I love The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. It's not what I'd call a page-turner, in that I've put it down for days several times. (Had to return it to the library, even, and wait until I reached the top of the waiting list again.) Every single page has something fascinating on it; a great, great book. I've been laughing myself silly over Dave Barry's The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog and The Onion's Our Dumb World. You must read Our Dumb World's description of New Jersey- but preferably not out loud when someone's twelve year old nephew is in the room.
Graphic Novels:
Not having had a chance to go see Beowulf yet, I loved reading the Gareth Hinds version to tide me over until the DVD comes out. Hopefully over the holidays I'll have a chance to read the Preacher books I've borrowed.
Movies:
Finally saw 300 the other day, and maybe I had too high expectations for it. It was ok. a delightfully bloody and overacted comic book of a movie, but not interesting enough. We watched Elf for the first time this holiday season and it was truly "fun for the whole family." (Meet the Robinsons, however, wasn't. The kids didn't even appreciate that one. ) Sticking with Will Farrell for a moment, Stranger than Fiction is a very well-written and put-together story; an English teacher friend of mine recommended it, and it's not hard to see why. If you haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth yet, go get it immediately and watch it. At least twice. Scrooge may not be the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but singing "I Like Life" and "Thank You Very Much" always gets me in the spirit.
Television:30 Rock is still the funniest thing on TV- and you can watch episodes online if you missed them. Please, for the sake of all of us who survived the 80s, can we get rid of Christian The One-Trick Pony on Project Runway? (Not to diminish the auffing of Steven, though- what he did to that wedding dress was a shame.)
Music:
My kids are in love with my new Foo Fighters disc Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. I'm so proud, but I'm starting to wish we didn't have to play it twice a day every day. Ah, but it's time to haul out the Christmas music, and where would be be without Eddie G?
So, what haunts your media-verse these days?
2 comments:
30 Rock is a great show. Some episodes just lie there, but when it works, it works. Between this show and his appearances on SNL, I don't think I'll ever be able to take Alec Baldwin seriously again.
The World Without Us is certainly one of the most original and imaginative books I've read in a long, long time. I generally let books sit on the shelves before a few years before I pick one up, but this one was a new book that I found to be extremely fascinating reading.
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