Everywhere you turn this time of year you find a Top 10 list or a Best of ... list or some such ranking of someone’s favorite this or that. Guess what? Here’s mine!

My at-a-glance calendar is filled with work deadlines, personal appointments, trip plans and notations for this and that. I also try to write down the movies I see in the theater or those I rent. This year, I’m sad to say, I did not see as many movies as I have in the past. (Or maybe I just forgot to write a bunch down?) Anyway, here are my favorites, in the order they appeared in my calendar:

Juno : Starring Ellen Page and Michael Cera, this bittersweet comedy was nominated for four Oscars, and won for Best Writing/Original Screenplay. While it’s rated PG-13, the movie carries some strong, adult themes and a heavy message. I liked the performances, and the writing is excellent. I’m just not sure I could watch it again.

 Vantage Point : Using one of the most unique methods of storytelling I’ve seen in a long time, this movie carries a tag line that says it all: “8 Strangers. 8 Points of View. 1 Truth.” The same 15 minutes or so are repeated six times from different people’s perspectives. Your patience will be rewarded, trust me. I found Vantage Point to be innovative, refreshing, thrilling and a joy to watch. Some great performances by Dennis Quaid, Saïd Taghmaoui, Sigourney Weaver, Eduardo Noriega and Matthew Fox. This one has already been added to the DVD collection.

Young@Heart : What a wonderful movie! A documentary, Young@Heart follows the Northampton, Massachusetts, chorus of the same name. It’s an unusual music group, comprised of singers whose average age is 81, and they cover rock music, such as the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated,” Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia” and “James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).” Some heartbreaking turns happen in the life of this chorus (it’s been in existence for 25 years), so have a tissue box handy. I’ll probably add this to the collection one of these days.   Check out the chorus's website.

The Visitor : This quiet character study is another wonderful, heartbreaking film. Starring the underrated (and underappreciated) Richard Jenkins as a sad professor, The Visitor gives us a view into a lonely existence and how a chance encounter can change everything. The tag line for the film, “In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life,” gives us hope, while the film’s outcome demonstrates how sad the world can be. Another future addition to my collection.

WALL-E : Rent this one, now! Left behind on a garbage-filled Earth, the robotic WALL-E displays an enviable work ethic and capacity for love. You’ll fall in love with the animated environmental engineer, and you’ll laugh, cry and cheer for WALL-E, the love of his life, Eve, and for the entire human race. It’s also one of the most gorgeous animated films you’ll see. OK, I’m going shopping for this DVD this weekend.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army : Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love Red and his band of misfits. In The Golden Army, Hellboy and Co. are showcased in an action-filled sight fest, including Red scampering over rooftops, as he holds a tiny tot in his tail during a major fight with a forest god, and a visit to a bazaar filled with bizarre characters who make Hellboy look ordinary. I already own the first Hellboy; this one will follow.

Mamma Mia! : Just plain fun, Mamma Mia! is filled with ABBA tunes, great choreography, gorgeous cinematography and a light-hearted storyline. While there are obvious flaws (a few moments of cover-my-eyes embarrassment), this film kept me smiling the entire time, and that’s a plus in my book. My colleague Jenn says her parents love this film – check out the ABBA video on her latest blog post, then rent Mamma Mia! You won’t regret it. And yes, I'll undoubtedly sneak out of the video store with this one; it's a guilty pleasure for sure!

The Dark Knight : Dark, action and angst filled, The Dark Knight is a worthy successor to Batman Begins. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman reprise their roles, with the addition of Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal to make this film an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Of course, it will join Batman Begins in my collection, no doubt about it.

Swing Vote : Kevin Costner keeps getting better as an actor. In this comedy/drama, he portrays everyman Bud Johnson, struggling to make ends meet, and more, and to raise his precocious daughter Molly. If often seems as if Molly is the parent, though, and when Bud’s promise to vote in the presidential election goes unfulfilled, Molly takes matters in her own hands. The people who needed to see this movie about civic responsibility probably passed it by; for the rest of us, it’s in turn funny and frustrating. Definitely worth the rental; I may add it to the collection eventually.

Traitor : Starring Don Cheadle, Traitor examines the gray areas of today’s world, and proves once again that we can no longer look at events or our world in black and white (The Visitor visits this theme, as well). It also offers another wonderful performance by Saïd Taghmaoui (Vantage Point). Parts of this movie are difficult to watch, so I’m not sure I’ll add it to the DVD collection.

Bolt : Another animated delight, Bolt showcases the voice talents of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton. Super-dog Bolt lives a life of danger, at least while the cameras are rolling. Believing his role as a TV star is real, the canine finds himself out in the real world and all the adventure it offers, and all he wants is to get home to his human, Penny. It had me laughing so hard, I cried, and then I cried for real, so I’ll add it to the collection as soon as I can.

Australia : The critics have not been kind to Baz Luhrmann’s epic tale of his land down under, but I adore this visually stunning, action-packed love story starring Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and delightful newcomer Brandon Walters. Filled with images of a country I know little about, Australia also has a heart-wrenching story I’m still thinking about. This one will take a few viewings, so it will find its way into my collection.
 

Seven Pounds : The latest offering from Will Smith left me stunned and bit depressed, and it’s such an interesting film, I had to include it. Difficult to watch, Seven Pounds can be a confusing and chaotic mess, while it’s also a roller coaster ride of a man crippled by emotion and trying to make his life count for something. Wonderful performances by Smith and Rosario Dawson bring this film into sharp focus, and somehow make the chaos worth the ride. I’ll consider adding it to the collection, although I’m a bit leery of watching it again.

So that’s my two-cents worth on the movies of 2008. What films would you recommend I add to my to-rent list?

’Tis the night before Christmas, and guess what? I’m not ready!

No surprise there. I often leave my holiday tasks until the last minute. This past weekend, I finally purchased presents for my nieces and nephews, and I finally finished the cards. Actually, to be honest, I started and finished the cards. Every year, I promise myself I’m going to get that task done earlier. This year, I put together the list and the labels the second week of December. But did I start the cards? Nope.

Christmas cards are a point of pride, I guess. I’ve lived in a lot of different places, working different jobs, and when I move on, I don’t promise to keep in touch. I do figure I’ll send a Christmas card, though. I change the list every year, so there are people on my list who weren’t a few years back, and people on lists from years past who are no longer there, for whatever reason.

I also am fairly particular about my cards. They must include a dove. Simple as that. The card must have a dove.

You can see some of my choices here. This one is my favorite; I just purchased two boxes, although I sent cards with this design several years ago. It’s a Picasso, and the inside says, “May the spirit of the holiday bring you peace and joy. Merry Christmas.” Nice and simple.

Red with desert buildings, this card has been in my Christmas sack for a while. I must have purchased a lot of boxes that year, or my list was fairly short. Inside, it says “Celebrate this joyous season on the wings of peace. Merry Christmas.” I particularly like “on wings of peace.”

The words “peace,” “joy” and “love” are repeated inside this oldie but goodie. “Peace, love & joy – may these be your gifts this Christmas. Merry Christmas.” 

Small cards work, too, as long as the dove is present. The blue background card is another favorite, with its simple sentiment, “Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season.”

And the other new one in my card collection, while not as colorful, is just as great in its simplicity: “Joy and Peace To You This Holiday Season.”

So now that the cards are in the mail, and the presents are wrapped and safely under trees, I’d like to take this opportunity to say “Happy Holidays!” and may your 2009 be filled with peace, joy and love.

Merry Christmas!

It’s a delight to discover a new series of books, filled with great characters, believable, taut and challenging plots, satisfying conclusions, and, of course, the promise of more to come.

This fall, I discovered a new-to-me author and his first series. The first book, The Blue Edge of Midnight, was an Edgar Award winner for new author Jonathon King. I quickly finished it and the second in the series, A Visible Darkness. Then I moved on to other authors, all the while wishing I’d run out to get the next Max Freeman book.

A November trip to my local bookstore garnered the next two titles, Shadow Men and A Killing Night. They didn’t last long after I returned home; I devoured them in short order, and now the fifth in the series awaits me, Acts of Nature.

My favorite genre is the mystery, and among the many facets of the genre, the police procedural has always captured my attention. From Dell Shannon to Ed McBain, from John Sandford to Michael Connelly, from Kay Hooper to Laurie King, the cop on the job is a fascinating character.

That also goes for the private investigator on the case. Sue Grafton, Dianne Day, Laurie King, Janet Evanovich, Dennis Lehane, all feature investigators who don’t wear a uniform. And Jonathon King’s Max Freeman has rapidly become one of my favorite P.I.s.

A former cop, Max moves from the streets of Philadelphia to the marshes of Florida to escape his past. He lives secluded in a shack deep in the Everglades, using a canoe to come out for supplies and to visit his friend and attorney, Billy Manchester, another Philly-born transplant. The two men have built on the friendship begun by their mothers back in Philly: Max’s mom the wife of a cop, Billy’s a domestic.

Written in the first person, the Max Freeman books take you into his mind, following the action and logic of this born-to-investigate sleuth. It’s a fascinating trip, from cover to cover, through Max’s mind and the cases he is drawn into.

In the first book, Max’s past comes back to haunt him, thrusting the still hurting ex-cop into the thick of an investigation surrounding missing and murdered children. Max lives to fight another day, with a lot of help from his friends, old and new.

In A Visible Darkness, Billy asks Max to help investigate the deaths of well-respected, entrepreneurial women who are the backbone of the black community in Miami. Billy believes the seemingly natural deaths of the matriarchs are anything but, and as Max discovers, death comes in all guises.

Billy convinces Max to take yet another case in Shadow Men, after a young man hires the attorney to look into the deaths of a grandfather and two uncles working on the first road built through the Florida Everglades. Letters sent to the young man’s grandmother back in the 1920s lead Max and Billy into a decades-old crime with present-day consequences.

Another friend is the catalyst for A Killing Night, and Max must discover whether another ex-cop – a man who saved Max’s life on a Philadelphia night – is responsible for a string of murders of pretty bartenders.

From near the beginning of A Visible Darkness, I could tell Max wasn’t finished with being a cop, and I figured a P.I.’s license was in his future. That proves true in A Killing Night as Max goes to work for Billy as a full-time investigator. The job takes him away from his beloved river and isolated shack, while it opens up new avenues for Max.

I’m looking forward to Acts of Nature, and I may also pick up King’s standalone novel, Eye of Vengeance with its main character, a crime reporter as caught up in personal tragedy as he is in his work.

What new authors are now gracing your shelves? Any suggestions for this mystery buff?

When I started with GRIT back in 1997, one of my first assignments was the Recipe Box department. A venerable feature of the magazine, Recipe Box was designed to answer questions such as “My grandmother used to make a delicious pie/cake/meatloaf/etc., and I don’t have the recipe. Can someone help?”

And we try our best to help. The requests are published in the Help Wanted box usually found at the end of each issue’s Recipe Box article. You’ll notice we only publish a person’s name and city, asking responders to send their recipes to the GRIT office in Topeka. That’s so we can publish the responses. (If the recipes were sent directly to the requestor, we wouldn’t have a Recipe Box.)

We collect all the recipes in a file folder (located to the right of my desk), and right now, I’ve stuffed more than 60 folders into three plastic bins. A lot of recipes, to say the least.

Our process begins with a request from you. For instance, in our January/February 2009 issue, we published this in Help Wanted: “Nera Johnson, Berryton, Kansas, would like a recipe for squash pie. Her mother used to make the pie using a white-and-green-striped, crook-neck squash called Kershaw. It was a lighter color and milder tasting than a pumpkin pie. Nera says her mother found the recipe in a magazine.”

Now, Nera sent in her request in May. The number of requests we receive make it difficult to publish items any sooner. The requests set to be published in the March/April 2009 issue were received in October 2008. We like to publish all the requests we can rather than ignoring some of them. This, of course, can be a double-edged sword.

Depending on how quickly responses appear in my inbox, it may be the end of the year or even an early issue in 2010 before a response to Nera’s request is actually printed in the magazine. When I pull the folder for Squash Pie, I will go through all the responses and select one or two recipes (depending on how close they match Nera’s request and how interesting the recipe sounds).

With 60-plus folders to deal with, including one for Nera’s request, it’s a time-consuming process. One thing to note, I do try to publish the requests, as well as the responses, in the order they were received. It’s a challenge, and sometimes the responses are published out of order, as I try to match up similar recipes or place them in some sort of a loose theme.

When we finally publish a response in Recipe Box, we hold the responses for a few more months, just in case any late responders send wayward recipes. Eventually, I send every response to the person who made the original request. So, Nera, you can look forward to a large envelope heading for your mailbox sometime in the future!

Wow, it takes longer than I’d realized. No wonder I have so many folders in those plastic bins!

We can’t really publish a recipe for every request. So, sometimes, a request goes unanswered or the responses don’t match the request. And we simply don’t have the space to publish all the recipes. But if we receive any responses, those are sent to the person who made the request, whether we publish them or not.

So please don’t stop sending in requests for recipes or responses to a particular request. We’re depending on you to fill the pages of Recipe Box.

If you answer a request, your recipe eventually will get to the person who made the request. It just takes a while. Thanks for making Recipe Box such a great feature of GRIT!

The inbox on my desk often holds a surprise or two. Recently, it contained a box of goodies from Muir Glen Organic and Cascadian Farm Organic. And were those goodies delicious!

From Muir Glen, there was a can of Chicken Tortilla soup and a jar of Italian Sausage with Peppers pasta sauce. The soup quickly disappeared during lunch that day, and I’m not sure, but I think I was humming “yum” under my breath the entire time. It contains small chunks of green pepper and onion, along with black beans, floating in a creamy and spicy soup. The spices were subtle at the first bite, growing to a delightful bite after a few spoonfuls. I enjoy spicy food, and this was a wonderful experience. A delicious soup, to say the least, and one I’ll be looking for on the shelves of my local market. Visit the website for other products.

The pasta sauce contains tomatoes and organic pork seasoned with sea salt, brown sugar, rosemary and spices. The flavor is further enhanced with onion, garlic, fennel, sweet basil and oregano. I used it over spinach and tomato rotini pasta, enjoying the zesty flavor. There’s just a bit left in the jar. Hmmmm, I think I know what I’m having for dinner tonight!

From Cascadian Farm came a box of Sweet & Salty Peanut Pretzel Chewy Granola Bars and a box of Dark Chocolate Almond Granola.

The granola bars were shared with the others on the Grit staff, and we all enjoyed them. The box calls them “chewy organic granola bars with peanuts and pretzels dipped in rich chocolate flavored coating.” The box emptied quickly. The bars were yummy, nice and chewy, with that great salt and chocolate combination.

I took the cereal home – didn’t want to share any dark chocolate goodness! It was another box that emptied quickly. While I didn’t taste too much chocolate (I’m not sure I really want my granola cereal to be that sweet, although I am more than a little enamored with the thought of chocolate for breakfast!), I did taste the almonds and the granola. It was an excellent combination, and with a spot of soy milk, made for an excellent breakfast.

We’ve received other items from Cascadian Farm, and I’ve enjoyed every item from their shelves. Great additions to the family pantry. Check out other products on the company’s website.

Another recent surprise in my inbox was from LightWedge Products. A catalog was accompanied by an original LightWedge in Ocean, the perfect color for me! The original LightWedge fits hardcover books and trade paperbacks.

Now, I’ve been thinking about purchasing a LightWedge for quite some time, and I couldn’t have asked for a better surprise. I’ve always wondered if the product would actually work for me, because I’m extremely nearsighted, and I prefer a high light level in which to read.

The original LightWedge fits well over a page, and even over two pages of a paperback, and it’s lightweight with an easy to reach and use light switch. While it works well in dark situations, it’s not quite enough light for my nearsighted self. The company, however, makes a few products for those of us with low vision, including a couple of lighted magnifiers I will have to check out.

A number of attachable lights are included in the catalog, from Great Point Light, all of interesting design and in nifty colors. A few are designed for youngsters with baseball or soccer ball bases and great colors. There’s even a Harry Potter LUMOS Book Light, an original LightWedge with Harry Potter graphics and replaceable switch covers.

I would recommend a visit to the LightWedge website or call toll-free 877-777-9334 for a catalog.

Another great book gadget I recently discovered didn’t come in the mail. I found them at my local independent bookstore, The Raven. The round container of Book Darts has revolutionized my reading time.

The back label says, “Book Darts (book dartz), n. 1. a bookmark for exactly where you stopped. 2. a linemarker for discoveries you want to find easily. Achivally correct. A safe alternative to paperclips, underlining and highlighting. Will not stain.”

I love bookmarks and even collect them. I also carry a book in my purse or bag at all times, and those bookmarks often fall out and get lost. With a single Book Dart, I no longer worry about losing my place or my bookmark. The small bronze arrow fits over a single page, marking my place or even a quote I want to use for a future blog. The container holds 50 of the little darlings.

Check with your local bookstore, visit the website or call 800-366-2230. A delightful find for any bookworm!

I wonder what tomorrow’s mail will bring?