"Pop" Goes the Culture

I've been unable to focus at work today--primarily thanks to the fact that we've had recurring power outages (30-60 mph winds will do that!). I keep having to reboot my computer and start the frustrating 3-minute-long process of logging back into everything.

So, I thought I'd give a brief summary of my current media consumption. (Sorry about the distinct lack of links here--I lost my previously-linked post and don't have the time to replicate it again.)

• Lost (TV): I'm glad to return to the beach characters--I was getting a little sick of too much of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle. And like many viewers, I'm caring less and less about the show, although the on-going questions pique my interest enough to keep my plugged in. But also having no one else to discuss the show with at work makes it feel less compelling. (Auntie K, are you still watching?)
• Heroes (TV): Here's my "Lost replacement." Started out fairly cheesy, but it's turning out to be a lot more compelling and intricate than it seemed at first. Also, it's got a great weekly graphic-novel download online that's higher quality than mere gimmick, IMHO. I [heart] Hiro!!!
• Battlestar Galactica (TV): Actually, we've DVR-ed but not watched the last 8 or so episodes, since we missed one (totally my fault), and I am feeling its absence keenly. This show's too great to comprehend, sometimes. Wow.
• Smallville (TV): I am really, really excited/intrigued by Chloe being meteor-infected! What a promising way to enliven a series that I thought was floundering aside from its spectacular JLA storyline. Chloe and Green Arrow have been brilliant this season, but Clark, Lana, and Lex have just gotten more and more annoyingly angsty. So this is a welcome twist--and I am just waiting with baited breath for the Oreo-loving Martian Manhunter to show up again!
• Marie Antoinette (movie): I loved Sophia Coppola's juxtaposition of the moden soundtrack in this movie--it just felt right, and punk-y. I really empathized with Marie in the storyline; I think Dunst did a pretty great job in it. But I'm tired of seeing Schwartzman as an unlikeable character; I want more of his Rushmore goodness back. Maybe this was just too soon after seeing him all creepy in "Slackers" (shudder).
• Man of the Year (movie): Alex has become DC-obessessed in movie themes, lately, primarily thanks to our trip to DC last fall, my current position in GovDocs, and our increasing interest in politics, world news, and NPR. This movie was paced a lot differently than we had expected, and it focused more on the romantic interest than the actual plot of a comedian becoming president, but it was still entertaining.
• A Prairie Home Companion (movie): Wow. Wow, wow, wow. My Dad heard from someone that this adaptation of our beloved radio show (we used to watch the live broadcast on Disney in the 1980's) was terrible, so I was worried. And I wondered if, having never seen/heard the show, the movie's unique brand of humor/story would be comprehensible/accessible to Alex. But it blew us both away, it was so funny, and interesting, and just plain fun. I thought Kevin Kline as a "real-life" Guy Noir might be a bit of an annoying stretch, but he just played so sincerely that it was hilarious; Alex loved his hyperbolic noirish dialogue, and now I know I've got to introduce him to the actual show. A big kudos to the late Altman for casting GK as himself. No one else could have done it.
• The Legacy of Luna (book): I started it today, and I'm 2/3 through it already. I'm reading it because it's the focus of the Denton Reads project, but it's a quite interesting story of an activitist in her early 20's who climbed a redwood for a tree-sit, and didn't come down for 738 days. (Yes, it does address the issue of how she went to the bathroom during that time.) A thought-provoking read.
• Fables (comic series): I finally finished the most recent volume of Fables, and I scream for more! This series started out as a fun and interesting concept (fairy tale characters living in modern-day New York), but the storyline just gets more serious and compelling. It's unbelievable how good it is. If you're over the age of 18 and are remotely interested in comics, just buy the whole darn series now. You'll have to own it; it's that good.
• Castle Waiting (comic series): I started reading this last week, and while it's also a new take on fairy tales (still set in a medieval setting, however), it's so far a bit, um, gentler than Fables. But while it had a slower start, it's proving just as enjoyable; makes me think of books like "The Ordinary Princess" or Jane Yolen's "Briar Rose." And I like the purely black and white artwork.
  
• Rampage (Wii game): Yes, the controls are clunky and the graphics unimpressive. But it's a rehash of a great classic, you get to physically smash stuff, and the best part: it's got 2-player co-op story mode. Which makes it one of the only games Alex and I get to enjoy together on a regular basis. C'mon, Nintendo, pick up the hint that this makes a great party console, and give us more of this play-style!!!

Movies we've seen in the past 6 months that make me want to recant my "no buying DVDs until a new format is established" rule: Accepted (unexpectedly, unbelieveably, hilarious), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (stellar, just spot-on perfect flim comparable to Ocean's Eleven), Lucky # Slevin, A Prairie Home Companion, Last Unicorn (well, haven't seen it lately, but it's FINALLY been released in a widescreen DVD version).