What I saw and read November 19 - 25

Books:

1. I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
I loved, loved, loved this book. Funniest thing I've read in a long time.

2. The Totalitarian Temptation by Jean Francois Revel
Like George Orwell and Hugh Nibley this book really helped me to see the world more clearly. I heavily underlined every page. I will now search out all of his other books.

Movies:

1. The Big Lebowski
2. Duel
3. McClintock!
Pretty good until the ending where John Wayne chases his shrewish wife through the town and then spanks her. She is in her underwear and the townspeople are laughing. Seemed kind of mean spirited.
4. Beowulf
Awesome. As over the top as any movie I've seen since 300. And I really dig the changes Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery made to the poem.
5. Pixar Animated Shorts
6. The Man Who Wasn't There
This Coen Brother movie doesn't do much for me.

TV
1. Southpark
The best Southparks are also the most painful. Sure the show has a lot of crass humor, but the stakes are real to the characters. When they get hurt, they really get hurt. And when Kyle finds out that the girls voted him the ugliest boy in school - it hurt. Very tender.
2. The Soup
3. The Soup Presents
4. The Wrong Trousers - Wallace and Gromit
5. Pushing Dasies
I think I misjudged this show. Very funny and I'm ready to come back. I promised my inlaws that the show would be clean but within the first five minutes there was an erection joke. The TV set almost got turned off.
6. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
7. The Office

What I saw and read November 12- 18

Books:

1. Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane.
One of the best mysteries I've read in a long time.
2. Behind the Mouse Ears by David Koenig
One of the best behind the scenes books about Disneyland. Talks about sex, death, lawsuits, drugs, pranks and hippy riots. Excellent.

Movies:

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by that Coward Robert Ford
Cassey Affleck was amazing.
2. Way Out West - Laurel and Hardy
3. The Circus - Charles Chaplin
4. King Kong (1933)

TV

1. The Soup
2. The Office
3. 30 Rock

What I saw and read November 5 - 11

I'm off to Louisiana tomorrow so this week I'll only give the list.

BOOKS
1. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
2. Anime Explained - a reference book

MOVIES
1. Shrek the third (blech)
2. Miller's Crossing
3. Nightmare Before Christmas

TV
1. The Office
2. The Soup
3. 30 Rock

What I saw and read October 29th - November 4th

Books:

1. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
This may be the scariest book I have ever read. Twice I had to put it down when it got too dark at night. One of those nights, I was so scared when I woke up at four a.m. that I didn't go and use the potty. I just suffered with a full bladder for the rest of the night.
But it is also the one of the most life affirming books I've read in a while. I love this book. I felt like I was thirteen years old, reading Salem's Lot for the first time. Highly recommended.

Movies:

1. Monster House
2. Blood Simple
I'd seen it before but didn't love it then like I do now. My 3rd favorite Coen Brother movie. Behind Miller's Crossing and The Big Lebowski.
3. Ratatouille
Pixar has made three perfect films - Toy Story, The Incredibles and Ratatouille. (Notice I didn't say Toy Story 2. Everybody loves that movie but not me. It does nothing for me. I blame myself.)
4. The Big One
Now I only have one more Michael Moore movie to see. Sicko. I liked this one. Perhaps it is my favorite so far. I also liked Roger and Me (although I'm disappointed to know that he actually did interview Roger Moore and didn't include it in the movie.) Bowling For Columbine was half insightful and half retarded. Fahrenheit 9/11 was shallow and glib. I expected to leave the theater either furious at President Bush or Michael Moore. Instead I left the theater bored.

TV:

1. The Office

2. Book TV debate about Christianity with Christopher Hitchens and Dinesh D'Souza

3. Southpark