Books
I’ve been on a horror kick lately, having recently rediscovered H.P. Lovecraft, started writing a few short stories of the genre, and following those things up by reading “I Am Legend” which I recommend to everyone. I can’t really write too much about that book, since I’m still in the process of reading it to Keli and I don’t want to spoil anything for her.

A friend of mine bought me a copy of “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War“, by Max Brooks for my birthday. I started reading the book online at the Barnes and Noble web site and was hooked. World War Z “tells the story of the world’s desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts.” Without any spoilers, all I can really say is that if you’re remotely entertained – or even if you just get the heebie-jeebies – you really need to get a copy of this book and read it.

On a related note, Max Brooks is the same guy who brought us zombie junkies our bible, “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead“.

Another book I have recently received, and haven’t been able to put down is “Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft” by H.P. Lovecraft. This book is a collection of things written by Lovecraft after he woke up from dreams. Some are only a page or two long, while others were molded into rather long short stories. It’s fascinating to read, in detail, the dreams of someone from the early 1930s, in their own words. If you’re into Lovecraft, this book is a great read, too.

Music
For me, the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. That’s when I dust off the Christmas music and decorations. Aside from music of the season, I’ve been listening to “Nightmare Revisited” a lot. Not only is “The Nightmare Before Christmas” totally kick ass, but the soundtrack was awesome. So you take that existing masterpiece and put a different but equally creative and amazing spin on it by having musicians such as Marilyn Manson, Tiger Army, Flyleaf, Korn, All American Rejects and Rise Against, to name a few, cover those songs.

Movies
Like nearly everybody in the northern hemisphere, we bought a copy of “The Dark Knight” and certainly not because Christian Bale is a great actor. To be honest, I can’t stand the guy… but I digress.

“The Dark Knight” was such a good movie because Heath Ledger, as the Joker, was so incredibly brilliant and creepy that he is what made the movie. It’s not even because of the River Phoenix syndrome, either. I think he truly was as phenomenal as all the critics have said. The movie had just the right amount of darkness and “evil lurking in the shadows” that it was the edgy Batman that we should have always been presented.

So there you have it. This week’s (or at least until I do another one of these posts) update on what makes me giddy as a schoolboy with a new pack of baseball cards.