Friday's List: March Madness #1

In anticipation of National Library Week (April 12-April 18), the Library will be "hosting" its own March Madness contest, based on the college men's basketball tournament that begins March 19. We have selected 64 authors, in eight different areas or genres, to face off against one another, with the winner being "crowned" on Monday, April 13-- a kind of kickoff to National Library Week. The contest will last for five weeks, with the early round match-ups occurring March 9-14, March 16-March 21, March23-28 and March 30-April 4, and the final eight showdown occurring April 6-April 11. Here's what the Week One bracket will look like:
The winners will be picked by the library staff, but everyone who wants to participate can fill out there own bracket, one per week, and join the fun. The person with the most points each week will win a prize, and the person with the most points overall, will win the grand prize.

So, here are the list of 16 participants for Week One, along with a little "bio" to illustrate their merits for inclusion in the contest. The contestants are not ranked, and all have earned their way into the tournament on the basis of their writing ability, popularity and influence on the genre.

Mystery:

• Agatha Christie: The grand dame of mystery writers, and still one of the biggest selling authors of all time.
  
• P.D. James: One of the many writers that followed Christie's lead in the mid-20th century, James' work are often set against the backdrop of British bureaucracies.
  
• Mickey Spillane: Introduced the world to Mike Hammer, a hard-boiled detective living in a dangerous and gritty world.
  
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The creator of Sherlock Holmes, still the best-known detective in the world. He was also prolific in other literary fields.
  
• Sue Grafton: A prolific mystery writer, best known for her "alphabet novels" (A is For Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc.) which featured private detective Kinsey Millhone.
  
• Elmore Leonard: Leonard's works are best known for their grittiness and realism, and unlike the others on this list, he does not have one or two detectives that are featured in most of his works.
  
• Dorothy Sayers: A contemporary of Christie, Sayers' works most often featured Lord Peter Whimsey as the detective.
  
• Janet Evanovich: The creator of Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter and sleuth, Evanovich's work are often overlayed with elements of romance novels and thrillers.
  

Fantasy & Science Fiction:

• Isaac Asimov: He didn't invent science fiction, but he did bring the science portion of it to the forefront. And he was ridiculously prolific, with several hundred fiction and non-fiction books to his credit.
  
• Terry Pratchett: His works are funny, satirical, inventive and thought-provoking. He has a flair for language that few can rival.
  
• Ray Bradbury: Bradbury's works cross many genre-lines, science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, but they are universally well-written and reflective of the human soul. Good stuff, in short.
  
• J.R.R. Tolkien: He brought fantasy into the mainstream, made it legitimate. Along the way, he influenced hundreds of writers and thousands of readers for generations.
  
• Robert Heinlein: As with Asimov, Heinlein brought a lot of science to his science fiction, but he was also an incredibly imaginative and prolific author.
  
• Kurt Vonnegut: Vonnegut's works are satirical, filled with black humor, and brilliant. And Kilgore Trout may be the best name for a protagonist ever.
  
• Orson Scott Card: His novel, Ender's Game, is considered one of the finest novels for young adults ever, and deservedly so. The rest of his writing is awfully fine, as well.
  
• H.G. Wells: The granddaddy of them all, he invented many of the themes we now take for granted in science fiction-- time travel, alien lifeforms and alien invasions, and the altering of mankind through science and medicine.
  

The week one contest brackets will be available on Monday, March 9.
Have a good weekend!

Friday's List: Belated

I actually had this ready to go Friday, but then wanted to just tweak it a little... and naturally forgot all about actually posting it. Until today, when I finally looked and it wasn't there. Doh! Sorry about that.

So, here is Friday's belated: Top Ten Underrated Actors

Undeniably subjective, but open to discussion-- just add your thoughts after clicking the little "0 comments" link at the bottom of this post. I saw Tombstone last week (yes, I know its over 10 years old, but I hadn't seen it before) and was fairly impressed with it-- quite a bit better than I expected. Part of the reason was Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday. He was excellent-- stealing the show from Kurt Russell's more reserved, pragmatic Wyatt Earp.

It occured to me that Mr. Kilmer has been excellent in everything I've seen him in-- though checking this filmography, I haven't seen the majority of his work. Still, I think he is under-appreciated as an actor. Started me thinking about other actors that are under-appreciated, and voila:

Top 10 Underrated Actors/Actresses

10. Cate Blanchett. Doesn't seem to get the same recognition of the Gwyneth Paltrow's of the world, but she is sublime in everything she does. She has a chameleon like nature and an ability to go from cold to warm to sexy in just a heartbeat.
9. Lee Marvin. Old school, bay-bee. Never got the same recognition as some of his contemporaries, but his work in The Dirty Dozen, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Paint Your Wagon is just fine, thank you (yes, even the singing). And he does comedy pretty well, too.
8. Clint Eastwood. Gets a lot of recognition for his directing, and deservedly so, but the man can act, too. Dirty Harry and the spaghetti westerns, sure, but his work in The Outlaw Jesse Wales, Honkytonk Man, Play Misty for Me and Two Mules for Sister Sarah is very very good. Far more wide ranging than most people know.
7. Harrison Ford. Certainly a known, A-List name, but doesn't really get enough credit for his actual acting. His work in Blade Runner is generally overlooked, as are his roles in Working Girl, Witness and Regarding Henry. And with Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Ford virtually defined the action hero for an entire generation. I personally believe part of the reason that the original Star Wars movies were so much better than the recent ones was because the cast was SO good they managed to not only overcome the mediocre to horrible writing, but to transcend it-- and Ford was linchpin of that talented bunch of actors.
6. Kevin Spacey. Gets quite a bit of press, but he's still underrated in my mind-- I would put him up there with the Deniros and Pacinos of his generation. His work in American Beauty, L.A. Confidential and The Usual Suspects was just superb. He's not quite as good in A Time To Kill and The Negotiator, but he does a great bad guy voice in A Bug's Life.
5. Vincent D'Onfrio. A bit annoying, at times, as the uber-genius cop in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, but he's got serious acting chops across a wide range of genres and much of his work on L&O: CI is riveting. Awesome performance as the "bug" in Men In Black.
4. Bill Murray. A comic genius, of course-- Ghostbusters, Caddy Shack, Stripes, Meatballs-- but also skilled with less over-the-top comic material and more serious fare. Scrooged, Groundhog Day, and Lost in Translation, for example.
3. Sigourney Weaver. Comic gold in Ghostbusters and Galaxy Quest and not your typical damsel in distress in Alien and Aliens. Also plays the bad guy well, ala the mean, merciless "warden" in Holes and everybody's favorite boss to hate in Working Girl.
2. Val Kilmer. Has done a bit of everything, and done it well. Comedy? Johnny Dangerously and Real Genius. Drama? The Doors and Tombstone. Action? Batman Forever and Tombstone.
1. Michael Keaton. Kinda got stereotyped with Mr. Mom, I think, but he ranged from Beetle Juice to Bruce Wayne with ease. Has a Tom Hanks like every man quality, but plays the bad guy as well as he does the good guy.

Now it is entirely possible that some, or all, of these actors have sucked out loud in the films I haven't seen, but in the ones I have seen they have been excellent, yet don't get critical acclaim for their acting. And I'm sure I've forgotten lots of folks, so feel free to add nominees in the comments.

Friday's List: Favorite Authors

Who doesn't like a Top Ten List? Nobody, that's who. If David Letterman has proven anything, it's that Top Ten Lists are a perrennial favorite. So, Friday will be the Library's Top Ten List day. And since it is a Library list, we'll start with authors.

These are folks that have written sufficient quantities of material that they are distinguished not only by the quality of their work, but also the quantity. Thus, Harper Lee is not included even though To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books.

A quick glance at the list will clearly indicate my inclination towards science fiction and fantasy novels, with a heavy dose of humor preferred... a bias begun very early in my life, and one which remains to this day. I am branching out into less genre specific authors, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and John Updike for example, but at this point they have won my respect and interest, but they have not topped my list for sheer reading enjoyment.

My Top Ten Favorite Authors:

10. Joseph J. Ellis. The one non-fiction author on my list, I find Ellis to be the best historian writing today. He makes his historical narration both fascinating and informative and he presents his subjects as he finds them, brilliance, warts and all.

9. J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are both brilliantly done, though the structure of TLotR is a bit odd by today's standards. He would likely be higher except that his output is smaller compared to others on this list and his other works, The Silmarillion for example, are a bit heavy and far less engaging. If you have a chance to visit the Marquette University Archives to view some of the original Tolkien manuscripts, it is well worth your time-- call ahead, though, they won't pull them out on a whim.

8. Dr. Seuss. Perhaps the best poet ever and certainly my favoirte. He makes verse fun and engaging, and the stories he tells are timeless and evocative. He has hooked thousands (millions?) of kids on the joys of reading and the power of words and images.

7. Douglas Adams. As with Tolkien, he would be higher on this list except that his notorious writer's block and untimely death limited his output of material. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a mind blowing experience for me and the Dirk Gently novels resonate more with each reading.

6. Orson Scott Card. Ten years ago he would have been higher on this list, but some of his recent works are too colored by his religious and political views for my liking. Regardless, the Ender series alone would likely get him into my top 10, and many of his other books are nearly as good.

5. Harlan Ellison. The short story maestro. In many ways a great short story is harder to write than a great novel but great short stories are all Ellison writes. His work is darker than my general inclination, but a little darkness from time to time is a good balance. For a real treat, find an audiobook of some of Ellison's stories that are read by Ellison himself-- he is also a terrific narrator. This biography by Isaac Asimov is a pretty good summary of the Ellison experience, I think.

4. Stephen King. A victim of his own success, in some ways-- King has written so much that the sheer volume of his work seems to naturally categorize him as prolific, but not all that good. Quantity over quality. Yet while there are some definite clunkers and dogs in his enormous bibliography, at the top of his form he is one of the best storytellers ever. His works frequently stay with me for days after I've finished them, popping up at odd times or in strange connections to other events and activities.

3. Ray Bradbury. Much like Ellison, Bradbury's specialty is the short story, though my favorite of his works is the novel Dandelion Wine. Bradbury is more gentle than Ellison, yet his work still has power and poignancy aplenty. For me, Bradbury's writings are a distillation of both the wonder and the harshness of childhood and growing up.

2. Stephen R. Donaldson. If there is a true heir to the Tolkien "throne" I would say that it must be Donaldson. His Thomas Covenant series takes the structure of The Lord of the Rings and transforms it into something greater and richer. His Gap books are some of the best science fiction stories I have ever read. Plus, he has an enormous vocabulary. I consider myself to have a pretty darn large vocabulary, but I am constantly running across words in Donaldson's books that I have to look up. So, his books are educational, too!

1. Terry Pratchett. Talented, ironic, prolific and an absolute hoot to read. Who could ask for anything more? Many of the phrases he turns make me laugh out loud, yet the heart of the story is usually warm and deeply considered. For a taste, read this transcript of a speech Pratchett recently made to the Alzheimer's Research Trust Foundation.