Jenga Recommends...I bet you guys thought I forgot about the journal prompts from my 800th Journal. Well, I didn't. This one is from Jobson.Books The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria I've always been a sucker for geopolitics. Fareed's "rise of the rest" looks particularly credible in the wake of the post-Lehmann brothers world, with India, China and Brazil quickly coming to prominence. Contrary to the blogosphere's knee-jerk "judge a book by its cover" reaction to many when they saw a Presidential candidate carrying it, the book describes a way forward for America in a world where, even in the wake of the "rise of the rest", America is really the only force that can bring folks to the table. Also recommended: Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar & Dave Johnson Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire American Gods by Neil Gaiman Films Cashback, directed by Sean Ellis I found this gem via Netflix's Watch it Now and streamed it to my Xbox 360 a few months ago. After breaking up with his girlfriend, art student Ben deals with his insomnia by taking the graveyard shift at a grocery store. Between the lack of sleep and the way time drags, he finds he's able to stop time. Which he uses to draw grocery patrons in various states of undress--but it's not about sex for him. There's also a very cute love story in there. Sure, theres' a lot of nudity (yeah, that was real hard for me to get past), but I thought the film was honest and heartwarming, not to mention shot very well. If you don't mind seeing a lot of the female form, or thinking, I would recommend this film. Also recommended: Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Jim Jarmusch Star Trek, JJ Abrams Music: U2's Zooropa This is probably my favorite U2 album precisely because it's so atypical of their catalog of soaring melodies and syrupy hope. The best thing the band did in the 90s was deconstruct themselves from the "fuck the revolution" rebels come America-loving rooftopers. It's their most European work--sarcastic ("Get it right, there's no blood thicker than ink"), poignant ("And these are the days when our work has come asunder And these are the days when we look for something other"), but somehow also in the ether. "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" is a very simple song about alienation that's realistic about how separated we all are from each other but also kind of hopeful. And, it doesn't hurt that the album ends with what might be the most bizzare Johnny Cash song ever recorded. I think this album comes closest to explaining who I really am: pompous, hypocritical, angry, detached, hopeful, distrustful of authority, but kind of chill in the face of it all. Also Recommended Game Theory ~ The Roots Challengers ~ The New Pornographers Time: The Revelator ~ Gillian Welch Television The Venture Bros. While "The Simpsons" is my favorite show of all time, the best show on the air right now, in my view, is The Venture Brothers on Adult Swim. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have crafted a beautiful masterpiece about the post-Space Age world. To borrow from Lenny Bruce, i think it deals, like The Simpsons, with the distinction between "What Is" and "What Should Be", or, more specifically, a lot of people caught up playing an old game with old rules. The glory days of these characters and their world is behind them, and every one of them fails to live up to their past and those that came before them, particularly Rusty. Given what a jerk he is, I'm surprised I sympathize with him at all. But that's a testament to how real and three dimensional these characters are, maybe more so than the "setup-setup-punchline" live action cartoons found on most sitcoms. Also, it's chock full of neat pop culture references and a lot of other things that reward multiple watchings. I really feel that our era will be remembered more for its TV and films than for its books and that 100 years from now, people will be taking classes on The Venture Bros. Not to mention the stellar job done by the the voice acting cast, including Patrick Warburton, James Urbaniak, Michael Sinterklaas and many more including Hammer and Publick. tl;dr: watch this show if you haven't already. I'd recommend starting with the Season 2 opener "Powerless in the Face of Death", available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace and iTunes. Jenga also recommends How I Met Your Mother, CBS Red Dwarf, BBC Mythbusters, Discovery Video Games These days, I mostly download stuff from Arcade, mostly for cost reasons. But here are the games I've been playing lately 1. Penny Arcade Adventures, Episodes 1 and 2 Fun, fairly straightforward RPG. I don't read the Penny Arcade comic, but I found it's steampunk sibling to be most satisfactory. 2. Catan I really wish there were more people around who liked this game so I could play it IRL 3. Uno Uno is awesome. 'nuff said. 4. Peggle Surprisingly addictive. 5. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled Great for bringing back old memories. The multiplayer is pretty cool, too. Who knows? Maybe I'll post another one of these prompted journals in another 4 months? Anyway, thanks for reading, Jengaship |
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