TV: Mad Men

We have heard some interesting things about AMC's television show, Mad Men. The show follows Don Draper, and his life as an important man at a high-powered ad agency in downtown Manhattan in the 1960's.

We were intrigued by the idea of a period television show with authentic sets and costuming. The show is about nearly nothing, except that the people in the sixties were dirty drunks who knew nothing about health, and who treated the women in their lives like pretty slaves.


Quick vote: The idea of this show is intriguing, but the morals are tiring. We don't want to watch tv to be patronized.

Music: This is Blue by Trevor Hall

We stumbled across Trevor Hall in a bar a few years ago and we have been ardent fans ever since. We were excited to hear his single make it onto the most recent Shrek film, and were thrilled to hear that he was coming out with a new album, This is Blue. What we love most about Trevor Hall is his fervor, his raw emotion, and his captivating voice. We expected a lot of his newer works, and though the album is of excellent quality, it doesn't quite live up to his previous work, and we were disappointed. If you've never heard him before though, we think you'll like it.

"Well a couple of mystics have described your form,
Saying you can never die for you’ve never been born,
Telling me you’ve come to kill all superstition.
Put the needle upon the record,
Show me what I’ve been missing.
I need a love that’ll swallow me whole;
This ain’t the first time I’ve tried to save my soul."
- Jago Ma

"I guess you got to know the target before you aim
I guess you got to treat pleasure and pain the same
If you’re lonely darling sing my name
I shall follow your voice through the sun and rain."
- House of Cards


Quick vote: This is a great album, but not quite as good as we had expected.

Books: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

We have always loved the works of the author Jane Austen, so we were intrigued when we heard about the exploits of Seth Grahame-Smith. He took the immortal words of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and added gory zombie scenes.

No one can come close to the passion and feeling in Jane Austen's classic work, but Grahame-Smith does his best at turning it into a comical facade. He changes the way that Elizabeth Bennett thinks and behaves, turning her from a hard-headed woman to a cold-blooded zombie-killer.


Quick vote: This book was funny and surprising. The zombie scenes were fun, and we enjoyed it, but we wouldn't recommend this book as a critical read.

Books: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

We try to read most of the big award winning books, so when Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer prize for fiction, we ordered it without reading a single review. This can go wrong from time to time, but it worked out well for us this time, we really enjoyed Olive Kitteridge.

The book at first seems a disjointed series of stories that all implicate, though some very minutely, the woman Olive Kitteridge. As we read further though, we found the book was really a portrait of a complex woman, an attempt to convey the futility in writing one story about one woman with one lesson to learn. It was a beautiful book, one that touched us and made us think.


Quick vote: We loved this book. It was beautiful, deserved the Pulitzer, and we recommend it to you.

Aunt Izzie's Whiz-ord: Yo yo yo! Pulitz-what?!

Blogs: Hospital Food

We're long time lovers of food, especially from humans, so we were excited to hear about the blog, Hospital Food, where people from all over the world take pictures of the food they received at the hospital. The pictures turned our stomachs, and we don't mind eating each others poo! It is some sort of justice though that people all over the world get disgusting food while already sick, but some of them look much better than others.


Quick vote: Seriously, the blog is gross.

TV: Parks and Recreation

We were excited to hear that the makers of The Office, a show that we have watched and loved for years, were collaborating to create a new show, Parks and Recreation, based on local politics. It seemed like a funny idea for a show and we were pleased to see something new coming from a great team. The point is, we were giving it the benefit of the doubt. Imagine our disappointment when we got around to watching the pilot.

The show is exactly the same as The Office, but with less-developed characters and cheaper jokes. We really wanted this to be good, but it seems to be a poorly disguised knock-off of The Office. When this mockumentary style of television first came out, it was hilarious, raw, and different. It's surprising that a few years later it can feel so tired.


Quick vote: Don't bother.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

We picked up Steig Larsson's mystery/thriller novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on audiobook a while ago, and we've loved it! The book was originally written in Swedish, and takes place in Sweden, a fun and interesting location. The book is a murder mystery with serial killers, crazy techno-gadgets, intrigue and outrage. A great read.

A reporter who has just been convicted in a libel case which he believes he was framed for, has a mysterious call from a rich old man living in seclusion. His last wish before he dies is to find out what happened to his grand-neice. (Great-neice? We're not sure.) He hires the journalist to dig into the past and investigate a strange and reclusive family. The result is more than any of them bargained for!


Quick vote: This book was an interesting page turner. Well-written, great plot, fun characters; what more do you want from a mystery novel?