Do you ever notice that PBS sometimes rocks? This is due to their weekly broadcasts of Austin City Limits, a show which features a variety of live performances by independent rock bands (they're repeating an episode featuring Franz Ferdinand this weekend!). In addition to the weekly televsion show, there is an annual Austin City Limits music festival in (naturally) Austin, Texas. Recently, the library added the DVD of the 2005 festival to our collection. This two-disc set features performances by British band The Kaiser Chiefs, Jason Mraz, and electronic duo The Thievery Corporation, just to name a few.

If hip-hop is more your thing, check out the Beastie Boys new DVD Awesome: I Shot That, a concert video shot entirely by members of the audience with handheld cameras.

By now, I'm sure you've had to read Romeo and Juliet at some point in your school career. Romeo falls in love with Juliet, their families are feuding, they get secretly married, they die, blah blah blah. But do you remember Juliet's cousin Roseline? read more

Did you know that the library has DVDs? The AV department is located on the lower level and is giving your neighborhood rental chain a run for its money. In addition to buying all the usual "library" stuff (eg. PBS specials, kids' movies, educational things, etc.), we buy fun things too! Get groovy with the first season of That 70's Show, check out Jack Black in Nacho Libre, or if teenage drama is more your thing, we have Degrassi: The Next Generation and the third season of The OC.

And if you want to be cool, you can check out my favorite teen show of all time, Freaks & Geeks. The show follows the lives of high schoolers in suburban Michigan in the early 80's. It was only on for one season in 1999, but helped launch the careers of Linda Cardellini (E.R.), James Franco (Spider Man, Annapolis), and Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother). This show was written and directed by Paul Feig, who not only wrote the hilarious book, Superstud, but also directed episodes of Arrested Development and The Office, both of which I love as well. Perhaps I should have titled this entry "I Love Paul Feig..." Too late now!

If you'd like to get involved in selectinmg DVDs for the library, you should join our new Teen Advisory Group! jlewis [at] westportlibrary [dot] org (E-mail ) me for more information.

The National Book Awards were announced this week and M.T. Anderson won in the category for Young People’s Literature with his book The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party. The story is set in Boston in the Revolutionary Era and follows the story of a black youth named Octavian and his mother, an African princess, who are living in a house of philosophers and educators. Although Octavian is getting a top-notch education and is living in comfortable surroundings, he realizes that he and his mother are captive in the house and are unwillingly the subjects of experiments meant to determine the intellectual capacity of Africans. After a tragic end to a pox party, Octavian escapes, only to be recaptured and forced to wear an iron mask.

If you like this book, be sure to check Feed, also by MT Anderson.