The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - 2003, Book

Bengali immigrants make a family. Well-written with engaging characters, details.

Endtroducing... Excessive Ephemera- Music

Alternate cuts from the perfect album. Some great, some just ok.

Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor - 1952, Book

Southern Gothic classic: preachers, kidnapped mummy and a gorilla suit.

Grain Belt Premium - 1947, Beer

Special co-worker guest review

"This is good. Doesn't have an after-taste like Miller Lite."

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton - 1973, Book

Decent page turner. Fantastically packed with Victorian England's criminal slang.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - 1955, Book

Weird, funny, perverted. Not my favorite but definitely worth reading.

For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver - 2008, Music

Ideal for those early mornings when sleep clouds your brain.

Third by Portishead - 2008, Music

Marvelously morose and dramatically dark. A grower not a shower.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - 1883, Book

Challenging navigation through sailing terms and 19th century sentence structure.

Machine Gun by Portishead - 2008, Music

Listen to it thrice then decide. Darker, broodier than before.

Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold - Beer, 2008

Delicious German Lager. Makes me disdain American big brew beer.

Marty - 1955, Movie

40 Year-Old Virgin for the 50's. Good, but not great.

American Hardcore - 2006, Movie

Great vintage footage. Could have been tighter with another edit.

Cataloop by US3 - 1993, Music

Blue Note's first platinum hit. Fantastic use of jazz samples.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu - 1993, Movie

Beautiful visuals. Story was slow and too smart for me.

Chicken BBQ Pizza from Figaro's - 2008, Food

Good crust, cheese, the barbecue sauce was a little tame.

SanDisk Sansa e260 - 2007, Electronics

Tis no iPod, but with Rockbox tis actually quite servicable.

Nintendo Virtual Boy - 1995, Video Game System

Horribly flawed, hurts your eyes, but rather fun to play.

Crocs, Clothing - 2007, Clothing

Sure they might be super lame, but damn they're comfortable.

The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three - 1974, Movies

A pretty good, but straightforward hijacking movie. Matthau is fantastic.