Kaleidoscope

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Published: Dec 8, 2009

Warning: Owning the 2010 Mtter Museum Calendar (Blast Books) means showing up queasy to any dinner date scheduled for January, February or July. Complete with day-specific science factoids and notable birthdays (Louis Pasteur was a Capricorn), this cal is packed with 12 snaps of the museum's most fascinating, icky bodily treasures — epileptic brains in March, ear bones in April, etc. The ol' gag reflex gets a break in August, a month whose page features a simple photograph of about a dozen variously sized, unlatched safety pins. Sure, they were all accidentally swallowed, but you don't have to know that.

If you know Geoff Farina only from his lo-fi pop days in The Secret Stars, or his moody stuff with Karate, you might be surprised at what you hear at Kung Fu Necktie on Thursday. Farina is still writing thinky lyrics and delicate, jazzy guitar solos, but his new band Glorytellers sets them to peppy, country-tinged rock 'n' roll.

In his long-form review of Jason Reitman's Up in the Air (see Movie Shorts on p. 34), Sam Adams writes that the movie belongs to the actors, especially Clooney. And while Clooney is fantastic as self-isolationist Ryan Bingham, the silver fox would be just another empty manchild if he didn't have Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga to go toe-to-toe with. Even Amy Morton (best known as Henry Rowengartner's mom in Rookie of the Year) brings forcefulness to a small part as Bingham's sister. Clooney lifts the film up, but it's the women of Up in the Air that keep it there.

Dave Eggers has once again Frankensteined the most reliably weird annual literary anthology with The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 (Mariner, 432 pp., $14). In addition to short stories (particularly memorable ones by Rebecca Makkai and Amelia Kahaney) there are comics, essays and lists written in the McSweeney's humor style. Nick St. John's line-drawn allegory is wonderfully absurd, while Jonathan Franzen's earnest eulogy for departed friend David Foster Wallace is the perfect epilogue to your Infinite Summer.

The Lizard Kings
Stay Positive
The Nutcracker
Naughty
Leah Stein Dance Co.
This Is The Week That Is
Doré and Grey
Space 1026 Art Auction