good vs evil

Stumpy and Rita Sue

Reading: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis

Favorite line: “He had eaten his share of the dinner, but he hadn’t really enjoyed it because he was thinking all the time about Turkish Delight – and there’s nothing that spoils the taste of good ordinary food half as much as the memory of bad magic food.”

This is one of those books that every child (and/or every religion major) thinks he has read until he (or she in this case) actually decides to read it. I knew the conceits going in; still, the story (I mean the storytelling, the language) surprised me in its violence, its simplicity, its implicit sexuality, its expectations of these four little kids. I find myself underlining passages, like the above.

Watching: Carnivale (season one, on DVD)

Favorite line: “He didn’t knock me up. That only happens in dime novels.”

Everybody gets laid in this one; the sexuality couldn’t be more explicit, although not all of it is fulfilled in the usual ways. I just love that Rita Sue. And Sofie. There’s something so compelling about women in hard times. Again, it's about latency and expectation. And the way we line things up, the bad just as engaging as the good.