Books, movies and TV October 8 - 14

Books:

1. Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby

This is the second time I have read this. I love all Nick Hornby but I especially like his non-fiction and criticism.

I think I met Nick Hornby once. I was on a London bus with my wife, two children and about one hundred and fifty pounds of luggage. (No joke we were moving to Wales.) I was really scared that I wouldn't be able to find the stop for Stoke Newington. A kind man with a shaved head told me it was a little ways away but don't worry, you haven't missed it. Every three minutes I'd ask again If I'd missed it. Finally he said, "I'll let you know where it is." And sure enough, he did. So thanks Mr. Hornby.

Oh yeah, the reason I thought it was Nick Hornby is because he lives near Stoke Newington and a year later when I saw him give a reading, he looked and sounded like the kind man with the shaved head. I wished I'd have known it was him so I could thank him for The Polysyllabic Spree.

Since the book is about an obsessive soccer fan, it hit a chord. I'm an obsessive movie watcher. Always have been. My earliest memory is in a theater watching R2D2 get zapped by Jawas. Many is the night that I sit in bed while my wife wants to talk about the welfare of the children and I can't concentrate because I am mentally going through the movie release dates for the next nine weeks and listing the movies I have to see - sort of want to see and don't want to see at all.

When I was about ten, both Teen Wolf and Back to the Future came out about the same time. I was already a huge Michael J. Fox fan because of Family Ties, but these two movies shot me into ultimate obsession. I made myself a Michael J. Fox scrapbook that consisted of the newspaper ad for the two movies glued into a spiral notebook. Page after page of either Michael J. Fox either checking his watch next to a flaming tire track or standing there with wolf chest hair coming out of his shirt.

I can't find the notebook now. No doubt my mother (who normally saves everything) stumbled upon it and recognizing it as the work of someone dangerously unhinged, the work of someone who would no doubt be disappointed with Michael J. Fox (perhaps when the Keatons go to England) and seek revenge. (What other conclusion could one come to?) I'm sure she threw it away and I'm glad.

Very wise.

2. Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground - Robert D. Kaplan

I highly recommend this book. I learned a lot. For anyone who has any opinion about the armed services. Very informative.

Movies:

1. Hudsucker Proxy

Even the Coen Brother movies I only sort of like - I really, really like. Perhaps even love. (I'd seen it before.)

2. Hold that Ghost

Abbot and Costello (I'd seen it before.)

3. The Wistful Widow of Wagon's Gap

Abbot and Costello. (I'd seen it before.)

4. Here Come the Co-eds

Abbot and Costello. When I was a kid I was frightened that I would die before seeing every Abbot and Costello movie. I can now scratch this one off my list. (As an adult, I'm scared I will die the moment I see all of their movies. I refuse to watch Little Giant.)

TV:

1. King of the Hill
Meh.

2. Sarah Silverman Program
Meh.

3. Southpark
Meh.

4. The Office
Meh. (I think the problem was with me this week since everything I watched kind of bored me.)

5. Pushing Dasies

I don't know if I can watch this one anymore. It is too much. I'd love it if it was only a half an hour but about twenty five minutes into it I get feeling a little . . . I don't know . . . like I've just eaten a plate full of powdered sugar.

6. Freaks and Geeks season opener.

Work of art. Not many perfect tv shows, but this is a perfect show. I will no doubt be writing about this show many times on this site.