is a yearly literary journal produced by an editorial board of upper-primary students from Melbourne’s west. It’s created during an after school program facilitated by 100 Story Building  which is designed to give young writers and illustrators a platform to share their voice, and to give them confidence in their own creative output. This year they need help collecting the funds to publish the new magazine and have started a crowd-funding campaign on Pozible.

Three of FCC’s talented year 7 students, Ilan, Halima and Greta, were editors of the magazine last year and were asked to help Lachlann and the team create the video below to promote the campaign and newest edition of Early Harvest. So why not pre-order a copy via the Pozible site and help support the young writers in this fantastic program?!

Support Early Harvest issue 4! from 100 Story Building on Vimeo.

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CiNECiTY – REAR WINDOW

This Wednesday we screen Alfred Hitchcock’s classic voyeuristic thriller, Rear Window. You won’t believe your eyes….

rear_windowDirector: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: James Stewart

Grace Kelly

Wendell Corey

Raymond Burr

Writer: John Michael Hayes

Genre: Thriller / Mystery

Duration: 112 min

Colour: Colour

Released: 1954

Country / Language: USA / English

BACKGROUND NOTES:

  • The whole film was shot on one huge set, which took months of planning and construction. The apartment-courtyard set consisted of 31 apartments, eight of which were completely furnished and had power and water connected. To fit this enormous set in the studio, a higher ceiling was needed. Hitchcock had the entire floor of the studio torn out, revealing the basement. What you see as the courtyard in the film was originally the basement level of the studio.
  • A critical and commercial success this film influenced many others like Brian DePalma’s Body Double, Richard Franklin’s Road Games and more recently, Disturbia, directed by D.J. Caruso. It has also been parodied many times including by The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

  • Take careful note of the opening scene. How does it set up our expectations of what will happen in the film? How does it introduce the characters? The closing scene is a replica of the opening but with a few changes. Were your expectations met?
  • Consider the use of perspective and point-of-view in this film? Notice that many of the shots are taken from Jefferies’ POV. How does this affect the tension in the film? Consider what Jefferies knows as opposed to what the audience knows…

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CiNECiTY – TEN CANOES

This Wednesday 5th August, we’ll be transported to an Australia prior to white settlement and even further still into the Dreamtime when we screen the film Ten Canoes…

ten-canoes-movie-poster-2006-1020409339Directors: Rolf de Heer

Peter Djigirr

Cast: Jamie Gulpilil

Crusoe Kurddal

Richard Birrinbirrin

Peter Minygululu

Narrator: David Gulpilil

Writer: Rolf de Heer

Genre: Drama / Adventure / Comedy

Rating: M

Duration: 92 min

Colour: Black & White / Colour

Released: 2006

Country/Language: Australia / various Yolŋu Matha languages, English

BACKGROUND NOTES:

  • A lot of the shots in this film were inspired by or are recreations of photographs taken in the 1930s by Donald Thomson, an anthropology professor who spent nearly two years with the Arafura Swamp people. He took more than 4,000 photographs during this time, carefully recording every aspect of daily life. One of these photographs—a picture of ten men in bark canoes—became the key image around which the film’s story was developed.
  • This was the first ever major Australian feature film completely filmed in an Indigenous Aboriginal language. Only the voice over of the storyteller is in English.
  • The canoes used in the shooting of the film were made using traditional techniques under instruction from tribal elders.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

  • This film uses layered narrative – there’s a story within the story and multiple objective and subjective viewpoints. What techniques do the filmmakers use to successfully achieve this?
  • The stories in the film are from a long ago time and from very different cultures to our own. What cultural elements do we share with the people in the film? What is different?
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BOOK REVIEW COMPETITION RESULTS

Last term we ran a BOOK REVIEW COMPETITION and we received many fantastic entries from across all year levels. As promised we have selected the best six reviews (and one Encouragement Award) and the students who wrote them were all awarded with a certificate and their choice of a brand new book from a selection in the library! All of the suitable reviews (including the winners) will live on forever in our library’s catalogue in the entry for that book.

And the winners are:

Millie Beswick-Wright – Year 7 for her review of The Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Abbie Liptrot – Year 8 for her review of All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Lily Veal – Year 8 for her review of A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Makita Stendt – Year 9 for her review of Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson

Maddison Lewis – Year 10 for her review of Revived by Cat Patrick

Ethan Waters – Year 12 for his review of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Encouragement Award goes to Nicholas Duong – Year 7 for his review of Run by Tim Sinclair

A big THANK-YOU to all students who entered, they were all great entries! Remember, the library is always happy to accept book reviews, just follow the SUBMIT BOOK REVIEWS link on the left of this page.

You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. If you ‘like/follow’ us you can keep up with all the library news as it happens!

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CiNECiTY – DOG DAY AFTERNOON

dog_day_afternoon (1)This afternoon we screen the 1975 Oscar winning Dog Day Afternoon.

Directors: Sidney Lumet

Cast: Al Pacino

John Cazale

James Broderick

Chris Sarandon

Written By: Frank Pierson

Genre: Crime / Drama / Comedy

Rating: M

Duration: 120 min

Colour: Colour

Released: 1975

Country/Language: USA / English

BACKGROUND NOTES:

  • The film received positive reviews and was nominated for multiple Golden Globes and Academy Awards. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
  • It was based on real life events. In August 1972 John Wojtowicz and Sal Naturale attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank and held the staff hostage for 14 hours. Though based on real events and people, John Wojtowicz claims that only about 30% of the events really happened the way the film portrays. He wrote this letter to the New York Times to tell his side of the story. His article was not published in the newspaper.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

  • Do you think the filmmakers succeed in making you believe this really happened? Do you feel as though it’s happening as you watch? What techniques do they use to achieve this?
  • Why do you think the public were supportive of Sonny and Sal and not the police in the movie? Why were they cheering for bank robbers?
  • Do you think Sonny’s motivation for wanting money justified him robbing the bank and holding people hostage? Was it worth it in the end?
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CiNECiTY – MODERN TIMES

1308402322This week in CiNECiTY we watch Charlie Chaplin’s last ever silent film and one of his most famous pieces of work, Modern Times.

Director: Charlie Chaplin

Cast: Charlie Chaplin

Paulette Goddard

Henry Bergman

Chester Conklin

Written By: Charlie Chaplin

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Duration: 86 min

Colour: Black & White

Released: 1936

Country/Language: USA / English

BACKGROUND NOTES:

  • This film was made after the introduction of synchronised sound to feature length films (1927’s The Jazz Singer was the first full-length sound film). Chaplin was originally going to use dialogue, he even wrote a script for the words, but after some experimenting he reverted to the silent format and just used the synched sound for effects. It was his last silent film, he eventually joined the status quo and all the films he made after this were “talkies”.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

  • Why do you think the factory worker wanted to go back to jail? Why didn’t the lady want to go to jail? Did Chaplin want you to think that prison was like the factory, or perhaps even better? How can you tell?
  • Modern Times was made and set during the Great Depression. Do you think Chaplin was concerned about the modern, industrial world having a dehumanising effect on people? Why? Do you think these concerns are still relevant today or have we succeeded in using technology positively?

 

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