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Now that we’ve got an entire wing dedicated to the bookish pursuits — EW’s Shelf Life Blog, where “every day we write the books”– there’s not as much literary chatter here on PopWatch. But since I just got back from vacation, and my primary vacation activity is nearly always reading, I’ve got a pile of recommendations… and I’m looking for something new to sink my teeth into.
This trip, I tackled a slew of non-fiction. First, John McPhee’s Uncommon Carriers, a series of essays that I originally fell in love with via the New Yorker. The author rides shotgun with the men (and very occasional women) who work in “freight transportation”: 18-wheelers, trains, barges, ocean ships, even UPS. Fascinating, hilariously detailed profiles of careers and modes of transport we take for granted.
Next, Jon Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory, a.k.a. “the Pat Tillman book.” I’m a total Krakauer geek, and I always feel the need to bring at least one crushing depression-fest with me to the beach; the tale of the NFL football player who chucked it all to join the Army Rangers after Sept. 11th only to be killed by friendly fire certainly fit the bill. More than just an examination of Tillman’s unconventional heroism, it’s a sickening deconstruction of the machinations behind our country’s ongoing War on Terror.
Palate cleanser: Joe Torre and Tom Verducci’s The Yankee Years.
The last book I read — and the most impactful — was Elizabeth Royte’s Garbage Land, in which the author sets out to discover where her trash goes. The journey starts at her local Brooklyn sanitation division, then explodes into the world-wide business of waste disposal, which seems 1) very profitable and 2) largely an exercise in staving off the inevitable. I’m glad I won’t be on the planet to see how this story ends, and I’m extra pleased with my decision not to breed at the moment — but while I’m here, I can at least try and minimize my contribution to the problem. First step: I’ve started taking my own cup to Starbucks. As my friend Sarah pointed out last night, “Yeah, but you’re still going to Starbucks.” Yes. Well, baby steps.
What about you, PopWatchers? What are you reading? What do you recommend? And what’s the last book that changed something about the way you live your life?
A few things I loved about last night’s new episode of Ugly Betty: 1) The scene where Betty fell over in the bean bag chair. (Gags like that still get me!) 2) Seeing yummy Grant Bowler come back as Connor Owens. And 3) Marc’s bright yellow suit jacket (see left).
Stand-up comic and actor 
This is an ingenious update of the movie trailer mash-up craze – 
So how are Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) faring as a couple on How I Met Your Mother? Well, if the upcoming Nov. 9 episode of the CBS comedy is any indication, maybe not so great. Barney, it seems, has packed on some pounds. “It’s a phenomenon that a lot of people can relate to, certainly more than a few people on our writing staff. It’s relationship gut,” says HIMYM exec producer and co-creator Carter Bays. Bays says Harris was more than game to don a fat suit for the episode. “He was loving it. He was like, ‘Give me the biggest fat suit you’ve got.’”
This week saw the opening of two new Broadway productions: Memphis, an original musical from the creators of The Toxic Avenger Musical, and After Miss Julie, an adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie starring Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller (left). EW’s 
Ten years ago, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez scared the bejeezus out of moviegoers everywhere with their micro-indie horror hit, The Blair Witch Project, which went on to gross a record-breaking $140.5 million. Now that there’s another rock-bottom-budgeted fright fest, Paranormal Activity, racking up big bucks ($39 million and counting), the comparisons to Blair Witch have been constant — and understandable. As 
