This Friday Aquamarine will hit theaters. This movie based on the book by the same name by Alice Hoffman and is toted as a Fish-Out-Of-Water comedy. A love-struck mermaid played by Sara Paxton is discovered in a swimming pool by two twelve-year old best friends, played by Emma Roberts of Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous and singer JoJo.

...then you might already know what's crackin this weekend. Common will perform at theMichigan Theater this Friday March 3rd at 7:30pm . From classic albums like Resurrection to the more recent success of his Grammy-nominated album Be, Common’s socially conscious lyrics have long been a staple for Hip Hop “heads” across the globe.

If you like Common you might also enjoy these artists and albums:
Mos Def – The New Danger
Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
Talib Kweli - Right About Now
Digable Planets - Beyond the Spectrum
Jean Grae - This Week
The Roots - The Tipping Point

LUTHER T. FARRELL has got to get out of Flint, Michigan. He would rather be known as a Philosopher, rather than "The Sarge's Son". Michigan author Christopher Paul Curtis (website) tells another great story in Bucking The Sarge.

Pick up the green Thumbs Up! brochure in the teen section of your favorite AADL branch. Read all 20 nominated titles (or as many as you want) then select the ONE that you think is best.

To vote do one of the following:
- Hand in your marked ballot to your school or public librarian
- Email your choice to davise@aadl.org
- Mail your vote using the brochure mailer. Include a $.39 stamp.

There once was a guitarist named Ted
Who turned to a Pharmacist and said
“I shall come to the Pig
And dance such a jig
That they’ll cheer ‘til we all go to bed.”

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Live at the Blind Pig on Wednesday, March 8. All ages show, $10 cover, with special guests The Duke Spirit and Les Aus. Jigs not guaranteed... but if we can get him to play “Me and Mia” or “The High Party” he usually does. (Incidentally, that’s the same night as the Pioneer High School career fair. Professionals such as yours truly will be there to talk about what we do. Hope to see you there! )

200 years ago this month Noah Webster published "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language" to the horror of English language purists who were shocked by the Americanized spellings (such as "honor" instead of "honour"), the inclusion of new words American words, and the elimination of ancient British words such as "fishefy." But Webster's aim--to promote homegrown culture and reflect the language America was actually speaking--proved highly successful and today there are hundreds of dictionaries and books devoted to American English usage such as last year's Right, Wrong and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage and Contemporary American Slang. There's also every manner of online dictionary, notably the collaborative wiki dictionary Wiktionary, an offshoot of Wikipedia. And that's just a start, since collabulary--a new word worth looking up, by the way--may alter the digital dictionary in ways Noah Webster could never have imagined.

Teens at Risk.Wasting Away is a dvd that will be of interest to parents, teens and those who work with teens who are affected by the devastating conditions of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Young people who have been there and back tell their stories in the film.

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

We've got a weekend of multiplayer mayhem lined up for you at the library, starting off with a Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament for ages 13+, Friday Night, 2/24, from 6-9 PM at the Downtown Library. First prize $40, Second prize $30, third prize $20.

Then, on Saturday, 2/25, we've got an all-ages Dance Dance Revolution tournament from Noon-3 Downtown, immediately followed by our first ever all-ages Karaoke Revolution tournament, from 3-5! So you can dance, but can you SING? These tournaments will feature the lovely and talented Edith as your MC, and the format will be similar to our DDR tournaments, with qualifying duets for score, and then elimination. Both tournaments will have $40/$30/$20 prizes, so if you're a double threat, you can win big. Games will be either Karaoke Revolution volume 3 or Karaoke Revolution Party, with all songs unlocked. Check out songlists here.

We'll then head into midwinter break with Open Play events, including DDR Mario Mix, Donkey Konga, Monkey Ball, and more, Sunday, 2/26 and Monday 2/27, from 1-4, for grades 5 and under, and Teen Open Play, Tuesday, 2/28 from 1-4.

So, brave the winter winds, get downtown, and warm up with some hot competition this weekend!

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who came! Next Animanga Club meeting will be the FURUBA Reunion!

Kanpai! Its time to announce the next Animanga Club program. On March 15, AC will be meeting the Northeast Branch (Plymouth road and Nixon, the little shopping mall) and the theme will be Samurai.. or basically all anime involving samurai-like characteristics (think Samurai Champloo, as well as Bleach).

So what is your favorite Swordsman/samurai series? Favorite character? I would have to say Bleach right now (Byakuya certainly makes an impression on me.. cold, unfeeling and weird hair!).. but that's because I'm on Episode 44 of the series, and if I were rich, I would have bought all the books by now.

Also, what would you like to watch during the last part of the program? I'm partial to Bleach, but I'm open to bribes.. er I mean, suggestions.

Filmmaker-turned-first-time-novelist, Galt Niederhoffer’s A taxonomy of Barnacles is a charming and sly spoof of the concept of the survival of the fittest, and the nature-versus-nurture debate. Starred review in Booklist.

Barry Barnacle announced to his 6 daughters during a Passover Seder that whoever could immortalize the Barnacle name would be the sole beneficiary of his pantyhose fortune. This challenge plunged Bell, Bridget, Beth, Belinda, Beryl and Benita Barnacle, ranging in age from 10 to 29 into merciless fistfights trying to best each other.

Titled after Darwin's monograph on the arthropods, which he studied before he used the Galapagos finch to illustrate his theory of evolution, this zany 1930s-style romantic comedy will certainly bring to mind The Royal Tenenbaums. Pure Fun.