media update: May

Asterisks denote something I particularly enjoyed or found especially worthy of my time; your mileage may vary.


FICTION


1. Sideways by Rex Pickett: This may be the last time you ever hear me say this: the movie is much, much, much, MUCH better. Although the novel has several scenes that weren't included in the film, trust me, you won't be missing anything.



NON-FICTION


1. The Man Who Ate Everything* by Jeffrey Steingarten: Another collection of witty essays by the food critic for Vogue.

2. Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey: Travelogue of the author's trip to Japan with his manga/anime-obsessed son. Not nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be.

3. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight* by Alexandra Fuller: Mesmerizing account of the author's childhood in Africa.

4. Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas: Mildly amusing and occasionally poignant memoir of the author's immigration from Iran to the US as a child in the early 1970's.

5. Hotel Secrets from the Travel Detective by Peter Greenberg: This book backs up my #1 rule of staying in a hotel...never, ever, EVER sleep under the bedspread.

6. Fat Girl* by Judith Moore: Wow. I'm not even sure what to say about this memoir about a woman's struggle with her weight and her nasty mother, but it's uncompromising and occasionally blackly funny, so I would recommend it with a caution that it gets very dark between those covers.

7. The Glass Castle* by Jeannette Walls: A stellar memoir about the author's childhood with an extremely unconventional, constantly broke, nomadic family.


MANGA


1. I Love You Baby vols. 6-7 by Maki Yoko

2. Level C* by Aoi Futaba and Kurenai Mitsuba: I've had the original Japanese volumes for some time now, and I never thought I'd see the day when I could buy this at Borders. Granted, the translation doesn't add a whole lot---this is the epitome of PWP ("Plot? What plot?") manga---but I'm still glad to have it. Man, this is steamy.

3. Sullen Caress by Miyuki Kitagawa

4. Claudine* by Riyoko Ikeda


MOVIES


1. Unleashed*: Okay, parts of it were really hokey and manipulative, but I frickin' loved this movie. Bob Hoskins, playing the most creepily charismatic crime lord since Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, has trained a man named Danny to beat the shit out of people who owe him money, and treats him like a dog by keeping him collared and in a cage when he's not busting heads. When Danny escapes, he's taken in by a kindly blind piano tuner, but the crime lord wants his "dog" back. Jet Li shows surprising emotional depth in his performance as Danny, and do I even need to mention that there are some seriously kick-ass action sequences? During the first fifteen minutes alone, I was punching the air and yelling, which elicited chuckles from the people around us.

2. Dawn of the Dead*: This flick had it all as far as I'm concerned...characters I actually gave a shit about, a few poignant moments, some great black humor, and plenty of splatter to appease the gorehound in me. One of the rare remakes that did its predecessor proud.