John De Petro and The Sorcerer's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner and Azkaban

I may be ten years too late but I've started reading the Harry Potter series and they're terrific. I I've always enjoyed the movies and I decided to read the books before the final two movies come out. 

The books are fascinating, but it makes me a little sad. I'm three books in and I realize that I only have four left. It makes me wonder whether or not we will see another series of stories that captivates the world like Harry Potter has. 

"Mad" About You

God bless the people who invented Netflix. If those wise men and women weren't in this existence, I would be living my life without never having been introduced to Don Draper. 

I began watching the series Mad Men one month ago and for the past thirty-some-odd days I've been living my life with a new motto  - What Would Don Draper Do? - (or WWDDD). 

It's taken me two years to get on board and I don't know why it's taken so long. I've known about the show and how well received it's been, but I wasn't watching. I'm not alone. I wonder why people choose to not watch the TV programs which critics tell us they recommend. 

The Mean and Ugly Truth

English funny man Ricky Gervais' new comedy The Invention Lying opens nationwide on October 2. Gervais plays Mark Bellison, an unremarkable screenplay writer who lives in world where humans have the inability to tell lies. 

But when something clicks in the brain of this "loser" of a man, Bellison becomes the first person on the planet capable of saying something that wasn't (since there's no such thing as telling lies, there's no recognition of there beinh something called the "truth" either).  

In a world where there's only truth, the inhabitants of that world are all mostly insensitive, selfish and without any self-consciousness. Basically it makes everyone mean pricks. If you had to be truthful all the time without fail, would you act like a prick?

Stupid Monkeys

I finished reading Lydia Millet's new collection of short stories titled Love in Infant Monkeys this week. All I can really say is wow, that was pretty boring. 

The book is about the worlds of celebrities including Madonna, Sharon Stone and David Hasselhoff colliding with members of the animal kingdom. 

The question raised here is why do people care enough about irrelevant celebrities to keep reading about them? If the media ignores them, will they just disappear into the bargain bin at Wal-Mart where they belong? 

College Football Is for Kids

I've never been a big college football watcher, but I've decide to get into it this season. After spending the past 10 hours in front on my HD TV and half a bag of Tostitos later, all I want to know is what it's really like to be there at a huge rivalry game as a student. It's a story I have yet to see done really well in a way which the passion of the kids come through the words on the page.

Putting My Finger on the Shutter

I finished Dennis Lehane's thriller Shutter Island. The novel brings up questions within the world of psychology. At the forefront is the use of pharmacology and the over-medication of psychiatric patients. 

Martin Scorsese's film based on the book and starring Leonardo DiCaprio will hit theaters in February 2010. Shutter Island marks the fourth time Scorsese and DiCaprio have teamed up. Perhaps a double career profile of DiCaprio and Scrosese over the last decade. 

The "Fall" of Man

Tonight, the air gets a little colder, leaves get a little darker and couch cushions across America get a little flatter. Football is back and autumn has unofficially arrived. The first game of the season signifies much for over the next five months as the season turns from fall into winter, wives will lose their husband's attention, gamblers will lose their money and fantasy football geeks will lose their minds.

Carney-Val

I went to the annual Water Front Labor Day Festival in Newburgh, New York. It was basically your average street fair complete with rickety rides, luke-warm funnel cake and surly carneys. I also had for the very first time deep-fried Oreo cookies. A delicious treat but my doctor would probably advise to take up smoking rather than eat those on a regular basis.

Crackin' Crabs

Every time I pull that first bit of crab from its piping hot shell and put that sweet, buttery meat on my tongue, I can't help but to remember what Tom Hanks said in the movie Castaway, "You gotta love crab."

On the first Friday of every month at the Clam Bar in Wallkill, New York, for $23, patrons can partake in an all-you-can eat snow crab leg free-for-all. The bar is a dive and the customers are homely, even those who wait for up to an hour for one of the six available tables.