Image via WikipediaIt looks like I forgot to do a 4-year index back in April, and these indices do make it easier to find things, so let's get back on track.

Books

Fiction

The Amber Spyglass
Anansi Boys
Bad Twin
Birds Without Wings
Christ the Lord
A Clash of Kings
Dawn
A Game of Thrones
Gilead
The Giver
Gods Behaving Badly
Going Postal
The Golden Compass
The Good Earth
Good Omens
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Imago
The Knitting Circle
Kockroach
Linden Hills
Lonesome Dove
Making Money
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Neverwhere
Parable of the Sower
Practical Demonkeeping
The Road
Silence
The Sparrow
The Subtle Knife
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
A Thread of Grace
The Westing Game
You Suck

Graphic Novels

9-11: Artists Respond Volumes 1 and 2
Gargoyles: Clan Building Volume 1
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Begin
Sluggy Freelance: Little Evils
Watchmen

Nonfiction

The 100 People Who are Ruining America
1776
Abraham: The First Historical Biography
American Bee
Angela's Ashes
As Seen on TV
The Commitment
The Daring Book for Girls
The Devil’s Candy
Everything twitter
Freakonomics
The Gift of Fear
Grayson
I Am America (And So Can You!)
John Adams
Made to Stick
Mark Morris
The Millionaire Next Door
Mommy Grace
My Secret
Night
Offbeat Bride
Please Kill Me
Project Everlasting
Seabiscuit
The Silent Woman
Skipping Towards Gomorrah
Slow Reading
Why Do I Love These People?
Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget

Food and drink

Delaware

The Dog House

Massachusetts

Boston Beer Works
Cornwall's Restaurant
Finale
Sabur
SoulFire
Sunset Grill and Tap
Tasca

New Jersey

Cheeburger Cheeburger
Whitman Diner

New York

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus
Blue Point Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery
Burger Heaven
Cafe Buenos Aires
Croxley's
Grand Lux Café
Hanami Japanese Restaurant
John Harvard's Brew House
Max Brenner
Miller's Ale House
Peter Luger Steakhouse
Red Lobster
Tio Pepe
Trattoria Lucia

Ontario

Fressen
Groucho’s Gourmet Market
Kelsey’s
Naz’s Falafel House
Richtree Market Restaurant
Smokeless Joe’s
Swiss Chalet
Wayne Gretsky’s

Pennsylvania

Allentown Brew Works
Bistro Cassis
California Pizza Kitchen
Crossroads Coffee
Derek's
Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Flanigan’s Boat House
Irish Pub
Iron Hill Brewery 
Kildare's
Macaroni Grill
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant
Melting Pot 
Old Eagle Tavern
Pei Wei Asian Diner
Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery
Roller's at Flying Fish
slainte
Sonic
Stoudt's Brewing Company
Zake’s Café

Recipes

Wasabi Pea Tuna Salad

Movies

2006

Alpha Dog
Cars
Clerks II
Lady in the Water
Man of the Year
Monster House
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige
Snakes on a Plane
Superman Returns
X-Men: The Last Stand

2007

300
Amazing Grace
Ghost Rider
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I am Legend
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
The Simpsons Movie
Spider-Man 3
TMNT
Transformers Wild Hogs

2008

Cloverfield
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Prince Caspian
Wanted

2009

Star Trek
Up
Watchmen

Internet

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Video

Cast Away
Clerks.
Driving Miss Daisy
March of the Penguins
Much Ado About Nothing
Shattered Glass
Sideways
To Kill a Mockingbird

Music

The Dream of Gerontius
Symphony of 1000

To Do and See

Massachusetts

Sam Adams Brewery Tour

New Jersey

Green Room Billiards

New York

American Museum of Natural History
Bronx Zoo
Cooper Station Post Office
Rockefeller Center Tour

Ontario

CN Tower
The Guvernment
Steam Whistle Brewing

Pennsylvania

The Barnes Foundation
Ghost Tour of Philadelphia

Television

West Wing Series Finale

Related articles by Zemanta

• Quickie Round-Up: Cheerful Books edition (reviewingwhatever.blogspot.com)
• Quickie Round-Up: Depressing Books edition (reviewingwhatever.blogspot.com)
• Assorted Graphic Novels (reviewingwhatever.blogspot.com)
• In which the Warlock gets a guest-blogger (platinumwarlock.blogspot.com)
• Book Review: Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins (daveloveless.wordpress.com)

Books

Fiction

The Amber Spyglass
Anansi Boys
Bad Twin
Birds Without Wings
Christ the Lord
A Clash of Kings
Dawn
A Game of Thrones
Gilead
The Giver
Gods Behaving Badly
Going Postal
The Golden Compass
The Good Earth
Good Omens
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Imago
The Knitting Circle
Kockroach
Linden Hills
Lonesome Dove
Making Money
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Neverwhere
Parable of the Sower
Practical Demonkeeping
The Road
Silence
The Sparrow
The Subtle Knife
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
A Thread of Grace
The Westing Game
You Suck

Graphic Novels

9-11: Artists Respond Volumes 1 and 2
Gargoyles: Clan Building Volume 1
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Begin
Sluggy Freelance: Little Evils
Watchmen

Nonfiction

The 100 People Who are Ruining America
1776
Abraham: The First Historical Biography
American Bee
Angela's Ashes
As Seen on TV
The Commitment
The Daring Book for Girls
The Devil’s Candy
Everything twitter
Freakonomics
The Gift of Fear
Grayson
I Am America (And So Can You!)
John Adams
Made to Stick
Mark Morris
The Millionaire Next Door
Mommy Grace
My Secret
Night
Offbeat Bride
Please Kill Me
Project Everlasting
Seabiscuit
The Silent Woman
Skipping Towards Gomorrah
Slow Reading
Why Do I Love These People?
Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget

Food

Delaware

The Dog House

Massachusetts

Boston Beer Works
Finale
Sabur
SoulFire
Sunset Grill and Tap
Tasca

New Jersey

Cheeburger Cheeburger
Whitman Diner

New York

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus
Burger Heaven
Cafe Buenos Aires
Grand Lux Café
Hanami Japanese Restaurant
Max Brenner
Peter Luger Steakhouse
Red Lobster
Tio Pepe
Trattoria Lucia

Ontario

Fressen
Groucho’s Gourmet Market
Kelsey’s
Naz’s Falafel House
Richtree Market Restaurant
Smokeless Joe’s
Swiss Chalet
Wayne Gretsky’s

Pennsylvania

Bistro Cassis
California Pizza Kitchen
Crossroads Coffee
Derek's
Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Flanigan’s Boat House
Macaroni Grill
Pei Wei Asian Diner
Roller's at Flying Fish
slainte
Sonic
Zake’s Café

Recipes

Wasabi Pea Tuna Salad

Movies

2006

Alpha Dog
Cars
Clerks II
Lady in the Water
Man of the Year
Monster House
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige
Snakes on a Plane
Superman Returns
X-Men: The Last Stand

2007

300
Amazing Grace
Ghost Rider
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I am Legend
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
The Simpsons Movie
Spider-Man 3
TMNT
Transformers Wild Hogs

2008

Cloverfield
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Prince Caspian
Wanted

2009

Star Trek
Up
Watchmen

Internet

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Video

Cast Away
Clerks.
Driving Miss Daisy
March of the Penguins
Much Ado About Nothing
Shattered Glass
Sideways
To Kill a Mockingbird

Music

The Dream of Gerontius
Symphony of 1000

To Do and See

New Jersey

Green Room Billiards

New York

American Museum of Natural History
Bronx Zoo
Cooper Station Post Office
Rockefeller Center Tour

Ontario

CN Tower
The Guvernment

Pennsylvania

The Barnes Foundation
Ghost Tour of Philadelphia

Television

West Wing Series Finale

Related articles by Zemanta

• Quickie Round-Up: Cheerful Books edition (reviewingwhatever.blogspot.com)
• Quickie Round-Up: Depressing Books edition (reviewingwhatever.blogspot.com)
• Assorted Graphic Novels (reviewingwhatever.blogspot.com)

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008, online only

You should know

Most of what I heard about this initially was from people raving about it on Twitter the first day it went public. Of course, at first I couldn't get the site to work; opening night, it overloaded. High demand.

I did manage to see the whole thing straight through more than once, and also shared it with my parents, Chris, Brian, and Dan. It somehow didn't occur to me to review it until a few weeks ago, and real life and Iron Man got in the way.

So?

Dr. Horrible is a small-time supervillain about to make his big break. He's working on perfecting his freeze ray, and in between fantasizes about Penny, a regular at his laundromat.

When he finally gets word from Bad Horse, "The Thoroughbred of Sin" and head of the Evil League of Evil, that his application to the League is under serious consideration, Dr. Horrible sets out to steal the Wonderflonium ("Do Not Bounce") he needs to finish his freeze ray. His heist succeeds only because his nemesis, Captain Hammer, "Corporate Tool," gets distracted... by Penny.

The bad Doctor's objectives: perfect the ray, defeat the Captain, impress the Big Bad, and get the girl. Can he do it?

By the way, this is a musical, and if you're prone to catching earworms, beware -- the songs are extremely catchy!

It also may not be appropriate for younger children or more conservative workplaces. There are some mild but blatant sexual references, plus implied and shown violence, including one sympathetic character suggesting another kill a child.

It also has an ending that's pretty controversial, but ultimately unsurprising in context.

I genuinely enjoyed this serial, and pretty much everyone I've shown it to has gotten a kick out of it. If the premise I've outlined sounds interesting, you'll probably enjoy it.

Rating

Check it out
In fact, if you enjoy it, consider watching it more than once. It's extremely heavy on tiny details and blink-and-you'll-miss-it jokes, so the laughs don't fade because you catch something new each time.

The rest of the Internet

Beware of spoilers
Follow Dr. Horrible on Twitter for news and updates, or become a fan on Facebook.
The Wikipedia and IMDb pages.

The official fan site.
Lifehacker interviews Felicia Day, while Wired interviews Joss Whedon.
Entertainment Weekly has scoop from Comic-Con.
The Dr. Horrible/feminist controversy, summed up nicely (read as many of the comments as you can stand).
And now: Buy the DVD!

The Dream of Gerontius
Composed by Edward Elgar, 1900
Text by John Henry Cardinal Newman, 1865

You should know
Chris and I recently celebrated our 5th anniversary since we started dating. I spent the weekend in Boston, and we decided we wanted to go to the theater. There weren’t any plays that caught our interest, so since Boston has a world-class symphony, we decided to attend that, instead.

The performance we saw had a pre-show lecture that was free for ticket-holders. We took a copy of Newman’s poem to follow along.

So?

Of course, that went a bit awry. The plan was good: Chris would drop me off at the door and then park while I got our tickets at will-call. Then he’d meet me and we’d attend the lecture, then the performance.

It started out fine. There was no line at will-call, and as soon as I had my tickets in hand, the doors opened. No Chris. I sat there for a while, until I got a call – he’d had to drive about halfway back to his apartment to get parking, and would be taking the T to the symphony. I was to go in on my own.

At this point, the lecture had already started, and I was so worried about Chris and getting his ticket to him that I couldn’t concentrate. The text messages we exchanged when he arrived didn’t help – for one thing, I don’t have an unlimited text plan, so they cost more than they should. Ultimately, I sat through about ¾ of the lecture by myself and retained very little.

After the lecture, I slipped out, got an intermission pass, and gave Chris his ticket. We then settled in for the show.

It was a little hard to follow. I couldn’t understand quite what was going on without following along with the text, and when I followed the text I didn’t feel like I was sufficiently appreciating the music. Also, and maybe I’m expecting too much acting from choral music, but when the mezzo-soprano singing the part of the guardian angel was reassuring Gerontius, or when the tenor singing Gerontius discussed his fear or uncertainty, I didn’t get any of those feelings. The music was lovely, and the story was good, but I just didn’t feel it.

That said, I’m terrible with foreign languages, so seeing a piece originally written in English was very nice.

Rating
Do your homework first
Symphony tickets can be expensive, so I would recommend doing some research to see if you’d be into it, first. Listen to the CD; read the poem. Go from there. Personally, I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I could see people loving it or hating it. Don’t take a gamble.

The rest of the Internet
The Wikipedia pages for the oratio and the poem.
The Boston Globe reviewed the performance.

Symphony No. 8
Composed by Gustav Mahler, 1906. Conducted by Antoni Wit, 2006.

You should know
I listened to part of this symphony in a class a few years ago and fell in love with it. I received the CD set for Christmas, and finally got around to listening to it.

So?
Oh, I wish I understood German, or that my Latin wasn't so bad. The music is absolutely stunning, but since I cannot understand the words, I had a hard time devoting my full attention to certain tracks. Also, I was listening on my laptop, which has good but not amazing speakers.

The Symphony is broken down, one movement per CD. The first part is the Veni Creator Spiritus, a Catholic hymn; the second is based on the final part of Goethe's Faust. I suppose I should be able to tell that purely from the music, as one does when one attends symphonies or operas (or inserts CDs of such into one’s laptop), but I couldn’t, quite. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it a lot, though.

Rating
Listen if…
…You like classical music but haven’t heard this yet, or you like really, really good background music. Also, if you speak German and want to help me out.

The rest of the Internet
Mahler's Wikipedia page.
The Symphony Wikipedia page.
Through this page you can read the original and translated lyrics.
A long breakdown of the symphony and various recordings.
Nathan's Daily Journal posts video of a performance.