Remember the good ol' days when you actually had time to read? You know, things other than TV Tropes pages and other interwebby things? Well, suddenly now you have the Internet, and also possibly a life, and school and work...and you just don't have time to sift through books anymore!
Enter the Librarian!
Friendly Neighborhood Librarian is a webshow which debuted on blip.tv and YouTube in August of 2012. The Librarian character presents literature (by her definition, any written story - including Fairy Tales and Fan Fic) in an analytical, entertaining, reference-heavy manner to determine whether she can recommend it, or...not
. She clearly explains why she does or does not like a book, and what types of people would like it even though she didn't (or vice versa). The references make it easy to understand even if one hasn't read the books, and to top it off, she even does a quick analysis of any adaptations the book may have birthed.
You really can't go wrong with a premise like that!
The show is here, twitter is here, Facebook is here, and YouTube page is here
The Librarian provides examples of the following tropes:
- Black and Nerdy: She refers to herself several times as a nerd or a geek.
- Broke the Rating Scale: She mentions in her Sideways Stories from Wayside School review that she doesn't give 0 stars, but would like to make an exception for the Wayside TV and film adaptations. She ended up giving them 1 star.
- Catchphrase: "Reading the stinkers and praising the masterpieces since 2012." "That's where our story begins." "'Til next time, I'm your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian, signing off."
- Crossover: In the second version of her Altered review, due to some dispute with the author, she added an intro in which she crossed over with "the Author" character. (She played both roles.)
- Cute Bookworm: The Librarian character is this to a tee.
- Gasp!: She literally says it while discussing an adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera in which Christine chooses to focus on pursuing her career instead of taking up a romantic relationship with any of the men vying for her attention. "GASP! Is this...feminism? In the forties?"
- Guilty Pleasure: Fifty Shades of Gray (kind of...) and Love Never Dies/Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals in general.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Perhaps living up to the "friendly" part of her name, the Librarian, unlike her other Internet reviewing comrades, doesn't seem to resort to swear words no matter how angry she gets. She prefers intellectual verbal lashings.
- Squee: She does this over Dragon Ball Z.
- Video Review Show: Obviously.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Brought up in The Little Mermaid review to illustrate how being a human in Hans Christian Andersen's world and having an immortal soul might not be the best deal. The Librarian cites Tuck Everlasting and says, "Philosophically speaking, eternal life kinda sucks...There's a reason Winnie didn't drink the water!"
