Progress Report #3

Oh man, at the beginning of July, I was supposed to write another progress report! Summer has been just slipping away from me, and it's hard to believe the month is almost up. So here is the next progress report, albeit a few weeks late.

Progress Report #3:
Timeline: Well, I’m not going to finish this project by the end of this year, like I was hoping to. This summer, in particular, has left very little time for reading Daily Shill books.

Here’s where I stand:
I’ve read 43 of 73 books.
I watched 28 of 35 films.
I’ve watched 9 of 15 TV shows.
I’ve heard 3 of 4 albums.

I’ll continue to plug away at this, but I recognize it’s not realistic for me to reach my goal of completing all sections by the end of December. Oh well!

Writing: I’m happy with where I’ve come with this blog, and I certainly feel more confident in my ability to write for it. Lately, I was especially pleased with my review of Unstoppable and my review of The Blueprint (both are quite different).

Best Book: Packing for Mars
Worst Book: Courting Disaster

Best Film: A Single Man
Worst Film: Unstoppable

Best TV Show: Louie
Worst TV Show: Hot in Cleveland

Best Album: The Suburbs
Worst Album: More Malice

Am I Glad I’m Doing This?: Sometimes, but not always. Lately, especially, I’ve come close to quitting, and the novelty of this project has worn off. Even though I’m ready to be done (and relatively far from it), I’m still glad I’ve worked on this project. I’ve certainly expanded what I read, which is a good thing for anyone, but especially for a librarian.

Thank Yous: First off, a huge Thank You to Mom, Nana, Uncle Greg, Amanda, Brodie, Caroline and Theresa for being regular readers. (There may be more of you out there...thank you to you as well!) As always, thanks to the Chelsea District Library for helping me get all of the books, movies, and albums I need to review, and thanks to Anna at the library for taking my profile picture. Thanks to Kate and her handy-dandy list of Daily Show books. And thanks to the folks at Ignite Chelsea 2 for giving me the opportunity (and talking me into) giving a talk on the Daily Shill (which you can see here!)

Expect fewer reviews in the months to come—I’ll do my best to continue posting something every Monday, but I can’t make any promises.

Again (as I’ve said in every progress report), I’d appreciate any feedback you have—positive or negative.

Have a super week, everyone!

The Social Network

I was sitting in the theater with my friends Brodie and Caroline, about to see The Kids Are All Right, when the trailer for The Social Network came on the screen. It was ridiculous, showing Facebook posts with a terribly dramatic version of “Creep” sung by a children’s choir. I started laughing: the movie was taking itself entirely too seriously: it’s about a website, for heaven’s sake. I turned to Brodie and Caroline and said, “This looks absolutely awful.” Then Caroline said, “Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay,” and my internal debate began.

See, I think Aaron Sorkin is a brilliant writer; I love The West Wing. If he wrote the screenplay, the movie was probably going to be good. But a movie about Facebook? I couldn’t quite believe that would be worth watching. When Justin Timberlake came on the Daily Show to promote it, which meant that I had to see the movie, I still wasn’t willing to put down the money and go to the theater. Even when everyone and her best friend started saying, “Oh my gosh, it’s so good,” I stayed away. But last week it arrived for me at the library. And last night—just before it won Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Adapted Screenplay—I sat down to watch The Social Network. And, yes, it was pretty darn good.

For those of you who have managed to avoid the hype, I’ll give a brief synopsis. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) creates a website that crashes Harvard’s servers and brings him to the attention of the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer) who are looking for a programmer for a Harvard-exclusive dating-site they’ve designed. At the same time, Zuckerberg turns to his friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) to help him fund and create The Facebook, an idea that may or may not have been influenced by the Winklevoss’s website. Eventually, when The Facebook takes off, Zuckerberg gains the attention of Napster creator Sean Parker (Timberlake) whose influence causes a rift between Zuckerberg and Eduardo. This plot is interspersed with flash-forwards to the two trials regarding Facebook that Zuckerberg faces from the Winklevoss twins and Eduardo respectively.

Sounds complicated? It kind of is, but somehow it is entirely followable. Even though the movie is terribly dramatic (though not quite as much as the trailer might lead you to believe), it didn’t bother me. A lot of that is due to Sorkin. Throughout the movie I often felt like I was watching an episode of The West Wing—even though the subject matter was entirely different. Though Sorkin’s fast-paced, witty dialogue is not how people speak in real-life, I find it so entertaining, I wish it were. Despite the fact that none of the characters were particularly likeable (so there was no one to cheer for), I was invested for the entire movie.

Eisenberg, who won me over when he hosted SNL a few weeks ago, portrayed Zuckerberg with a robotic simplicity, which somehow made his jerkish actions more explainable. This was the first movie I’ve seen Eisenberg in where I didn’t think of him as a poor man’s Michael Cera. Hammer made the Winklevoss twins a great enemy and managed to show each twin’s distinct personality so they weren’t always grouped as one person. And Garfield’s Eduardo was the only character who I felt any sympathy for—he did great. (Who’s excited to see him as the new Spiderman? I am!)

There’s been a lot of drama over how much of The Social Network is true and how much was creative license. It was based on The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, who claims his book is entirely true. The librarian in me wants to sit down and research the veracity of the entire movie, but then I remember that library school has left me with no time to do that (ironic, no?).

In the end, despite entirely enjoying the movie, I’m giving it a 4/5. It’s certainly worth watching, but it also isn’t as life-changing and wonderful as some people may claim.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Justin Timberlake

Buy the DVD

The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right is the second of this year’s three movies dealing with sperm donations (sandwiched between The Back-Up Plan and The Switch) and is probably the best of the three, though I will admit I’m basing my opinions of the other two solely on their trailers. But even without the others to make it look good in comparison, The Kids Are All Right would be a movie worth seeing.

I saw the movie with my friends Brodie and Caroline, and afterwards, we spent time discussing it, so some of the ideas in this review originally came from them—I will do my best to give them credit. (For example, it was Brodie who pointed out the trend of sperm donor movies).

Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a lesbian couple who had two kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) using the same sperm donor. At the request of her brother, Joni tracks down the donor, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), and the movie depicts his entrance into the family’s lives. Paul’s presence causes tension both between Joni and her mothers and within Nic and Jules’s own relationship.

The acting in The Kids Are All Right is spot-on. Bening and Moore do an excellent job making their characters’ relationship believable and natural. As Caroline pointed out, they manage to get the audience caring about the couple quickly, so that when things start to become strained, we care. Ruffalo plays Paul with such charm, winning the audience over the same way Paul wins over the kids. I will not make a pun about Wasikowska’s and Hutcherson’s performances. Instead, I will tell you that they were fine.

One of the things I love about watching less mainstream movies like The Kids Are All Right is that I never know where they’re headed; one of the things I dislike is that they often don’t wrap up enough at the end. That was one of my few complaints with The Kids Are All Right, though I won’t tell you what I wanted to know more about because of spoilers. Due to that and the few spots where it lost my full attention, The Kids Are All Right gets a 4/5. But, as Caroline said to me yesterday, “The more I think about The Kids Are All Right, the more I like it.” Maybe if I had waited a little longer to write this review, it would have gotten a five.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Julianne Moore

The List

Welcome to The List, where I keep track of my progress. As you can probably figure out for yourself, titles with a strikethrough are ones I've finished. You can click any finished title to link to the review.

Also, thanks to my pal Caroline for suggesting this!

January

1/4: Food Rules: An Eater's Manuel by Michael Pollan (Book)

1/5: George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success by Alex Ben Block and Lucy Autrey Wilson (Book)

1/7: Crazy Heart (Film)

1/11: Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush by John Yoo (Book)...not entirely finished, but crossed off nonetheless

1/12: Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster by Paul Ingrassia (Book)

1/13: Y Not by Ringo Starr (Album)

1/18: Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility by David Walker (Book)

1/19: A Single Man (Film)

1/20: Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street by Jim Wallis (Book)

1/21: Tooth Fairy (Film)

1/27: Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters (Book)

February

2/3: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande (Book)

2/8: Staying True by Jenny Sanford (Book)

2/9: To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George WAshington and the Fight for American Freedom by Newt Gingrich (Book)

2/10: Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend by James S. Hirsch (Book)

2/11: Precious (Film)

2/22: The Ricky Gervais Show (TV)

2/23: My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World by Jeff Garlin (Book)

2/24: Cop Out (Film)

March

3/1: The Pluto Files (TV)

3/2: Remember Me (Film)

3/3: Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest Hour by Lynne Olson (Book)

3/4: The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It by Scott Patterson (Book)

3/8: No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller by Harry Markopolos (Book)

3/9: Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama is Inviting the Next Attack by Marc Thiessen (Book)

3/10: The Marriage Ref (TV)

3/11: Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage by Eamon Javers (Book)

3/15: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis (Book)

3/16: Repo Men (Film)

3/17: More Malice by Snoop Dogg (Album & DVD)

3/29: Greenberg (Film)

3/30: Weapons of Self-Destruction by Robin Williams (DVD)

3/31: Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran by Roxana Saberi (Book)

April

4/5: Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religion Extremism in the Age of Globalization by Reza Aslan (Book)

4/6: A Captains Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips (Book)

4/7: Date Night (Film)

4/8: The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick (Book)

4/12: Breaking Bad (TV)

4/13: The McVeigh Tapes (TV)

4/15: Death at a Funeral (Film)

4/20: A New American Tea Party: The Counterrevolution Against Bailouts, Handouts, Reckless Spending, and More Taxes by John O'Hara (Book)

4/21: The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet's Surprising Future by Fred Pearce (Book)

4/22: Losers (Film)

4/27: The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey by Richard Whittle (Book)

4/28: The Blueprint: Obama's Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build and Imperial Presidency by Ken Blackwell (Book)

May

5/3: Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster by Jonathan Eig (Book)

5/4: Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis by Rosalyn Carter (Book)

5/5: Need to Know (TV)

5/6: Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking by Mario Batali (Book)

5/10: Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America by Jack Rackove (Book)

5/11: War by Sebastian Junger (Book)

5/12: Sex and the City 2 (Film)

5/13: The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations by Ian Bremmer (Book)

June

6/1: The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future by Arthur C. Brooks (Book)

6/2: Through the Wormhole (TV)

6/3: Get Him to the Greek (Movie)
6/7: Cyrus (Film)

6/8: Hitch-22: A Memoir by Christopher Hitchens (Book)

6/9: Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization by Spencer Wells (Book)

6/14: Hot in Cleveland (TV)

6/15: Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James Tabor (Book)

6/16: Louie (TV)

6/17: Teaching the Pig to Dance: A Memoir of Growing Up and Second Chances by Fred Thompson (Book)

6/21: Gasland (TV)

6/22: Knight and Day (Film)

6/23: The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents- A Memoir by Connie Mariano (Book)

6/24: Grownups (Film)

6/29: Love Ranch (Film)

July

7/1: Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban by Jere Van Dyk (Book)

7/5: Rescue Me (TV)

7/6: The Kids are All Right (Film)

7/7: Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent (Book)

7/8: Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self by Marilynne Robinson

7/26: The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention by William Rosen (Book)

7/27: Fareed Zakaria GPS (TV)

7/28: The Ghost of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert O'Connell (Book)

7/29: Salt (Film)

August

8/2: Packing For Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (Book)

8/3: The Other Guys (Film)

8/4: Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War by Bruce Henderson (Book)

8/5: Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam by Akbar Ahmed (Book)

8/10: The Switch (Film)

8/11: The Big C (TV)

8/12: The Suburbs by Arcade Fire (Album)

8/16: Nanny McPhee Returns (Film)

8/17: Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto by Dick Armey (Book)

8/18: Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt by Edward Kohn (Book)

8/19: The Switch (Film)

8/24: Hurricane Katrina: the First Five Days (TV)

8/25: Going the Distance (Film)

September

9/7: Gunn's Golden Rules by Tim Gunn (Book)

9/9: Dirty Sexy Politics by Meghan McCain (Book)

9/13: The Town (Film)

9/14: A Journey: My Political Life by Tony Blair (Book)

9/15: The Town (Film)

9/20: White House Diary by Jimmy Carter (Book)

9/21: You Again (Film)

9/22: Stone (Film)

9/27: Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama by Bill O'Reilly (Book)

9/28: Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream by Arianna Huffington (Book)

9/29: The Crisis Caravan: What's Wrong with Humanitarian Aid? by Linda Polman (Book)

9/30: The Social Network (Film)

October

10/2: The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris (Book)

10/3: Red (Film)

10/4: There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America by Philip Dray (Book)

10/5: Fair Game (Film)

10/11: Jackass 3D (Film)

10/12: Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders by Erica Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy (Book)

10/13: Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me by Condoleezza Rice (Book)

10/14: Half Empty by David Rakoff (Book)

November

11/1: Due Date (Film)

11/4: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Beastiary by David Sederis (Book)

11/8: Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington by Rick Perry (Book)

11/9: Morning Glory (Film)

11/10: Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal by Mick Foley (Book)

11/11: Unstoppable (Film)

11/15: On the Right Track: From Olympic Downfall to Finding Forgiveness and the Strength to Overcome and Succeed by Marion Jones (Book)

11/16: All Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera (Book)

11/17: Decoded by Jay-Z (Book)

11/18: Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America by Philip K. Howard

11/29: How to Beat up Anybody: An Instructional and Inspirational Karate Book by the World Champion by Judah Friedlander (Book)

11/30: The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey

December

12/1: Live in Berlin by Sting (Album)

12/2: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (Book)

12/6: Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior by Gen. Hugh Shelton (Book)

12/7: Robot Chicken Star Wars III (TV)

12/8: Blue Valentine (Film)

12/9: Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (Book)

12/13: Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalization by Gordon Brown (Book)

12/14: Ricky Gervais: Out of England II (TV)

12/15: How Do You Know (Film)

12/16: Can't Wait Till Christmas by Mike Huckabee (Book)