iPod Touch screen not responding - won't restart or update

My screen stopped responding to touch randomly tonight. It's done this before, where the physical buttons do what you'd expect (on the lock screen) but the touchscreen is unresponsive. The other times, I've been able to reset by holding lock and home buttons for 10 seconds as recommended. This time that isn't doing a thing. Oddly enough, my 3rd gen iPod touch (no camera) keeps wanting to only want to take a picture when I press lock/home, flashing the screen white and playing the shutter noise.

I just tried updating to iOS 5.1.1 as well, hoping that would reset it for me, but that resulted in an unknown error. My only thought now is to let the (full) battery run down completely until it dies and shuts itself off. Any other suggestions to how I can speed this process on an idle iPod? Or a different way to force a reset? I assume it could take days to run the battery down while not being used. I suppose my last resort would be to take it to a Genius bar, but I won't have time for that for a few days either. Help!