Friday, January 26, 2007

Last.fm: Share Your Musical Tastes with the World!



Last.fm -- they're calling themselves the "Social Music Revolution." Has anyone gotten in on this? If not, it's nifty little site that is pretty much the one of the coolest sites out there for finding new music. It allows you to share your musical tastes and suggestions with your friends, or you can register for free and download a plug-in that logs what you listen to in whatever programs you use for listening to music (iTunes, Winamp, Window Media). I guess that in itself is not all that exciting, but once you have started logging your music, that's when you can really get the most out of last.fm.

At the very least, your last.fm page functions as a chart of your musical history. So, 4 years from now (if the site is still around, which judging by how popular it has become, it definitely will), if you wanted to see what you were listening to your senior year of high school, all you'd have to do is click on your charts and go back to this week in Jan '07...and bam! You'll see that you've listened to Muse's "Starlight" 500 times or whatever. You can also listen to different radio stations that are crafted just for you. For example, "Recommendation Radio" is a station that plays new music that you might like based on what you've played, or you can just listen to your own radio station made from music and artists that you've already played. Now that, if you're an information archiving nut like myself, is pretty great right there. Again, there's that social aspect to it. You can add friends like on MySpace and leave them comments on their "Shoutboxes" or send them messages. You can also tag music however you want and listen to radio stations based on these tags (like, "Indie" or "Death Metal" whatever you're into...).

Gah! There's just a lot of music to be heard... check it out yourself @ http://www.last.fm

Friday, December 15, 2006

Studying Abroad

Traveling abroad is quite possibly one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences you could have. What better way to learn about a vastly different culture than living in it?

Your high school may even offer study abroad programs -- particularly if you are studying a foreign language. As college application deadlines loom for all you seniors, don't forget to think about this as part of your college experience. Studying abroad and experiencing another culture first hand provides and education that you wouldn't get from the classroom alone.

To read about the study abroad experiences of Jessica, a former TAB member, currently studying abroad in Ireland, click here. (http://the_eire_affair.livejournal.com/)

Sometimes in our day-to-day lives we forget that it's a big world out there; go see it if you can.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Winter Reading Program: Snowball Fight!

Yes folks, it's about that time for the annual winter reading program. Here's the deal:
  • Register at the Reader's Advisory Desk or at either of the branch libraries. (Registration begins on December 1st)

  • Read! Read like mad, I say!

  • Fill out our "snowball" book review forms for every book you read. You can use these "snowballs" to buy prizes or to enter drawings.


What are the prizes, you ask? For that sensitive information--well, you'll just have to wait and see...

Friday, November 10, 2006

ATTN: Gamers!

We held our first-ever Gamers Group Meeting this past Monday and had a great time. The next meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 4 in the Youth Services Classroom. Send an e-mail to Amy Alessio or Joe Torres.

We are also open to any suggestions you may have about any gaming-related stuff. Let us know your game suggestions (especially multiplayer games) or even any video game related stuff you'd like to see at a meeting besides acutally playing games. Feel free to leave us a comment...

Oh, and never fear: we will have Guitar Hero II for the next meeting.

And it has "Freebird"!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Author Visit: Kenneth Oppel

Hey all,

Award-winning author Kenneth Oppel will be delivering a presentation here at STDL. He is the author of books such as the Silverwing Trilogy, Airborn, and Skybreaker. Registration is required, but there are still slots available. A variety of titles will be available for purchase and autographing. For more info on Kenneth Oppel:

Kenneth's Official Site

Info on Airborn and Skybreaker

Author Profile from CM Magazine

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Teen Read Month 2006: Get Active @ Your Library

Celebrate National Teen Read Month by filling out review slips to enter weekly drawings. Tell us what you thought about a book, CD, video game or movie to enter drawings for gift certificate prizes and more. Two lucky winners will win a dinner with author Kenneth Oppel when he comes to the library on November 14. Review slips can be picked up and turned in to the Reader's Advisory Desk at the main library or either of the branch libraries.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

First.Blog.Ever.

Hello folks, welcome to our blog (we're just getting started...bear with us)!