I’ll never find time for everything I need to say, I swear.
Books:
The Princess Diaries Volume 9: Princess Mia - Meg Cabot: The latest in the long line of Princess Diaries books - this one did very little for me until the very end. So much of it involved Mia moping about her boy troubles and it seemed amazingly out of character and just didn’t work for me. Regardless, the way it ended left a great setup for the final book in the series.
Ultimates 2 - Mark Millar: I can’t say I loved this the way I loved the first set of Ultimates, but it’s still a really interesting perspective that I never expected.
Born Standing Up - Steve Martin: Steve Martin could write about paper and I’d likely be entranced. A really neat memoir about his rise as a stand-up comic, very fun and enlightening.
Size 14 is Not Fat Either - Meg Cabot: I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the Heather Wells mystery stuff anymore, but that’s probably less about Meg Cabot and more about my natural aversion toward mystery novels in general.
The Opposite of Invisible - Liz Gallagher: An interesting read, for sure. It took me a while to get into, as the narrative on this one was very unique, but it roped me in soon enough where I pretty much couldn’t stop until I finished this shortish YA novel. It’s not perfect, but it’s really a great, interesting story with good characters, which is not something that always happens in YA lit these days.
Love is a Mixtape - Rob Shefffield: I wanted to love this book for obvious reasons, but, at the end of the day, it really came down to the fact that mix tapes matter, but only to a) you, and b) the person you made it for. You’ll never truly understand the impact of a tape for anyone seeing it from a third party perspective. So maybe I did love this book. Hm.
Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility/Learning Curve: God damn it, you guys. I guess I’m a Spider-Man fan now. I’m really enjoying this.
Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution - Woody Holton: “Hey, I have an idea, I’ll write a 200+ page history of the Constitution using only debt and money as the basis.” Maybe the whole Ron Paul thing has really made me overly sensitive to money policy lately, but this got very tiring very quickly. An interesting premise that would have worked better in a compilation of ideas around the Constitution rather than a full-length work.
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days - Brian K. Vaughan: Vaughan is probably my favorite comic writer at this early stage of things. This is really one of the most fascinating concepts for a comic I’ve seen since Y: The Last Man, and he wrote that, too. I’m excited to keep going with this series.
Liberal Fascism - Jonah Goldberg: An Important Book in every sense of the word. I never expected Goldberg to have this sort of book in him - it’s well-researched, well-written, and presents a concept that everyone on the right has felt like they’ve known, but had nothing to back it up. My only complaint is that this book needed to come out 8 years ago, not today. Highly recommended for everyone, really. Ignore what you know about his sometimes abrasive writing for the National Review, this is a very good read.
Movies:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Essentially, mostly what I expected from a film version of this, although it’s cut in a lot of weird ways. Worth seeing, definitely, but yeah.
Cloverfield: I still think this was perfect for what it was - a Big Monster Movie. That time away from it has only improved it in my mind says a lot, I think.