Batter Up

Ah, the smell of the carpet, the stagnant air, the empty seats: it must be time for another fun-filled season of Devils Rays baseball (2007 slogan: "More Than Just A Game"...and considering the team, it better be).

Seriously, though, for a lot of people there is still something special about Opening Day. So, with that in mind, I whipped up a brief list of baseball books to help get you back in the game:

• The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James--everything you ever needed to know about the history of the game by the most important sportswriter, well, maybe ever (I'm not kidding)
• Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups by Rob Neyer--James' former assistant has compiled the ultimate guide to every franchise's best...and worst
• The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm--a graphic novel about the supernatural way a team of traveling ballplayers deals with anti-Semitism in the '20s
  
• Summerland by Michael Chabon--a fantasy about the worst 11-year-old player ever who is recruited to help a band of fairies save the world from an ancient enemy
• Samurai Shortstop by Alan Gratz--in 1890 Japan, a 16-year-old baseball-playing student learns the way of the samurai and earns the respect of his father

A Gentle Dragon and Powerful Magic

I saw the movie, "Eragon" this weekend and was blown away! It is an awesome movie based on the book of the same name written by Christopher Paolini. Even more amazing, Christopher wrote the book when he was ONLY 15!

Because I liked the movie so much, I'm going to read all the books in the series, Inheritance Trilogy (book #3 is still in Christopher's head). If you've read Eragon AND seen the movie, how do they compare? Some people like Ergagon better than the Harry Potter movies. WDYT?

Heroes in a Half Shell?

Would it surprise you to know that thanks to a handful of feisty turtles and some killer CGI, TMNT opened this weekend at the top of the box office charts?

Yeah, the Turtles can be kinda cheesy, but how many of you are secretly just a little excited about this movie because it was a favorite cartoon when you were a kid? The funny thing is... the Turtles have been around long enough that I grew up watching them, too. (And if you twist my arm a bit, I'll 'fess to being a little bit excited about this release, too, for just that reason. But only if you make me. Really.)

Want to flash back to the Turtles as they used to be? Why not check out:

• some of the old cartoons
• the original TMNT film (on DVD here or here or ::gasp:: VHS here), circa 1990
• the 1991 sequel, TMNT 2: Secret of the Ooze
• or the follow-up TMNT 3: Turtles in Time (1993)
• and you can always sing along to this...

Or you can just go hit up my kid brother to borrow his old tapes... he's in his twenties now, but for a while there, he was the biggest fan they had. Hmmmm... I wonder if he still has his old bedsheets?

Magic Knight Rayearth

One of my two favorite manga and anime series is called Magic Knight Rayearth. It was created by a team of mangaka called CLAMP.

"Please save our world! Magic Knights, please save our world!".

Three junior high school students- Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji- were on a field trip with their schools at the Tokyo Tower one day. But all of a sudden they heard a mysterious voice that came from a young girl in the sky.

And now they had been summoned to a fantasy world!

The first person the girls ran into was a Master Mage named Clef. He explains to Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu that they have been summoned by Princess Emeraude in order to save Cephiro. That they have to find Escudo and bring it to the Artisan Presea so that she can make them special weapons. And that they have to awaken the three Mashin- Rayearth, Celes, and Windam- in order to accomplish their mission. Only one obstacle stands in the way- the High Priest Zagato, who will do anything in order to prevent the Magic Knights from fulfilling their destiny. But Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are determined to save Princess Emeraude!

Except that Emeraude asked them to "please save our world", not "please save me"...

Prepare for the plot twist of the century.

Magic Knight Rayearth manga is available at the library and through Tokyopop in 6 volumes- 3 for the first series (Magic Knight Rayearth) and 3 for the second one (Magic Knight Rayearth II). Artbooks for the two parts are also available. And the Magic Knight Rayearth anime is available on DVD from Anime Works.

I have both series of the MKR manga- in both the original and unflipped boxset editions, all 12 MKR dubbed VHS, the Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu dolls, all the manga and anime artbooks (in Japanese and Chinese), and plooshies of Clef, Presea, Emeraude, Zagato, Ferio, Lantis, Eagle, and Ascot. And a lovely poster that's a major spoiler, hence I won't tell you who are featured in it. I have even cosplayed Emeraude, Presea, and Hikaru.

I hope you enjoy Magic Knight Rayearth as much as I do.


(note from Jen K... I just added a few links to make it easier for everybody to find Magic Knight Rayearth in the library catalog! Enjoy!)

Speaking of Myspace...

Did you know that Ask a Librarian has its own Myspace page? Click on this link to check it out!

MySpace Restrictions and Bugs Oh My!!!

Many of you go to the library to checkout your MySpace Accounts. MySpace has been undergoing some changes with what it will allow users to put on their page. Just recently, MySpace has stopped allowing widgets to be added to user's pages. The NYTimes Article discusses how some users are mad that they do not have the freedom to totally customize your page.

The other interesting thing I read was related to some hackers that will spend a month disclosing bugs in MySpace. Based on the PCWorld Article, there have been a number of instances where users have received SPAM or other vulnerabilities.

Have you been affected by any of the new restrictions? Have the security bugs affected you? Let us know......

Your Golden Ticket

If you're in the mood to get Wonka'd (and who isn't?), then the only place you should be Wednesday night at 7:oo pm is the Brandon Regional Library. (What? Where else did you think I was going to say?)

The talented young thespians of the Brandon High School Drama Club will present a performace of the Roald Dahl classic, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Best part? It's free.

Again: Wednesday, March 28. 7:00. Brandon Library. Free.*

*Oompas Loompas are, as always, optional.

Would you like the Internet implanted into your brain??

Imagine a future where you can IM anyone just by thinking about it...No need to sit in front of a computer because you can shop, play games, listen to music, and instantly know the latest EVERYTHING!!

This sounded great to me at first, but then I read "Feed," by M.T. Anderson. In this book, a psychotic computer hacker causes serious damage to a group of teens hanging out on the moon by breaking into their "feeds" (brain computers). Life is never the same after that.

I highly recommend this book to technology buffs everywhere. Do YOU have any book recommendations for other teens? Tell us about it!

Will someone please think of the penguins?

So, I may be one of the only people who didn't like "March of the Penguins", that oh-aren't-they-cute-even-when-they-freeze-to-death documentary that, well, everyone loved. It's not as if I hated it--it's just that if you take away Morgan Freeman's voice, it's really no different than any other nature doc most people would flip past on PBS. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's funny what people decide to get excited about.

The reason I'm dipping into the old news bucket is that another penguin movie, "Happy Feet", just won the Best Animated Feature Oscar (March won a gold dude last year). Is it a trend, a fad, or a conspiracy? (Sources inform me that a majority of government officials are, in fact, flightless. Hmmm.) The little tuxedoed guys even starred in the most challenged book of 2006. Not that there's anything wrong with that, either. The best player in hockey? Just guess which team he's on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of penguins. I wish I had one. I'd give it sunglasses and an earpiece and have it waddle around like my own cuddly secret service agent. (It would be unarmed, of course--no thumbs.) But as I learned many years and many bites ago, you're not really supposed to dress up wild animals. And it's because I respect them that I don't want to see them get over-exposed and end up like the Lindsay Lohan of the Antarctic. Why can't we be content with just appreciating them as nature intended?

Or you can click here.

Why did the iPod cross the street?

Hello All!

My name is Bill Harris and I am a Library Technical Assistant (another way of saying that I teach computer classes) at SouthShore Regional Library.

I am always looking for something fun and exciting to talk about in our Cyberteen classes that we have every Tuesday at 5:00pm

Two weeks ago, I did a class on iPods / MP3 players and we talked about all of the different things you can do with each player (video, music, etc.). While I was finding stuff for the class, I ran into this cool video about a senator who wants to ban people from using iPods while crossing the street.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Anime News Network

Do you want to know about ALL the anime that has ever been produced? How about a list of all the manga ever published? If you are curious, Anime News Network is the website for you!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com

Find out all about every anime in the world- including ones never released in the USA. From childhood classics to brand new series- and more!

Coming to you live from Seminole Heights!

It's Teen Tech Week and we're here at Seminole Heights Library with the Anime Club. We're checking out the new blog and everybody's got tons of ideas about cool anime stuff on the web and in the library...

• i like this video because its my favorite anime gundam seed andrise against my favorite band and the song goes good with the video.


• Hi my name is melissa I love Inuyasha. Now if you love inuyasha as much as I
  do you must think that Rumiko Takahashi is a vary smart person. so if you want
  to learn more about him go to http://www.inuyasha.com/
  
• hey this is lacey i got a recemendation read inuyasha love
  ya
  alright
  love lacey


• i dont know if you like anime,but i do! the big eyes,action,and the comedy.
  one crazy anime is bobobo-bobo-bobo(crazyname is'nt it?). its about this guy
  that fights ''hair hunters'' and does all sorts of funny stuff. i recommend
  naruto as a coolaction anime. its sad my ''mom'' wont let me watch any other
  anime for ''adults'',but i do what i can. did i mention i draw? yeah,its
  pretty cool. this was a member of the seminole heights branch anime club and
  i encourage you to read and read more manga! plus anime.
  
  ~chibi shinryakusha (not my real name 'duh')~