List #57: Ten Pleasant Surprises of 2015, Part 1

A lot of things happened in 2015 that were unexpected, but terrible. Not these, though! These things are great.

Happy New Year!

1. Comics: Giant Days

What it is: A comic series about university life.

Why it's a pleasant surprise: I adore John Allison's web comics. Although he's the author of this series, he didn't do the art this time, and I was worried some of his voice might get lost. I was wrong. Artist Lissa Treiman is perfect.

Buy the comics from Boom! Studios.

2. Children's book (and accessory): The Princess and the Pony

What it is: Web comic artist Kate Beaton wrote a children's book and created a plush pony to go with it.

Why it's a pleasant surprise: Yes, the book has a great message and farts and sweaters, but the big news here is that the pony is really surprisingly high quality and very squeezable.

Buy the book and reserve the pony from TopatoCo.

3. Movie: The Great Museum

What it is: A documentary about the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Why it's a pleasant surprise: It is fascinating, but also honest-to-goodness funny. I promise.

4. Movie: Sound of Noise

What it is: A tone-deaf cop works to track down a group of anarchic percussionists.

Why it's a pleasant surprise: It is not at all as goofy as it sounds and instead comes across as thoughtful and very cool.

5. Movie: Twinsters

What it is: A documentary about young women who discover each other via social media and believe they are twins separated at birth.

Why it's a pleasant surprise: The awful title is no indication of how intelligently and skillfully this story was filmed. Incredibly engaging.

Stream it on Netflix.



[See Part 2 here, featuring TV and web series.]

Rec. #391: From Croydon to Cuba

What: Probably at some point over the recent festive season, you heard The Pogues sing "Fairytale of New York." The female vocalist on that track? That's Kirsty MacColl.

The anthology album From Croydon to Cuba traces MacColl's career from nouveau-girl-group beginnings to the surprise critical darling Tropical Brainstorm.

Representative lyrics:

"I loved you then as I love you still
Though I put you on a pedestal, you put me on the pill
I don't feel bad about letting you go
I just feel sad about letting you know"

--- from "A New England"

You might not like it if: The tragedy of MacColl's death is only heightened when you realize how great her music is. This makes you too sad to enjoy said music.

How to get it: Really, this post was a cheat used for me to recommend Kirsty MacColl's music in general. So go forth and find her music on your various streaming/downloading platforms. 

Connection to previous Wreckage: Shortly before she was killed in 2000, MacColl released her final album, Tropical Brainstorm (Rec. #259).

Friday Flashback: Rec. #245 (abbrev.): You Must Be This Happy to Enter

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Elizabeth Crane, collection of short stories, things falling apart, personal zombie issues, what would you take to a deserted island, lemon-scented closet, phobias, reality television, fabric store, time-traveling photographer, transparency

Opening lines: "I! Love! My life! My life is awesome and great!"

Representative quote: "Betty the zombie wants to change. How her husband knows this is he asked her, and she said, 'Eeeeeeeehhhh!' which he finally determined to mean yes."

Connection to previous Wreckage: When the Messenger Is Hot (Rec. #73)

[Originally posted 6/11/12.]

List #56: An Alphabet for December-- W

[An incomplete guide to some of the stuff I wrecked this year.]

"W" Is for ... Wooster, Bertie

(Quote from a Fictional Character #59)

"If a girl thinks you're in love with her and says she will marry you, you can't very well voice a preference for being dead in a ditch."

--- Bertie Wooster,

Much Obliged, Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse, 1971

(Rec. #153)

(List #43)

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- V

[An incomplete guide to some of the stuff I wrecked this year.]

"V" Is for ... Veronica Mars

(Quote from a Fictional Character #68)

"I hope we're still friends after I taser you."

--- Veronica Mars,

Veronica Mars, 2004

(Rec. #168)

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- U

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"U" Is for ... The Unprofessionals

(Rec. #365)

What: The Unprofessionals is a tragicomedy about a reclusive photographer in her late 40s and her best friend, a 21-year-old boy with some shared neuroses but very different coping mechanisms.

Comparable to: This narrator also appears in Julie Hecht's other work, including Do the Windows Open? and Happy Trails to You.

Opening lines: "It was the second month of living without a soul and I was getting used to the feeling."

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Do the Windows Open? was Rec. #321 and Happy Trails to You was Rec. #6.

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- T

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"T" Is for ... Talbot, Fleur

(Quote from a Fictional Character #73)

"I didn't sleep with him for his prose style."

--- Fleur Talbot,

Loitering with Intent, Muriel Spark, 1981

(Rec. #13)

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- S

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"S" Is for ... Slings & Arrows

(Streaming Suggestion of the Week #17)

Stream what: Behind-the-scenes drama at a theater festival. It's Canadian.

Stream why: The creators knew ahead of time that the show would run for three seasons, so the overall arc of the series flows and grows and deepens -- basically the things you always hope a series arc will do. Plus excellent acting, writing, etc.

Stream where: The first season streams for free with Amazon Prime.

Read more about season #1: Rec. #127

Read more about season #2: Rec. #191

Read more about season #3: Rec. #287

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- R

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"R" Is for ... The Reaper

(First Sign of Murder #18)

"The pen was not required. Unseen by the bishop, Otis Joy had snatched up St. Paul's Cathedral. He swung it with tremendous force at the back of the big, bald head.

"The impact of solid glass against bone was irresistible. Marcus Glastonbury was killed by the first blow. He got two more to be certain."

--- The Reaper, Peter Lovesey, 2000

(Rec. #21)

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- P

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"P" Is for ... Price Peterson's Photo Recaps

(Rec. #386)

Typical Lifetime movie

An episode of Penny Dreadful

This year's Emmys

What: Honestly, Price Peterson's photo recaps of television shows I will never watch (Penny Dreadful, American Horror Story, etc.) and events I can't sit through (the Emmys, the Oscars, etc.) might be the best way to consume pop culture these days.

Representative quote: "According to government statistics, roughly 27,000 superhero films are released every weekend."

Bonus representative quote: "Chores, we all gotta do 'em. Dishes, laundry, mowing the lawn, bottle-feeding baby raccoons, scrubbing the bidet, paying bills, carrying corpses out to a mystical tree stump where you incinerate them with your naked body."

How to get it: Price Peterson is a staff writer for TV.com, a website that has much more character than its name. You can find his posts here: http://www.tv.com/news/author/priceiswrong/

Connection to previous Wreckage: These recaps were part of List #21: If I Had the Sort of Job Where I Could Spend Time Doing Things on the Internet, Here Are Some of the Things I Would Spend Time Doing.

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- O

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"O" Is for ... Orion, You Came and You Took All My Marbles

(Quote from a Fictional Character #75)

(List #51)

"We maintained a brief but meaningful standoff. I can win any such standoff. I can win any contest involving silence or stillness or maintaining a straight face."

--- Finley,

Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles, Kira Henehan, 2010

(Rec. #195)

(List #51)

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- N

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"N" Is for ... Naylor, Nick

(Quote from a Fictional Character #72)

"I just need to pay the mortgage. [The Yuppie Nuremberg defense.]"

--- Nick Naylor,

Thank You for Smoking, 2005

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- M

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"M" Is for ... Mars, Nora

(Quote from a Fictional Character #63)

"I'm so in love with you I wish you were dead."

--- Nora Mars,

The Center of Things, Jenny McPhee, 2001

(Rec. #214)

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- L

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"L" Is for ... London Irish

(List #49)

Representative IMDb episode synopsis:
"Following a drunken wedding party, Bronagh wakes up in the bride's dress, which she stole, next to toddler Frankie, for whom Niamh is acting as nanny. Hearing that Dermot, a man they all hated, has just died, they head off for the wake anyway."

Representative dialogue:"Now Niamh, don't get your hopes up --- this party might be shite. We don't want a repeat of the U2 concert, do we?"
"I didn't throw that rocket."
"You did throw that rocket, we all know you did. Though why you had a rocket and how you sneaked it into Wembley remains a mystery."




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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- J and K

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"J" and "K" Are for ... James and Kincaid

(Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid)

(Rec. #376)

What: With The Sound of Broken Glass, Deborah Crombie continues to follow detective inspectors Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James through their lives.

As is usual with Crombie's novels, the crimes, lurid as they may be (in this case, a barrister is found dead in a bed in a downmarket hotel --- tied up, face-down, and strangled), are somewhat beside the point.

The focus is really on

• Expanding the universe of her characters (in both breadth and depth)
• Doing a neighborhood deep-dive (this time it's the Crystal Palace area of South London)

She accomplishes both with a lot of narrative jumping from character to character, with flashbacks and primary source quotes interspersed throughout. Don't get dizzy.

You might not like it if: The title bothers you. It really should be The Sound of Breaking Glass, right?

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able

Connections to previous Wreckage: Other Kincaid/James books include Dreaming of the Bones (Rec. #55) and In a Dark House (Rec. #358, FSoM #9).

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- I

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"I" Is for ... The Infatuations

(Rec. #384)

What: A woman gets very involved in the lives of two regularly-observed strangers ... after one of them is killed.

Opening lines: "The last time I saw Miguel Desvern or Deverne was also the last time that his wife, Luisa, saw him, which seemed strange, perhaps unfair, given that she was his wife, while I, on the other hand, was a person he had never met, a woman with whom he had never exchanged so much as a single word."

Representative quotes: See Quote from a Fictional Character #15 and Quote from a Fictional Character #70.

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able. Like much of Javier Marías's work, it has also been translated from the original Spanish into 42 different languages.

Connection to previous Wreckage: The Infatuations showed up on List #35: A Few of the Best Books I Read in 2013.

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- H

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"H" Is for ... High Maintenance

(Rec. #374)

What: This web series follows an unnamed pot dealer "bike messenger" and his clients. Each 5-to-10-minute episode is like a little, perfect short story.

Comparable to: I mean short stories in the vein of Daphne Kalotay. As in, swap out New York for Boston and you've basically got Kalotay's Calamity and Other Stories (Rec. #227).

Representative quote: "I gotta say, originally I was kind of upset that you guys had a kid 'cause he was kind of screwing up my income stream, but he's really cute!"


How to watch it:

First of all, go to Vimeo.

Second, the episode titles are not the client names. The episodes can be a little tricky to track, so here are the key words/phrases that describe each one (while still mainly avoiding spoilers). I've starred my favorites.

"Stevie" --- Personal assistant
"Heidi" --- Moocher
"Jamie" --- Mouse
***"Olivia" --- Assholes
***"Helen" --- Lonely
"Trixie" --- Airbnb couple
"Dinah" --- couple + friend
"Jonathan" --- Hannibal Buress
"Elijah" --- Family dinner
***"Brad Pitts" --- Bird watching
***"Qasim" --- Polyphasic sleep
***"Matilda" --- Niece
***"Rachel" --- Dan Stevens


Third, HBO has picked this up. Because of course it has.

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- G

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"G" Is for ... God Help the Girl

(Streaming Suggestion of the Week #15)

Stream what: Eve, James, and Cassie form a band.

Stream why: The songs are Belle & Sebastian in their ideal context, the British/Scottish humor quirks up throughout, the characterization is deeper than it has to be, and the ending is great. Plus, I love this.

Stream where: Free with Amazon Prime.


Read more: Rec. #361

Also: List #47

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- F

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"F" Is for ... Family Tree

(Rec. #370)

What: Tom Chadwick (as played by the ridiculously likable Chris O'Dowd) is a bit lost --- he's lost his job, his girlfriend, and [somewhat less immediately] his great-aunt Victoria. The first two don't leave him with much, but the late great-aunt leaves him a Box of Stuff.

An old photo in the Box of Stuff starts Tom on his quest to explore his family's history. Across 8 episodes, this takes him to princes and theatres and the Olympics and a farm and, strangest of all, California.

Comparable to: The show is from Christopher Guest, so it's, you know, a lot like Christopher Guest stuff.

Representative dialogue:
"My bravery, my kind of innate courage ..."
"What courage and innate bravery?"
"I was the first out of our group to wear skinny jeans."

How to get it: Streams for free with Amazon Prime.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Family Tree was part of List #49: A Few of the Best First Seasons of TV I Watched in 2014.

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- E

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"E" Is for ... Elster, Madeleine

(Quote from a Fictional Character #62)

"Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere."

--- Madeleine Elster,

Vertigo, 1958

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- D

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"D" Is for ... Death of a Peer

(Rec. #381)

What: Ngaio Marsh was a British New Zealander who directed Shakespeare and wrote mystery novels. I love her books very much, and this is my favorite.

Following the death of her parents, quiet and watchful Roberta Grey travels halfway around the world to live with some charming, down-on-their-luck aristos. Then the murder happens.

Representative quote: "It was in a sort of trance that Roberta offered to spend the rest of an endless night in an unknown house with the apparently insane widow of a murdered peer."

Connections to previous Wreckage: For other Marsh novels, see List #27, in which I wish Ngaio Marsh a happy birthday.

Death of a Peer was also the debut entry of my occasionally recurring feature First Sign of Murder (FSoM #1).

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- C

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"C" Is for ... Cunningham, Bill

(Streaming Suggestion of the Week #10)

Stream what: This engaging documentary profiles the legendary and much beloved Bill Cunningham, a longtime street fashion photographer for the New York Times.

Stream why: Charming old guy! Very sweet and charming old guy! Very sweet and charming old guy riding around New York City on a bike!

Stream where: Netflix


For more info: Rec. #223

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List #56: An Alphabet for December -- B

[An incomplete guide to some of the things I wrecked this year.]

"B" Is for ... Blandings

(Rec. #379)

What: Blandings adapts a set of connected P.G. Wodehouse stories for television, much as Jeeves & Wooster did in the early '90s (what ho!).

This series plays fast and loose with plots, but makes a solid go of capturing Wodehouse's steady parade of crispy dialogue.

Evidence (representative dialogue):

Exhibit A: "Do you bash the shuttlecock from the feathered end?"

Exhibit B: "Clarence, that doesn't even qualify as a lie. That's just noise leaking out of your face."

Exhibit C:
"I don't quite catch your drift."
"Then I shall continue snowing."

Connections to previous Wreckage: I adore Wodehouse's writing. See List #43 for more.

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