Film Review: Ted

Ted written and directed by Seth MacFarlane (Universal Pictures,  Media Rights Capital,  Fuzzy Door Productions, R, 106 min) Starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Seth MacFarlane. Humor Jokes are, by their very nature, funny. Seth MacFarlane, legendary creator of the Family Guy franchise is known for his crude, outlandish humor that pushes the boundary perhaps a little too far. Normally, I am one to go for crude and outlandish humor from time to time. But, cutting to the chase, Ted  just didn’t do it for me. There is really only one joke in Ted. Ted is the story of a boy, John Bennett who is picked on by all the neighbor kids, from bully to bullied. John so desperately wants a friend for life that he wishes his teddy bear to… Read More →

Book Review: Middle Men

Middle Men: Stories by Jim Gavin (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013.  221 pp) Jim Gavin’s fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Zoetrope, Slice, The Mississippi Review, and ZYZZYVA. He lives in Los Angeles. A Collection Collections of stories always have a theme. Whether they be reckless love, feigned innocence, or even dark horror, sometimes the overarching theme makes the collection either completely worthwhile or rather dull. Jim Gavin, in his debut collection of stories, finds a theme centered around the city of Los Angeles, and the men who inhabit it. The stories feature men making disastrous decisions, and then following them to their conclusions in an incredibly bathetic way. The theme of men trying to figure life out isn’t exactly… Read More →

Book Review: Insane City

Insane City: A Novel by Dave Barry (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2013. 314 pp) Dave Barry is a humorist who is best known for a newspaper column he wrote that appeared in more than 500 newspapers and generated thousands of letters from readers who thought he should be fired. Despite his unpopular streak amongst concerned readers, he won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Barry has also written more than thirty books, including the novels Big Trouble, Lunatics, and Tricky Business. Barry lives in Miami with his family. The Poor Groom I first found Dave Barry’s work when I read a novel of his while on vacation, it was the novel Big Trouble, and I laughed so hard I legitimately… Read More →

Book Review: Catch-22

Catch-22: A Novel by Joseph Heller (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996; originally published in 1955. 544 pp) Born in Brooklyn, Joseph Heller joined the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, Heller studied English at USC and NYU before earning an M.A. at Columbia University. Later, he studied at Oxford University as a Fulbright Scholar. Famous for Catch-22, Heller became a world renowned author and satirist. He died in 1999. That’s it for Me! George Costanza never spoke more truth than the day he decided to follow Jerry Seinfeld’s advice and leave on a high note. Whenever he enraptured a room with an exceptional joke, he immediately left. While reading Joseph Heller’s groundbreaking Catch-22, I… Read More →