The long subtitle to I Hate People is a more apt description than its big brother: “Kick loose from the overbearing and underhanded jerks at work and get what you want out of your job.” So, as you can see, I Hate People isn’t so much about hating people as it is maybe… getting them out of your way, or breaking loose of the structure that breeds hostility among co-workers. You may have a few annoying co-workers, but to aid you, authors Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon identify “The Ten Least Wanted,” and if you work in an office, you know who they are....more

In the summer of 1980, London, England was close to a war zone with race riots and battles between police and demonstrators breaking out all the time. Then Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had created such a divisive atmosphere that the anger of the disaffected, the poor and people of colour, boiled over onto the streets routinely in June and July of that summer. For a while it looked like the song "London's Burning" that The Clash had written a couple of years earlier had every chance of coming true....more

Dating is, perhaps, the oldest game there is. We all play it at some point, devoting countless hours and resources to it, only to fail a majority of the time. We enlist the help of others—friends, books, websites, seminars, etc.—but even with such help we still end up utterly lost. There doesn’t seem to be a fixed set of rules, and when we think we’ve found a set, countless exceptions pop up and throw said “rules” out the window. Aiding and abetting our frustrated attempts are well-meaning friends who encourage us through assurances of our likability, our attractiveness, the other person’s stupidity, etc. So why do we continue to play this game? We play in hopes of finding that ever-elusive thing called love....more

What’s there to say about Spaceballs that hasn’t already been said? Not much, really—except for the fact that I have seen the movie so many times that it doesn’t even make me laugh anymore. It used to, though. There was a time when it could have me it stitches. But, after repeated viewings at work (there was one lad in particular who used to play it continuously at the video store I once managed) and at home (courtesy of my daughter and her then-fascination with science fiction films), I am sad to say that Spaceballs has etched away an empty crevice into my funny bone....more

At the time Gunsmoke was brought to television, the western hadn't really been a genre that catered much to the adults of the world. Most of the time the good guys won without any sign that each win was sometimes a defeat. Gunsmoke brought to the screen the shades of grey of being a hero of the west. James Arness (The Thing From Another World) is United States Marshal Matt Dillon, a tall, hardened man who wears the job on his face and in the way he relates to the people of Dodge City, the town in which he enforces the law. Amanda Blake plays Kitty Russell, the owner of a rather rowdy saloon that Dillon often frequents for drinks and to converse with Kitty. ...more

A popular theme in literature and movies is the idea that the "real" characters from the book/movie are able to interact with "fictional" characters from an internal realm. In Jumanji, animals come from a realm of games and invade the characters' world. In Night at the Museum, Ben Stiller encounters hundreds of historical entities that come to life. Inkheart continues with this theme. >In Inkheart, Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser) is a silvertongue; that is, he is able to "talk" characters out of books....more

Gon and his friends have passed the first two stages of the grueling Hunter Exam, but the worst phases of the exam are still to come in volume two of Viz media's Hunter X Hunter series. Gon and co. must still escape the trials in Trick Tower, fierce sea storms, a mad free-for-all on an isolated island and an all-out fighting tournament to prove that they deserve the title of "Hunter." This popular Shonen Jump series has everything that fans love about shonen: overcoming impossible odds, friends-turned-rivals, well-timed humor and, of course, loads of heart-pounding action....more

Forty-seven years ago, in the middle of African-American Civil Rights Movement, Ray Charles created the landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western. The liner notes reveal he began the project by asking record label executive Sid Feller “for top country and western hits of the [previous] twenty years.” Ray’s interpretations of these songs revealed a common humanity between the races and supported his thesis that if “you take country music, you take black music, you got the same dang thing exactly.”...more

In Mesi’s Season of Change: A Friendship Story, Pam Davis’ continues the story she began with Mesi: A Girl 'n Grace in Africa. The latest title builds onto the timeline begun in the first installment, though enough background information is woven into the text to make the second a stand-alone title or a place where new readers can jump into the Girls 'n Grace series. After receiving the saving gift of God’s grace in the first book in Mesi’s story, Mesi finds herself longing for the things of the Lord....more

David Shields’ brilliant memoir/reflection, now out in paperback, is the perfect antidote to careless and frivolous summer reading. Although it’s eminently readable, the book is a fascinating combination of personal history, facts about life, death, love, sex, and just about everything else you can think of, and may well provide a jump start for your autumn serious thinking - without completely letting your brain rot this summer....more