Book: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind – A compelling account of New Hollywood, the highs and especially the lows. My only complaint is that it concentrates on a handful of directors and producers and almost completely ignores the actors and non-movie brat directors. Still, definitely worth buying.

CD: Version 2.0 by Garbage – The sophomore album was a slight disappointment when it came out, and it took me all these years to take a second listen and realize how good it is. Here Garbage perfect the up-tempo pop song (Temptation waits, Push it, Sleep together) that was blossoming on their debut (I’m only happy when it rains, Stupid girl), do few mighty fine slow ones (The trick is to keep breathing, You look so fine), and don’t blunder as many times as they did before and after. Highly recommended.

DVD: The commentary track on the R2 release of The Man Who Wasn’t There by the Coen brothers – Compared to, for example, the otherwise interesting comment track on Nightmare Before Christmas, the Coens and Thornton are a barrel of laughs, while still – amazingly – managing to talk about the movie as well. Any commentary that points out the protagonist’s erection has to be worthwhile.