Media Consumed: January 2012

Books Read
*The Carl Banks Big Book of Barney Bear   by  Ed. Craig Yoe
Goosebumps: Monster Blood II   by  R.L. Stine
Mack Dunstan's Inferno   by  Paul Collins
*Masters of the Nonsenseverse   by Darby Conley
The Memoir Project   by  Marion Roach Smith
The Muppets: The Movie Junior Novel   by  Katharine Turner
Goosebumps: Monster Blood III   by  R.L. Stine
*Spy Vs. Spy: The Top Secret Files   by  Peter Kuper
*King Lear Graphic Novel   by  Gareth Hinds
*Around the World   by  Matt Phelan
Catch Me If You Know Me   by  Travis Morgan
Tales of a Sixth-Grade Muppet   by  Kirk Scroggs

* = denotes graphic novel, TPB, or collection of comic strips

There are only a few titles from January that I read which are worth mentioning. Carl Banks gained fame later in his life for being the man who "made" (not created) Donald Duck. Like many artists, Banks didn't just work for Disney and The Carl Banks Big Book of Barney Bear features many of the comics Banks drew for a rival comic company.

I like the Goosebumps series. However, the Monster Blood sequels aren't anywhere near as good as the first Monster Blood.

I really enjoyed Tales of a Sixth-Grade Muppet. It's about a boy who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a Muppet. It's written in the style of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, but is far zanier.

Movies Watched
Lord of the Rings
The Hunt for Gollum
Ride 'Em Cowboy
The Iron Lady
Everything Must Go
War Horse (twice)
Conan the Barbarian
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Tree of Life

I really enjoyed War Horse.

The Hunt for Gollum is an exceptionally made short fan-pic film. With no budget, the filmmakers made a short film that looks like something Peter Jackson did.

Ride 'Em Cowboy is an Abbot & Costello movie and I enjoy all of their movies.

Meryl Streep won an Oscar for The Iron Lady and rightfully so. I've seen the movies of all the Best Actress nominees and Streep's performance is the best hands down.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was panned by many critics, but personally I found it to be one of the most moving movies of the year. It didn't make my Top 10, but it's an honorably mentioned.

The style of Conan the Barbarian was perfect. Too bad there wasn't any substance. The Arnold Schwarzenegger version is actually a better overall movie.

And as for The Tree of Life? It's probably the most gorgeous and cinematically breathtaking film of 2011. However, being a Terrence Malick picture, it doesn't have much of a story to go along with it.