Watch Listen Read

Watch: Pan's Labyrinth. Out on DVD, this is the best movie of the year by a country mile. Set in fascist Spain at the end of World War II, it is the story of a little girl who is travelling with her mother deep into rebel territory to meet her new stepfather, a cruel and sadistic Spanish general. Once there, she learns she might also be the lost princess of a fantastical underworld kingdom, and must complete three tasks to prove her right to the throne. Though the fantasy sounds like a kid's tale, the collision of her increasingly dangerous fantasy world with her infinitely dangerous real world is nothing but for adults. Thrilling, violent, and in turn both beautiful and horribly sad.

Listen: Cigarettes and Gasoline, by Emerson Hart. This guy was once the lead singer of the 90's alternative/rock group Tonic. He now lives here in Nashville and this is his first solo disc. A great lyricist, my favorite song is the wistful and neatly named "Green Hills Race For California."

Read: Harry Potter, of course. The media blackout starts tonight and lasts until the book is read. However, the best book I've read in awhile was Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Set some years after some unnamed holocaust has destroyed America, the book concerns a father and his young son, walking south towards the coast, trying to outrun winter, trying to stay alive. A brutal book, and at some times a tough read. However, it is his descriptions of the father's fierce love for his son, in the face of horrible odds, that makes parts of this book so beautiful, and ultimately heartbreaking. This was an Oprah Book Club selection, but don't let that dissuade you.