The Good Stuff: Movie and Book Picks You Won't Want to Miss

By Jesse Kornbluth
Head Butler.com

I was 16 when I discovered Pico della Mirandola. It wasn't so much what this Renaissance thinker (1463-1494) wrote --- I never read a word of his --- as what he proposed to write: 900 essays that would cover all human knowledge. Seemed like a worthy goal. I set out to equal it.

Two years later, I staggered out of my high school library and into Harvard's library. It contained 6 million books --- there had been quite the explosion of knowledge in 500 years. I had to abandon my crazy quest. Good thing I did; since I graduated from college in 1968, The Culture Business has all but buried us in media.

I started HeadButler.com to cut through the clutter of New Stuff --- you know, the book "everyone" is reading (but you can't get to Page 2), music you must have (and won't play six months from now) and movies you must see (the star got $20 million, it has to be good). My love is the Good Stuff -- whether it's new or old. After all, what's a classic but a bestseller that people never stopped loving?

Like what? Well, I love thrillers --- and there's a Hitchcock that's rarely seen. Foreign Correspondent got six Academy Award nominations in 1941. It deserved them. An American reporter goes to Europe. Naturally, the good guy turns out to be the bad guy. Naturally, the correspondent falls in love with the good/bad guy's daughter. And, because it's Hitchcock, there are great suspense scenes that turn into terrific action sequences.

What book to read? Bill Bryson's hilarious and instructive A Walk in the Woods, about his mad feat: ambling the 2,100-mile length of the Appalachian Trail with Stephen Katz, a college buddy who had gone on to abuse alcohol and drugs (and is now sober, if not exactly tame). Bryson hasn't seen him in a decade. The last time he did, they fought. But what the heck --- Katz is willing to do it, even if he is seriously weight-challenged. So, laden with candy bars and brand-new camping equipment, they fly to Georgia and start walking. Good times follow --- for the reader, anyway.

See what I mean by Great Stuff? Hope you enjoy these. Like them? Hate them? Want to tell me about your favorites? Write me at HeadButlerNYC@AOL.com.

Jesse Kornbluth is a New York-based journalist and founder of Head Butler.com, a cultural concierge site and free daily e-mail featuring information on new and classic books, movies and music.