Short takes and reviews

Death by Chick Lit. This book would perhaps make a good Christmas gift for your favorite writer or librarian who is also tech savvy.

SuperBad. Latest very funny raunchy teen movie. Mostly about senior geeks in high school desperate to have sex. Includes bad modern cops.

Astronaut Farmer. I wanted to like this but it kept misfiring. Director kept passing up chances for a funnier movie and also for a more accurate movie. Watch if you absolutely have nothing better to do.

Babette's Feast. Somehow I had kept missing this for years. Five scrumptious religious stars.

My wife is an Actress. Slow, predictable and not as funny as it thinks it is. A French movie about acting and actors.

Hotel Babylon. Wickedly funny comedy/drama series on BBC America about the goings on at a five-star London hotel. DVD comes out in America early next year.

Tin Man. Odd, more adult, re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz as a mini-series on the SCI-FI Network. Somewhat like their current Flash Gorden series in that only the character's names and a few details from the original survive the remake. Story has some very interesting surprising turns but is not a must see. "Say this for it: The thing manages to hold our interest in the same way it might were David Lynch to plan your office Christmas party." The update also goes elitist instead of populist in the telling as David Brin noticed about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. DVD for Tin Man available in March.

The Hobbit may be closer to being filmed. A billion dollars has a way of bringing people together. That was quick - Jackson to film The Hobbit in two parts.