Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World

Richard Hammond and Jeremy Smith

(Rough Guides; US: Aug 2009)

 Amazon

If you’ve already done the standard European or American trip and are hungering for a bit of adventure and something different, or if you fret about the carbon footprint that your jet-setting ways enlarge, then Clean Breaks is right up your alley. British journalists Richard Hammond and Jeremy Smith wander the world in search of 500 environmentally-responsible and off-the-beaten path holiday ideas designed for the mentally and physically active traveler. Learn about how you can bike from Prague to Vienna with cozy overnight stops along the way, or camp in a comfy Mongolian yurt in Andalucia, or go on an eco-tour of Iran or Rwanda. The book offers many options for bikers, hikers, nature lovers and those who want to go completely off the grid and take that real clean break.

—Sarah Zupko

Gremlins: 25th Anniversary Edition

 Amazon

Rand Peltzer has one special gift for his son Billy this Christmas, an adorable exotic pet Mogwai named Gizmo that comes with three ominous stipulations:  keep it out of the sunlight, keep it away from water and do not feed it after midnight.  As arbitrary movie rules were made to be broken, though, soon an ever-multiplying army of mischievous little green monsters is terrorizing the film’s Norman Rockwell-esque small town. 

Underrated B-movie auteur Joe Dante’s 1984 hit lands on Blu-ray just in time for both its 25th Anniversary and for the holidays, when its sneakily subversive anti-consumerist satire (note the final showdown in a labyrinthine department store, complete with an isle full of E.T. dolls, a wink and a nudge in the direction of executive producer Steven Spielberg) has an added sting.  A kid-friendly tongue-in-cheek horror flick that still manages to be scary and quite hilariously disgusting (its death-by-microwave remains a gross-out masterpiece).

Gremlins makes for ideal late-Christmas viewing—for just that time when you are ready for something still festive, yet nasty enough to wash away some of the holiday-special treacle.

—Jer Fairall

Gone with the Wind: 70th Anniversary Edition

Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel

(MGM; US DVD: 17 Nov 2009 (General release))

 Amazon

Even 70 years after the fact, Gone with the Wind remains the stuff of legend both on and off the screen. Over the decades, a dedicated scholarship has surrounded the film, the kind of in-depth discussion and analysis reserved for only the finest works of cultural significance. In the case of Wind, what Producer David O. Selznick went through to realize his vision of Mitchell’s best-selling tome is indeed filmic folklore made even more mythic. We see it scattered throughout the amazing 70th Anniversary Edition box-set—from commentary tracks that explain the lengthy development process to documentaries which dig deep into every facet of the film. Perhaps the most crucial was the casting, a literal free-for-all that saw many of the modern Tinseltown luminaries (Errol Flynn, Bette Davis) vie for roles that would eventually go to others—and then become iconic. For all its ballyhoo and cleverly marketed merchandising, it’s the characters from Gone with the Wind that continue to stir our imagination. That’s why Gone with the Wind remains a certified cinematic gem.

—Bill Gibron

Paired with the right pant and blazer, you can get away with wearing a Queen shirt to the office. Tshirt company Chase LA has taken the tshirt to new levels of sophistication with dyeing, washing, and enzyme techniques. These techniques, plus vintage concert designs, lend a specific brand of individuality (and authenticity, since some of the shirts actually feel and look 30 years old, that is, soft and faded—comfy). From Bowie to Blondie, from Roxy Music to Capital Records, these printed T’s are a great gift for the casual and savvy down-dresser on your list.

—Katharine Wray

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009

Dave Eggers, Editor

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; US: Oct 2009)

 Amazon

This series of anthologies is a perennial favorite at PopMatters. The 2009 editions of The Best American… Travel / Science / Short Stories / Mystery Stories / Science and Nature / Comics / Sports / Essays and the playfully titled Nonrequired Reading (excerpts from current works by authors such as Philip Connors, Nathan Englander, Denis Johnson and others, ed. by Dave Eggers and Marjane Satrapi) are brilliantly curated collections. The reputable series’ editors and guest editors (who are leading writers in the field) are sharp readers who cast their net widely then pull it in slowly to capture the finest representation of essays and stories for the pleasure and edification of the discerning generalist. Between these pages you’re likely to find an article from, say, The New Yorker that you were absorbed in earlier in the year, but you’ll be happy to find the quality pieces you missed—that the editors didn’t. See the list of the entire series here on Amazon.

—Karen Zarker

All Star Superman

(DC)

To say that Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman feels like the culmination of the character’s history is not to slight those who are working or will eventually work on the world’s first superhero. If anything, it should show what can be done with the character, and serve as maybe the start of a second chapter in his history. Calling the series a heartfelt, masterful work is like saying Citizen Kane is “a good movie” and that Bob Dylan is “a clever poet”. In other words, it is a massive understatement, the kind usually reserved for sarcastic comments.

Morrison has carefully crafted the depiction of each important character in the Superman mythos, amalgamating various Lex Luthors, Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes into the definitive version of each icon. References are made to stories, characters and places from a number of disparate sources, including Curt Swan, Alan Moore, Smallville and, yes, Morrison himself. Moreover, a number of new concepts are introduced—among them a tyrannical dinosaur overlord and a wacky, Willy Wonka-esque scientist named Leo Quintum—that fit right into the world and tone of this essential Superman.

—Kevin M. Brettauer