tv, books and movies i liked or didn't

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+++TV that rules:
...The Colbert Report is the funniest show I have ever seen in my life. three times as funny as the Daily Show which was already five times as funny as anything else, ever. A letter from Stephen, to you, the true American heroes (for watching his show) may illuminate why he is my new god of comedy.
...the Daily Show, I've long said, should be REQUIRED VIEWING for American citizenship.
...Extras is as funny as the original Office, maybe moreso. Ricky Gervais is at the very least, a patron saint of comedy.
...Curb Your Enthusiasm is still funny as all get up. how can being annoying be so funny?
...Lost came back swinging but lost a bit of stamina over the past two weeks. Oh well. They're all still really really really ridiculously good looking. (bastards!)
...The Office - the American Office, is funny, but in a more American way. ie. it's rude, caustic and fat, it's not as inventive, but it's still highly highly entertaining.
...My Name Is Earl - if you love Kevin Smith like I love Kevin Smith, you probably love Jason Lee too. My fear is they're making him too unlikeable for the show despite the repentant ways.

+++Books I did done readed goodly:
...The Shroud of the Thwacker - by Chris Elliott (of Get a Life and Letterman fame) has already made me laugh out loud a dozen times on the train. And I'm only 15 pages in. And I genuinely mean "laugh out loud" - I'm not talkin' any ol' "LOL" exageration people type to you, I'm talkin' the kind where people look at you like you're crazy and then try to see what you're reading. If I could recommend just one of the following books, ....well, it'd be Revelation Space 'cause what I'm talking about right now is technically a preceeding book, not a following one... ok, so that's cheating, whatever. read them all! except for the Tom Robbins one... wait for his next novel.
...The Colossus of New York - amazing prose/poetry that sums up the city to a "T".
...The Intuitionist - pretty, pretty, pretty.. darned good. I'm a bit envious of his writing style. ok, very envious. (bastard!) check the 2nd paragraph of the editorial review for a quick synopsis.
...Gridlinked - a poor man's Altered Carbon. readable for sure, but I'm suprised it was so highly "recommended by others who've read ____".
...Broken Angels - the second novel (after Altered Carbon) - amazing though just short of Altered Carbon. In fact, I'm not sure that Richard Morgan can ever reach the super-amazing-ocity of his first novel.
...Market Forces - ok, so I was wrong. he could. and did. Though it could be that I liked it so much because it had all the elements that normally I wouldn't love: Morgan extrapolates a world where commodities trading reaches a brutal pitch and the outcomes of banana republic uprisings are the new market. ... the brokers of the new economy compete for status and promotions via road rage on the freeways of new London. .. at once an anti-globalization treatise and anime fantasy meets The Road Warrior... employ[ing] the graphic-novel imagery of his two previous novels to create a disturbingly brutal picture of slash-and-burn capitalism run amok.
...Redemption Ark - If I haven't gone on and on yet about this trilogy, just... just pretend that I just made you read about seven pages of me loving this trilogy of gloriously delicious sci-fi. Revelation Space is one of the best books I've ever read. Redemption Ark is damn damn near just as good.
...Absolution Gap - is the 3rd in the series and does a fine fine job of wrapping things up. If you've read the other two, you must, under penalty of eternal lameness, read Absolution Gap.
...Wild Ducks Flying Backward - I'm as big of a Tom Robbins fan as they come but sadly, the editorial review puts it perfectly: Publishers Weekly -The author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Still Life with Woodpecker has regularly published shorter pieces in Esquire, Playboy, the New York Times and elsewhere. The whimsical, quixotic nature of that work comes through in this hit-and-miss affair—one that remains woefully short on fiction, focusing mostly on the author's travel writing, essays, celebrity profiles and poetry. The best travel piece, "The Day the Earth Spit Wart Hogs," finds Robbins traversing a big game park in Tanzania. His commentary on the '60s, the legacy of burger mogul Ray Kroc and the prose of Thomas Pynchon remains trenchant and provocative; other pieces are dated to the point of irrelevance (his foreword to Terrance McKenna's 1992 The Archaic Revival). As a poet, Robbins is obvious and heavy-handed, but occasionally he hits the kind of mystical note that characterizes "Catch 28" and makes his florid imagery work. The fiction is brief and mostly forgettable. But an essay called "In Defiance of Gravity" starts as a riff on an obscure club and winds up being an ode to the combination of unconventionality and humor that define Robbins's career as a writer.

+++ Movies that ruled... or didn't:
...Land of the Dead - no I will NOT stop watching zombie films. Not now. Not ever. George Romero is the Hugh Hefner of zombie world.
...Unleashed - Jet Li and Bob Hoskins? Really? Yes - in a strange way, it actually worked. like a pregnant lady craving for pickles and ice cream.
...Kicking and Screaming - warning! Alert! Abort! AVOID at all costs. do not let your love of Will Ferrell blind you from the great wall of crap you will walk into if you rent this. You've been warned.
...Suicide Girls: The First Tour - ahem. ya, so I rented this. the book is amaaazing. take a discreet peek at your local book store. the DVD however, is beyond lame.
...The Interpreter - when will I stop loving Nicole Kidman? The answer, again, is never. I've been trying to shake my love for her for years so... avoid the movie unless you share my Kidman-love. Or you harbor a secret Sean Penn love in which case, you're still out of luck, he looks like he got mauled by a very cruel bear.
...The Thirteenth Floor - it's rare (and by rare I mean 'never') that I turn off a movie half way through. 'nuff said.
...Da Ali G Show: Season 2: Disc 1 - You either love Sasha Baron Cohen or you are too old to know about him (not that there's anything wrong with that) or you are brain dead and have no sense of humor. Ali, Borat and Bruno stay one step over the line of tear inducing laugh-making.
...Robots - When did Hollywood start making kids flicks that adults enjoy? Robin Williams (voice) is only mildly annoying. oh, who am I kidding, he's annoying as hell, but the movie more than makes up for it.
...The Longest Yard - Adam Sandler is no Burt Reynolds. Yes. I just put those words in print, which I think is like saying a marmot is not a groundhog. wait, a marmot IS a groundhog! Still, no one cares. know what I mean?
...The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - All in all, I thought it was true to the spirit of the book with only minorly annoying deviations. How can you avoid a movie with a depressed robot?
...Sahara - Neeeext!
...Crash - Amazing. kudos, kudos and more kudos to the makers and stars.
...Sin City - Beauuuutiful. Excellent. Amazing. not for the squeemish. heavily played noir never looked so good. best movie so far this year, I say.
...The Motorcycle Diaries - Eh. decent foreign flick. not great, but good.
...Oldboy - Wow. definitely recommended.
...Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior - muy impressive. ha ha. get it? muy thai ...? ok, bad. I know.
...Born Into Brothels - Good lord. another amazing documentary. check the description.
...Riding Giants - Yep. that filled my seeing-big-waves-movie-fill for the year.
...Kung Fu Hustle - MOST excellent. assuming you like the kung fu films too.
...Groove Armada: Best of Live at the Brixton Academy - So amazing, I bought it.
...Downfall - another good foreign flick. not super duper. ok, maybe duper.
...XXX: State of the Union - ok, just 'cause I like Ice Cube and liked the Vin Diesel XXX movies doesn't mean they're all going to be good.
...Constantine - swear to bajesus, the best thing about this film was the song in the closing credits.
...Ocean's Twelve, 2004 - Eh. did they really need to make this?