Twilight Took a Bite out of the Box Office, But What Do *You* Think?

The L.A. Times reports that the movie adaptation of Twilight, the vampirrific romance that's caught the world by storm, grossed a whopping 70.5 million. But just because you saw it doesn't mean you liked it. Cat and I were both bitten by the Twilight bug, and you can see our opinions below. What did you think? Leave a comment!



~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main

Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Awards

Carnegie Mellon University's creative writing department is sponsoring the Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Awards, for CMU undergraduates and Pittsburgh-area high school students.

This contest seeks writers who can use prose and poetry to respond to or be inspired by the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Prizes are $100, $75, and $25, with awards given in the categories of prose and poetry. The deadline is Monday, December 8, 2008. You can go to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Awards homepage to see the prompt and get more information.

Meanwhile, if you are looking to take your creative writing skills to the next level, don't forget that the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has a long list of books about writing poetry and writing fiction.

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main

Get Animated at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

If to animate is to give life, then no place is more lively than the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's TEEN department. At last week's art club, we cut, pasted, drew, and took picture after picture to create a stop-motion animation, entitled "Hi."



Are you interested in trying your hand at animation? Check out Ron Miller's Digital Art: Painting with Pixels, your guide to getting started with digital art, from 3-D modeling to animation and special effects. You also might want to check out Maureen Furniss's The Animation Bible: A Practical Guide to the Art of Animating, from Flipbooks to Flash. This is an amazing book that takes you through ever aspect of the process, including digital and hand-drawn works.

If you're wondering how you might be able to get started on your own, there is also some really powerful (and FREE!) software available to assist you. Check out Pencil, a free animation/drawing program, and Blender, a free, powerful 3-D animation studio.

If you have any animations to share, please link us. Everybody can use a little life during these cold, snowy times.

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main

Spanish Language titles at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main

Did you know that crepusclo means twilight in spanish? Well, now you do, because the Teen Department at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main, has a brand new Spanish Language collection. We have fiction, non-fiction, and graphic novels, including all of the titles in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.

We were inspired to create this collection by the non-English language collections in the Adult and Children's Departments here at the Carnegie Library in Oakland. You can find Hindi, Arabic, German, and more alongside the Spanish titles in those departments.
Stop by and check it out!

Nosotros esperamos verle aquí.


All the best,
Holly