NEW YORK – Jon Stewart’s “America (The Book),” the television commentator’s million-selling riff on politics and other matters of satire, has been named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the industry trade magazine.

In announcing the award Monday, Publishers Weekly called the book “a serious critique of the two-party system, the corporations that finance it and the ‘spineless cowards in the press’ who ‘aggressively print allegation and rumor independent of accuracy and fairness.'”

Stewart’s book was released in September and immediately topped best-seller lists even as Wal-Mart declined to stock the book, citing a page featuring the faces of the nine Supreme Court justices superimposed over naked bodies. The page facing the nude photos has cutouts of the justices’ robes, complete with a caption asking readers to “restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe.”

from Yahoo
Mon Dec 6,10:12 AM ET

87 years ago today the French ship Mont Blanc blew up in Halifax harbour, practically destroying the city.

Learn more here.

• Saved! (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a satirical poke at organized religion…so, right up my alley! It was very funny at the beginning, but tailed into schmaltz by the end; regardless, it was worth watching…especially Eva Amurri and Macauley Culkin(!). Recommended.
• The Hole (imdb | rotten tomatoes) wasn’t so good. As much as I like both Thora Birch and Keira Knightley, and as promising as the premise was, it just didn’t pan out. Too predictable.
• Season 1 of The Wire (imdb | rotten tomatoes) already has me addicted, and we’ve just watched the first 3 episodes. It’s another HBO production, and is very reminiscent of Homicide (partially because it shares some of Homicide‘s actors, and also because it’s set in Baltimore), but it can afford to be grittier, being on cable and all. I’m itching to watch the rest of the season, but it’s kind of up to Zip. They still seem to be sending me movies, but I think it less to do with any understanding on their part than it does with disorganisation on their part.

Hmmm…can I skip the first day (except for NIN & PJ) and just hit the second?

April 30

david bowie, nine inch nails, pj harvey, interpol, the faint, franz ferdinand, the polyphonic spree, boards of canada, tv on the radio, yeah yeah yeahs, squarepusher, clinic, french kicks, secret machines, phoenix, beep beep, dogs die in hot cars, death from above 1979, the helio sequence

May 1

r.e.m., tears for fears, wilco, modest mouse, bright eyes, jimmy eat world, mos def, badly drawn boy, the streets, spoon, cake, the postal service, the shins, sleater-kinney, rilo kiley, radio 4, doves, iron and wine, the arcade fire, moving units

I frigging hate Starbucks. I just heard some woman order a grande low-fat no-water tazo chai, whatever that is. The woman before her ordered a venti low-fat extra-hot no-foam latte.

If only their espresso brownies weren’t so delicious…

Happy 30th, CB!!

I didn’t hear about this until just now. Sad news indeed.

Canadian Author Pierre Berton Dead at 84

• I just watched the tape of Ken Jennings losing on Jeopardy. 74-time champion, $2.5MM. Of course, everyone knew it was coming tonight, but I still felt a little bit sad. He, on the other hand, seemed quite relieved. I loved the audible gasp from the audience though…
• I also just saw my favourite team eliminated from The Amazing Race. Lena and Kristy (the two hot girls) lost after a run of the worst luck I’ve ever seen.
• Zip.cafucked me over. Because they kept losing the DVDs that were shipped to me, they decided to cancel my membership. I didn’t lose any DVDs, and I sure as hell didn’t steal them, but they cancelled my membership anyway. No warning, no investigation into what actually happened to the DVDs. Fucking idiots. They just pissed off a good customer, one who holds a grudge and likes to create pissy websites.

It’s back.

Americans Are Dumb