Every so often I like to mention my current pop culture pleasures. My work life having been so hectic of late, I don’t have much time to read these days, or see movies, or watch television (except late at night, after the kids are in bed, if, indeed, they ever go to bed), but there’s still an occasional opportunity to listen to music on the drive to and from the office. So, here’s a quick check of my pop culture pulse.

What I’m listening to:

A friend of mine recommended that I check out a group called The Ditty Bops. They have some videos posted on their website, and he recommended that I start with Wishful Thinking. After watching/listening to that one and the video shorts from their appearances on Conan O’Brien and Craig Ferguson, I decided to pick up their two CDs from a certain online retailer. Yowza. Great stuff. Both albums are produced by Mitchell Froom, who has also produced great albums by Suzanne Vega and Sheryl Crow and Soul Coughing, among others. The Ditty Bops have a great sound; an eclectic mix of ragtime and alt folk that works really well. Check them out.

The other album that’s been in heavy rotation in my car’s multi-disc player is Regina Spektor’s Begin to Hope. I saw her featured recently on Conan O’Brien, and her performance blew me away. Just her and her piano. This is a very experimental album and, like the Ditty Bops or Suzy V at her best, each of her songs is unique in tone, feel, and instrumentation. She’s an alt folkie with a piano instead of a guitar (and an ever-so-slight Russian accent). Highly recommended.

What I’m reading:

That great, big collection of Calvin & Hobbes that Santa gave me. Easy to read in short sessions, which is all I’ve been managing lately. I finished Stephen King’s Dark Tower cycle a few months ago, and haven’t read much fiction since then, whilst I’ve been digesting that seven-volume tome. My research for my next novel has brought me James Randi’s Flim Flam, and my father recently gave me Jamie Whyte’s Crimes Against Logic, both of which have been quite enjoyable reads.

When waiting for code to compile or otherwise finding a spare moment at my computer with a few minutes on my hands, I’ve been enjoying reading just about everything on Roger Ebert’s website. I’m going through a bit of withdrawal as there’s little new content there while Mr. Ebert recuperates from surgery. Ebert likes to assert that movies are not about what they are about, but rather they are about how they are about what they are about. Likewise, Ebert’s essays are not about the movies they are about, but rather, they are about how they are about the movies they are about. Ebert’s a sharp mind with a sharp pen; one of the more enjoyable essayists at work in the mainstream today.

What I’m watching:

No movies, nor any primetime TV. Paulette and I have been going through my Definitive Twilight Zone collection (this is the collection of all of Rod Serling’s original series, although I suppose I’ll eventually get to the revival versions of the Twilight Zone. Maybe.). We’re currently nearing the end of Season Three. I’m particularly enjoying the “extras” – interviews with Serling, or lectures that he gave at Ithaca College, that are included as part of the DVD package. Serling is a writer’s writer who believed that it is possible to produce quality work even for such a mainstream medium as television. It would appear that today’s attitudes against “popular art” is not particularly original.

I do manage to catch late night talk shows from time to time. My favorite line from a few months ago came from Conan O’Brien, when he had “Governor Schwarzenegger” as an interviewee via remote (actually, an actor’s mouth was superimposed on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s televised photo). In reference to the then upcoming release of “Jingle All the Way”, the Governor’s doppelganger said: “Give a man a Jingle, he’ll Jingle for the day. But teach a man to Jingle, he’ll Jingle All the Way!”

I still love that line, even after all these many months.

What I’m writing:

Just finished a dark fantasy (that's what they call horror these days, don't you know) short story that I’ll be submitting to an anthology soon; it's first short story I’ve finished in a long time. A few nights ago, Paulette took care of the kids so that I could have some writing time to myself. Wasn’t that nice of her? I used the time to finish a story that I’d been working on for months. When I got to the ending, I surprised myself with how the story resolved… and I liked it! Let’s hope the editor does, too.

Also, I've been given a request for a rewrite from an editor who liked a piece I submitted, so I'll be working on that this week.

Oh, and right this moment, I’m writing my blog entry. How “meta” is that?