Media Nugget

The Great Brain

John D. Fitzgerald
The Great Brain
1967

The first installment of a seven book series, The Great Brain details the good-natured profiteering of Tom D. Fitzgerald, the middle of three brothers growing up in 1890s Utah. I remember loving these books as a kid, and rereading them brought no disappointments. Guided by the narrator, Tom's younger brother J.D., the reader spends the entire book gleefully at Tom's side, rooting for him, the prototypical sympathetic scoundrel, as he threads his way in and out of dozens of unlikely schemes. Perhaps this is where I picked up my love of literature and films that portray the confidence game. The entire Great Brain series is illustrated nicely by Mercer Mayer, who later went on to create the popular Little Critter character.

Picasa

Picasa
Windows

Picasa is a great photo-album application. And it's free. (Windows only. Mac users are stuck with the equally excellent iPhoto.) The price is a nice bonus, especially since photo management is one of those tasks that everyone does, yet everyone does a little differently. Picasa's quality stems from its simplicity, the quick loading of images, and the clear understanding that photo software is meant to get your pictures from the camera to somewhere else -- a printer, the Web, or stored on disc. If you couple Picasa with a cheap storage reader, right there you've got a great digital photo setup, without having to pony up big bucks for Photoshop. Google recently bought the company behind Picasa, which seems like a big vote of confidence for this smart little piece of software.

Pride and Prejudice

Simon Langton
Pride and Prejudice
1995

I was actually a big fan of the 1940 film version of Jane Austen's beloved novel. Despite that movie's obvious shortcomings, it offered wonderful performances by Laurence Olivier as Darcy and Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Bennett. Of course, the 1995 BBC/A&E miniseries pretty much puts the older version to rest, since it's far superior in just about every aspect -- faithfulness to Austen's story and dialogue, accuracy of period costumes and scenery, and general excellence of the cast. Again, Darcy is a stand-out, with Colin Firth as the mostly opaque leading man. Jennifer Ehle is appealing as Elizabeth Bennett, and Allison Steadman is delightfully dreadful as the fretting Mrs. Bennett.

Dogtown and Z-Boys

Stacy Peralta
Dogtown and Z-Boys
2001

My skateboarding career consisted of a single two-second ride, a pratfall, and my neighbor's plastic yellow skateboard going down a sewer grate. Yet, even though I couldn't participate, I always respected skateboarding as a potent cultural force that seemed to grow up in tandem with my generation. Whether or not you're part of that generation, you'll probably find Dogtown and Z-Boys an engaging portrait of the early pioneers of the high-flying vertical skateboarding that we all know and stare at in amazement. The filmmaking is top-notch, and since the director is one of the original Z-Boys, he offers a lot of great archival footage from the 70s.

Consumed

Rob Walker
Consumed
The New York Times Magazine

I used to get the Sunday New York Times, until they switched delivery services and the new management decided I only wanted to read the paper one weekend out of three. Actually, on a percentage basis, they weren't far off. Most of the Old Gray Lady used to sit unopened on my Old Green Couch while I skimmed a few sections and eventually made my way to the best part -- "Consumed," a column in the magazine by Rob Walker that looks at the products people buy, sell, covet, market, and generally place at the center of our materialistic little lives. The columns are always packed with unique information about the products, which run the gamut from dish soap to dolls, from plasma screens to pimped rides. Add Walker's subtle wit and keen insights on the appeal of certain products and you've got a journalistic product well worth its modest price tag. Check it out on Walker's site, at the Times online, or, if you're feeling lucky, get the Sunday paper delivered right to your door.

The Crying of Lot 49

Thomas Pynchon
The Crying of Lot 49
1966

Regarded as Pynchon's most accessible work, The Crying of Lot 49 still manages to achieve a critical density. This short, comic novel offers the usual Pynchonian tapestry of paranoia, entropy, and quantum mechanics. Oedipa Maas, assigned the task of executing her former lover's will, careens around the West Coast, chasing down clues in hopes of unlocking the mystery of "Tristero." Is it a massive conspiracy involving everyone from the Pope to the postman, or just a massive put-on? In the end, the journey is more enlivening than the destination, yet Pynchon's humorous take on American culture is well worth the occasional bouts of befuddlement that accompany his manic prose.

Ghost Dog Soundtrack

RZA
Ghost Dog Soundtrack
1999

The film Ghost Dog is vintage Jim Jarmusch, and by that I mean it's very strange. Which is not to say it isn't enjoyable. Forrest Whitaker is oddly appealing as an ascetic hit-man who quotes Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai. However, the most lasting question many viewers will have is: "Who did the killer soundtrack?" Answer: RZA, founding producer of the Wu-Tang Clan. Since Ghost Dog, he's scored Kill Bill and Blade Trinity, played a small role in Jarmusch's latest, Coffee and Cigarettes, and helmed his own Kung Fu movie. Unfortunately for iPod enthusiasts, the best way to hear the music from Ghost Dog may be to watch the film itself, since neither the domestic nor the Japanese import soundtrack has gotten the nod from hard-core afficianados.

Chowhound

Jim Leff
Chowhound

It's like craigslist for food. Or, more specifically, restaurant recommendations. Planning a trip and want to find the best local eats? You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't check out Chowhound's message boards. They've got most of the US covered, as long as you live in SF, LA, or New York. The rest of the country is a little more hit-or-miss. Still, if you're heading for Hawaii or stopping over in St. Louis, the site is still worth a look. You can find the best Thai food in Boston or good gumbo in Chicago. Other topics include kosher foods, international options, and the always entertaining not-about-food category.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Bravo

The nugget was on hiatus when Queer Eye fever swept the land, and it's a good thing, since we were swooning with the disease just like everyone else. Of course, now that the hype has subsided, we can give a level-headed appraisal of this makeover show's true value: "It is, simply put, the greatest television show of all time." Okay, we're embellishing (or "jhuzjing the truth"), but even when things on the show go bad, it's all good. The concept is pitiably simple. Gay men makeover straight men. (And boy do the straight men need it.) However, it's that ineffable quality known as "chemistry" that makes Queer Eye so appealing. Ted, Kyan, Carson, Tom, and Jai hit just the right notes, with the straight guys and with each other, and it doesn't matter how many times they keep hitting them, they sound great.

1-Up MegaZine

Raina Lee
1-Up MegaZine

There are plenty of magazines that deal with video games, and probably even a few that get down with gaming culture, but none do it with the panache of 1-Up MegaZine. Beautifully designed in a 100-page perfectbound format, the latest issue offers a great mix of memories, minutiae, interviews, comix, and arcade-inspired art. There's a feature-filled section on Street Fighter II, "the mother of all fighting games," plus an interview with the reigning king of Pac-Man, Billy Mitchell. If you grew up with video games and made an emotional connection with the titles you played, then 1-Up will probably resonate with you.