Stewart Fritz Recommends

Books

The City of Ember: DuPrau, Jeanne; ISBN: 0375822739; Call Number: *J DUPR; 2003; More than 200 years after an unspecified holocaust, the residents of Ember have lost all knowledge of anything beyond the area illuminated by the floodlamps on their buildings. Unfortunately, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker.When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon race to decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever!
Watchmen: Moore, Alan; ISBN: 0930289234; Call Number: GRAPHIC NOVEL MOOR TEEN; 1987; No less amazing now than when it was originally released, Watchmen is both a brilliantly written superhero comic and a meta-commentary on the entire superhero comic genre. Set in an alternate 1984 where superheroes exist, Richard Nixon is serving his fifth consecutive term, and nuclear war is one tick of the clock away, Watchmen follows a group of all-too-human costumed crime-fighters as they try to make sense of the assassination of one of their own.
The Mysterious Benedict Society: Stewart, Trenton; ISBN: 0316057770; Call Number: *J STEW; 2007; After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: Pollan, Michael; ISBN: 1594200823; Call Number: 394.12 P771; Pollan writes about the ecology of the food humans eat and why--what it is, in fact, that we are eating. Discussing industrial farming, organic food, and what it is like to hunt and gather food, this is a surprisingly honest and self-aware account of the evolution of the modern diet.
Planetes: Yukimura, Makoto; ISBN: 1591822629; Call Number: GRAPHIC NOVEL YUKI TEEN; Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed his beloved wife, Yuri finds a job cleaning space debris from Earth's orbit. Planetes follows the lives of Yuri and his fellow debris-men as they work and ruminate at the edge of the great empyrean sea.
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop: Raschka, Chris; ISBN: 0531059995; Call Number: JE R; In a daring attempt to capture the raw energy of Parker's music, Raschka combines a text that's as lean as a poem and as mean as a blues refrain with vigorously skewed illustrations gleaming with sly wit. Rather than attempting to teach his young audience about Parker's music, Raschka allows them to hear it--not with sounds but with words and pictures.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox: Pearson, Mary; ISBN: 9780805076684; Call Number: SCIENCE FICTION PEAR TEEN; 2008; In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.
Chickens to the Rescue: Himmelman, John; ISBN: 0805079513; Call Number: JE HIMM; 2006; At the Greenstalk Farm, it's no problem if the sheep get lost, the farmer drops his watch down the well, the dog eats young Jeffrey's book report, the cow gets stuck in a tree, the duck steals the truck, or Mrs. Greenstalk is too tired to cook. It's Chickens to the rescue!

Movies

Baraka: Stock Number: MPI7497D; 1993; Shot in 24 countries on six continents, this film, without narration or dialogue, presents a visual spectacle emphasing religious ritual as well as addressing the human condition and the idea of the interconnectedness humans share with the earth.
12 Monkeys: Stock Number: MCA25452D; 1996; An inmate from a futuristic prison is sent to the past to gather information about the virus that sent the human race to live underground in this Mobius-strip movie by Terry Gilliam. Features wonderfully unhinged performances by Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis.
The Conversation: Stock Number: PAR023074D; 1974; A thought provoking mystery-suspense drama explores the morality of privacy in the story of Harry Caul, a surveillance expert, who conducts a routine surveillance job only to later find himself suspicious that he has become an unwitting player in murder scheme. This movie contains some of the best sound design in movie history.
Repo Man: Stock Number: MCA28510D; 1984; A group of repo men encounter ruthless government agents, UFO cultists, hired thugs, a lobotomized nuclear scientist and the infamous Rodriguez Brothers while chasing an incredibly valuable '64 Chevy Malibu containing a secret that will change the course of civilization overnight. Totally bizarre yet completely awesome with a killer '80s classic punk soundtrack. Watch for the Plate O' Shrimp!
Dark Days: Stock Number: UMVPALM3036D; 2001; This documentary reveals a thriving community of homeless people living in a train tunnel beneath Manhattan. It depicts a way of life that is unimaginable to most of those who walk the streets above. This eye-opening film shatters the myths of homelessness as it captures the resilience and strength of the homeless in their struggle to survive.
High Fidelity: Stock Number: THV20349D; 2000; Rob Gordon's record store is semi-failing, and his long-time girlfriend has just walked out on him. In order to figure out where things went wrong (and why he can't commit), he examines his past relationships with other women. Just the scenes of the store employees discussing popular music alone make this a film worth watching.
Kung Fu Hustle: Stock Number: COL14355D; 2005; Sing, a hapless gangster, must overcome his inability to wield a knife and demonstrate his mettle in order to become a member of the notorious Axe Gang. He realizes he is the greatest kung fu master of them all, destined to protect the sacred streets. This is a lot like if the Three Stooges had made martial-arts movies. Great choreography in both the fight scenes and the impromptu dance sequences!
Pan's Labyrinth: Stock Number: NLV10717D; 2007; When young Ofelia and her mother go to live with her new stepfather on a rural military outpost, she finds herself in a world of unimaginable cruelty. Soon Ofelia finds the creatures of her imagination in which she used to escape have become a reality and she must battle them to save both her mother and herself. In the terrifying battle that ensues, Ofelia soon learns that innocence has a power that evil cannot imagine.

Music

Dusker: Kiln; Stock Number: CTD905624C
From Here We Go Sublime: The Field
Autumn of the Seraphs: Pinback; Stock Number: ADM100026C
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga: Spoon; Stock Number: ADM029528C
Marquee Moon: Television; Stock Number: WEM392024C
Demon Days: Gorillaz; Stock Number: EMM383821C
The Sermon: Jimmy Smith; Stock Number: EMM454129C
In Rainbows: Radiohead; Stock Number: RMM162221C
Armchair Apocrypha: Andrew Bird; Stock Number: RMM105826C; I actually blogged about this one a while back - check it out!
Loveless: My Bloody Valentine; Stock Number: WEM675925C; It's hard to believe this album was released in 1991. Loveless is shoegazer rock at the peak of it's shelf life, before it all collapsed on its own self-importance. Swirling, droning and utterly impenetrable layer after layer of guitar noise, designed to be played as loud as possible. Check this out now that they're back on tour!
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend; Stock Number: WEM031824C