now for some recommendations

That last post was a bit of a downer. Venting is really useful. It works much better than thinking that bad moods are strictly negative. Unfortunately particular aspects about the reality of most situations are more clear to me when I'm in a bad mood. What makes me happy. Sharing movie, TV & book recommendations

Movie recommendations - I think my last few posts have taken care of what I've been watching lately film wise

TV recommendations - I've been watching a lot of British TV shows lately. Check out Sherlock, Misfits and Merlin. Sherlock is a brilliant version of Sherlock Holmes that places him into contemporary London, using technology and tools that are common today. The characterizations of Sherlock & Watson are perfect. Misfits is an excellent dramedy about what would happen if average people got superpowers. It focuses on 5 characters that gain superpowers while doing court ordered community service. Just watch it and discover its magic. Merlin is a fun origin and retelling of the whole Camelot & the Knights of the round table myth told from the point of view of Merlin. He is depicted as the apprentice of the court physician to King Uther, Arthur's father. Magic is outlawed. This court physician has a past of using magic. The physician gives Merlin a book of magic so that the young Warlock/Wizard can develop his powers and fulfill his destiny of protecting the future King Arthur and bringing about the return of magic to Avalon (nation Camelot is in). The Walking Dead is my top new North American show. It's just a fun old time. Zombies are fun again because of this & a few predecessors on the big screen. Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are always good comedy choices. This week's Big Bang Theory involving competing for a New Year's Eve comic book shop costume party prize is great. One of the most continuously funny shows on television. Probably the best comedic cast on mainstream television today. How I Met Your Mother is a rare comedy show with an overall story arc. It's about a guy named Ted Moseby and his friends Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin. The whole show is also about Ted telling is kids the story of his 20s-30s culminating in the reveal of the circumstances leading to him meeting their mother. The show is still going strong. I'd honestly be ok with them continuing on even after they've introduced the character that's the mother. This is a show that does the journey of a life in a comedic way exceptionally well. Supernatural is always a good watch. Another excellent drama that straddles the dramedy line quite well. It's just balls to the wall fun with some really outstanding storytelling at its core.

Book Recommendations - The Scott Pilgrim series and Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley. I don't think that there's another author that writes convincing young characters that live in contemporary North America as well as O'Malley. The fact that he's also a Canadian that laces his books with a distinctly Canadian feel is just extra special sauce on top of the pizza. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan does a great job of continuing the world established in his wonderful Percy Jackson & the Olympians books. Everything he writes is great & perfectly suitable for everyone, not just his "teen/young adult" genre designation. Reading the entire Percy Jackson series, The Red Pyramid (book 1 of his new Kane Chronicles series) and The Lost Hero have been amongst the most fun things I've done all year. I can't recommend his works enough. Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden is another excellent book that I read earlier this year. Perfect depiction of 2 Native Canadian Soldiers living the past & present of their culture through the experience of fighting in World War II. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden as well does an admirable job of writing about descendants of the 2 native soldiers in Three Day Road living in Canada & the U.S. today. When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai was a book that captivated me but also made me really annoyed when it would seemingly change its characters sexual orientations out of nowhere. The dual narratives of one character living in Vancouver in the late 80s-early 90s and of the mythical fox of Chinese folklore was undeniably fun to read. Still haven't got around to reading the one book that I was most excited to read this year, Miguel Syjucco's Illustrado but I'll get to it soon. I hope to read more literary classics in 2011 and catch up on other books I've wanted to read. I'm sure there will also be tons of new interesting books coming out in 2011 as well.

Hope you all liked some of these recommendations. I've talked about them before. I've likely forgotten some of the stuff I've read this year but that's fine. Later