Recommendations

Book: The River Why by David James Duncan

Tea: Earl Grey with Lavendar

Mini-series: Tin Man --all six hours will rebroadcast on the SciFi channel on Christmas Eve. I loved the 15 (!!) Oz books when I was a kid, and I've just started re-reading them. They are very easy, and an adult could read one in a couple hours. The Judy Garland version of the story took great liberties, and the books are a "whole nother" experience. The miniseries does not even attempt to be faithful to the story (book or film). It is "inspired" by the books, and the soundtrack references the music from the MGM film. It's most related to the miniseries/TV movie Return to Oz that came out 15-ish years ago. I especially like Tin Man because it has some of my favorite actors: Alan Cumming, Zooey Deschanel, Neal McDonough (He was so good in Boomtown!) and Richard Dreyfuss

Poem: Portrait of a Lady by T.S. Eliot

Album: Below the Branches by Kelley Stoltz-- I recommend this album for its quality, but the fact that Mr. Stoltz is a SF native makes me that much more excited about him. My brother criticizes this album for being a collection of unrelated songs, rather than a true album, but I really enjoy it nonetheless. And my brother is a "purist" [read: snob] when it comes to albums. He buys vinyl, rather than digital. Yeesh.