My name is thelinster and I’m a biblioholic. It’s been three days since my last Amazon.com order. Oh, who am I kidding: I won’t make it to a week. I love books — the way they feel, the way they smell, the way they look on the shelf. And I love the way a woman looks when she’s reading a book.

Growing up, I was a regular at the library. But nothing matched the feeling of having my very own books to read. Every kid deserves to have that feeling.

Organizations like First Book agree and have made it their mission to give kids from low-income families their very first new books. First Book, which just gave its 50 millionth book to a child in need, is in the midst of a national awareness campaign called “What Book Got You Hooked?” A lot of authors and celebrities are participating, telling us their favorite books from childhood.

For actress Rebecca Romijn, it was Bridge to Terebithia. “Forget the movie,” Romijn says, “there’s nothing that could possibly be better than this book.”

See what happens when she forgets to bring a book to read in the tub? … continue reading

Remember the '80s? Big hair, big belts and blue eye shadow. The Bangles taught us to "Walk Like an Egyptian." Conservative Christians crucified Madonna for her latest video devilry (OK, some things never change). And at The Breakfast Club, Claire (Molly Ringwald) realized that, despite all their differences, she really could fall for Allison (Ally Sheedy). Oh, wait — that was me.

With this week's theatrical release of Transformers, everyone's saying the '80s are Hollywood vogue. And it's true that we'll soon be seeing an animated Thundercats, G.I. Joe, and a live-action He-Man (I'm not kidding). Not to mention that a sixty-something Indiana Jones will find something else to raid in 2008. (AfterEllen hottie No. 48 Cate Blanchett will appear in that one — count me in!)

I was the '80s girl who ditched her Care Bears for the neighbor's more poseable boy-dolls, so even though the trailer for Transformers features stunningly hackneyed dialogue like "The car picks the driver. It's a mystical bond between man and machine," I can't help but feel a little nostalgic. And all these years later, I know what was missing back then: the lovely Australian lass Rachael Taylor. Here she is as Maggie Madsen, head of a DOD anti-robot team:

Probably few Pentagon employees show up to work with a lacy black bra peeking out, but whatever. At least she has the underwires to support a run for her life, unlike Megan Fox, whose character Mikaela Banes could be auditioning for an episode of What Not to Wear to Armageddon: … continue reading