Lest you think I've been totally slacking off, I've actually been doing some long-overdue tidying. In addition to slacking off. Over the holidays I went through and flagged about 40 pages with broken links (internal & external), typos, and other nonsense. And now I've finished going through them. Well, except I still want to clean up the links page, but that doesn't bother me as much. There are still some links in old MediaLog pages that are dead, but I at least tried to put a note saying, "Hey, I tried, but I can't find it anymore," in case people actually go poking around through the MediaLog archives from four years ago. I feel better, and that's what really matters, isn't it? Now let's get to the media cavalcade, since I certainly have plenty to catch up on.

I got Paul Auster's new book, The Brooklyn Follies. It was much more straightforward and cheerful than his books usually are. Not that there aren't plenty of shadows hanging over the action. It's more that it's cheerful about life despite the large number of tragedies that ensue, and since it ends early in the morning on 9/11, that's clearly intentional. The narrator, Nathan Glass, moves to Brooklyn, planning to die since he's been diagnosed with cancer. Except we soon learn that he's actually in remission. I think the most interesting part about the first third or so is that Nathan spends a lot of time explaining that he's not a bad guy, and a lot of terrible things have happened to him. But pretty early it becomes clear that actually, he's been a tremendous jerk; thoughtless and selfish for a lot of his life. So I suppose it does have some heartwarming aspects, since in the course of the book he becomes genuinely involved in other people's lives and cheers up a bit. It does sound uplifting when you boil it down, doesn't it? Like it might be a Hallmark movie. Ech. I suppose it kind of is, but it's not saccharine, and people don't pontificate about what they've learned. And while Glass does manage to forge some connections, he's not transformed or anything. You know, thinking about it now, it's kind of like an Anne Tyler book. Or at least, it's like the couple of her books that I read. The only revelation is, "people tend to muddle through somehow." It's not my favorite Auster book -- I like the sort of epic darkness of The Book of Illusions, but it's a pleasant read. I'd probably recommend it as a library book, rather than a purchase.

Chris Elliott's Shroud of the Thwacker is another one I'd probably advise getting from a library. It's a bit too long. It is funny, but very few jokes can remain funny for 300+ pages. It's a mystery about a Jack The Ripper-ish murder spree that took place in NYC in the 1880s. And which was investigated by Teddy Roosevelt, Liz Smith, and police chief Caleb Spencer. Also appearing are robots, cultists, a tribe of feral children, Yoko Ono... there's a lot going on. And obviously it is parodying the Caleb Carr/DaVinci Code style of historical fiction. It did make me laugh, but if it was 100 pages shorter it would have been a lot better.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely did a comic called WE3. The Post reviewed it a while back (it's about halfway down the page) and then when I saw it on the rack, I picked it up, because what the heck. It's sort of like The Incredible Journey, if the animals were heavily armed cyborgs. That's Morrison for you. But in addition to the ultraviolence, it's surprisingly touching without being at all sentimental. I mean, the animals are very clearly animals, who don't understand their situation, but are very good at blowing things up. They talk, but in fragments that are mostly focused on immediate goals (the cat is particularly funny, since half of its dialogue consists of saying that various things stink). And when the dog described itself as a "bad dog," I laughed for a second and then broke down. Which was not the reaction I expected to have going in. But, um, the doggie was so sad. Shut up.

I watched Casino Royale the other night. Because Ellis told me to, and he's the Internet Jesus. Well, he didn't so much tell me to as mention it. But I can read between the lines. Anyway. It's a 1960s parody of James Bond with David Niven, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, John Huston, Urusula Andress, Peter Sellers, William Holden... The point is: it's weird and incoherent and a mess. But there are funny parts. Notably the Peter O'Toole cameo. And I liked the whole section in Germany, especially the fact that the sets suddenly went expressionist. It almost made up for the extraordinarily long and unfunny Scotland part. So, yeah, it's not good, and you might want to fast-forward through some scenes, but it's kind of fun in its own messy way.

For the holidays I watched the League of Gentlemen's Christmas Special. Which is, naturally, a take-off on horror anthologies like Creepshow, Night Gallery, etc. So it's quite festive, and a lot of people die. I think it would make sense if you've never watched the show, but it's hard for me to judge. It I guess it means more to learn the dreadful origin of Dr. Chinnery's veterinary curse if you've seen it in action on the show. Also, I am officially a sucker for Eyes Wide Shut gags.

Here's some stuff you can check out for free without even going to a library:

• Segments of Penn Jillette's radio show are available via iTunes or straight from Free FM's horrible, typo-infested site. Not that I don't make typos, but presumably they paid someone for that, right? Anyway, I've only heard it a couple of times during the day, but the clips are pretty entertaining.

• Oddness from Sunday's Post: did you know Target has a crime lab? That helps the FBI? It's kind of on the borderline between creepy and neat. I'm sure the libertarians will love it.

• The first issue of Fell is online for your perusal. Completely legitimately. The first one's always free.

• Joey Comeau, of A Softer World fame, wrote a hilarious book called Lockpick Pornography. I know this bit is in the blurb, but it's too funny not to quote: "I feel better than I have in days. I want to make bumper stickers for politicians and gay rights advocates. They'll read "My other pro-tolerance message is also condescending."' You can read most of it online, and then if you like it, you can buy a copy containing a bonus chapter. It's just wonderful.

• And there's Jacob's Quite Enough Antartica, which, I'll be honest with you, I haven't finished. I waited till there was quite a lot of it online, but it wasn't done, and one night I had nothing to read so I thought I'd start, read a couple of chapters, and go to bed. I was up till all hours, read every bit there was, and then was sad. Now it's all done (or at least, a draft is) but I'm saving it for when I'm on a long plane trip in a couple of weeks. Go read it now, before some publisher snaps it up, gives Jacob the standard rich & famous contract, and he stops returning my calls.