Thursday, May 28, 2009

April 2009: Media Consumed

Books Read
*F-Minus: This Can't Be Legal Tony Carrillo
Liberty and Tyranny Mark Levin
*The Saturday Evening Pearls Stephan Pastis
#Twilight Zone: The After Hours Mark Kneece, et al
Star Trek: Best Destiny Diane Carey
*Suture Self Leo Cullum
The Cuckoo's Haiku and Other Birding Poems Michael Rosen & Stan Fellows
*My Bad: A Zits Treasury Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman

* = denotes a collection of comic strips
# = denotes a graphic novel

Of the books read in April, the only two I can recommend anyone looking at are F-Minus: This Can't Be Legal and The Saturday Evening Pearls. I had never heard of the comic strip "F-Minus" before, but it was hilarious. It's usually a one-panel strip that has the same type of humor that Farside used to have. The Saturday Evening Pearls is the latest collection of "Pearls Before Swine" strips and as everyone knows it's the best comic strip currently in circulation. If you like birds, check out The Cuckoo's Haiku which though is a collection of bird poems has some spectacular illustrations and is really a field guide in disguise. Also, if you're a fan of the original Star Trek series (the original--not the new timeline version), you might enjoy Star Trek: Best Destiny which tells how Jim Kirk became interested in Starfleet and also gives a few details following the events of the movie, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country.

Movies Viewed for the First Time
The Death of a President
The Watcher in the Woods
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Beyond Narnia
Once Upon a Mattress
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Observe and Report
Hannah Montana: The Movie
America Zombie
The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines
Bolt

Out of the movies I saw for the first time, there's only a few I will comment on. Monsters Vs. Aliens was so much better than what I had expected. It's full of all kinds of surprises for people who grew up reading sci-fi, watching movies, or who have ever listened to Stephen Colbert. Bolt was also another movie I was surprised by, but shouldn't have been because the producer is the guy who basically started Pixar. American Zombie was a hilarious movie, but only if you enjoy zombies and if you have seen enough documentary films to know the cliches of the genre. There's actually some extraordinary acting in this film, but since it was a low budget indie and has a narrow focus, it will take some time before people begin "discovering" it.

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