May 2006 »

Author: Eric Schlosser
Publisher: Perennial
Rating:
Buy Fast Food Nation on Amazon.com

The entire time I was reading this book, I was having the worst craving for a McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich. The same thing happened when I was watching Supersize Me. Go figure.

I expected this book to be a The Jungle-style grossout exposé of the fast food industry, but it didn’t turn out to be that way. Instead, it is a fascinating account of the rise of fast food from wholesome All-American fare to today’s modern evil empires (though arguably, evil empires are still All-American).

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Author: J. K. Rowling
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Rating:
Buy Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Amazon.com

This book is a represents a dramatic shift from the first four, both in style and in content. This is the first book in the series that is character-driven rather than plot-driven. There isn’t as much in the way of action, but characters’ inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations are examined much more closely. Virtually all of the major characters get some extra depth. How you react to this book will depend largely on how interesting and/or believable you find each character’s transformations to be. Obviously, as a psychology person, I ate it all up.

And there are some drastic transformations. Harry and friends experience puberty full-on, which would be enough to send anyone’s emotions haywire without the added the stress of exams and their high-profile extracurriculars – Quidditch players, prefects, being The Boy Who Lived. Throw in the possibility that any of the major characters or their loved ones could die any minute in a bloodbath arranged by our favorite Dark Lord, and I’d say mood swings, rash, irritable behavior, depression, and the emergence of new personality traits are all to be expected.

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Director: Morgan Spurlock
Rating:
Buy Supersize Me on Amazon.com

As I mentioned in my review of Fast Food Nation, I was having a McDonald’s craving the whole time I was watching this movie. The movie promotes the idea that McDonald’s is addictive, and I guess my craving would be evidence for that.

For those who don’t know the premise, Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days straight, just to see what will happen to him. What happens is that his health goes south very quickly and reaches a point that doctors suggest is quite dangerous.

Morgan unabashedly hits McDonald’s from all sides with art, humor, statistics, interns, his vegan girlfriend, and a small army of doctors and other experts. The DVD special feature involving the magically non-rotting fries is highly amusing, if obviously aimed at getting you to associate McDonald’s food with mold, slime, and other forms of inedible disgustingness.

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