Josh Heit's blog

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

 

It's a review kind of Wednesday:

Book: What Ifs? Of American History. I like a good conterfactual history and this book's full of them, from imagining if Washington didn't escape the Battle of Long Island, to a catastrophic version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. All are really interesting, although a few stretch the genre too far, such as Caleb Carr's essay, "William Pitt the Elder and the Avoidance of the American Revolution", which extrapolates effects 200 years forward. All in all, a quick read that I highly recommend.

Movie: Batman Begins. I saw this a couple of weeks ago and was quite impressed. And I don't like superhero movies. The first hour is kind of slow, and you're not sure where it's going, but it picks up rather quickly, and all the loose ends are tied up qutie well. Best job goes to the always-good Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard.

TV Movie: Reefer Madness. Hilarious. Absolutely amazing and disturbing. I watched the original 1936 propaganda film, in which the plot is barely comprehensible (mainly because all the characters look alike). But while that's unintentionally funny, the Showtime musical is intentionally funny, and it is very much so. Another strong recommendation.

If you don't like all the positivity, I'll try to hate something the next time I do this. Until then, look for the next post on Friday.

JH 12:37 PM