Disaster Porn

This is genre populated by poorly written, poorly edited, and usually poorly acted made for television movies depicting massive natural disasters. It is highly addictive and usually must be kept secret from friends and family. I, sadly, must confess my love for the Disaster Porn genre.

Who doesn't love such offerings as "10.5"? Come one, Kim Delany as a misunderstood intellectual earthquake expert? Who couldn't love that? "Category 7" anyone? Want to watch Gina Gershon head up FEMA and battle massive tornadoes? She does so, but only with the help of weather experts Shannen Doherty, Tom Skerrit, and Randy Quaid. Or "Atomic Twister," which is one of my all time favorites. Sharon Lawrence plays the head of a nuclear reactor that is besieged by a series of deadly tornados. Olympian Carl Lewis has a cameo as a security guard at the facility who meets, quite possibly, the most improbable end of any disaster movie character. You see, Carl Lewis is sitting in his guard shack chatting with his wife over what to have for dinner. He sets out of the shack and continues on with his mundane conversation. His wife mentions something about a tornado sighting, and we see one and only one piece of paper go flying by. Carl turns and surprise, the tornado is right there behind him and he gets sucked up. Um ... aren't tornados really really noisy and aren't thousands of pounds of debris kicking around in there? Apparently in Tennessee, the tornados are super stealthy, like ninjas. Or Lucy Lawless as a USDA insect expert battling with bioengineered locusts in the eponymously named "Locusts."

The Weather Channel is airing a series called "It Could Happen Tomorrow" and it examines all of these disaster scenarios. It's a little too real for my tastes but excellent nonetheless. A great resource for disaster movies is Disaster Online.

Come on, you know you watched Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America ...

Reading Beats Interacting with People

I've always been a prodigious reader but lately I've either been reading voraciously or not at all. I bet I hadn't picked up a book since Christmas when all of a sudden I went on a buying binge and found myself with a mantle full of books to read. Here's what I've read in the past few weeks.

Sarah Vowell - Assassination Vacation. Great book especially because she takes a rather macabre subject and injects her brand of wry commentary. If you've ever had to pull off the highway to take a picture of the world's largest frying pan then this book is for you.

Alexandra Robbins - Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. This is the book that perfectly crosses a sociological study of young women's behavior with the salaciousness of US Weekly. It was a bit too long though. It made me wonder if this is what sororities were like at Cornell.

Christopher Moore - A Dirty Job: A Novel. Crazy and wacky. Everytime I read one of his books I think ... hmmm ... crazy and fanciful. The two traits that make me both love and hate Christopher Moore books.

Sebastian Junger - A Death in Belmont. Ostensibly about the Boston Strangler, it's more of a commentary on race relations. For a while I went through a phase where I read a lot about serial killers. It made my mom worried ...

Steve Almond - The Evil B.B. Chow and other stories. This book is why people don't like short stories. I swear, if I ever meet Steve Almond, I will punch him right in the face (a la Annie Proulx (and I swear Greeth, I didn't take your Shipping News (why would I want it?))).

I'm now reading Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith" but only because the billing guy at our firm recommended it. I generally dislike English/Victorian novels but I though I would give this one a try.

Next up, is David Maraniss's "Clemente" about Roberto Clemente who was much more than a baseball player but more of an America hero. I'm very excited to read this, much the same way I was about Jane Levy's "Sandy Koufax" A Lefty's Legacy."

What can I say? I'm a gay man who loves baseball. Is that so wrong?

The Lazy Blogger

I've been lazy ... kind of ... well, I've actually been really busy with work and have been reading a great deal lately AND just got back from New York and Vegas. Let's focus on Vegas for a moment. Here's what I remember most about Vegas and it taught me my latest mantra, "Hey old lady, if you love your cheap perfume so much, after you bath in it, stay in your room to enjoy it and stay the fuck out of the elevator." By the time the elevator got to the lobby, I was almost in tears and not because of the 45 year old woman with white people dreadlocks in a tube top.

Age inappropriate clothing seemed to be the rule of thumb in Vegas. I did, however, enjoy watching the older woman work her side ponytail. I kept thinking of Tina from "Napoleon Dynamite." As I walked by her I whispered, "Tina, come get some ham. Gosh!"

I gambled too much, or should I say I lost too much money, and was dismayed to find that Vegas made me tired. Just two years ago I rocked Vegas for four days on like 8 hours of sleep with my Cornell friends. Of course with those kids, it's always an attempt to relive the "we're so crazy" days of college. I hate this getting older thing. It's cramping my "style."