The Social Network – Learning Turkey

Skin – Ben Mezrich

For those of you who don’t remember, The X-Files was a popular television show at the end of the 20th century. This novel, released in 1999, doesn’t necessarily fit in to any particular time frame in the series run other than having both Mulder and Scully, which would place it somewhere in the first 7 seasons. The author, Ben Mezrich, is best known for his non-fiction work, which has been adapted into the movies 21 and The Social Network.

When a mysterious disorder causes an ordinary professor to exhibit extreme feats of strength, Mulder and Scully get pulled in to a mystery that leads them from the streets of New York to the jungles of Thailand in order to find the answers they are looking for.

It looks like this was the one X-Files novel that I had not read during the shows original run, other than the movie novelizations, so this was a one time journey back into the world of the FBI’s premiere team for strange and unusual occurrences.

Like last year, I’m going to take a look back at the movies I saw during the previous year. When not working, watching too much TV, going to baseball games, or reading, I managed to watch 131 new movies last year.

Natalie Portman starred in 4 films I saw for the yearly lead, with Leonardo DiCaprio coming in second with 3.

For fun, here’s a quick review of the first 50 films I saw last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. They are listed in the order I saw them.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
2 vacationing American girls fall in love with the same Spanish painter.

Night At the Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian (2009)
I never saw the first one, but Amy Adams was enough of a draw to give this one a chance.

Splice (2010)
An entertaining look at what happens when scientists worry more about what they can do instead of what they should do.

The Kids Are All Right (2010)
The children of two lesbians go searching for their father. My first exposure to Mia Wasikowska, who I think has a chance to be really good.

Bandslam (2009)
A kid obsessed with music lies about his father in order to fit in.

All Good Things (2010)
Ryan Gosling kills Kirsten Dunst, and then dresses up in womens clothing.

Frozen (2010)
A very engaging tale of three friends stuck on a ski lift for a week.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Tom Hanks goes looking for Leonardo DiCaprio.

Inception (2010)
Leonardo DiCaprio (him again?) looks for secrets in other people’s dreams while avoiding his own.

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