Posts by Robert Arrighi

I used to be afraid of bugs.

I used to have trouble falling asleep.

I used to have trouble sharing items with friends.

Then I started watching Yo Gabba Gabba and I didn't have any more troubles.

You don't need Dr. Phil. All you need is Yo Gabba Gabba to set you free from everyday anxieties. 

The New York Public Library carries Yo Gabba Gabba's 

It's the end of an era. Michael Kors will no longer be a judge on Project Runway as it starts its 11th season, which means we can no longer enjoy his slicing and dicing analogies aimed at the designers' runway miscues.

Who could forget such classics as

"She looks like Barefoot Appalachian Lil' Abner Barbie."

or

"She looks like a pole dancer in Dubai."

So I spent some time in the lab and after watching hours and hours of Project Runway I 

I recently had two French couchsurfers stay with me. I went downstairs to find the guy in the kitchen rummaging through my refrigerator. I asked him what he was looking for. He said milk. I said I don't have milk... well... just almond milk. He said to not have milk was un-American.

I don't even know what that means.

So this exchange got me to thinking. Are there stereotypes of America that I am unaware of? I know from speaking to other couchsurfers that the general stereotype of an American is that of the loud, 

We have started offering internships for aspiring judges here at the Institution of Judging Books by their Covers, and our first intern is a jubilant Young Adult patron of the New Dorp Library, Stacey.

Today we will attempt to judge the book The Sylvia Game by Vivien Alcock.

Let's pass judgment... shall we?

Rob says:

Johnny always sat on the park bench behind the tall hedges... but only on Tuesdays. Billy always sat on the park bench behind the tall hedges... but 

It was during the early '80s that my mom decided Little House on the Prairie would be more beneficial to my development than Welcome Back Kotter, so the TV dial went from channel 5 to channel 11 every night during dinner at 5 P.M. I haven't seen an episode of Little House on the Prairie in over 20 years but some of the scenes are burned into my memory... some good but mostly bad.

The courts are backed up, the case files are stacked high, and the court stenographer called out sick, but that doesn't mean we can't take a few minutes to judge a book by its cover.

Let's try Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Rob says...

This is about a bunch of kids who grow tired of their urban environs, so they go to play hide and seek in the woods. John thinks he has the 

Andrew is 17 years old. He has been attending Young Adult programs at New Dorp Library for several years. In an attempt to get to know him better, I asked him five ridiculous questions. These are his serious answers.

Andrew's Facebook PhotoAndrew for Dummies — What would this book be about?

Basically a book about [how] despite anything that 

Forget everything you have learned and remember nothing that you have forgotten.

After barely passing Earth Science and failing Chemistry due to a combination of attendance and attention deficits, my guidance counselor thought it best for me to take a sequence of business classes so I could graduate high school. Because of this I never took a

Silence in this court, here comes the judge, this court is in session.

Jen and I will attempt to judge the book Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson by its cover and its cover alone.

Rob says: The ocean has dried up and the earth is a vast desert wasteland... and the whales are quite angry about it since they don't have legs. June 8, 

The season finale of AMC's Breaking Bad is soon approaching, and the problems for Walter White and company are mounting like Everest. It got me to thinking that if some of the characters on Breaking Bad had a NYPL library card, some of their problems could have been avoided.

If you have not yet seen Breaking Bad, I would 

I’ve always been told to not judge a book by its cover. Whatever. I’ve judged books by their covers my whole life. I’ve also judged books by their thickness and font size.

My coworker Jen and I will judge the following book by its cover, and when I say judge, I mean guess what the story is about.

Trout Summer by Jane Leslie Conly

Rob says: I think this book is about a brother and sister who live in the city. Their mom sends them to 

My friend arrived at my home wet and hungry. On the way to my house her windshield wipers stopped working which was problematic since it was raining. She couldn't make out which lane she was in but she could distinguish the wiggly globs of red and green as traffic lights. She wanted to stop and get a bagel on the way but there was nowhere to park in the parking lot of the bagel store. Well there were available spaces but her car no longer does that thing, the thing where you go backwards, you know, 'reverse,' so you have to really plan out your parking 

I was washing dishes at home and listening to the noise rock band Lightning Bolt at a moderate volume. I started with the plates because I find those the easiest to clean. I left the frying pan with caked on baked on grease for last. I moved on to the untensils and glasses after the plates. When I was finally ready for the frying pan I was amazed to find that it was clean. How?! The only possibility I could manufacture was that the abrasive aural nature of Lightning Bolt cleaned the 

The television series Walking Dead, as seen on the cable channel American Movie Classics, was recently released on DVD. The hit TV show has been renewed for a second season, which will most likely air in the fall. If you need your zombie fix sooner than later and need to know what happens to the survivors, visit your local library and check out the graphic 

Are you into reality shows? Maybe not, but what about designing your own clothes or choosing unique pieces of clothing? Then this is a post for you!

The season finale of Project Runway season 8 has come and gone.

Did you have an opportunity to watch the finale? Were you wowed by their collections? What did you think?

Don't get intimidated by the contestants’ collections displayed at Fashion Week, get inspired!

Check 

The National Hockey League begins the 2010-2011 season this week when the Carolina Hurricanes play the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland.

I became a fan watching the New York Rangers on WWOR, channel 9 in 1985. Cable television was not available in my area at the time so I was only able to watch a handful of games on free television every year. This limited availability made me look forward to each 

Do you remember the first time you read a book that made you really think about issues that perhaps were not often heard? Maybe it became your favorite book!

We are lucky to live in a country where we are able to read anything we want, thanks to the 1st amendment of the Constitution.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  It is held during the last week of September. The 2010 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held 

Here is my coworker Jen's report on the 2010 Teen Art Gallery.

Saturday August 28th was New Dorp Library’s second Art Gallery that I’ve been allowed to host in the branch… Each year has been a wonderful ball full of stress and excitement! I was constantly worried about having enough finished pieces to fill the room with color and give people a chance to see inside each artist's mind.

Each month we had 3 dates for teens to join us for our