thinkgeek: think hilarity

So, I’ve been cracking up at items on this website, ThinkGeek, where you can purchase:

A TRASHCAN SHAPED LIKE R2-D2! I’ve thought for some time now that a lot of trashcans look like droids. This is obviously something a lot of people pick up on.

And how about slippers shaped like killer rabbits, a la Monty Python?

I would like to own this “Battlestar Galactica”-inspired poster:

And this caption is just hilarious:

Some products include “action shots” submitted by customers. They are also funny, like the “soft blue glow” from an LED-lit faucet that lulls a baby to sleep.

Trust me, you want to look at this site — particularly if you appreciate anything geek-like. Such as robot reindeer and elves, as seen on the Christmasbots wrapping paper.

All photos from ThinkGeek.

off the shelf 2: lady in the water

Sorry … I forgot to post this earlier, after it went up on Blogcritics.

The film: Lady in the Water

Have I seen it before? Yes, in the theater.

How the DVD got to my shelf: I bought a pre-viewed copy from Blockbuster on sale.

The DVD viewing experience: Not bad.

My expectations were relatively low going into this screening. What I remembered from seeing it at the movie theater was enjoyment tempered by disappointment. But I did end up buying a copy of the DVD, so it wasn’t so bad, right?

A lot of people adamantly say, “Yes, it was.” Critics and everyday audiences alike were underwhelmed by Lady in the Water, making it easily the least popular of M. Night Shyamalan’s films. Take a look at his record starting with his breakthrough, The Sixth Sense, in 1999 (box office grosses from The Numbers, www.the-numbers.com):

The Sixth Sense grossed $293,506,292 in the U.S. and $662,506,292 worldwide. It gets 8.2 out of 10 stars on IMDb, and an 84 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Unbreakable, $94,999,143 in the U.S. and $248,099,143 worldwide; 7.2 of 10 stars on IMDb; 68 percent fresh.

Signs,$227,965,690 in the U.S. and $408,265,690 worldwide; 6.9 of 10 stars on IMDb; 74 percent fresh.

The Village,$114,197,520 in the U.S. and $260,197,520 worldwide, 6.6 of 10 stars on IMDb; 42 percent rotten.

Lady in the Water, $42,285,169 in the U.S. and $72,785,169 worldwide; 6.0 of 10 stars on IMDb; 24 percent rotten.

Lady in the Water inspired an IMDb message board thread titled “List your bottom 5 movies of all time.” Critics lamented the film’s mediocre magic, blasted its muddled plot, and chastised its self-indulgent director.

Maybe they’re right. The film is flawed, scattered and plagued by creatures with hokey names. Its story can sound a little silly, though it ultimately strikes me as a decent bedtime tale that makes a moderately enjoyable film: A narf named Story travels to an apartment complex in Philadelphia via a swimming pool, and must be seen by a specific person so that he will be inspired to write something that will change the world. Grass-backed, dog-like creatures named scrunts hide in the yards nearby waiting to attack, but are allegedly kept at bay by a fear of the huge monkey-like Tartutic. Rules govern the scrunts’ actions, but they break them by going after Story anyway. People in the apartment complex – specifically a few with special powers, a Guardian, a Symbolist, a Guild and perhaps a Healer – have to help keep her safe so that a giant eagle, the Great Eatlon, can take her safely back to the Blue World.

Yes, the Blue World. Where the narfs live.

For me, vocabulary was the film’s most glaring flaw. I appreciated the ability of most of the actors to utter words like “narf” and “scrunt” as if they weren’t saying silly things that remain just as silly the 50th time you hear them.

Looking critically at the film, I can recognize other flaws too. Maybe it is pretentious for Shyamalan to play the writer who will change the world with his incredible, challenging ideas. Yes, it’s a giant stretch to blame the “book and film critic” when apartment manager Cleveland Heep chooses the wrong people as the Guardian, Symbolist and Guild (when all the critic did was describe each’s roles and activities accurately). Yes, Jeffrey Wright’s lines were stilted by wooden phrasing that seemed unnatural, even for a person who “adores” words.

Still, here I am feeling defensively fond of the film. I have yet to watch a Shyamalan movie I didn’t like – I even enjoyed The Village enough to watch in twice in theaters. A lot of people don’t consider him skillful at handling his subject matter’s deeper themes, which is indeed a legitimate concern when you have a writer-director who wants his films to say or mean something. If you go into a story with the intent of providing illumination of some kind, of plumbing the depths of spiritual interest, of observing and commenting on the experience of humanity, then it’s pretty easy to get too heavy-handed, to fumble the story/characters/plot, to get self-serious and self-congratulatory and defensive.

But none of this is so prevalent in Lady in the Water that I feel compelled to pan it. It isn’t ruined by apparent hostility toward its film critic character, who dies a violent (off-camera) death. I don’t find the film, or Shyamalan’s other movies, preachy or distractingly pretentious. I appreciate his interest in the spiritual and personal human experience of his characters. Lady in the Water’s faults become more and more glaring if I stare at them long enough, but then I remember its strengths, and my impression as I watched it, and I remember that I liked it.

I liked the music and the composition of frames. I liked scenes like the first one involving Cleveland, Story and apartment tenant Anna Ran unfolding clues about the Guild, Guide and Symbolist. Most of all, I liked Paul Giamatti and his sad, resigned apartment complex manager.

<Lady in the Water is really Cleveland Heep’s story. The narfs, the scrunts, the visionary writer – they are vessels of the story, or intentional distractions from it. When we learn that Story has come to see (or be seen by) a writer, we presume he is the Important Central Human Character. But he turns out to be a side character, just one of the many eclectic people who populate the apartment complex.

The writer isn’t Cleveland, whose past and present turn out to be quite different from each other. He’s like many people – changed by circumstances beyond his control, heavily laden with guilt, settled into a belief that he is of no particular value. His pain and gentle concern for Story stirred me, and still do. Giamatti anchors the film, and if you focus more on him you find at least one story worth listening to: Cleveland Heep’s. I am happy his is on my DVD shelf, should I want to revisit it again.

welcome to australia

This is not really related to pop culture, but it does include a “Lost” reference.

Disclaimer: I do not really discourage travel to Australia. Mate.

The discovery of a new legitimately terrifying snake in Australia prompted me to think again that Australia is maybe too scary a place to visit, at least without detailed preparation and perhaps some body armor. Reasons:

1. The funnel-web spider. I will give you a minute to click on the link and look at the pictures …

Scared? Well, the thing I remember from a magazine article I read about them years ago is this: If they bite you, you will eventually convulse with pain. Sure, members of the Hadronyche family have not been associated with any known human fatalities, according to Wikipedia (which for all we know is in league with the funnel web spider mafia), and the Atrax family have officially killed only 13 people. But some funnel web spiders live in Sydney, where lots of human beings live. And did I mention the convulsions?

Wikipedia (perhaps not owned by the funnel web spider mafia after all) states: “Funnel-webs are probably one of the three most dangerous spiders in the world and are regarded by some to be the most dangerous. … Males … are attracted to water and hence are often found in swimming pools [!!!] where they have fallen while wandering. They also show up in garages and yards in suburban Sydney.”

And here’s a description of the symptoms of a bite. It’s long, but worth it: “The bite is initially very painful due to the acidity of the venom and the size of the fangs penetrating the skin. Systemic envenoming* may follow the local effects. Early symptoms of systemic envenoming include tingling around the mouth and tongue, facial muscle twitching, nausea, vomiting, profuse sweating, salivation, and shortness of breath. Patients may rapidly develop agitation, confusion and coma associated with hypertension, metabolic acidosis, dilation of the pupils, generalised** muscle twitching and pulmonary oedema**. Death results from progressive hypotension or possibly raised intracranial pressure resulting from cerebral oedema. The onset of severe envenoming is rapid; in one prospective study, the median time to onset of envenoming was 28 minutes, with only two cases having onset after 2 hours (both had pressure immobilization bandages applied). Deaths may occur within a period ranging from 15 minutes (this occurred when a small child was bitten) to three days.”

Somebody sign me up for the next plane to Sydney!

2. The box jellyfish. Another name for them is “sea wasps,” which really should be enough evidence to keep you from swimming anywhere near a potential box jellyfish location (northern Australia and up around the islands of Papua New Guinea and others).

Some species have super-powerful venom. A box jellyfish can be as long as 10 feet, and its tentacles can still sting even if they’re separated from the rest of the body, or if the jellyfish is dead. Severe stings can cause cardiac arrest. According to National Geographic, “Their venom is considered to be among the most deadly in the world, containing toxins that attack the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. It is so overpoweringly painful, human victims have been known to go into shock and drown or die of heart failure before even reaching shore. Survivors can experience considerable pain for weeks and often have significant scarring where the tentacles made contact.” Just FYI.

Of note: The sea turtle is not affected by a box jellyfish sting and likes to eat them.
3. The Irukandji jellyfish. Small – about an inch wide – and deadly, like Sylvester Stallone (who is reportedly pretty short in person, though I looked him up and he’s allegedly around 5’9”, so that doesn’t really count as small, though I’ll keep him in here because it sounds funny). A new species, Malo kingi, was discovered in 2007.

Its initial sting is mild and has a delayed effect. It causes something called Irukandji syndrome, which “is produced by a very small amount of venom and includes severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, and a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure,” according to our old friend Wikipedia, who we trust is always right. “The symptoms may last from hours to several days, and victims usually require hospitalization. … When properly treated, a single sting is normally not fatal, but two people in Australia are believed to have died from Irukandji stings. … It is unknown how many other deaths from Irukandji syndrome have been wrongly attributed to other causes.”

4. The taipan. The Central Ranges Taipan (Oxyuranus temporalis) is a 2007 discovery that brings the number of taipan species to three. The other two are the inland taipan and the coastal taipan, which likes to hang out and sip brightly colored beverages at resorts along the beach***. It also has two subspecies: the coastal taipan (“coastal taipan, of the species coastal taipan” reminds me of New York, New York) and the Papuan taipan.

Taipans can grow to be 6½ to 12 feet long, according to bright-shining-star-of-information Wikipedia. And according to something called LiveScience, regarding the discovery of the third species, “This is perhaps one of the most venomous known snake species. Its two closest relatives, the inland taipan (or fierce snake) and the coastal taipan, are ranked first and third most venomous snakes in the world, respectively.” Such overachievers, those snakes.

So there it is: A really long but also quite entertaining blog post about the dangers of living in/visiting Australia. (Nevermind its association with Oceanic Flight 815. I wonder if any of these venomous creatures stowed away and crash-landed on the island? Can you say, “Season 5 story arc”?)

*New word!
**Not written by an American.
***Pure conjecture.

.

off the shelf: Lady in the Water

Finally up: the latest in my fledgling Off the Shelf series at Blogcritics. I’ll post the entry here after a day or two

returning to song lyric retention

I don’t know about you, but I am really not good at retaining song lyrics. I would like to be able to sing along, alone in my car driving to or from work, but a lot of the time that just can’t happen. I was better at this when I was younger, probably because I put a lot of effort into music consumption and amassing vast amounts of useless information (type of shampoo used by Mark Slaughter, lead singer of Slaughter: Pantene). I wasted a lot of brain energy on Motley Crue and Poison songs.

I’m trying a little harder now that I’ve found The Weakerthans, who write songs that are several steps above “Girls Girls Girls” and “Unskinny Bop” (which is still a really weird name for a song). This is a band that obviously enjoys writing. They string together melodies that spark the creative center of your brain. They write songs that bloom and stretch out toward the sunlight.

During recent drives to and from work I have played and replayed “Civil Twilight,” the opening song of the band’s Reunion Tour album, until I almost have the words down:

My Confusion Corner commuters are cursing the cold away,
as December tries to dissemble the length of their working day.
And they bite their mitts off to show me transfers, deposit change.
I can’t stop finding your face in their faces, all rearranged
and angry, like you never were. …”

I have since moved on to “Utilities” from the same album. It’s a more somber sort of song. It also makes me think. Songs are better heard, but just in case you’re interested:

Got this feeling that today doesn’t like me.
The air tastes like flowers and paint.
There’s a sink full of bottles and cutlery,
and the car’s got a list of complaints.

“I just wish I were a toothbrush or a solder gun.
Make me something somebody can use.

“We can wish on the pop of a lightbulb,
or those photos, lying yellow and curled,
loose in boxes near abandoned electronics
in the corners of the basements of the world.

“Guess our wishes don’t do dishes or brake repairs.
Make them something somebody can use.

“Got a face full of ominous weather.
Smirking smile of a high pressure ridge.
Got more faults than the state of California,
and the heart is a badly built bridge.

“Seems the most I have to offer doesn’t offer much.
Make it something somebody can use.
Make this something somebody can use.”

what’s ‘happening’?

This is definitely a summer of “big” movies. One of my personal most-anticipated films opens soon:

M. Night Shyamalan’s last movie was Lady in the Water, which made precious little box office money and warmed few critics’ hearts. The success of The Sixth Sense has eluded all his subsequent films. But I am looking forward to The Happening. I really liked Unbreakable, The Village and in particular Signs, and I look forward to another film that may offer a thoughtful look at humanity and issues of faith while also being a little strange. Shyamalan doesn’t make perfect movies, but each has something worth thinking about, and enjoying.

“For me, story ideas are always catalysts for characters to have conversations about faith, about love, about human life, and to reveal themselves spiritually and emotionally.”
—M. Night Shyamalan as quoted on The Happening website

Signs is my favorite of his faith- and human-oriented stories because it is the most overtly God-interested, and I am very interested in both God and how popular culture reflects our perceptions about and relationship to/with God. People often project their own experience and beliefs on what they watch, and maybe I’m doing that too, but I found Signs to be strongly faith-affirming without forcing a heavy-handed “message.”

Some people question the quality of Shyamalan’s films themselves, and there’s a point in that: If the movie is bad, “deep” or thoughtful subtext isn’t enough to save it. Creative ventures can also get pretty pretentious if their creators think too highly of their lofty goals, or paint them too intensely. But for me, so far no Shyamalan movie gets tripped up by pretension, and the only film I consider weak is Lady in the Water. I don’t blame anyone for finding The Village too jarring, particularly in light of a marketing campaign that made it look like a worthy predecessor of The Sixth Sense or any given J-horror remake.

One thing does give me pause about The Happening. Note this quote from Mark Wahlberg, who stars in the film, from a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly:

“Night is one sick man,” he says. “I’m in 90 percent of the movie and I was scared to death. There were times I had to look away from the screen.”

Emphasis on the word “sick.” As previews are pointing out, this is Shyamalan’s first R-rated movie, apparently for “violent and disturbing images.” I suspect those “images” involve people who are no longer quite with it and are not motivated to protect themselves from unsettling violence — like the man who lies on the grass as a mower/similar large piece of machinery starts to run over him in one preview. I hope the movie doesn’t go too far with showing us the nasty things we should be afraid of.

In any case, I think The Happening looks promising. It might not be what any of us expect, or maybe it will. It probably won’t repeat the box office and audience response of The Sixth Sense, but maybe that’s not a fair barometer anyway. I’ll be happy to take it for what it is, and audiences may enjoy it more if they take the same approach. We’ll see.

coming soon: war of the worlds

I finally finished my first column for the Off the Shelf series on Blogcritics. It should be up soon, whenever it’s read over by an editor. I have been planning to get to this for weeks. WEEKS. I am an excellent procrastinator, alas. The series focuses on DVDs that I have in my collection, including favorites (of which there are a few that actually get watched) and dust collectors (the much larger group). I am looking forward to writing this series. The first film I discuss is War of the Worlds from 2005. I do recommend reading the book (from 1898 ) and listening to the Orson Welles radio broadcast, which is really well-executed. You can download it from Amazon for 89 cents.

Meanwhile, I have work tomorrow. And 509 podcasts downloaded on iTunes. 5-0-9.

talk to me

Apologies to those of you who will read/have read this elsewhere:

It’s time again for me to solicit your input on a couple topics for upcoming editions of the magazine column Word of Mouth. For those of you who do not know/remember,* the column covers one topic per issue, featuring suggestions from various people I know. (Well, usually I know them.) You can write a sentence or a few paragraphs, and if you have a photo of whatever you’re talking about, send it along too.

I am going to try to compile columns a little more ahead of time, so I’m throwing out two topics for the next two columns:

1. What reading material do you provide in your bathroom? (And why, if you want to explain.)

2. What do you collect, and what’s the story behind it? If you have a collection of something that’s particularly special to you, or unusual, I’d like to know about it. I know certain people who collect, say, crosses or tea cups that have stories behind them. Hint, hint.

So that’s it for now. If you have a response, or questions, please let me know in the next couple weeks.

Thanks.

*For those of you who didn’t know I write for a magazine, well, I do. It’s a regional women’s magazine, Prerogative. I worked on it as creative director before I moved to Huntington, and now contribute stories and Word of Mouth as a freelance writer. Pretty fun stuff.

Music Review: Over the Rhine’s The Trumpet Child

As read first on Blogcritics:

Ohio’s Over the Rhine — the husband-and-wife team of Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist — has continued its streak of thoughtful, lush albums with 2007’s The Trumpet Child. Released in August (and followed by a Christmas album, Snow Angels, in October), it’s a favorite of fans and critics. Listen to the album and you won’t have trouble figuring out why.

A good word to describe Over the Rhine’s music is savory. The same could apply to singer Bergquist, who deftly wields a sumptuous voice that’s often playful and teasing, always dripping with the mood of each song. (My favorite part is her occasional drawl — it gives the songs that extra bit of senses-stirring charm.)

On The Trumpet Child, Bergquist’s voice, and the music, take a turn toward Billie Holiday on a jazzy record that’s a little bit Southern, a lot loungy and all American. Lots of bands seem to be having fun; this is one that also cares about good music — enjoying it and making it. Music and lyrics paint rich worlds that name-drop Neil Young and John the Baptist, celebrating basic pleasures like song and spending time with someone you love. The lyrics are smart but not pretentious; on The Trumpet Child, they’re poetry with a little sass.

Songs on this album take an upturn from the often somber tone of Drunkard’s Prayer, which Over the Rhine released in 2005. If that record reflected the pair’s rebuilding of their troubled marriage, The Trumpet Child reveals a pair reveling in the pleasure of each other — and of good music. Listeners who enjoyed the spiritual reflections of previous efforts will find less to chew on here, though the influence of spiritual things is still apparent, most notably in the title song, which envisions the coming of a “Trumpet Child” (Jesus Christ) who will “surprise the human race” and change the world. As Detweiler explains on the group’s website, “Both Karin and I grew up around a lot of old church music. … A theme that recurred in a lot of the old hymns was the idea that the world would be reborn with the sound of a trumpet. We’ve all heard many of the great American trumpet (and horn) players … and we’ve been wondering about the sound of that trumpet. Is it real? Is it a metaphor? What, exactly, is on God’s iPod?”

Though I am particularly inclined to appreciate “spiritual” musings, and I prefer the slower, darker tunes of Drunkard’s Prayer to this newer album, my favorite song on The Trumpet Child is one that doesn’t necessarily (or at all) resemble either category: “Don’t Wait for Tom,” a delicious, folk-trippy turn featuring Detweiler on lead (spoken) vocals. The song, which pays tribute to Tom Waits, is the highlight of an album full of songs that embrace their subjects with celebration and lyrical prowess. I imagine Waits is among those who count themselves fans of The Trumpet Child and Over the Rhine.

Diving Into Podcasts: It’s About Time, Eh?

I have been infected with podcast mania.

Initially, I wasn’t interested in podcasts. I’m reasonably modern: not afraid of computers, own an iPod, have played games on the Wii. But I often don’t bother with whatever new thing has come around the bend; we’re just so cluttered with stuff and media already. A lot of the time, I don’t think I’m missing much. Sometimes, I feel like a dork later on when I discover how simple or helpful a new trend or technology turns out to be.

So I finally looked into podcasts, and in a lightning-flash of time it seemed easy and interesting. A world of knowledge and opportunity opened up before me. Thanks to Barnes and Noble’s Meet the Writers Podcast, I finally know how to pronounce (Fight Club author) Chuck Palahniuk’s last name. After listening to episode 98 of Grammar Girls’ Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing —”For Whom the Grammar Tolls” — I have, for the first time in my life, a useful way to confidently choose between “who” and “whom.”

And so I keep downloading more and more. My iTunes podcasts list grows (312 right now), and with its expansion my number of listened-to episodes drops. One day, I downloaded earfuls of sermons and faith-related podcasts. Today? History and biography.

Lots of podcasts are mediocre, and often you have to overlook the advertising and unnecessary musical interludes. But some are quite educational and interesting at the same time, or at least are good for a laugh. Following are some suggestions from a novice listener. (I’m also including podcasts I look forward to enjoying sometime, but whose quality I can’t vouch for just yet.)

1. Stuff from back in the day, today! Listening to poems read aloud is more enjoyable than you might think, especially when the readers are British. I’ve tried, and enjoyed, Classic FM Love Poems, Classic Poetry Aloud and the Intro to Poetry Podcast.

Looking forward to: Some old radio shows, mostly Agatha Christie mysteries and sci-fi stories. The Classic Tales Podcast, featuring works by G.K. Chesterton, Robert Louis Stevenson and others. Some free LibriVox public-domain audiobooks.

2. Podcasts related to faith and theology. The Ask Pastor John series with John Piper addresses questions about topics from birth control to female pastors to using anti-depressants to Christian hope. I also like Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul.

Looking forward to: The Albert Mohler Program (with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president), which offers “intelligent conversation about the issues that matter”; videos with Mark Driscoll and others at the Desiring God 2006 National Conference; the Mars Hill Church podcasts with Mark Driscoll; Desiring God sermons by John Piper; John Eldredge; Josh McDowell.

3. History and biography. Since these are newly downloaded, they all go in the next paragraph.

Looking forward to: Ancient & Medieval History (Beowulf, Charlemagne, Pompeii & Herculaneum, Teutonic Knights); various podcasts related to art history; British History 101 (Tolkien, Guy Fawkes’ Day); Experience History (St. Valentine’s Day, Who Was Chaucer?); Great Speeches in History (”I Have a Dream,” “Television is a Vast Wasteland”); Hank’s History Tour. Biographies from The Biography Podcast - Stories of Life (I’ve downloaded J.K. Rowling, Vlad the Impaler, Jesus of Nazareth, Martin Luther and Santa Claus).

4. Popular culture. Stephen Colbert is funny in character as he reads excerpts from I Am America (And So Can You!) in the iTunes: Meet the Authors podcast. It’s a treat to hear him answer questions as his normal self afterward. NPR: Movies and NPR: Pop Culture offer reviews, light stories and more thoughtful looks at their chosen subjects. The Official LOST Podcast works well when executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse talk about the show and answer viewers’ questions, and crack each other up.

Looking forward to: Barnes and Noble’s Meet the Writers Podcast with Dave Barry and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, Books from the Guardian podcasts with Philip Pullman and celeb-atheist Richard Dawkins, Bono: The Rolling Stone interview (from 2005).

5. Other useful information. Thanks to The Word Nerds, I now know that the British expletive “bloody” doesn’t originate from a reference to the blood of Christ. Whew. Coming up someday when I take the time to listen: rhetoric! religious words! synonyms!

Looking forward to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Special Exhibition Podcast and some photography-related podcasts from National Gallery of Art-Behind the Scenes. Writing Excuses, featuring a fantasy novelist, a cartoonist and a horror writer discussing writing techniques. NPR: Intelligence Squared, featuring excerpts from a debate about a particular topic such as “Global Warming is Not a Crisis,” with three panelists for the motion and three against. I’ve listened to part of that episode; I look forward to hearing the opinions about the question, “Is America Too Damn Religious?”

6. For fun, for real. I’ve tried out a few “funny” podcasts — The Soup Video Podcast, The Onion News Network. Most were OK, but not keepers. (And when you have an ever-growing podcast list waiting, you have to thin some out.) One of my first podcast subscriptions is a funny one, and it’s a keeper for sure: The Rhett&LinKast. I should confess that I met Rhett on a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project, so you may consider me biased. But watch it for yourself: the Dead iPod Song, the Halloween Controversy debate, the Facebook song. The Rhett&LinKast is clever, well-executed and will often make you lol, if you know what I mean.

I know these are just the tip of the iceberg, of course. Like everything else that’s grown exponentially with the DIY nature of the Internet, the unruly crowd of podcasts available on iTunes and elsewhere waits hungrily to be picked through more thoroughly. I’d like to hear about what tasty things you’ve discovered out there. Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

P.S. Is it OK to spell out “bl**dy” without the asterisks above? You know it’s not such a bad word to me, but …

(This column, with minor edits, previously posted on Blogcritics.)