Well, at last I have my summer song. Seems to be one every year and Elbow's "Grounds For Divorce" is the latest in a long line. SELDOM SEEN KID is a good, not great album, some nice hooks and the production and arrangements are first class in every sense. Not quite as charged and sonically vibrant as ASLEEP IN THE BACK but a solid effort from Elbow nonetheless. Check out some of their videos and live performances on YouTube and, more than that, download and read their lyrics. You'll be impressed by the intelligence and range of this group.

Richard E. Grant's film diaries bring to mind the funny, barbed wit of the great Stephen Fry. Mr. Grant is a keen observer of the film biz and, to his great delight and good fortune, has managed to work with some of the industry's giants, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman. But, of course, as a fan of "Withnail & I" (the greatest comedy of all time in this reviewer's opinion), I was most interested in the day to day shenanigans that accompanied the making of that peerless film. Mr. Grant doesn't disappoint and provides us with closeup views of his fellow lead, Paul McGann, as well as writer-director Bruce Robinson. Grant's magnificent performance stole the show but what makes his efforts doubly impressive was that he suffered a personal tragedy while the movie was in its initial stages, he and his wife enduring the heartbreaking miscarriage of their first child.

Literate, sharp-toothed and funny, these film diaries only whet the appetite for MORE Grant. After reading WITH NAILS you'll want to grab a copy of his autobiographical film "Wah Wah", which deals with his formative years, growing up in southern Africa. Don't miss it...

Alan Weisman's THE WORLD WITHOUT US is a sobering look at a possible future, where humans are no longer part of the equation but the Earth, as they say, abides. The book brings to mind those apocalyptic, end-of-the-world stories science fiction authors like to scare us with...but Mr. Weisman's approach to the subject is down to earth, the tone of matter-of-factness he employs throughout is downright chilling at times. A terrific companion piece to the book is a wonderful documentary put together by the History Channel called "Life After People". [...]

While THE GOLDEN THREAD, University of Toronto professor Bruce Meyer's previous book, was a general overview of some of the seminal works of the western canon, HEROES examines the role of heroes in great works of literature. His subjects range from Jesus to Dante and Meyer contends there are commonalities between everyone who seeks to transcend human experience and attain insights into the great Mysteries that have perplexed humanity throughout the ages. Heroes remind us that we all carry the seeds of greatness within us and they give us ideals and attitudes we can strive to emulate, examples to live and die by. Dr. Meyer concludes: "Perhaps what resides at the heart of the highest definition of the hero is the notion of divinity, the idea that something greater than ourselves can create from darkness a guiding and redeeming light." Bravo!