You like to play with epoxy, wire cutters and clay. Or you're a painfully patient type who wants to spend YEARS filming a puppet frame-by-frame for the fame and glory that Will Vinton and Nick Park revel in. Or maybe you just like to try new things and get free food. Regardless the Claymation Workshop will be an awesome afternoon. Brad Patullo worked on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch and the PJs with Vinton - and he's a really cool guy. WHEN: Saturday August 12, 2006: 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm (yes, it's really 5 hours - but pizza and drinks will keep you going). WHERE? Downtown. Space is limited and you HAVE to register - just call 327-8301 and you're golden - well, unless you call too late and it's filled. Don't snooze.

An article from Sunday's NY Times, "Hollywood Clicks on the Work of Web Auteurs," discusses the 11-minute online hit, MySpace: The Movie and the type of filmmaking fare the web is likely to spawn in the future. Times contributor Walter Kirn, author of the novel Thumbsucker, which was recently made into a feature film, makes the following comments: "The Net is a self-consciously anti-authoritarian audience. They are spit-ballers, defacers, vandals, skeptics. It's a class without a teacher. The movies that succeed on it will have those properties....The Net is going to unleash a hybrid talent and a hybrid sensibility. What it needs is an Orson Welles, an unclassifiable polymath...."

I first saw Jack Warden, one of my favorite character actors, in the 1971 football tearjerker, Brian's Song. Then his familiar face and gruff voice seemed to show up everywhere--especially in movies with Warren Beatty. He was a strong presence in several other good films, including 1957's Twelve Angry Men, All the President's Men, The Verdict, Being There, and While You Were Sleeping. Warden died yesterday at the age of 85. More on Jack Warden at wikipedia.

Prepare for Wednesday's program on the Sundance Film Festival by watching the following Grand Jury Prize winners since 2000:

2000: Girlfight and You Can Count on Me
2001: The Believer
2002: Personal Velocity
2003: American Splendor
2004: Primer
2005: Forty Shades of Blue (on order)

Here are just a few of our recent DVD titles based on books:

1. Bleak House, the 2005 BBC production, based on the book by Charles Dickens
2. Breakfast on Pluto, based on the book by Pat McCabe
3. The Catherine Cookson collection, including The Black Candle, The Fifteen Streets, The Moth, The Rag Nympth, The Tide of Life, and The Wingless Bird
4. Shopgirl, based on the novella by Steve Martin
5. Sybil, based on the book by Flora Rheta Schreiber
6. Our Fathers, based on Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in the Age of Scandal, by David France

If a sequel to the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl isn't enough (Pirates 2 opens next Friday), then avast ye, maties!: Pirates 3, currently filming, will include a cameo by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards as Johnny Depp's father. Depp has acknowledged he based his Oscar-nominated and sequel-spinning role as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow on the legendary rhythm guitarist. And as if to prove his worthiness of the homage, Richards recently fell out of a palm tree and underwent skull surgery. Word is he's doing fine and apparently looking forward to filming in September--just in time for Talk Like a Pirate Day!.

Below are a few award winning and recently purchased Hindi language DVDs in the Library's collection. Check out this catalog listing of our Hindi language titles or try a keyword search for "Hindi language" and choose "DVDs" from the Material Type box.

In Sholay, India's best-known "curry" western, two adventurous crooks are hired by an ex-cop to hunt down the dreaded dacoit who massacred his family.Dil Chahta Hai tells the story of three college friends who were inseparable despite their different conceptions of love. In Maya, a young woman's simple life in rural India is shattered when she becomes the victim of an ancient and brutal ritual. Parineeta tells the tale of two childhood neighbors whose path to matrimony is strewn with the usual round of family and business obstacles. "A treat for the eyes...high-end Bollywood near its best." (Variety)

...Jar Jar Binks, according to a poll of 5,000 movie fans on the UK movie rental site LoveFilm.com. Mr. Binks beat out many other contenders, including Andie MacDowell's Carrie from Four Weddings And A Funeral. Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean took third place, Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective came in fourth, and Ben Stiller's White Goodman in Dodgeball came in fifth.

Monday, June 5, 7:00-8:30 pm Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room

Come see this fascinating documentary of jazz innovator Barry Harris. This film, by Edgar Howard, also pays homage to jazz luminaries like Parker, Monk, Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz scholar Lars Bjorn will introduce this 55 minute film and lead a discussion afterwards.

Loved the new movie and want more? Didn't care for it and want something different? Somewhere in the middle? Wherever you fall, the AADL is here to help.

Ultimate X-Men, a guide to the universe, covers the original Dark Phoenix saga. Astonishing X-Men Volume 1: Gifted contains the story of the "cure" for mutancy, as written by Joss Whedon of Buffy and Firefly fame.

One thing is certain: for better or for worse, none of the books feature Kelsey Grammer in a Cookie Monster suit.