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THE BOOK:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
The Sgt. Pepper’s of children’s literature, a kaleidoscopic whirl of tasty nonsense and sweet fantasy. There are also a few moments of authentic horror here – this is Roald Dahl after all – which lend to the book both its moral weight and an undercurrent of malice, qualities hard to find in most stories meant for the young.
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THE POEM:
“A Brief for the Defense” – Jack Gilbert.
Thanks to my brother for showing me this poem.
I’d feel stupid trying to introduce it. Just check it out. Might be the best ten minutes of your day.
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THE MOVIE:
Downfall
A suffocating portrait of cruelty, madness and desperation. After two hours in the company of Bruno Ganz’s Hitler – with his flying hair, flying spit, twitching hand and dizzying delusions – I was left with one overwhelming thought: good thing we won.
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THE VIDEO:
Hotel Rwanda
When people say a movie is important, that usually translates into boring. There’s nothing boring about Hotel Rwanda though. It’s an unrelenting masterpiece of suspense, and a moving examination of one man’s decency in the face of staggering violence.
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THE COMIC:
Bone by Jeff Smith.
Although it’s been around for over a decade now, Scholastic is rereleasing Jeff Smith’s Bone in new, beautifully colored editions, at the rate of one every six months, and now is the time to check it out. I say in all seriousness that Bone is every bit as thrilling, funny, scary, imaginative and habit-forming as the Harry Potter series.
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THE SHOW:
Project: Greenlight
Ever read Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery? Winning the Project: Greenlight contest kind of works along the same lines. I’m rooting for John Gulager – I’d love to see him somehow pull it out – but there’s no chance. I get the idea that the whole point of the show is to dangle his dream in front of him, and then to stone the life out of him when he reaches for it. Wait, am I recommending this?
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THE SONG:
Two Girls – Paranoid Social Club
The ultimate primer on the heterosexual male, in four minutes of gutbucket rawk. If Rob Thomas released this song – the exact same track, lick for lick, line for line – it would spend the next three years at #1. It was available as a free download for a time off their website, but if you want it now, you’ll have to shell for their CD. Don’t worry: it’s money well spent.
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THE CD:
Careless Love – Madeleine Peyroux
I’d like to marry Norah Jones so I can have a tawdry, booze-soaked affair with Madeleine Peyroux. Of course I’m already married and so is Norah Jones and Madeleine Peyroux lives in Paris or something, so it probably isn’t going to happen.
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THE GAME:
Katamari Damacy
For $20 you get hours of bubblegum brilliance and crazy ballrolling fun. Someday I’m going to write an essay about why Katamari Damacy is one of the great, unknown, artistic achievements in the history of video games.
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THE MEAT:
Bubba Burgers. They’re juicy, they’re addictive, they’re shaped like Texas.
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ANTICIPATED PLEASURE:
U2 on tour this summer.
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