Diversions
Comic Strips: Of Tigers and Tuna
It weighs 23 pounds. It comes in three enormous volumes and costs $150 (although you can snag one on Amazon.com for $95). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes contains more than 10 years in the life of one little boy and his stuffed tiger. Every strip is accounted for, from the first on Nov. 18, 1985, in which Calvin catches Hobbes using tuna in his tiger trap, to the tear-jerking finale on Dec. 31, 1995, when Calvin rode down a snowy hill into history. Creator Bill Watterson, who swore off the limelight years ago, hiding out in his hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, has relatively come out of his shell for this collection, writing a new foreword. It's the first public statement he's made since the end of the strip.
TV: Extra Funny
Do we really need another series about show biz? Yes! Ricky Gervais of BBC's The Office has created a brilliantly funny show about pathetic movie extras (he's one of them, of course), dreaming of fame and schmoozing with self-smitten stars like Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller. Extras airs Sunday nights on HBO at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Music: Spinning the Hits
Even Ray Charles has to have a gimmick. The new omnibus collection of his Atlantic recordings comes in a box that's a replica of a 45-record player. But the real genius of Pure Genius (Rhino, $150) is on the seven CD s and one DVD: his hits and misses from '52-59, plus a soul-drenched 1960 Newport Jazz festival gig.
Movies: A History Lesson
Blowing someone's brains out shouldn't be funny, but it weirdly is at times in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is an average small-town Joe with a diner and a perfect family, until he kicks the butts of a few robbers who want more than coffee. Gunshots and neck twists follow in ways that are terrifying, sad, or humorous.
Behind the Scenes: She's Not That Bad. Really
Ordering her son to eat goat testicles, bedding every guy around, and having her daughter's husband killed make Atia (played by Polly Walker) the most compelling reason to tune into HBO's Rome. But University of Maryland classics Prof. Judith P. Hallett, an ancient Roman sexpert (and my mom) says that Atia wasn't known as an evil wench at all. "There was a legend that she had given birth to Augustus by the god Apollo, which would make her a Roman counterpart of the Virgin Mary," says Hallett, who thinks the writers should have tapped Fulvia, Mark Antony's wife, who commanded her own army and cut out Cicero's tongue when his head was brought to her: "Now, she's worth a whole miniseries."
This story appears in the October 3, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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