Read, Watch, Listen

Book of the Week -TEN THOUSAND SAINTS by Eleanor HendersonHenderson’s fierce, elegiac novel, her first, follows a group of friends, lovers, parents and children through the straight-edge music scene and the early days of the AIDS epidemic. By delving deeply into the lives of her characters, tracing their long relationships not only to one another but also to various substances, Henderson catches something of the dark, apocalyptic quality of the ’80s. Movie of the Week - HugoHugo is a kid’s movie, but it’s a kid’s movie from Martin Scorsese, and that alone makes it worth the watch. The director, best known for mafia movies and crime dramas delivers a master class in 3D filmmaking. Scorsese clearly did his homework for the film, packing the frame with objects to enhance the 3D effect, and the acclaimed director uses the modern technology to tell a story about early movie-making, drawing clear parallels between those original cinematic magic tricks and our current ones.Song of the Week – Best Thing I Never Had by Beyonce‘Best Thing I Never Had’ is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé Knowles for her fourth studio album, 4 (2011). It was released by Columbia Records on June 1, 2011, as the second single from the album. The song was composed by Patrick “J. Que” Smith, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Symbolyc One, Caleb McCambell, Atonio Dixon, Knowles and Shea Taylor. Originally it wasn’t written as a ballad, but was then inspired by the drumming on Doug E. Fresh’s 1985 single “The Show”. Knowles said that anyone, regardless of gender, should be able to relate to the song.TV Series - Look out for; True Blood Witches, for the win! Adding a splash of the dark arts to HBO’s overpopulated sex zoo of shape shifters and bloodsuckers was the exact right move for the writers of True Blood. And casting the spectacular British actress Fiona Shaw sealed the deal. While the season featured plenty of tiresomely subplots and then predictably descended into an ungodly mess at the end, that kind of dissolution is True Blood’s bread and butter. At its best, True Blood is such a good time that you don’t care how stupid it is.