If you want to sleep at night, DO NOT read Michael Lewis’s latest expose of the world financial system, Boomerang. Lewis starts in Iceland and shows how fisherman gave up their boats to be investment banks in the go-go years of 2003-2008. But, then the bottom dropped out and Iceland’s banks were ruined. Lewis travels to Greece and discovers a culture of corruption (no one pays their taxes). Default is inevitable. And when that happens, the Euro Zone will be dragged into a vortex of debt. Lewis stops off in Ireland to discover how a country famous for its poverty became rich on real estate only to be plunged back into poverty. The only country in Europe that’s solvent is Germany. Lewis explores the factors that keep them wealthy and why they’ll stop lending to the debt-strapped countries in the European Union soon. Then, the euro will unravel.

Finally, Lewis visits California (everything happens in California first) and finds California spends more money on prisons than schools. The same financial dysfunction Lewis found in Iceland, Greece, and Ireland appears to be growing in California–and by extension, all the United States. Buy guns, ammo, and canned goods! GRADE: A

Taylor Swift has sold more CDs in the past year than anybody. Her appeal continues to grow. Taylor Swift concerts sell out quickly. Clearly, this young woman is part of a music phenomenon. My favorite Taylor Swift DVD is the one she did with Def Leppard a year ago. But this new DVD captures the excitement of Taylor Swift’s latest tour. She sings a mix of her older hits and songs from her latest CD, Fearless. The bonus material gives you a look at how Taylor Swift evolved from a kid with a guitar into a media mogul. Lady Gaga gets more press, but Taylor Swift is doing more business. GRADE: B+

If you’re a fan of soul music, you’ll enjoy Mayer Hawthorne’s new CD, How Do You Do. Put the Chi-Lites and Curtis Mayfield in a blender and the result will sound like Mayer’s songs. I enjoyed Mayer Hawthorne’s first CD, A Strange Arrangement, but this new CD is even better. If you need a fix of contemporary soul music (that sounds like it came from the Sixties) listen to Mayer Hawthorne. Check out the video below.

The Gentlemen’s Hour is the sequel to Don Winslow’s The Dawn Patrol (which I reviewed in yesterday’s posting). Surfer Private Eye, Boone Daniels, gets involved in a murder investigation of a local surfer and an intricate real estate conspiracy. I liked The Gentlemen’s Hour better than The Dawn Patrol because Boone’s involvement in the murder investigation alienates him from his surfer friends and he’s forced to work on his own. Don Winslow ties things up a little too neatly at the end, but once again the result is a satisfying read. For another review of The Gentlemen’s Hour check out Scott Parker’s posting here. GRADE: B+

I pronounced the Private Eye novel dead back in the 1990s. Yet vestiges of the genre still stagger around like zombies here in the 21st Century. Don Winslow’s The Dawn Patrol features Boone Daniels, legendary surfer, who sometimes works as a private investigator to earn the money that allows him to surf almost all the time off the coast of San Diego. Boone finds himself investigating the murder of a stripper. The murder leads to subplots involving arson and human trafficking from Mexico. At times while reading The Dawn Patrol I felt like I was reading a Doc Savage clone. Doc Savage had the “Fabulous Five” helping him out, Boone has his talented buddies in “The Dawn Patrol” helping out in his investigations. Winslow is a little too facile with the storyline, but the result is satisfying. GRADE: B

Once again, Planet Stories has published a great omnibus volume of Robert Silverberg’s work. The three works in this latest volume, The Planet Killers, features three of Silverberg’s short novels published as halves of ACE Doubles. The Plot Against Earth was published in 1959 (with Milton Lesser’s Recruit for Andromeda on the other side). The Planet Killers was published later in 1959 (with Poul Anderson’s We Claim These Stars! on the other side). One of Our Asteriods is Missing was published in 1964 (with A. E. Van Vogt’s The Twisted Men on the other side). Needless to say, the first two short novels are very pulpy. Silverberg was learning his craft. You’ll see a difference (and more maturity) in Silverberg’s One of Our Asteroids is Missing. A sign of things to come. If you’re a fan of Robert Silverberg, you’ll love this volume and Silverberg’s informative introduction. If you’re curious about Silverberg’s early career, The Planet Killers is the perfect place to start.

American Horror Story is creepy, but it isn’t scary. A dysfunctional family moves into a haunted house in Los Angles. Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott), a psychiatrist whose wife caught him in bed with one of his students, thinks moving his family to his new home will provide a New Start. Harmon’s wife, Vivian (Connie Britton), is dealing with her husband’s infidelity and a miscarriage. Their daughter, Violet (Taissa Farmiga), has “issues” and is cutting herself with her father’s razor blades. Jessica Lange plays the creepy next door neighbor. The former owners of the haunted house died in a murder-suicide situation. The most intriguing character is the housekeeper, Moira. When Ben looks at her, she’s a young woman in a sexy French maid outfit (played by Alex Brenkenridge). Yet when Vivian and Violet see Moira, they see an elderly woman (Frances Conroy). None of these characters is sympathetic so it’s hard to work up much emotion when creepy things happen to them. I’ll watch a couple more episodes to see if the guys behind Nip/Tuck and Glee can entice me to stay with American Horror Story.

I’m probably the last person in North America to see The Lion King, The Musical. It’s been around since 1997. Diane, Patrick, and Katie saw a performance in Toronto about 10 years ago (I opted to go to The World’s Biggest Bookstore instead). But now The Lion King, The Musical arrives in Buffalo as part of our season ticket package at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. I saw the movie version back in 1994 so I thought a stage version would be superfluous. But Julie Taymor’s talent for spectacle turned it into a hit. Tonight we’ll see what the touring company presents. The Lion King, The Musical is here for a whole month so there must be a big market for this kind of production.

Shakespeare in Love finally made it to Blu-ray and after watching it, it’s just as good as I remembered. What an All-Star cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, and Imelda Staunton. Shakespeare in Love tells a fictional story of how Romeo and Juliet was written. Shakespeare, looking for a muse to help him write again, falls in love with Viola de Lesseps, daughter of a wealth merchant who plans to marry his daughter off to Lord Wessex (who needs the money). Viola disguises herself as a man and wins the role of Romeo. Of course, complications ensue. To really appreciate the subtleties of the screenplay, I bought and read Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s volume: Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay. Amazing! If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, this movie and its screenplay will give you joy.