Watch Instantly Day 3

Once again it's laundry day! You know what that means - time for the Roku.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley showed up in NetFlix Watch Instantly recently so of course I had to watch it. I never would have bothered getting a DVD of it to watch, but since it was so easy...well how could I not? Molly's mom goes a bit nuts and tries to kill her to save her before her 18th birthday. Why? Well it seems someone made a deal with the devil, so to speak. This was a fun little movie - not much substance but nothing terrible here.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans also showed up. I went into this one with very low expectations and was very surprised to find a decent, romantic, gothy, slaves vs masters, vampires vs lycans story. It too was short to have a whole lot of fluff and it was interesting to see the backstory of why the vampires and werewolves hate each other so much. I would too, man. I would too. Hello, Michael Sheen & his buff self. Also very nice to look at. Towards the end - totally riveted to the action sword play. Yay for gothy music. Now I feel compelled to watch the others. I know. I am sad.

Black Hole by Charles Burns

I picked up Black Hole by Charles Burns awhile ago because the cover looked interesting and it showed up as an item in my QPB catalog. I thought Steve would enjoy reading it but never really expected to ick it up myself. Then I read an article on MTV's Splash Page that listed it as one of the contributor's favorite horror comics. Well, that put it in a different light altogether. Of course I had to pick it up then.

In Black Hole, the teens in town either have "the bug" or not. "The bug" is an STD that passes from one to the other, causing some mutation or another. Some mutations aren't so bad, maybe an extra small mouth or your skin sheds. Some are really bad - disfiguring the face so much you can't recognize what the person looked like before. Regardless, once you have it, you have it forever.

The stories are sad and lonely, the art is stark black & white with severe shading that only enhances the feeling of separateness felt by the teens. It's horrific- the mutations, the alienation, the rage these kids feel, but I wouldn't consider it horror, at least not in the sense as I define it. It was however terribly good. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 5 Purrs for a haunting, sad, eerie story told with beautiful art

Watch Instantly Day 2

I am currently addicted to watching horror movies on NetFlix Watch Instantly. I have been catching up on chores so I figure why not?

Here's today's haul:

Laid to Rest: This one ended up being a pretty decent slasher flick, surprisingly enough. A girl wakes up in a coffin with no idea who she is or where she is. She soon figures out that the guy in the Destro mask is out to kill her, and she must fight her way through this very small town to safety before he kills her. Lena Headley and Johnathan Schaech have small parts. The acting is good in this one. The plot isn't terribly original but the gore is rampant. Not bad for a rainy day.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus: You know you want to watch. You know you can't turn away. Nothing beats a movie that stars Debbie Gibson as an oceanographer who discovers the polar ice caps melting have released a giant octopus that devours oils rigs and a giant shark who leaps out of the ocean to snags planes from the air. This movie is epic. Debbie Gibson does science and stuff with test tubes! It even stars Lorenzo Lamas. How can you *not* watch it? I may have to buy this on DVD. It's so bad it's awesome.

Cold Prey: This Norwegian thriller is so very good. A group of friends go snowboarding off the beaten path to avoid the lines and tourists. Of course one of the friends hurts themselves and they ahve to take shelter for the night in a deserted inn. It's very creepy - my favorite setting is the old deserted location (you know, ghost ship, haunted houses, abandoned hospitals, etc.). The hapless, unsuspecting kiddos are sliced and diced but what's best about is you hardly ever see the killer. You see snippets of the boots, the axe, the parka, but it's like Jaws. No shark until the end. Really, this one is worth watching. It's tense, it's bloody, it's scary, it's got eye candy. The worse thing is the over-dubbing on the Watch Instantly version. The voices are bad and a bit cheesy. Definitely worth a watch - must look for the sequel.

Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield

I think I found this book via my QPB membership. It's more than likely. I seem to find the best books there. Love Is a Mix Tape is probably one of the sweetest, saddest books I have read in a long while.

In LIaMT, Rob Sheffield tells the story of how his love of music blossomed and how that love of music brought him to Renee, the woman he loved, married, and watched die in his arms one night after about 5 years of marriage. He tells the story using each chapter to show why a certain mix tape was important, the songs that were on it, and why it was even made.

I wondered how gimmicky that would feel after a few chapters, but it didn't feel gimmicky at all. Instead I found a love letter to music, the act of loving a song enough to give it to someone else, to add it in between other songs in order to change it, make it your own, and a love letter to the person we meet that we know will change our lives for the better, forever. Not only could I tell that Rob Sheffield loves music, but I could tell that he loves Renee, even now. It was and is a beautiful story. Anyone who has ever made a mix tape knows the magic in it, and Rob brings that magic, the joy the two of them shared, making tapes together, to the reader.

I got through reading maybe the first 2 chapters before I went into Steve's office and said, "This book - you have to read it. It's like it was written for you by you." I can appreciate it, but Steve, as a true music lover, will be able to get it in a way I can't.

Rating: 5 Purrs for telling the story of two people, so different and yet so right for each other. For making a very sad story into one of love and living.

Watch Instantly Day

I am trapped at the house today waiting on the FedEx guy so I decided to take advantage of my Roku. Horror movies on Watch Instantly all day. Whee!

Pin: Ahh, the tales of a boy and his best friend Pin, the anatomically correct medical teaching dummy. Leon and Ursula grow up with their doctor dad who uses Pin, his medical teaching dummy, to teach them the lessons of life. Trouble is, Ursula grows up and knows Pin isn't real. Leon doesn't. In fact, Pin becomes his only friend, and Pin is jealous. Pin likes the stabby and the smacky and the beaty with blunt objects. This one was creepy in a maybe I should bathe with Lysol and steel wool sort of way.

House: No, not that one. This one with Michael Madsen for about two seconds. Two couples end up with torn up tires on a back country road. They stumble upon an old country bed & breakfast that may or may not have been there before. Creepy Leslie Easterbrook is the lady of the house, and soon the young couples realize not all is right with this family. Somehow the house is using their deep, dark secrets against them. Will they survive the night? Not too bad for a straight to DVD flick but nothing really new here.

Hack!: Well, they name checked Argento in the first few minutes so I am hoping the rest goes so well. There are several actors that have a name - Juliet Landau, Danika Macellar, Justin CHou (from Twilight!?)...and the idea is okay. A group of college students go to an island to observe the wildlife as an extra credit assignment. Someone starts killing them. Horror movie in-jokes and references abound. None of the actors are terrible, it just ends up dissolving into a tongue in cheek horror movie that could have been a contender.

Factotum by Charles Bukowski

Ah Bukowski, how I love thee. I once told a friend the reason I like Bukowski so much is that he’s an asshole and makes no apology for it. I was comparing him to Jack Kerouac, who I like as well, but not as much as I like Bukowski. Somehow he ends up being a sympathetic character (well Henry Chinaski does) despite the fact that he drinks too much, is lazy, a jerk to everyone, and a real asshole to the ladies who hook up with him. I can’t help but admire someone who will throw all of those warts out there, perhaps even make them worse, and yet still make me actually like the character.

Factotum follows Henry Chinaski again, this time as he drifts from job to job in WWII America trying to make enough money to live on and pretty much making just enough to buy booze and play the horses. The whole novel pretty much consists of his applying for, getting, and losing various jobs interspersed with scenes of drunken stupors, drunken hook ups, and drunken trips to the racetrack.

I don’t know why I find it so appealing, but I do. I mean, when I describe it, it doesn’t sound all of that interesting, but it is. The language, the characters and so gritty, so urban, so dark, and so poetic and somehow Bukowski takes those dark, lost, ugly people and helps you identify with them, in his ability to not care one way or the other, makes you sympathize with them. I really can’t put my finger on just what it is, but he had it. I just wish there were more Bukowski books to read. As it is I have to parse them out here and there to make sure I don’t run out any time soon. Otherwise I would just read them back to back and forgo any other book. I can’t help it. I rarely gush over an author, but this one I totally fan girl over. Bukowski is my genius. I don’t want to be him, but I sure love to read him.

Rating: 4 ½ Purrs for pure, classic Bukowski – ugly warts and all

Jennifer's Body

When I first heard about Jennifer’s Body on my favorite horror blog ever, Final Girl, I knew I had to see it. It really had nothing to do with the fact that Diablo Cody wrote it, although I liked Juno. It was mostly because the idea of Megan Fox playing a cheerleader who goes bad, really bad, and hungry for boys, if you know what I mean, and I think you do, made my toes wiggle with excitement. Feminist-ish horror. Yay!

*Here be perhaps a few spoilery-type items*

Jennifer Check is the popular girl. She’s the one that every girl wants to be and every guy want to sleep with. Somehow her best friend is geektastic Needy (nickname for Anita), despite the fact that they share little in common. Needy’s boyfriend Chip doesn’t get it. Most people don’t. But it works for them. After convincing Needy to go with her to the local bar to see an indie-rock bad (Low Shoulder) play, Jennifer hooks up with the “salty” lead singer who really just wants her for her virgin body. (Joke’s on them haha) Unfortunately, when you sacrifice a non-virgin to Satan to help your indie-rock band become the next Maroon Five, she gets all hungry for boy flesh. Let the chomping and seducing begin!

While I was pretty disappointed there was a gross lack of nudity in this horror film (hello- horror movies always have some), I did like the snappy, snarky dialog despite thinking it seemed a bit too snarky to be natural. There was some nice gore, and the scene where Jennifer takes the football guy into the woods for some afternoon delight is hilarious and gross all at the same time. It reminded me of one of my favorite South Park episodes (I think it was called Woodland Critter Christmas?). The lesbian tension between Jennifer and Needy is a big underlying sub-plot and always nice. (The kiss between the two of them was hot.)

I enjoyed Jennifer’s Body quite a lot (hush you – you know who you are) but I wouldn’t put it with my favorites. It’s almost as if it couldn’t find a balance between being funny and being serious so it never felt like one or the other. However, Adam Brody playing the indie-rock bank lead singer was an inspired casting choice. He was hilarious in his bits. I’d recommend this to my fellow horror geeks, but you could wait for DVD. If you aren’t about Megan Fox being sexy for an entire movie, you won’t be as interested in this one.

Rating: 4 Purrs for Megan Fox in tiny outfits, chomping with the best of them, and actually looking sallow here and there in the film – plus who doesn’t love the line – No, evil evil, not high-school evil.

The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay

My friend Matt recommended I read this book because he knows I love a good mystery. What could make a better mystery than a main character that can’t even remember what he is supposed to be investigating or who asked him to investigate?

In The Little Sleep, main character Mark Genevich is a PI. A narcoleptic PI. One who falls asleep mid-conversation. One who can’t tell reality from the hallucinations he suffers. He’s a guy who is pretty certain he’s been hired to investigate these nudie pictures that ended up on his desk, but for the life of him can’t remember who asked him to investigate or really even why. He thinks at first that the pictures were brought to him by a prominent DA’s daughter, Jennifer Times, because the photos look a bit like her, but he soon finds out that investigating something “real,” something not a divorce case is going to be more difficult than he imagined, especially when you can’t tell for sure if what you are seeing is real or not. Who really asked him to investigate? Who is actually in the pictures? Is there even a case at all or is it just Mark’s imagination?

I really liked this book. It did feel uneven in parts, but it is a first novel so it didn’t bother me that much. I liked how the plot kept you guessing, mostly because like Mark you aren’t sure what you are reading is real or hallucination. Some of the solution I had figured out by the end, but some of the bigger points I hadn’t. This I like: a mystery that keeps you guessing, quirky characters (but not so quirky they feel ridiculous), and homage to hard-boiled detective noir. If this sounds interesting to you give The Little Sleep a read. I can’t wait to see what else Paul Tremblay comes up with in his next novel. I will definitely pick it up and give it a try.

Rating: 4 Purrs for a sympathetic character who despite the odds stacked against him, finds out the truth without losing his snarky edge

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

I will admit to finding Patricia Highsmith only after The Talented Mr. Ripley became a movie, but I have been slowly but steadily buying her books used very since. Strangers on a Train is her first novel, and it is a remarkable one. Most first novels you read end up being iffy, with promise but that certain tinge of not quite polished prose. Strangers on a Train had so little of that feel that I struggle to even remember it. Mr. Hitchcock liked it so much he felt compelled to make a movie out of it and we know Hitch knows his suspense.

In SoaT, Guy is just a guy (heh) who would really like to get a divorce from his poorly chosen first marriage so he can marry the sweet, rich girl of his dreams. (He really loves her; it's not a money thing.) He is taking the train back to his hometown to finally file the papers, and on this trip he meets Buddy, a spoiled rich kid who has it all but thinks his father is in between him and happiness. Buddy invites Guy back to his train compartment to have dinner and a drink, and Guy reluctantly accepts. It's probably the worst decision he ever made. You see, Buddy is a sociopath who feels he has hatched the fool-proof plan for murder. He tells Guy you kill my dad, and I will kill your medlesome wife. No one will ever know. It'll be great. Guy is horrified, and what follows is one of the tautest thrillers I have read.

Highsmith really knows how to show a man completely dissolve all of himself. She shows him lose everything that is pure and hopeful, and makes it so real you know it could happen to you. That's why I love her work. The heroes in her stories aren't perfect; they are everyman. You could be there; you could be that person, clinging desperately to sanity and hope but all the while knowing it is over. She starts that path in Strangers on a Train. It is an excellent one.

Rating: 5 Purrs for a brilliant first novel

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick

I never read a lot of PDK before this year. I read some of his short stories, which I liked well enough, but I didn't like them enough to really pick up a full book and give it a whirl. That was until my friend John recommended Ubik. Then I fell into serious lust. I believe I went right out and bought another 5 PKD books the very next day after finishing that one. I was told to pick up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? next. I have to admit, I loved it, but not as much as Ubik. Not that Androids wasn't exceptional, trust me. It was. But Ubik was such a mind fuck, I don't know that anything will top it.

I loved the movie, Blade Runner, so I fully expected to find many similarities between the two, but as most book adaptations go, it was not meant to be. Actually, I didn't mind that at all, which is unusual for me. Androids focuses on Rick Deckard, an android bounty hunter, his pursuit of some escaped androids, and his desire to own a real animal, which is some sort of status symbol/religous thing in this story's universe. Really, though, the whole story focuses on the question of what it is to be human, as many of the androids Deckard hunts maintain that he himself is more android, more machine, than they are, and what happens to our humanity once we rely on technology so much that we have to own a real animal just to feel a bond with another living thing.

I love the ending, which I can't go into here because it is really worth reading for yourself. Other than that, I must say Androids is definitely work reading, although Ubik is still my favorite. Of course, I think I have about 4 other PDK books to read, so something else might knock Ubik out of its number 1 spot. Maybe.

Rating: 4 Purrs

My Name Is Bruce

"Consider yourself officially exempt from my wrath sweetcakes, and if you're lucky a little later I'll let you play with my boomstick."

Okay, let's get one thing straight. I love Bruce Campbell. I'll watch him in anything. I'll watch Briscoe County, Jr. I watch Burn Notice because of him. I have even watched some of those really bad B-movies this movie makes fun of in droves. I.Love.Bruce.Campbell. After watching My Name Is Bruce, I can't help but love him even more. I mean the entore movie is pretty much him making fun of himself. His string of B-Movies. His string of C-Movies. His Hollywood "fame" or lack thereof. His ways with women. His chin. This movie felt like Drop Dead Gorgeous, where nothing was off limits, only instead of Lutherans, God, and beauty pageants, it's nothing is off limits in relation to Bruce Campbell & his career.

In My Name Is Bruce, Bruce Campbell is filming another one in a long line of C-Movies. He's a drunk and a womanizer. However, there is one true fan out there, and he needs Bruce's help. You see he awoke a Chinese demon in his small town, and that demon is slash happy. Who do you call? Well, Bruce Campbell of course. Unfortunately for Mr. Campbell, he discovers that the guy in the rubber suit is in fact a demon, and this whole thing is not a movie set like he thought. Will Bruce gather the courage to defeat the demon and win the lovely lady? You must watch to find out.

I fully acknowledge that this was a low budget, goofy, stupidly written movie. But come on - Bruce Campbell! Making fun of himself! It rarely gets better than that.

Rating: 5 Purrs - loved every stupid, god-awful, man-in-rubber suit minute of it.

The Mutant Chronicles

I rented The Mutant Chronicles from NetFlix, mostly because I love Thomas Jane in just about anything. I'm not sure I can forgive him this one though. This one felt more like a straight to SyFy (why oh why change your name why?) flick, not even a straight to DVD flick. It was that bad.

In some weird steampunk 1910 type universe, there are 4 corporations. They fight each other using trench warfare. A hole opens up and the mutants come out, slashing in lovely CGI gore. (by lovely I mean BAD. Really bad.) The world is lost (oh no!) and the Fellowship of the Ring must take the one ring to Mordor...wait wrong movie. A rag tag group of super fighters from the various corporations must band together to blow up the machine and save the planet. I know, it is as silly as it sounds.

What seemed somewhat interesting at first only heads pretty much straight into boring, oh-my-god seriously territory very quickly. The idea of a steampunk type world based on WWI rather than the Victorian Age could have been really interesting. In fact it held my attention here and there. Unfortunately the painful acting, awful plot, and ridiculous John Malkovich cameo just killed it. Oh and the, really that's the end ending. That too. I knew the minute the camera panned up to a red-clocked figure and I saw it was Ron Perlman that this movie was doomed. I like Ron Perlman, but with a fake accent and missing his HellBoy make-up, well, it just didn't seem right.

I really wouldn't recommend this one even to die-hard sci-fi fans. It's just too painful. And I like goofy sci-fi movies. Shut off the DVD player and read some Philip K Dick instead.

Rating: Hiss. Hiss I say!

The Last House on the Left (remake)

I loved the original Last House on the Left. Wes Craven truly was a seriously horrific stroyteller back in the 70's and 80's. The Hills Have Eyes, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Serpent and the Rainbow are some of my favorite horror movies. I loved the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. It didn't change much, and it felt very gritty and gross, just like the original. Luckily, the people responsible for the remake of The Last House on the Left took a page out of that book and kept the feeling, flavor, and horror of the original and made a great movie.

Mari and her parents have come up to their lake house to spend the summer, and Mari soon borrows the car to go meet her summer friend Paige to hang out and just be teenagery together. If you have ever watched a horror movie, you know this bodes not well for the two girls. They soon meet Justin, a hapless underage kid trying to buy cigarettes. The girls go back to hang out with Justin at his hotel, and unfortunately for them, Krug and the Gang show up and they are none too happy. Once the girls are tortured, raped, and sliced and diced, the gang takes refuge at Mari's lake house, where Mari's unsuspecting parents take them in during a horrible storm. Soon the parents discover just who their guests are and what they have done, and that's when the good stuff happens. Beware the parents who must fight for their child. They seek vengeance, y'all, and boy is it bloody. It's pure gore, sloppy violence. None of this insta-hero with super strength suddenly becoming Rambo. These people discover a revenge streak they never knew they had, and even thouogh they are clumsy, fall over, get beaten up, they still keep fighting. It's glorious.

I really thought the actors were excellent. Krug and the Gang (ha ha) really are creepy and Justin is such a sad character. The violence is truly horrific, although I remember the original being a bit more violent regarding the torture of the two hapless teenagers. The rape scene is awful; I couldn't watch it at all. My eyes were closed and I had my ears shut as tight as they could be. I watched the unrated version, so maybe the rated wasn't as bad. Let's just say it made my skin crawl right off. If you can get past all of that build up, all of that tension, the last half of the movie is well worth the wait. Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter exact a revenge worth watching, and I cheered as the bad guys had the tables turned on them.

If you can make it through the torture scenes, you might enjoy this one. I am glad I watched it, but I won't be watching it again. It was just too much to get through that lead up.

Rating: 4 1/2 Purrs for making me really uncomfortable and then giving me a chance to cheer for the good guys as they kick ass.

The Happening

I avoided The Happening like the plague until it finally came on HBO and I DVRd it. I really wish, after watching it all the way through, mouth agape in wonder at how bad a movie could possibly be, that I could hunt Mr. Sixth Sense down and ask him for my hour and a half back. I mean, I have seen bad movies. I enjoy bad movies. I watch them with relish. Usually, those movies are so bad they are good. Even Manos, Hands of Fate was worthy of watching, simply because the MST3K guys made watching it enjoyable. I am sad to say that I doubt even those guys could make The Happening worth watching again. I think my mistake wasn’t hunting down a RiffTrax or Cinematic Titanic track to watch with it. Then maybe, just maybe I wouldn’t be so bitter about the 1.5 hours this movie cost me. I don’t know though. Maybe not.

What I liked about this movie. Hm. That’s a tough one. Is there anything? Well, there were some scenes that could have been truly disturbing. Unfortunately, they were all in the trailer. The images of people throwing themselves off of buildings, hanging from trees, and all other forms of mass suicide could have been horrific, if they were in the hands of a more capable director. Unfortunately, they weren’t.

I could take that leap of faith and think that Marky Mark Walberg was intelligent enough to actually teach a junior high science class. If I squinted enough and just jumped right in there and suspended that disbelief, I could believe that two people, one of whom is a favorite actress (Zooey Deshanel) could be married, despite a complete lack of chemistry. I mean, a complete lack. None. In fact, I often wondered if they were in the same movie, shooting the same scenes together, seeing as so much of it is shot in single actor frames, sort of like how no one believes Pacino and DeNiro were in Heat together because they never seemed to be in the same frame. Seriously, so much of the movie was shot in these single actor frames I wonder if anyone was actually shooting the same scene at the same time.

So much of the plot was telegraphed early one that I can't help but think I would have known the big a-ha twist even if it hadn't been spoiled for me but dozens of others. I mean, at the beginning, one of the kids in Marky Mark's science class says, "An act of nature, and we'll never fully understand it." I think Mr. Sixth Sense thought he was being profound, but you know, not really. And when I heard it I knew it would come back around. And guess what. It did. And when it did, I seriously eye-rolled my whole body. I half-way expected some big drum roll in the background.

I don't think this movie was supposed to make me laugh, but it did. Out loud. I almost cried I laughed so hard. I seriously wonder if any of the actors read the script before signing on, and if they did, what on Earth possessed them to go ahead and sign up? If not, did they fire their agents after reading the script? And how on Earth did anyone greenlight this project? I want to find out who it was and punch them right in the baby-maker. Yes, yes I do.

If you want to watch a ludicrous killer plant movie, watch something better, like Day of the Triffids. Or better yet, read the book. It's a better use of your time than this painful. heavy-handed, oh-so-dramatic drivel. I swear this is the absolute last time I watch a M. Night Shyamalan movie. I have now been burned bad enough to take no more chances.

Rating: Can I give more than 5 hisses? Cause I would. Hell, it's my blog. Hisses to the infinite power for this one.

District 9

I have been waiting forever to see District 9 pretty much since I first read about it way back in Rolling Stone's or Entertainment Weekly's Summer movie preview. They described it as a thinker's hard sci fi movie, and yes, that's pretty much what we got. Finally, truth in advertising. Ha.

I hate to give too much away, because I really think the less you know about District 9, the happier you will be with the movie. What you see in the trailer is this: a derelict alien spacecraft has is sitting in the sky over Johannesburg. The aliens inside are refugees of sorts, and have been relocated to an area called District 9. Folks are not too pleased, as you would expect.

I loved the real time, documentary feel of the film. It felt like Cloverfield, only I didn't get the nice wooziness I had seeing that one on the big screen. Ugh. This had just the right balance of sci fi, gore, tension, and social commentary to make me happy. I would have to say it's one of the best films I have seen this year, and definitely one of the best I have seen this summer. It was like a Night of the Living Dead in the midst of a collection of Speed Racers. I loved Speed Racer, it was a fun popcorn movie, but Night of the Living Dead had weight. It had substance and was fun all at once.

I can't recommend District 9 enough. It was so good, you have to go see it. Maybe we can get more movies like this if this one makes enough money.

Rating: 4 1/2 Purrrrrrssss - I would definitely see it again.

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski (besides having the hardest name ever in the world to type) is another one of those Quality Paperback Book club books that I bought on a whim, and after losing my job a couple of months ago, found even funnier and more full of black comedy than maybe if I were still working. It was truly an enjoyable book - dark, bloody, funny, and so, so satirical it almost burns like razor burn.

One hot Saturday in August, the boss has called in his key personnel into the office for a 9 AM meeting. No one knows why, least of all Jamie Debroux, who has been out the last month on paternity leave. After all, he's not really part of the inner circle; he's just a press writer. When he shows up, the conference room is stocked full of cookies, orange juice, and champagne, and the Knox, the boss, announces something very unexpected. It seems the business is a front for the intelligence community, and they are being shut down. In intelligence-speak, that means everybody has to die. They can choose to drink the mimosas and die quietly, or get a bullet in the head. Naturally, all hell breaks lose, because well, Jamie was in the dark, but not everyone else was. It's a fight to the death, with the clique making more alliances than a season of Prison Break, and no one knowing who to trust. Will Jamie survive to see his family again? You have to read to find out.

Like I said, it's very fun. Think film noir crossed with The Bourne Identity and Quentin Tarantino. It's bloody, characters are simply drawn but end up not being who you thought they were when you first meet them, and it's fairly tightly written. Overall, I would recommend it. It's not brilliant piece of literature, but it's higher on the scale than a worthwhile beach read.

Rating: 4 Purrs for a fast, page turning read. I read this puppy in maybe 8 hours.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I don't know how how many people told me Forgetting Sarah Marshall was hilarious. They were right. It's all in the mix - Kristen Bell plays just the right amount of bitch and cute, Mila Kunis is adorable, the Apatow regulars are a perfect background mix, Russell Brand was funnier than I expected, and Jason Segel was downright perfect. He is such a nice mix of goofball, sweet, funny that he really does seem to be the guy you would love to bring back to the parents.

Am I the only person in the world who would love to see the full production of Dracula puppets? Surely not...

Progress on my Book List for the 9/9/9 Project

Here's an update on my 9/9/9 project. That's 9 books in 9 categories in 2009 (plus an extra few to make it up to 100 this year). Books in bold I have read. You would think I would have been caught up by now, but so far I believe the count is at 39 for the year. I should be at 50 or so by now if I am going to make 100. Hm.

Books I should have read but haven't (The Classics)

1. Sanditon and Other Stories by Jane Austen
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. I, Robot by Issac Asimov
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
6. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
7. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
8. The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner
9. Middlemarch by George Eliot
   

Books picked by Steve (and recommended by others)

1. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
2. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
4. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
5. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
6. Post Office by Charles Bukowski
7. UBIK by Philip K Dick
8. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
9. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
   

Collections and Anthologies (short stories and poetry)

1. QPB Anthology of Women's Writing edited by Susan Cahill
2. The Disobedience of Water: Stories and Novellas by Sena Jeter Naslund
3. Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
4. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
5. The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
   
6. Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood
7. The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot
8. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
9. Transformations by Anne Sexton
   

True Stories, Writing, Biographies, History...in Other Words Non-Fiction

1. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott
   
2. Art & Fear by David Bayles
3. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
   
4. Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told You About Famous Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights by Robert Schnakenberg
   
5. A Biography of Zelda by Nancy Milford
6. Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West by Ethan Rarick
7. The Journalist and The Murder by Janet Malcom
8. The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston
9. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
   

Good Intentions: Books I Own but Keep Avoiding

1. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
2. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
3. Snobs by Julian Fellowes
4. Fragile Things Neil Gaiman
5. Love by Toni Morrison
6. The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
7. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
8. Where or When by Anita Shreve
9. Atonement by Ian McEwan
   

Books Turned into Movies

1. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
   
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
   
3. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
4. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindquist
5. The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis
6. The Stand by Stephen King
7. The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
8. Zodiac by Robert Graysmith
9. Blindness by Jose Saramago
   

Books from Childhood (or that I wish had been there for me to read)

1. The Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Lyr, Taran Wander, The High King)
2. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin (The Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore)
3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
4. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & The Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
6. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
7. Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers
8. Peter Pan by J.M Barrie
9. The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
   

Books translated into English

1. After Dark by Haruki Murakami
2. The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur by Victor Pelevin
   
3. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
4. Have Mercy on Us All: A Novel (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) by Fred Vargas
   
5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
   
6. Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
8. Seeing by Jose Saramago
9. Never Let Me Go by Nazuo Ishigino
   

Classic Mysteries

1. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
2. Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
3. Inspector Morse: The Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter
   
4. Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
5. Dashiell Hammett novel collection
6. The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith
7. Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy
8. The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
9. Knots & Crosses by Ian Rankin
   

Whatever, Whatever, I'll read what I want...

1. Ghost: A Novel by Alan Lightman
2. The Lighthouse by P. D. James
3. The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
4. Dead & Gone by Charlaine Harris
   
5. Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski
   
6. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
   
7. Real World by Natsuo Kirino
   
8. Picture Me Dead by Heather Graham
   
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
15. ?
16. ?
17. ?
18. ?

Deep Red

Dario Argento is hands down the director that got me from watching regular Americanized horror movies and into watching foreign films. Argento was my gateway drug, so to speak. Suspria was the first one I saw. Deep Red was the second, and then I was hooked. Truly, seriously hooked.

Deep Red is a giallo, full of the traditional bright red blood, the over-the-top murders, and the beautiful art direction and use of color. The story this time around is a psychic is conducting a show and in the process ends up reading the mind of a murderer. David Hemmings witnesses her murder (the brutal, bloody kind of course), and ends up getting involved with Daria Nicoldi, playing the intrepid news hound, to help solve the murder. Whose mind did the psychic read? Who killed her? Will David and Daria figure out the true story and solve the crime without getting killed?

I love the brilliant color use here. You can tell Argento was looking towards Suspiria and it’s beautiful use of color. I also can’t help but love the Edward Hopper reference there at the beginning with the “blue bar” scene. The murders and the mystery are actually pretty good. The solution is hardly telegraphed throughout the movie at all. To top it off, you have a killer Goblin soundtrack. Man I love those guys.

Dario Argento really did some of his best work at this time. Deep Red is truly a classic.

Rating: 5 Purrs for one of my favorite films. Plus you gotta love a movie that was also named The Hatchet Murders.

Horrorfest 2009 - How many horror movies can I watch? Part 4

So I skipped out last night on the movie viewing, and read a whole bunch instead. So tonight I am back on track, especially since I am off work for the next few days and I can stay up late.  Never fear, I am trying really hard to meet my sister-in-law's expectations of 25 movies while the spouse is out of town I'm on 15 now, for those who are counting). So tonight is a night of classics rather than  B-Movies. Tonight I watch the good stuff. (I don't think I have Suspiria in me tonight, but it's on the list.)

• The Shining: God, I love this movie. I remember reading the book when I was in high school and being overwhelmed with how terrifying the story was and yet also how beautiful. Kubrick takes Stephen King's vision and makes it his own without ever really losing the essence of the story that King created.  Jack Nicholson is damn frightening, the kid is so cute and creepy, and Shelly Duvall is terrified. You can tell she is totally stressed out by working with Nicholson and Kubrick. 
• Jaws: I watch this movie even if it's showing on regular TV with commercials and all the good stuff chopped out. Stephen Spielberg makes good movies, but I think this is one of his best. It seems sometimes crap happens for a reason, so I can't help but be happy that Bruce the Shark was such a pissy creature that they could only show him towards the end. It certainly makes that first appearance a shocker, even on the 100th viewing. Plus, that opening scene is downright scary, no matter how many times you watch it. Jaws did the ocean for me like Psycho did for some and showers. I still can't get in the water much more than hip deep without thinking about this film., and to me, that says perfection. That says true horror - forget all the slash, slice, dice and naked teenagers (not that I don't like watching those too of course). 

Just After Sunset by Stephen King

To be honest, I didn't think Just After Sunset was nearly as good as Everything's Eventual, Stephen King's previous short story collection, but I do love how King writes those short stories. 

I think my favorite might be The Gingerbread Girl. The main character here takes up running after a tragedy strikes her family. When I say takes up running, I mean seriously running. Like all the time until she feels like dropping dead (which I have totally felt before but that's because running is like Heaven and dying to me. It's a weird combo, I know.). Of course, this obsessive/compulsive running comes into play later in the story when she has to run with purpose. 

Otherwise, the stories all kind of ran together for me. I'm not saying they weren't good, but none of them really stood out to me like The Gingerbread Girl, except for maybe N., which channels Lovecraft (even if King says it doesn't). I love the play on obsessive/compulsive behavior in that story. 

Overall, I will always love Stephen King's ability to write short stories. It seems like a lost art form these days.  But despite that, I can't wax poetic about this collection.

Rating: 4 Purrs for The Gingerbread Girl, 3 1/2 for everything else

Horrorfest 2009 - How many horror movies can I watch? Part 3

Monday Night's Viewing

Tonight is the night of goof-ball, B-Movies.

• Horror Planet: This low-budget horror flick is pretty silly. A group of explorers are working some sort of mine on a far away planet and they discover some crystals that wake up some really big-eyed alien who decides he likes one of the chickies. Lots of people dies, the girl gets knocked up by the alien, and then everybody goes crazy. Some pretty interesting deaths, but really you could skip it. I watched it for nostalgia's sake after I found it on my Roku.
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space: Basset Hound (my second choice for a dog after the Welsh Corgi)! No horrorfest is complete without a viewing of Killer Klowns. Really, what other movie has a gun that turns people into big balls of cotton candy?
• Chopping Mall: I have a fondness for this movie because it's by the same guy who directed my favorite Christmas story - Night of the Comet, plus it stars Kelli Maroney, also star of Night of the Comet. It's cheeseball at it's cheesiest. Robots patrol the shopping mall, but unfortunately a lightning strike makes them go haywire crazy on a group of kids who sneak into the mall to have a sleepover. Blood, explosions, cheesy 80's hair. It's awesome. "It's not you, Ferdy. I'm just not used to be chased around a mall in the middle of the night by killer robots. " Where else would something like that make sense? 

Horrorfest 2009 - How many horror movies can I watch? Part 2

Sunday Night' s Viewing Extravaganza:

• Blackout: Found this on on NetFlix Watch Instantly and watched it on my Roku. It's actually not that good. In fact, it got kind of icky squeamish at the end but then it was just blah. Three strangers are trapped in an elevator in a deserted apartment building with little hope of rescue. All of them have some place to be, but only one of them needs to dispose of a body. That's right, one of them is a serial killer. It's pretty obvious right off who the bad guy is going to be and it takes forever to come to a head.
• House of Wax: God, I love this movie! Giant house built out of wax, roadside attractions, icky, icky deaths, creepy twins, the list goes on. This is an awesome remake, well re-imagining really, that no matter how many times I watch it I still get spooked and cringe.
• Shaun of the Dead: Okay so this might be more of a horror comedy, but it still counts. I love these guys, plus Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran...well this is just about the best horror comedy ever.
• Land of the Dead: Keeping with the Zed word, and the Edgar Wright Simon Pegg team (cameos!), I figured I would watch Asia Argento and Simon Baker kick zombie ass. This one isn't as good as Dawn of the Dead, but I thought it was better than Diary of the Dead and Day of the Dead, especially the Day of the Dead remake (which was downright painful).
• Shark Attack 3: Megalodon: This movie is so bad is awesome. Seriously, it might be the absolute worst movie I have ever seen. Manos Hands of Fate was better. John Barrowman (Capt. Jack Harkness) is one of the harbor patrol at a Mexican resort. Big, prehistoric shark shows up and starts chomping away. When I say big shark, I mean like a great white they have forced perspective on or taken in Photoshop and stretched it so it can *swallow people on boats whole.* Like I said, this movie is so bad it is awesome.
  

Horrorfest 2009 - How many horror movies can I watch?

When my spouse decided to hit the road for a solo road trip the week of Memorial Day, I decided it was prime time to indulge in my guilty pleasure - horror movies. The good, the bad, and the way below B-quality. I wondered how many I could watch the week he was gone. One friend bet 12, my sister-in-law is betting 25. I'm curious to see which one is closest. So far, I am on movie 5 since he left mid-day on Friday. 

Here's what my viewing schedule has been so far:

• The Fog: The original, of course. John Carpenter is the king as far as cheesy 80's horror goes. Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the always lovely Adrienne Barbeau take on spooky sailors who come back to seek revenge on the folks in Antonio Bay, CA who done them wrong. Synth heavy JC music, creepy fog, and lots of spooky sailor ghost action makes this one an old favorite, which in turn makes me so sad the remake sucked so badly (which doesn't matter because I own it anyway). The scene where the possessed driftwood makes the tape recorder creepy ghost voice freaks me out every time. It's downright spooky, no matter how many times I watch it. 
• Halloween (Unrated): Rob Zombie takes on a John Carpenter classic. It's no where as good as the original, and Scout Taylor Compton is in no way as good as Jamie Lee Curtis was in embodying the terrified, goody-two shoes Laurie Strode. But honestly, I loved watching Malcolm McDowell chew up the screen playing Dr. Loomis, and while I think some remakes suffer from trying to put too much background to the spooky killer, I like the young Michael Myers scenes. It almost loses my attention once Myers grows up and the teenagers get to dying. 
• The Lost Boys: I haven't watched this one in ages. I remember loving this movie in high school, quoting it endlessly, and having such a huge crush on Alex Winter. Honestly, the music hasn't aged well at all, but it's still a fun, bloody watch. The end kills are just awesome, and Keifer Sutherland is still one of the coolest vampires ever. Even with the age, the dialogue is still snappy, the blood still bloody, and it makes me miss California even more. Any movie with a grandpa that gives you taxidermied animals and kills the head honcho vamp with a truck and a fence post is up for Grandfather of the Year. 
• 28 Days Later: I haven't watched this one in forever too, so watching it was almost like watching it for the first time. I forget just how perfect this movie is, from the beautiful, haunting soundtrack, to the story, the scary infected, the actors, everything. Truly one of my favorites. Plus, Cillian Murphy is very high on my list. Argue if you must, but I am not sure I would count this as a zombie movie. I just can't make up my mind. Really, it doesn't matter. That rage virus is horrifying whether you attach the zed word to it or not. 
• 28 Weeks Later: I couldn't watch one without the other. The thing about these movies is they combine three of my favorite ideas - plague, end of civilization as we know it, and well, zombies (there, I said it). The sequel is not as good as the original, but I like how they didn't just retread like a lot of sequels do. Imogen Poots is beautiful (the sister), and I love Jeremy Renner. I'm interested to see what they do with the next one. 

Acquisitions to the Library

Even more books. I am on a roll.

• Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
• Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller
• Pulp by Charles Bukowski
• The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories by Charles Bukowski
• Love Is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski
• Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 

I think I am on a serious Philip K Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, and Charles Bukowski fetish this year.

Recent Acquisitions to the Library

My most recent haul from Half-Price Books.

• Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski
  
• The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
  
• Just After Sunset by Stephen King
  
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
  
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
  
• Underworld by Don DeLillo
  
• Clandestine by James Ellroy
  
• The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs: A Novel by Irvine Welsh
  
• Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
  
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Other Stories by Charles Dickens
  
• A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
  
• Transformations by Anne Sexton
  
• Filmmakers Series - Fellini's Films by Burke
  
• The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston
  
• The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
  
• Death Is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury
  
• Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
  
• Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
  
• Next by Michael Crichton
  

Recent Acquisitions to the Library

I just picked up some new books:

• Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut (I needed a new copy - mine was falling apart.)
• The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
• The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis
• An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
• Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
• The Women by Charles Bukowski
• Factotum by Charles Bukowski

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

I never would have picked up Charles Bukowski on my own if it weren't for 3 different people waxing poetic about him, so I threw in the towel and tried him out. Wow. I wasn't sure about him because although I understood the significance of On the Road, I just didn't fall in love with it, so more Beats, well, I wasn't interested. But damn if Mr. Bukowski didn't blow me away. Technically, he's not a Beat, but he has a similar style. So far I have read Post Office and Ham on Rye this year, and I have several more queued up in the library to read. I am parsing them out so I don't run through everything too quickly; that's how much I like Bukowski. He is reaching Vonnegut proportions for me.

Ham on Rye is set in Bukowski's younger years and man if the guy can't create a vibrant visual image using like, 3 words. 

If you are interested in an author who can write using concise, simple language to create images that stick with you, beauty out of the ugly. gilding out of the sow's ear so to speak, then check him out. He runs up there with my e.e. cummings, Kurt Vonnegut, and (new) Philip K. Dick obsession. 

Rating: 5 Purrs so far...there's still so much to read!

Ubik by Philip K. Dick

I had a friend recommend Ubik to me, saying it's one of those books that leaves you saying, "what the hell just happened?" Well, he was right, because that's the exact reaction I had when I read the last paragraph. I can't get this book out of my head. 

I read a collection of Philip K. Dick short stories awhile back, and I really wasn't sure I would like another go around. His short stories just felt like too much of a "ta-da" ending, a la Twilight Zone, but I think that's because it was a whole lot of them all at once. Ubik was almost a whole other animal. Glen Runciter runs a business full of anti-telepaths that people hire to protect their secrets. On a trip to the moon, a bomb goes off and the real adventure begins. Who lived and who died? Reality starts to change, shifting backwards in time and soon you don't know what is going on or what is real and neither do the characters.

I want to say more about the plot, but I am afraid that giving too much away would spoil the greatness that is Ubik. I'll never doubt Philip K. Dick again, and dang it, now I have to accept that every time that friend recommends a book I should pay attention. I can't get this damn book out of my head, and I keep twisting and turning it about like maybe then I could figure it out. 

Rating:  5 Purrs for totally blowing me away

Let the Right One In

Oskar: Are you really twelve? 

Eli: Yes. It's just I've been twelve for a very long time. 

I heard all sorts of good things about Let the Right One In about the same time Twilight came out in the theaters. I missed it in the theater, so when I stumbled upon the actual book, I snatched that puppy up like it was a tub of Chubby Hubby Ben & Jerry's ice cream (I can never find that most favorite flavor in the grocery store, people. If you can, you are most lucky.) It was one of the best books I have read this year, maybe even one of the best horror novels I have ever read. The movie, while beautiful and haunting in its own way, is not nearly as perfect as the original source. 

The book: Totally immersive. Descriptive and foreign. Disturbing. A whole new ball game when it comes to vampires. Not that you've never seen a story that involves vamp children, because it has been done before, but this version is way more than just a vampire story. It's more about the relationship between Oskar and Eli, the joy they find in each other. It's tender, and that's not an adjective I would ever think I would want to hear in conjunction with the word "vampire," but hey, it works. It works amazingly well. Here you have this young boy, terribly lonely, bullied, on the outside. Then he meets this strange girl who is not who she first appears to be,  a little odd, but somehow their souls know each other. I know that sounds romantic, which it really isn't...but it's like they were lost and when they met, well, they weren't. 

The movie: The movie covered most of the major plot points in the book, but so much backstory and depth was left out, it was a pale imitation of what it could have been. Now, it was good, don't get me wrong. I think if I hadn't read the book beforehand, I probably would have been enamored with it all. The visuals were striking - all of that cold and snow added quite a bit to the atmosphere, and it was nice to put actual visuals to what the book described in the way of location. The scene at the beginning in the forest is truly tense and haunting. I really wish the Blu-Ray didn't have that pesky overdubbing. The voices seemed all wrong. 

I loved the book and I liked the movie. I recommend both. If I were you, I would see the movie first, just to keep from constantly looking for the wonderful subplots and characters that you read in the book.

Rating: 5 Purrs for the book, 4 1/2 Purrs for the movie

The Convent

"Prince of Evil? You work at fuckin' Dairy Creme for crissakes."

The Convent started off strong, pussed out in the middle, and got better towards the end for a bit. I picked it up because Final Girl reviewed it awhile back and it sounded worth a viewing. I'm not sure I can recommend it though, because despite the few bits here and there, it really was awful. 

The Convent starts off with the best scene - a chick in a leather motorcycle jacket and Catholic schoolgirl outfit enters a chapel, disrupting what seems to be some sort of religious service. She whips out a shotgun, starts blasting away, and then burns the place down. All of this to the tune of "It's My Party" I think, or some such similar song. It's awesome in a cheesy horror movie sort of way. Then it all goes downhill when we zoom forward to the present - and a group of stereotypical college kids are geared up to hit the Convent where all the bad stuff went down. You know what happens when a group of kids gets together to smoke out and have the premarital sex. Especially when the local satan worshipers sacrifice a virgin. Yes, I know. It's too good to be true. It's like Santa came early, but then when you open your presents they really ended up being white tube socks. Enter evil nun and priest possession and goretastic attacks to the tune of really, really bad techno music. Techno music so disjointing it woke me up from my almost nap. But then, when all hope seemed lost, who shows up but Adrienne Barbeau. Ms. Escape from New York plays that Catholic schoolgirl all grown up. She commences to kick ass and take names, until the movie begins to suck again.

Really, I wouldn't rent this unless you really must see every movie Adrienne Barbeau is in. It's really not so good, even for folks who like really bad horror movies. I tried. Really, I tried. I had hopes there in that opening scene, but then the movie just stomped all over those hopes and dreams. Stomp, stomp, stomp. 

9/9/9 Comics January - March Progress

Graphic Novels recommended by Jeremy and his cohorts at Titan

1. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
2. Therefore, Repent! by Jim Munroe
3. The Blot by Tom Neeley
4. The Travels of Thelonious by Susan Schade
5. The Aviary by Jamie Tanner
6. Glister Volume 1
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Graphic Novels recommended by Steve

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Graphic Novels recommended by others

1. The Complete Persepolis
2. Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth
3. Burnout by Rebecca Donner and Inaki Miranda
4. Local, Issues 1-3 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Independent graphic novels

1. Re-Gifters by Mike Carey
2. The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci
3. Dead at 17: the 13th Brother by Josh Howard
4. Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh
5. Lava Punch by Ben Seto
6. Last Exit Before Toll by Neal Schaffer
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Next in the Series (because I have a lot of series that I read and a lot of backlog here)

1. Walking Dead Volume 6
2. Walking Dead Volume 7
3. Walking Dead Volume 8
4. Hell and Back: Sin City
5. Fables Volume 11: War & Pieces
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

It's the end of the world as I know it: Dystopias

1. DMZ Volume 1
2. DMZ Volume 2
3. DMZ Volume 3
4. DMZ Volume 4
5. Channel Zero
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Zombies, Vampires, Vampire Slayers, and other stuff of the supernatural

1. Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Vol. 1: Guilty Pleasures
2. Buffy Season 8 single issues, catch up
3. Zebediah the Hillbilly Zombie Redneck Bites the Dust 
   
4. Pablo's Inferno: An innocent child's descent into the Underworld and Beyond
   
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Men (and women) in Tights: Superheroes

1. Superman Red Sun
2. Bulletproof Monk
3. Fallen Angel Volume 1
4. Elektra Lives Again
5. Wonder Woman: Love and Murder
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Adaptations of Books

1. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier
2. Horror Classics: Graphic Classics
3. Graphic Classics: Robert Louis Stevenson
4. Graphic Classics: Mark Twain
5. Richard Mathesons' Hell House
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Whatever, Whatever, I'll read what I want...

1. Fell Volume 1: Feral City
2. Flight, Volume 1
3. The Killer, Volume 1
4. Ex Machina Volume 1
5. Ex Machina Volume 2
6. Ex Machina Volume 3
7. Ex Machina Volume 4
8. Ex Machina Volume 5
9. Ex Machina Valume 6
10. Jack of Fables Volume 1
11. We3 by Grant Morrison
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
15. ?
16. ?
17. ?
18. ?
19. ?

9/9/9 Books January-March Progress

Here's an update. Books in bold I have read. Yeah, I am a little behind...I'm at 15, working on 16.

Books I should have read but haven't (The Classics)

1. Sanditon and Other Stories by Jane Austen
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. I, Robot by Issac Asimov
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
6. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
7. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
8. The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner
9. Middlemarch by George Eliot
   

Books picked by Steve (and recommended by others)

1. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
2. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
4. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
5. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
6. Post Office by Charles Bukowski
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Collections and Anthologies (short stories and poetry)

1. QPB Anthology of Women's Writing edited by Susan Cahill
2. The Disobedience of Water: Stories and Novellas by Sena Jeter Naslund
3. Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
4. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
5. The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
   
6. Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood
7. The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot
8. e e cumming collection
   
9. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, or Rainer Maria Rilke

True Stories, Writing, Biographies, History...in Other Words Non-Fiction

1. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soulby Karen Abbott
   
2. Art & Fear by David Bayles
3. What If? Writing Exercises for Authors by Anne Bernays
4. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
   
5. Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told You About Famous Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights by Robert Schnakenberg
   
6. A Biography of Zelda by Nancy Milford
7. Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West by Ethan Rarick
8. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
9. ?

Good Intentions: Books I Own but Keep Avoiding

1. Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
   
2. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
3. The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
4. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
5. Snobs by Julian Fellowes
6. Fragile Things Neil Gaiman
7. Love by Toni Morrison
8. ?
9. ?

Books Turned into Movies

1. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
   
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
   
3. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
4. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindquist
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

Books from Childhood (or that I wish had been there for me to read)

1. The Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Lyr, Taran Wander, The High King)
2. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin (The Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore)
3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
4. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & The Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
6. Dianna Wynne Jones - something of hers?
7. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
8. Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers
9. ?
   

Books translated into English

1. After Dark by Haruki Murakami
2. The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur by Victor Pelevin
   
3. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
4. Have Mercy on Us All: A Novel (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) by Fred Vargas
   
5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
   
6. Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
7. Something by Arturo Perez-Reverte
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
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Classic Mysteries

1. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
2. Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
3. Inspector Morse novel
4. Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
5. Dashiell Hammett novel collection
6. The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith
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Whatever, Whatever, I'll read what I want...

1. Ghost: A Novel by Alan Lightman
2. The Lighthouse by P. D. James
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