Happy Thanksgiving! I trust you all had tons of tasty turkey and stuffing? We certainly did. And we capped off the holiday with our ritual viewing of Planes, Trains & Automobiles. There’s really no better way of getting into the holiday spirit than watching Steve Martin dry his face with John Candy’s soggy underpants.

It’s been exactly one month since my last column so I figured it’s time again to check in and let you know what’s been capturing my attention as of late. Also, I’ve decided to change the name of the column. Tech Check jut didn’t make a whole lot of sense, since I’m not always talking about gear here. Media Musings, here we go…

They Call Me… Francois

While it can be soundly argued that movie adaptations of books are almost universally inferior to their printed provenance, such films deserve credit for raising awareness of books that have somehow slipped under my radar. The latest example is C.D. Payne’s hilarious Youth in Revolt, “soon to be a major motion picture” starring Michael Cera as revolting youth Nick Twisp.

I’m about 25% of the way through the book and let me just say that Amanda (my wife) is sick of hearing me giggle (in a manly fashion) every three minutes. With Cera in the lead, I’m confident the movie will be great – but you men in the audience owe it to yourself to read this one cover to cover. It really is T.E. (Tremendously Entertaining, in this case.)

Nuts!

No, that wasn’t a “Jericho” reference. With the holidays finally upon us, Amanda and I have been reading E.T.A. Hoffman’s Nutcracker to the kids at bed time.  It’s a much longer story than I remember hearing as a child, but maybe that’s simply when compared to The Little House and Where the Wild Things Are.

To complement the book, we’ve also been listening to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite quite a bit lately. If there’s better music to get you in the holiday spirit WITHOUT giving you a case of “This $*&@ song again?!” nausea, this is it. And last but not least, my wife just this week bought tickets to The Connecticut Ballet’s performance of The Nutcracker at UCONN, to which she’ll be taking Abigail for some mom-and-daughter time. I guess Danny and I will just have to stay home and watch Ralphie shoot his eye out.

Did I Fall Asleep?

Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” has been showing a lot of promise lately, so it’s no real surprise that the Fox Television Think Tank has let the show continue to wither in its awful Friday night time slot – or that they recently issued a kill order once the series’ 13-episode Season Two order runs its course.

It’s been great fun watching various Whedon alumni pop up on the show, from “Buffy” vets Eliza Dusku, Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof to the recent appearance of Browncoat Alan Tudyk. And next Friday, in a 2-hour “Dollhouse event,” Summer Glau joins the cast!

Am I the only one that just loves seeing the crew of Serenity all over prime time? Check this out: Mal is on “Castle,” Kaylee just finished “Stargate: Atlantis,” Jayne is on “Chuck,” Inara is the new queen “V,” Wash is on both “V” and “Dollhouse” and River, as aforementioned, is now on “Dollhouse” fresh off her two-season run on “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” If these guys continue their upward rise, who’s to say we won’t see everyone’s favorite Firefly take flight once more?

Tags: Blu-ray, DVD, Media Musings, Thanksgiving, TV