Has Mat Brewster stayed too long at the Book Fair? Balzac! (Or, if you time your Pavlovian "salivation mode" just right, $5 a bag o' Balzac!). But what the Dickens — though it may have been the worst of times when it came to that particular subject — Mat brought us along for the best of times in his marathon mad dash for bargains galore that, if they didn't end up on book shelves back home, "still lie on the table, the tops of shelves, and on the floor..." Sounds about right.

TV/FILM

From TV Editor Jackie:

Diane Kristine has made up her mind. She chose her Worthy Few of the Fall TV Lineup. Now, my own tastes radically differ from hers. However, I found her article and reasoning behind her choices intriguing nonetheless.

Tony Figueroa likes Tina Fey. So do I. His review of 30 Rock describes the show as Dilbert meets backstage Saturday Night Live. He nailed it!

From TV Editor TV and Film Guy:

She sums it up, she breaks it down, and she tells us all what to TiVo. There's good, there's bad, there's ugly. Some of it is funny, much of it isn't. Whether any of that is purposeful is anyone's guess. Any which way you look at it there is a lot of TV out there. Leave it to Diane Kristine however to tell us all about the worthy few.

It's not airing in the United States yet, but Cptalbertwesker arrives back on the scene to tell us all about Torchwood, the Doctor Who spinoff series starring Captain Jack. We can only hope that he'll get us by tonight, and take us to our special island. Sure, Captain Jack could make us die tonight, but one little push and we'll be smiling.

From Film Editor Lisa McKay:

Pat Evans' review of Taxidermia, a Hungarian film currently rounding the film festival circuit, will either pique your curiosity or turn your stomach. Either way, an insightful and intriguing read.

CULTURE

From Culture Editor Diana Hartman:

Although titled for a specific country, Donnie Marler no less conveys a very human, global experience. Those of us who made it to adulthood are often greeted by a different world than the one we enjoyed or endured as children. As we age, our awareness is expanded and what it comes to include is not always pretty and may even be uglier than we thought. The sentiment of I Miss My America is written by an adult but deftly reflects the child who finds himself haunted by a once limited perspective.