The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels so it was a nice surprise that
America's favourite postmodern western novelist would tackle the genre. Or that it'd be
an
Oprah
Book Club pick. It's a fantastic novel, grim and depressing and
horribly compelling.
King Corn by Ian Cheney and
Curt Ellis
A documentary from the Michael Moore school of social justice, only
without the smug obnoxious presence of Michael Moore. Really quite
sweet and understated, two filmmakers spend a year growing and sell an acre
of corn and document the process and the people. Lots of insight into the economics
and consequences of modern agribusiness, well told without being
preachy.
Burnout:
Paradise by Criterion Games
The Burnout games have been light racing / crashing fun for a long
time. Paradise is a real improvement, though, with a free roaming
design. It's like Grand Theft Auto only the driving is actually fun
and you can't sleep with hookers. The fans had a minor revolution when
the demo was released because it was different and honestly not very
good. The full game is much better than the demo. Best innovation is
the elimination of long event load times.