? Once again Pixar has surprised and amazed me. While I have to admit that my first reaction to advertisements for Wall-E wasn't one of wonder (I actually thought it might be a bit too precious and contrived), in a way I'm glad that the animation powerhouse keeps proving me to be too cranky and cynical because let me tell you, this thing is fantastic and it nearly brought myself and Jim (who never cries) to tears.
Andrew Stanton, John Lasseter and team managed to make magic from the simplest ingredients: a desolate landscape that is an environmentalist's worst nightmare is rendered so exquisitely that you're left marveling at dust and trash; a cockroach, universally rather despised, becomes an adorable and loyal companion.
The warnings of impending environmental collapse (including morbid obesity, laziness and human gluttony destroying the earth) are harsh and direct, I'm hard pressed to think of another recent mainstream movie so clear in its message, especially a children's film. It's quite an achievement in this testy time to be so political without alienating audiences and coming off preachy.
I think the film manages this feat by instilling so much humanity in its nonhuman stars. Wall-E and Eve, just scraps of metal and computer chips, can make you laugh, cry and want to be a better person – pretty powerful stuff for a cartoon.
T.C. Boyle specializes in fringe characters, usually misguided and desperate men who go to extreme measures to quelch their boredom, fear, and/or pain. 
It's always exciting to be able to pick something created by a friend, and I'm especially tickled to recommend the latest musical venture of my friend Billy, a bouncy but all too brief album entitled 
As anyone in my office can tell you, we've had precious little home time as of late. Long hours, working weekends, it can make you appreciate the little pleasures and comforts of home all the more. To my surprise, I've recently found the oft rerun 
This may be the most guiltiest and most pleasurable thing on this week's list. I have seriously been listening to Britney's Blackout all day for days now and I have to say, it can put you in a strange head space. It swings from vacant schlock (
It took ten years for Donna Tartt to release her second book. It was well worth the wait. The Little Friend opens with the murder of a young boy, he is hung from a tree on Mother's Day. The rest of the novel takes place eleven years later, when Harriet, the little boy's baby sister, decides she is going to solve the murder. Like a Harriet the Spy in Mississippi in the 1970s, only with a very dark and realistic coming of age story. Like her other book, The Secret History, you will be lost in her world, reading late into the night.
Mr. Zamfir – violinist extrordinaire and his guitar friend play almost every Tuesday in the L subway station in the mornings. I have heard he plays in the Union Square station too, but have never seen him. If you like traditional Roumanian violin music – and really, who doesn't? I highly advise you to pay the ten dollars for this CD if you see him around.
I lack the talent to truly convey how much I love this show. You are going to have to imagine how much in your heart. You also have to watch it, because your life is not complete until you have.
This urgently whispered song reminds me of fields of wheat, feathers, and gossamer. You know, good hippie stuff.