The International House of Bacon

Look at me, being all pro-active.

Books:

The Somnambulist - Jonathan Barnes: I wanted to love this fantasy/mystery hybrid, but I only liked it, and it left a few too many questions unanswered than conflicts resolved, IMO. It’s a really interesting read, and I can’t say I disliked my time with it, but it felt like a chore a bit too often, which was frustrating. I’d say give it a shot, but be wary.

The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson: Sometimes books are like movies - if they were a hair shorter, they’d be perfect, and this book was one of them. It’s about an atheistic preacher in Scotland who encounters the Devil, and the general reaction to it. The beginning is killer, the middle plods until the juicy bits, and then it sails to the finish line quite nicely, but the fact that I had to sift through 100 pages of stuff that could have been cut in half or more dragged the whole thing down. The worst part is that it’s a neat treatise on the whole “what if an atheist encountered God” question, but in a really unique and different way. It’s worth your time, though.

The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller: I’m starting to think I don’t like Frank Miller all that much, although I was annoyed more by the artwork in this one than anything else. I understand how Important this one is, but either it just didn’t do the trick or it’s just that I’ve never much enjoyed the Batman mythology much.

Beginner’s Greek - James Collins: This book achieves the unexpected by presenting the expected. Perfectly written, well-executed, and really a great diversion. I’ve been down on realistic fiction a lot as of late, but this book really did it for me.

Marvel 1602 - Neil Gaiman: Another one that I thought I’d love and simply didn’t. Interestingly, the conceit (Marvel characters in Elizabethan England) was what I struggled with more than anything. I appreciate the effort, I suppose.

Ex-Machina: Fact v. Fiction/Tag - Brian K. Vaughan: I don’t know what I can really say about Ex-Machina without gushing like a schoolgirl. I love everything about it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - Jeff Kinney: That this guy is fast becoming the next big deal in children’s books couldn’t happen to a better human being, and the fact that the books are completely awesome and really capture what it’s like to be a 10 year old boy stumbling through life only helps things more. So fun - every guy my age needs to make it a point to grab these two books and spend an afternoon with them.

Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court - Jan Crawford Greenburg: A really interesting look at how the Court has been assembled post-Roe v. Wade. An essential book in a lot of ways - it made me like Eisenhower less, respect Clarence Thomas more, and put me at peace a bit with John Roberts. I have The Nine sitting in my book bag next, so it’ll be an interesting contrast.

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair - Laura Amy Schlitz: This is one of those books that reminded me that kids books don’t have to be all kiddish to make sense and speak to a certain concept. A child is adopted for the sole purpose of defrauding rich people using seances, and it’s a really strong story with really sympathetic characters. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but only because the ride to get there was so really great. Amanda, I really think you’d enjoy this one if you haven’t seen it yet.

Movies:

There Will Be Blood: Quite simply the best movie from 2007 I saw. I still haven’t seen No Country, but I can’t imagine this not surpassing it. I’m a total Paul Thomas Anderson fanboy, true, but the performances were incredible, and the story really nailed it for me, and it’s really an amazing masterpiece.

Sydney White: I don’t know what’s worse - that I’ve become a complete Amanda Bynes fanboy, or that I really loved this movie a lot. It’s a teen flick at its heart, and it has your typical South Park “I think we all learned something today” ending, but it’s less than 90 minutes long, the pacing is pitch-perfect, it’s funny in all the right places, and it’s just a really great ride. I’m 14 years old.

The Ten: Now, for something I thought would be a lot of fun, but really wasn’t. A kind of goofy series of vignettes inspired by the Ten Commandments, of varying humor and point. That so many good people (Michael Showalter, Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, etc) were involved and it was this underwhelming was somewhat of a disappointment.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: What a wild documentary, all about a guy who challenges the long-standing record score in Donkey Kong and the internal political strife that goes along with it. Absolutely crazy documentary, the fact that this wasn’t nominated for anything big is criminal, IMO.