friday5 for January 22, 2016
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The Friday5 is back and ready to take on 2016 with five little diversions to ease you into the weekend!
1. Okay, so this first bit of news is not the happiest to kick things off with, but I feel like I need to at least mention the very tragic recent passings of both David Bowie and Alan Rickman, both at 69, both of cancer. I know there's been a tremendous outpouring of grief, and some truly wonderful tributes, but I want to just take a moment to share something that, to me, somehow pays homage to both of them at once. Bear with me here, cause this may not entirely make sense, but in my head it does. Alan Rickman has always reminded me of Trent Reznor (and vice versa--and no, I'm not the only person who thinks so). So when I think about Rickman, and I think about Bowie, I think about the Trent Reznor remix of Heart's Filthy Lesson, which I used to own on cassette. I realize that doesn't make much sense, but...to me it does. So I'm sharing it here with you today, to kick off the newly resurrected Friday5 and to say goodbye to two legends (even though one of them isn't Trent Reznor).
2. In "unfortunate" news of a different sort, Neil Patrick Harris has been cast as Count Olaf in Netflix's reboot of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I think this is a fantastic choice, and while I was one of the (few?) fans of the books who actually enjoyed the original film staring Jim Carrey as the deviously negligent Count, I think NPH will kill it, as he kills pretty much anything he takes on. Allow me to draw a comparison, in case you're not convinced:
3. 10 Cloverfield Lane is coming in March 2016? Wait, is that a typo? What are we even talking about? There's going to be a sequel to Cloverfield?!? Yes, yes there is. Sort of. The jury still seems to be out as to whether or not it's a proper sequel, but it's coming in just two months time, so get ready. J.J. Abrams. You sneaky guy.
4. I feel like I could have just repeated this news item five times and called it a day. That's how excited I am that after many years, The X-Files returns to our lives on Sunday, with the first of six brand new episodes. Seriously, if I were any more excited, I'd literally explode. LITERALLY. So it's probably a good thing I'm not more excited. But seriously, I can't explain what a big part of my youth this show was--let's just say it will probably be mentioned, at least in passing, on this blog for years to come. Here's to six more episodes of one of the greatest shows to ever air on TV. May they not be the last we see of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully!
5. Noteworthy New YA of the Week: WE ARE THE ANTS by Shaun David Hutchinson
From the author to watch ("Kirkus Reviews") of "The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley "comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving.
Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button.
Only he isn t sure he wants to.
After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend's suicide last year.
Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.
But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it or let the world and his pain be destroyed forever.
-Courtesy of Indiebound
