Music Video Hall of Fame

The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist

One of the weirdest I've ever seen.

TV

Battlestar Galactica Series Review
Rage Against the Machines

You'd be hard pressed to find a TV show with a name that sounds geekier than Battlestar Galactica. Yet, despite what it may appear to be, it is actually a show about political and social issues disguised as a science-fiction geekfest. It also boasts a large cast of characters who all have more than their share of demons. Chris Dahlen of the AV Club said it best: "People watch 24 to see Jack Bauer torture the bad guys; I watch Battlestar Galactica to see the characters torture themselves."

So instead of actually breaking down the entire Battlestar Galactica series (this should get you started on some of the themes), I'm going to do something different. The following is all based on having seen the entire series.

After the jump, take a look at the "Who Deserves the Most Pity" March Madness-style bracket as well as some unlikely ideas for TV and film spin-offs. SPOILER ALERT

Music Video Hall of Fame

Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice


Probably my favorite music video of all-time.

May I Recommend

Cookies By George

When Bruce Banner gets angry, he turns into THIS.

When I visit Cookies by George, I turn into THIS.

If you can, try and time it so you get a cookie (or six) from a batch right out of the oven.

Official Site

Books

Apocalypse Now: Five Apocalyptic Novels Worth Reading

I recently read The Stand by Stephen King. Upon finishing it, I began to think about other apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic novels I'd read in the past year or two and I realized I'd read some really good ones. The most common variations are probably the nuclear holocaust and pandemic subgenres. If you are easily hooked on hypothetical futures, doomsday plots or just a plain old What if...?, here are five novels I recommend.

The Stand by Stephen King

It begans with the accidental release of a human-made superflu that wipes out an estimated 99.4% of the world's population (although the book focuses on the United States). Those who are immune find themselves scattered across the country. They eventually form small groups and are all connected by two recurring dreams: one of a faceless dark man representing evil and one of an old woman representing good. Which dream does each survivor gravitate towards? Which side will they choose? How do they prepare for the inevitable showdown between good and evil? The result of an attempt to write an "American Lord of the Rings", The Stand is considered by many to be King's best work.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

A genetically modified virus wipes out the entire population except for the protagonist and a small group of genetically modified humans. Also among the survivors are transgenic wolvogs (wolf/dog hybrids), rakunks (racoon/skunk) and pigoons (pigs with balloon-shaped bodies bred with extra organs for human transplants). Although most of the story is told in flashbacks to a pre-apocalyptic time, it is the stark contrast of the protagonist's present situation that gives it gravity.

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Presented like the hypothetical question What if everyone suddenly went blind?, this novel breaks its characters down to the bare bones of human nature and instinct. Imagine a pandemic of complete blindess. Who do you turn to if most of the people around you are just as blind and the ones that aren't are too afraid to come near you? How quickly do people resort to utter barbarism? How are those who have contracted the blindness handled by those who still have their sight? If you can get past the lack of structure in the writing style (page-long sentences, sparing use of periods, dialogue not established with quotation marks, etc.), you will find a novel that is bleak, brutal, haunting, beautiful and often enlightening.

A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Considered one of the classics of science fiction, the story is set in a Roman Catholic monastery in the Utah desert after a worldwide nuclear war. Spanning thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself, the novel addresses the issues of cyclic history, church versus state and faith versus science.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

If you're looking for a bleak, heartbreaking Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a father and a son, look no further because The Road will not disappoint. After an unspecified event has left Earth essentially a barren wasteland with few survivors, a father leads his son across the country on a deserted highway in hopes that if they make it to the sea they might find more people like them. The danger they face is the existence of the cannibalistic nomads roaming the land. Having only each other, the father and son (named only "the man" or "the father" and "the boy" or "the son") find their relationship broken down to the basic love shared by a father and son and their own will to survive.

Want to recommend a apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic novel? State your case in the comments below.

Late to the Party

The Smiths

I’m not going to lie. Until I saw (500) Days of Summer, I had never heard of The Smiths. I had heard of Morissey, but wasn’t familiar with any of his music.

So when Zooey Deschanel leaned over and told Joseph Gordon-Levitt that she recognized the band he was listening to as The Smiths, I immediately had to know who they were and what they sounded like.

I was in for a treat. I put The Very Best of The Smiths into the CD player in my car and didn’t take it out for weeks. While a lot of the lyrics are fairly depressing (see “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and “Girlfriend in a Coma”), the songs are easy to listen to and catchy enough to sing along to. I’m not very adept at describing musical style, so I won’t even try. I just know that I want to thank (500) Days of Summer for introducing me.

Personal Favourites

“Ask”

“The Boy With a Thorn in His Side”

“This Charming Man”

“Girlfriend in a Coma”

“Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before”

Image Credit: Brittanica.com

Linkage

McSweeney’s

A publishing house founded by Dave Eggers (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and What is the What), McSweeney’s has a sometimes pretentious, often hilarious website.

Highlights:

Open Letters to People or Entities Who Are Unlikely to Respond

Lists

See my submission to the Lists section here:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/6fink.html