Team prayers before a high school football game? The Ten Commandments on display in a municipal building? A 43-foot-tall cross on public land? (That one sounds suspiciously local.) Peter Irons details these and other religious/courtroom brouhahas in “God on Trial: Dispatches From America's Religious Battlefields” (Viking, $26.95) and at The Book Works, 2670 Via de la Valle, Del Mar, 7 p.m. Thursday.

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

Mando Diao is from Sweden, but the band often sounds as if it has just emerged from London circa 1966, or a Detroit garage that has been exhumed from a giant musical time capsule after 40 years. So if originality is less important to you than lots of attitude and retro spunk, break out your bell-bottoms and bop on down to the Casbah tonight. Pop Levi opens. (619) 232-HELL.

MAKING BOOK

Books made by artists have become a widespread phenomenon, and the possibilities for transforming them into art objects seem limitless. There isn't an institution more dedicated to showing and collecting such work than the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, and for its newly unveiled sixth biennial exhibition of new examples, it's featuring 38 artists from around the corner and across the United States. Through June 16. (858) 454-5872 or www.ljathenaeum.org.

SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY

In a season of colossal income for “Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third” and, most assuredly, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End” (opening Thursday), “Waitress” hovers there in the multiplex, scrounging for box-office leftovers. Keri Russell, who's been an under-the-radar actress since TV's “Felicity,” gently portrays a hard-working waitress stuck in a small-town diner and trapped by an abusive husband. She's blessed, though, with an amazing pie-baking talent, naming each scrumptious creation uniquely. This exquisite film was written and directed by and co-stars Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered last year in New York City. For sure, she'll be remembered for the repast that is “Waitress.”

–Alan Markfield

INFLATION ROCKS

It's a little bit of James Bond, a little bit of “Free Willy” and a whole lot of silliness. But the video for the peppy Shins song “Australia” has to be the most charming and disarming ode to balloons since Nena floated onto MTV way back in the '80s. Check out the Shin-tastic clip at the band's Web site (www.theshins.com), iTunes or YouTube. (And think orange!)

ROLL OVER, BEETHOVEN

In 1804, Beethoven became so angry that Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor that he changed the dedication of his Symphony No.3. You can hear it – along with the Violin Concerto, with soloist Leila Josefowicz Friday through Sunday at downtown's Copley Symphony Hall. (619) 235-0804 or www.sandiegosymphony.com

MISSING PERSONS

Many are the absent in this week's theater offerings. There's the missing writer Samuel Beckett in “Beckett3” in Mission Hills (Sledgehammer at 619-544-1494). The missing, perhaps imaginary, son in “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (The Old Globe, 619-23-GLOBE). And the never seen Bunbury of Oscar Wilde's “The Importance of Being Earnest.” But wait. Bunbury's here, in the person of active David McBean (Diversionary Theatre, 619-220-0097); he and other famous literary no-shows seek their share of the limelight in playwright Tom Jacobson's dark comedy, “Bunbury.”

MOVIES OPENING THIS WEEK

Opening Thursday:“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END”Finally we'll find out what happened to Capt. Jack Sparrow at the end of “Dead Man's Chest.”

Opening Friday:“BUG”“Exorcist” director William Friedkin directs this story of a veteran who sees insects everywhere.

“ONCE”A “modern-day musical” that asks the question: How often do you find the right person?

“SNOW CAKE”A drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman (Sigourney Weaver) and a man (Alan Rickman) who is traumatized after a car accident.

– Union-Tribune, Dallas Morning News and imdb.com

SAN DIEGO BOOK AWARD WINNERS

Poet Steve Kowit's “The Gods of Rapture” was named the winner of the Theodor S. Geisel Award for the best book published by a San Diego County author in 2006 at the 13th annual San Diego Book Awards Saturday night.

The other winners:

UNPUBLISHED WORKS

Unpublished Short Story: Victoria Melekian, “Looking for Stars”

Unpublished Memoir: Beth McNellen, “Maybe Goodnight”

Unpublished Novel: Caroline McCullagh, “Fire and Ice”

Unpublished Poetry Chapbook: Ivy Warwick, “Still Forever”

PUBLISHED BOOKS

Picture Book: Christine D'Amico, “Higgledy-Piggledy: Mabel's World”

Young Adult & Children's Fiction: Blaine C. Readler, “Under the Radar: The Spy Drone Adventure”

Science Fiction/Fantasy: Roger L. Conlee, “Counterclockwise”

Mystery/Thriller: Keith Jones, “Mayan Equinox”

Historical Fiction: Paul Bernstein, “Courage to Heal”

General Fiction: Jennifer Coburn, “Tales From the Crib”

Poetry: Steve Kowit, “The Gods of Rapture”

Biography (Tie): Judith Pinkerton Josephson, “Bold Composer: A Story about Ludwig van Beethoven”; Judith Pinkerton Josephson, “Walt Disney: Genius of Entertainment”

Cookbook: Deborah M. Schneider, “Baja! Cooking on the Edge”

General Nonfiction: Eric Blehm, “The Last Season”

Health/Fitness: Chantal Sicile-Kira, “Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum”

San Diego Interest: George T. Jefferson and Lowell Lindsay, “Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert”

Memoir: Norman Achen and Lee Smart, “Go With God”

Motivational/Inspirational: Gary Morsch and Dean Nelson, “The Power of Serving Others”

– UNION-TRIBUNE