Yes, time is running out to vote. Check out the list of 2006 Thumbs Up! nominees and vote for your favorite.

To vote:
1. Drop your ballot (green brochure) into the box located in the teen section, OR
2. Email your choice to davise@aadl.org, OR
3. Mail your vote using the brochure mailer. Include a $.39 stamp.

Presented by the Entertainment Software Association, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or Exposition), commonly known as E³ or E3, is the world's largest annual trade show for the computer and video games industry and the third largest gaming convention. The expo is open only to game industry professionals, celebrities and journalists who are over eighteen.

The 2006 E³ show focused on the upcoming releases of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, along with the next wave of games for the Nintendo DS and Xbox 360. Several websites such as the Washington Post noted in retrospect that Nintendo clearly dominated and stole the show. They cite as an example the queues; which were approximately half an hour long to play the PlayStation 3 and up to four hours long to play the Wii.

Well, almost. Specials, released May 9th, is on order at AADL. You can place a request on it. Last week it reached the number six spot on the New York Times chapter books list just behind Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief. This is the third and final book in the series which began with Uglies and continued with Pretties. It’s set in a future society that seems to only value beautiful people. Check out Scott, Uglies, Specials and more at Westerblog.

Librarian extraordinaire Nancy Pearl joined us at the Downtown library on Sunday for a talk about books, reading, and writing. She suggested several great books for young people, from picture books like Knuffle Bunny and Skippyjon Jones to chapter books like Three Terrible Trins, Whales on Stilts, and Ragweed. For teens, she especially liked Feed, by the same author as Whales on Stilts, Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Richard Peck's Teacher's Funeral, and the difficult but moving story in Looking for Normal by Betty Monthei. Already read these? Ask any librarian for more suggestions.

So the first book in the Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar was published 4 years ago and the 9th book in the series Only in your dreams just came out, but after Naomi Wolf wrote a scathing editorial in the New York Times about this series and their read-alikes Clique and The A-List everyone has been talking about it. Yes, they are basically Sex and The City for teens filled with consumerism and fun without consequences. Are they any worse than anything as popular that came before them? No. Are they flashier and better marketed? Definitely. Any teen who is reading these books - as opposed to watching the rampant fun without consquences on TV or online - is a teen I wouldn't worry about. Because *reading* is what separates the teens you worry about from the ones you don't.

I'm a bit irritated that you don't know me.. Who am I?

Cecil Castellucci's in town to be the guest speaker for the Awards Ceremony of the short story writing contest, It's All Write! #140 stories were submitted to the contest, and all Finalists have been notified. Congratulations to ALL writers who turned in a story.
Cecil is the author of Boy Proof and her upcoming novel Queen of Cool. She will be discussing the craft of writing and presenting awards to the winenrs. 1:00 - 1:45 pm Modern Language Building on Thayer Street, Lecture Room 1.

Short for “emotion”, emo is a term used to describe emotionally-charged hardcore punk music. From quiet ballads to high-pitched guitar licks, poetic lyrics to a unique style of dress, emo is alive and well and coming to Ann Arbor!

Rainer Maria, an emo rock band, will play Sunday, May 14th at the Blind Pig. If you like a little pop with your punk or just want to try something new, check out this trio from Madison, Wisconsin. Named after the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, the band has been on the music scene since 1995 and has released four albums. Catastrophe Keeps Us Together is their latest album and was released just last month.

If you like Rainer Maria you might also enjoy:

Crimson by Alkaline Trio
From Under the Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy
Louder Now by Taking Back Sunday

UPDATE: Mission accomplished! Thank you to everyone who came!
Oh, and someone asked me to post the Zuko AMV, from Avatar: the Last Airbender. I love the series, and youtube happily has an endless supply of AMVs.

It appears that LucasArts has finally given in to fan demands and promised to release the original Star Wars trilogy in all its unaltered glory. I am glad the greed finally won out over Lucas's strange need to tinker..