EJP's Comics Primer, Pt. 3: Watchmen, The Boys

Alan Moore's Watchmen
It's OK if you're not really into comics and never plan to be, but a good story is a good story, no matter what the format. Alan Moore is an incredible story teller, and he's either created or adapted some incredible characters over the past few decades (for some adapted characters, check out my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen post). Like Hellboy, Watchmen is about to become a little less obscure to the non-comic-reading populace thanks to the upcoming movie about which Clyde Squid just posted. But if you are a geek and/or consider yourself a well-read person, check out the comic first. You'll notice on the cover below that it's considered "One of Time Magazine's 100 best novels." That's not just graphic novels, that's all novels.In brief, the book is set in an America where "heroes" exist, but only one of them actually has super powers (the blue guy you see in the trailer). The rest of the heroes are vigilantes, who dress up and fight crime because they're crazy, rich and bored, crave the fame, or occasionally, are actually trying to mete out some justice. The comic's tagline, "Who watches the Watchmen?" really explains it all. Who places limits on these powerful people, or on the people who take power into their own hands in the name of justice? In the space of essentially 12 comic issues, Moore creates a complex world with its own history (and future). David Gibbons's art is also admirable, and I'll be interested to see how they carry it over into the film (which, supposedly, is sticking insanely close to the comic).

Any further explanation wouldn't do it credit. This one's really not to be missed.

Garth Ennis's The Boys
The Boys is essentially a Troma movie in comic book form. If you have no idea what a Troma movie is...you can probably stop reading this post now. I'm not being a snob--I'm trying to protect you. These comics, like most Troma movies, are packed with gratuitous sex, violence (oh the violence!), and some the foulest language I have ever seen in print. On the spectrum of high brow to low brow, with Watchmen being high brow, The Boys pretty much falls off the other end.

Good thing I can appreciate low brow stuff, too. The Boys is the answer to Moore's question, "Who watches the watchmen?" How to put this...Many years ago, when the first Spiderman movie came out, Jon Stewart gave this synopsis of the character on The Daily Show "Spiderman is the story of weakling who gains super powers, then uses them for good...for free." In that one statement, Stewart exposes the weak underbelly of nearly all superhero comics. Not to diminish Stan Lee's legacy, but everyone praises him for creating such human super heroes, but how human are they really? Sure, with great power lies great responsibility, but doesn't it seem unlikely that so many people with powers actually choose to accept that responsibility?

That's the problem in the world depicted in The Boys: the supes fight crime, but they don't want to live in a crappy apartment to do it. They're going to kill the bad guys, but they don't want to take responsibility for any collateral damage. And a lot of the supes, though nice on the outside, are rotten to the core on the inside. That's where The Boys come in. A group of five who for various reasons (many not divulged yet--this is a relatively new comic) hold grudges against the supes. They'll use blackmail, violence, and some more violence to make sure the super "heroes" are kept in check.

There are a lot of reasons not to read this comic. If you're thin-skinned or otherwise easily offended, don't even open the first page of the first TPB, "The Name of the Game". But here are the reasons to read it: it's laugh-out-loud funny, one of the characters is modeled after Simon Pegg (geek alert!), the writing by Garth Ennis is creative and entertaining, and the art by Darick Robertson is beautifully detailed down to the squishiest eyeball. Pick up the first TPB in your comic shop and glance through the first 10 pages. In those first 10 pages, you'll get a very good idea of whether you'll love it or hate it. So I won't wholeheartedly say "Check it out!", but I know at least some of you should give it a shot, you dirty #@%$ers.

New Watchmen Trailer

Cross-posted.

These Songs are Dead to Me

The radio station that the technicians I supervise listen to every day could be worse. It's not top 40, or sports radio. It actually plays some good songs, many of which I haven't heard in ages. Yet there are three songs that the station plays EVERY day, at least once a day, if not more. These are songs that I used to kind of like, or at least tolerate. But now, whenever one of these songs comes on, my ears start to bleed and my mind shuts down. These are the songs:

"Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve (which lasts for freaking ever)
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"Undone (The Sweater Song)" by Weezer

If you are my friend, please don't play these songs in my presence ever again. If you are one of my co-workers who happens to know about this blog, please don't advertise this post, and if you walk into my office to find me banging my head on the keyboard, now you know why.

Beast with a Billion Backs...Better!

After the first Futurama movie proved pretty disappointing, I wasn't getting my hopes up for the second in the series of four, The Beast with a Billion Backs. So I don't know if it's just because I had lower expectations, or if it's because it really was the better "movie", but I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

The plot revolves around the age old story: rift opens in our dimension, giant monster falls in love with and tries to mate with our entire universe, they break up but decide to continue dating...you get the picture. The first movie mucked about in time, whereas this movie mucks about in space. There is at least a bit more of a plot to this one, which was encouraging.

Each character gets about the same amount of face-time, too, which I enjoyed. Like the first movie, there are a lot of references to the TV show, but they weren't quite as distracting this time around. All in all, I found myself laughing and enjoying TBWABB a lot more. But full disclosure: Meine Frau hated it. I doubt I'll be able to get her to watch any of the other movies, and she loved the TV show.

Special features on the DVD are OK. There's a "lost adventure" cobbled together from a defunct video game, a brief featurette with the oft-amusing David Cross (who voices the titular Beast), and a little video of a few of the voice actors. Speaking of which, Billy West, who does most of the voices on Futurama, is quite a character. The Onion A.V. Club interviewed him recently and it's an entertaining look at a very underrated talent.

So I'd certainly recommend this movie for any Futurama fans, but I'd also suggest skipping the first movie and going straight to this one if that's still an option. Or, you could just kiss my shiny metal ass.

EJP's Top 10 Albums of 2008...So Far

Unbelievably, we're already halfway through 2008. I've been in a bit of a music buying/listening slump the last few months, mostly because my new job does not really lend itself to listening to music at work all that much. Also, April and May were kind of dry spells as far as new releases went, at least as far as I was concerned. But I still have a top 10 list and some honorable mentions, many of which I've already written about here (just links to the previous blog posts for those). These are kind of in a rough order of sorts:

10) Try Me Bicycle: Voicings
A very mellow album. Nice instrumentation...a little piano here, a little violin there, some classical guitar picking, all with just a hint of a catchy hook on a lot of songs. This is a relatively new one for me, but it's growing on me quickly. Give "Two Stern Feet" or "Big Small" a listen from the web site for a taste.

9) The Nobility: The Mezzanine

8) She & Him: Volume One
Discussed here.

7) Nerf Herder: IV
Discussed here.

6) The Kills: Midnight Boom
Several posts. Look here, here, and here.

5) Dodos: Visiter
Also several posts on this blog--see here, here, and here. Please note that as much as I like this album, I still liked their first album more. Get that one first.

4) The Black Keys: Attack & Release
There are enough drum/guitar duos out there now (see Dodos) that they could practically be their own genre at this point. But The Black Keys are really in a class of their own. Really, no white boys should be able to create and perform this type of bluesy rock fusion music so well. Attack & Release, which was produced by Danger Mouse, is a bit of a departure for the BKs, but not only did I tolerate it, I enjoyed it immensely. There are a few more instruments thrown in; it's a bit more rock-oriented. I definitely like it better than their last release, Magic Potion, and I think it's a close second behind Rubber Factory. I already know Evelyn Is Not Real is going to disagree with me on BK faves, but whatever.

3) Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Posts here and here.

1-tie) Thao and the Get Down Stay Down: We Brave Bee Stings and All
I posted about this album here back in April, and it's continued to grow on me ever since that first listen. It's rare that I get songs stuck in my head months after getting an album, but these songs are that catchy.

1-tie) Jim White: Transnormal Skiperoo
Discussed here and here. Still the most cathartic album I've heard in ages.

Honorable Mentions:
The Ditty Bops: Summer Rains
Headlights: Some Racing, Some Stopping (check out the video for their great song "Cherry Tulips" at the bottom of the post!)
Tilly and the Wall: o
Eef Barzelay: Lose Big
The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Pepe Ginsberg: Red

What Science Doesn't Do

This is funny.

So Pretty

New game: name that [very, very pretty] biological function.

Retro Review: Idiocracy

Mike Judge, the man who brought us Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, and Office Space, dropped the cult-classic-to-be Idiocracy about two years ago. Don't remember it being in the theaters? That's because I think the the movie was released in Omaha and Boise for about a week. This movie actually made some minor headlines in pop culture circles because it was probably one of the most poorly distributed films by a relatively well-known (and well-liked) writer/director in recent history.

Which is too bad, because more people should see this movie. I hesitate to call it a "film" because it's not that good. But it was highly entertaining. I laughed out loud several times, and even managed to pour water all over my crotch at one point from laughing...which is kind of ironic considering what I was watching. The story here is pretty simple. Luke Wilson plays Average Joe Army Man who's placed in suspended animation (along with a hooker, for some reason), and pretty much forgotten about for 500 years. When he finally wakes up, the human race has grown so incredibly stupid that they can barely speak in complete sentences and the Oscar winner for best picture of the year is a 90 minute video of someone's ass. Joe has become the smartest man in the world.

Yes, the movie is high concept and low brow, but it's pulled off with aplomb. If there's anything Luke Wilson is good at, it's playing an Every Man. If there's one thing Mike Judge knows how to write, it's stupidity. The people in this future are really, really, really dumb. If I had better taste, I might write this movie off as a very long skit of people doing stupid things, which may get tiring for a lot of people. But I also choose to see it as a biting social satire. I challenge anyone to see this movie and not worry just a tiny bit about how accurate it's portrayal of the future might be.

Below you'll see the clip that introduces the movie (lotsa NSFW language). This was the part of Idiocracy I'd actually seen before. You'll laugh, but you'll also feel a little sick, because you'll know, deep in your heart, that this is really what's happening in the world right now. Smart people: get screwin'.

The Fart Party

So this post could have gone into my ongoing comics primer, but I'm going to give Julia Wertz's The Fart Party special attention for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it's primarily a web comic. For another thing, it's super-especially awesome.

I have mixed feelings about web comics. There's so much crap out there, I tend not to even stick my toes in the web comic river for fear of contracting some fecal-born illness. But once in a while I'll risk it when I come across a Toothpaste for Dinner or an xkcd (I just realized that my favorite web comics are the least well-drawn...go figure). I now add The Fart Party to this list. Like PBF, I've purchased and read The Fart Party book, so I feel I can write about it on this blog.

This comic has little to nothing to do with farts or parties. It's basically an autobiographical look at Julia Wertz's life, with some exaggeration thrown in here and there. She's crude, often drunk, and shares a lot of interests with your average 12-year-old boy. She's basically a fanboy's dream girl, and since this site is pretty much by and for fanboys (and fangirls!), I figured I better let ya'll know about her.

Anyway, it's 5:24AM and I've already been up for over an hour due to The Bug, who will not be allowed to read The Fart Party until he is considerably older or until he finds it by himself on the internet. I secretly hope he does. He would do well to find a girlfriend this cool and honest and funny. But I digress...it's now 5:26AM and nothing I write will really do this comic justice, so just check it out. Wertz also has a blog I just found, and that's purty amusing, too. Please take a look and maybe throw this woman some money for a book at some point.

Example (I tried to find a comic without swear words, but it turned out to be too difficult):

Movie Reviews: Iron Man And Hulk

"I'm starving...Give me a scotch."

Iron Man is that good. Best super-hero movie to date, no question. Hulk is great but not as good, and should warrant a better sequel (think the first Superman).

Best...Music...Video...Ever...

I've tried to post the video, but you can't. So click here and enjoy.

Imma [sic] do the things that I wanna do
I ain't got a thing to prove to you
I'll eat my candy with the pork and beans
Excuse my manners if I make a scene
I ain't gonna wear the clothes that you like
I'm fine and dandy with the me inside
One look in the mirror and I'm tickled pink
I don't give a hoot about what you think

Hail Weezer!

Are We Sure Whedon Is Married To A Woman?

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

EJP's Comics Primer, Pt. 2: Hellboy, Y: The Last Man

Mike Mignola's Hellboy
OK, so Hellboy isn't all that obscure anymore thanks to the movies by Guillermo del Toro, but if you're only exposure to this character is through the movies, you're missing out. It's impossible to summarize the story of this comic without making it sound pretty out there: A demon baby is summoned from the netherworld by a secret group of Nazis during WWII. The plan goes awry and the demon baby (Hellboy) is raised by a US government group, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). Hellboy becomes the star agent for the Bureau, traveling the world, alone or with some equally freakish agents, hunting down monsters and ghosties of all kinds.

That summary really doesn't do the comic justice though. Though there are a lot of self-contained story arcs throughout the series (which is ongoing...sort of), there's also the broad arc of finding out just who Hellboy is. Is he the son of Satan? Is he destined to destroy the world, or to save it? And what's up with the big rock fist? Besides creating a lot of memorable characters of his own, Mignola draws deeply from history and folklore for other characters and stories in general. Rasputin and Baba Yaga make frequent appearances. H.P. Lovecraft is a major influence. I wouldn't call this a horror comic--it's pretty hard to classify, actually. There are aspects of horror, but also adventure, superhero, mystery, and occasionally, comedy. Think of the old Hammer films and you're getting close.

Besides the excellent writing, the art really sets Hellboy apart from any other comic I'll mention in this primer. Mignola very much created a style of his own. With a very limited color palette and a minimalist style, every panel of these comics speaks volumes. Mignola is a master of setting a mood and leaving a lot to the imagination. He often lets the art tell the story for him, sometimes going pages without a line of dialog. His style is instantly recognizable by anyone who's read the comics, and I never get tired of looking at it.

There are several TPBs out there collecting the last several years of Hellboy, starting with "Seed of Destruction." There are also a number of spin-offs, including BPRD and the more recent Abe Sapien. Though these spin-off series are entertaining, Hellboy--and most importantly the sense of humor Hellboy brings to his own stories--is sorely missed. Also, though the art in the spin-offs is quite good for the most part, it's not Mignola. Get hooked on Hellboy first, then see where that takes you.

Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man
In a fit of laziness here, I'm just going to let the good people at Vertigo (the branch of DC Comics that deals with a lot of non-superhero fare) explain the plot of this one:

"When a plague of unknown origin instantly kills every mammal with a Y chromosome, unemployed and unmotivated slacker Yorick Brown suddenly discovers that he is the only male left in a world inhabited solely by women. Accompanied by his mischievous monkey and the mysterious Agent 355, Yorick embarks on a transcontinental journey to find his girlfriend and discover why he is the last man on Earth. But with a gang of feminist extremists and the leader of the Israel Defense Forces hunting him, Yorick's future, as well as that of the human race, may be short-lived."

In the wrong hands, a premise like that could have been a disaster. Instead, Vaughan has created an entertaining comic that is in many ways a huge thought experiment. Usually when something like this scenario is presented in sci-fi, it devolves into some sort of male fantasy: "I'm the only man on earth! Every woman will want to sleep with me!" But Vaughan has really put some thought into what would happen if in this world if all the men died instantly and simultaneously. Planes (the majority of pilots are still male) drop out of the sky. Tractor trailer trucks and other cars instantly crash and shut down nearly every road. Most of the world's soldiers are gone (except for Israel's, of course). Most of the US governement: gone. Suddenly, every musical group comprised of male musicians will never produce a single note again. And this all comes up in the first TPB. Far from a sexual utopia, Yorick Brown's world quickly becomes a nightmare.

I'm only halfway through the series, which just wrapped up with its 10th and final TPB this past month. I can't say I like every single issue, but for the most part it's a compelling adventure story, and I'm definitely at the point of no return. I have to know what caused the plague, how Yorick survived, and what's going to happen to him. Though the art isn't as cutting edge as Hellboy, artists Pia Guerra and José Marzá, Jr are certainly competent. But I'm really into this comic for the writing, and Brian K. Vaughan is one of the best talents out there right now. I've already read his take on the Buffyverse in a recent Season 8 story arc, and once I'm done with Y: The Last Man, I'm sure I'll move onto one of his other series.

Let's All Go to the Lobby

I have no idea what compelled me to post about this now, but I watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters several months ago. I see movies so infrequently that I nearly always blog about them, but I didn't write about this one at the time because I pretty much wasted 80 minutes of my life watching it. It was pure shite and I don't encourage anyone to view this movie. Ever.

That said, the first three minutes are comedy gold. I honestly think this short should be shown before every movie rated PG-13 or above. Enjoy (and please note that there is some adult language here):

Meat on a Stick

OK, I consumed my maple-bacon lollipop while I watched the latest episode of The Venture Bros. (Two, two geeky things at once!). I really like maple syrup. REAL maple syrup--not Mrs. Butterworth or whatever that stuff is at IHOP. But I gotta say, sucking on a maple syrup candy for 20 minutes...the novelty wears off. I never really got to my delicious bacon chunks until the very end. But as I'm fond of saying, bacon makes pretty much everything taste better. I overheard a woman talking on the subway the other day. A very close paraphrase: "I recently stopped being a vegetarian after 7 years of being meat-free. It was bacon. Bacon turned me."

If I could pick one of these up at Whole Foods (good lord, I'm so white), I might actually buy one of these once in a while. It beat the hell out of the absinthe one. Not so sure I'd take the trouble to order it over the internet again. How boring of me. I'd prefer to have my maple syrup on pancakes with a strip of bacon on the side.

EJP's Comics Primer Pt. 1: Intro, The Sandman

Many moons ago, Evelyn Is Not Real mentioned that he doesn't know where to start when he enters a comic shop. I'm trying to remedy that. My primer will take three or four posts since one would be too long, so let's just start...

First, some simple explanations. "Comics" is a pretty general term for illustrated stories. I think when a lot of people think comic book, they think of the 30-page books you could get on the wire rack at your local corner store when you were a kid. Then there are the "graphic novels", which is basically a novel length story told in pictures. I won't talk too much about those, though I've posted on a few good ones in the past. "Trade paperbacks," or TPBs, fall kind of in between. These are collections of serial comic books, usually gathering anywhere from 5-10 regular comics into one book for easier consumption (in my opinion). Though there are a couple series I still buy in comic book form--notably the Joss Whedon scribed comics I've posted about on this blog before--I buy most of my comics in TPB form. Some of the series I like finished a while ago, some are ongoing.

All of those I'm mentioning here are for adults, or at least young adults. I went through my Archie and Richie Rich phase when I was a kid. It's fair to say that the vast majority of comics these days are written for an older audience. I should also say that I am by no means an authority on comics in general, especially not super hero comics. I know the back stories of most of the famous supes from Marvel and DC, but even I don't know how to delve into some of these stories that have been going on for 40+ years. The comics I'm talking about here are relatively contemporary. They wouldn't be considered underground by anyone who knows anything about the comic world, but the general populace who only knows about comics through movies probably isn't aware of them. So let's start with one of the most important ones:

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman

Any geek worthy of the name has read, is reading, or will read The Sandman. In brief (very brief), this is the story of Dream, one of The Endless. Along with his immortal siblings, Destruction, Destiny, Despair, Desire, Delirium, and Death, Dream goes on many adventures.
That's the easy description. The reality is more complex. Though the central characters are all Gaiman's original creations, he also weaves in characters from super hero lore, mythology, folklore, classic literature, etc. The first TPB, "Preludes & Nocturnes," serves as an introduction. It's a bit rough at first as Gaiman finds his groove, but the series improves immediately with the next installment, "The Doll's House." The best advice I can give you if you want to start this series? Pay attention, and don't try to re-sell the early TPBs before you get to the later ones. I read The Sandman over the course of about three years, and seemingly minor characters or scenes from very early on tend to become more important later on in the series. It's as least as complex as a mid-level novel. I won't hesitate to say that the series as a whole is one of the greatest fantasy stories ever put to paper.

Of course, it doesn't matter how good the story is if you can't stand looking at the art. The Sandman used several artists over the course of its 75-issue run. I can't claim I liked all of them, but for the most part the art is very easy on the eyes, and sometimes it borders on incredible.

A post this short really can't do this comic justice. Just read it. It's awesome. If you only try one of the comics I recommend in my half-ass little primer here, try this one.

The Green Tooth Fairy

So I'm currently sucking on the absinthe lollipop I got from Lollyphile. Clyde Squid and Evelyn Is Not Real (and Wife of EINR) also got these when I visited them last weekend. I have yet to brave the maple-bacon pop yet, but I will. In fact, I think I have to soon. Since those contain real bacon, they do actually have an expiration date on them I believe.

Never having had absinthe, I didn't really know what to expect. I know when EINR had his when we went to see Iron Man (awesome movie, btw), the smell alone almost made me gag. It basically tastes like a black jellybean, which makes sense since apparently wormwood is a member of the anise family. I'm muscling my way through...at first it made my tongue numb, but now it pretty much just tastes like sugar. I can't imagine what it's going to take to wash this flavor out of my mouth.

What have we learned? When a candy store or website describes its wares as "interesting and unique", do not interpret this as meaning "tasty." Also, absinthe is gross.

Your Next Favorite Fantasy Series

This is the blurb in the Onion A.V. Club that initially got me interested in Patrick Rothfuss's debut novel, The Name of the Wind:

1. Patrick Rothfuss, The Name Of The Wind (Daw)

When fantasy series have become as ubiquitous as Harlequin romances (and twice as predictable), a debut novel like The Name Of The Wind is more than a breath of fresh air. It's a reason to live a few more years, until Patrick Rothfuss gets the rest of the story of Kvothe, apprentice mage turned legendary outlaw, into print. Combining the academic setting of Harry Potter, the tortured heroism of Frodo, and the bittersweet apocalyptica of A Song Of Ice And Fire, Rothfuss' first novel in the Kingkiller Chronicles weaves a rich, fluid, irresistible world. The Name Of The Wind is the perfect midwinter escape—although the 2009 publication date for the next installment should serve as a warning: Read slowly.

High praise indeed. And the full review of the book on the same site is even more glowing, but I'm not linking to that here because it's a)pretty long and b)a bit spoilery. The back of the book itself is also loaded with high praise from the likes of Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card.

But what did I think of it? Let's just say that I'm generally a slow reader. It's not just that I don't have a lot of time to read, but when I do read it tends to be pretty slowly. When I left to visit Evelyn Is Not Real and Clyde Squid this past weekend, I had tons of music and podcasts to listen to during the trip, several magazines to catch up on, and this book. The only thing I ended up doing is reading this book. I read this book for about 8 consecutive hours until I finished it when I was stuck in the airport the other day. I didn't want it to end.

The comparisons in the mini-review are quite apt. If you're tired of waiting for the next A Song of Ice and Fire book, look no further. The Name of the Wind is considerably more focused considering it's about one character, and there's a reasonable chance the author will finish the series within the next couple years or so without dying, since he's a relatively young dude and this was, amazingly, his first novel. This isn't to say the book is without flaws--there are a couple lines that address the reader directly that I found somewhat annoying, though they were perfectly acceptable within the narrative structure of the book. It also takes a while to really ramp up, but if you can get past the first 100 pages or so (which aren't bad, but are still mostly prelude), you're good to go. Those quibbles aside, it was one of the most entertaining reads I've had for a while. It can be exciting, amusing, heartbreaking--everything a good adventure tale should be. Highly recommended as a fun summer read.

Who wants to be a hero?

Just finished watching this documentary last night. I wouldn't say it was hilarious as Trekkies, but it was entertaining. Now, on the one hand I should be the last person to poke fun at 'these people'... I mean I have somewhat questionable hobbies (OK, I'm a nerd), but man, these peeps are a little above me.

I like my wife's comment about the film, "If these people didn't have their fantasy land to escape to, we would probably way more psychos running around killing people."

Think that dressing up like a knight and bashing skulls in is a good time? Well, if you live in the DC area, you are in luck. Darkon.

Think you deserve to join the ranks of Darkon? Go to the Ye Olde Name Generator and answer a few questions.

Thought I'd see what my name would be. Malnakur, Protector of the Hole of Glory.

Wow, wonder if that makes Clyde Squid jealous?

Things you can find in a diaper

Eric is the proud father of a happy, healthy baby, so he is probably very well acquainted with diapers. And because he is a molecular biologist, he has long been familiar with their contents. After all, Theodor Escherich isolated the bacterium that bears his name from the diapers of happy, healthy, German babies all the way back in 1885. He noted that it grew very well on all kinds of food—a convenient property for a laboratory bug. And the rest, as they say, is history... a history very engagingly presented in Carl Zimmer's new book Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life, (Amazon) which I highly recommend.

Zimmer's book has something for everyone who is interested in or acquainted with this famous bacterium. Those who, like myself, primarily know E. coli as a tool will recognize several names along the way and learn a great deal about how it came to be such a powerful resource for us. Many will be surprised to learn how controversial some activities we take for granted (transfection of exogenous genetic material into bacteria, for example) were 20-30 years ago. Readers who have very little biology background need not fret, of course. Carl Zimmer is an excellent writer (check out his blog, The Loom) who introduces all the material carefully. Only some very basic knowledge about DNA, proteins, and bacteria is necessary. Zimmer will carry you the rest of the way, from bacteriophages and flagella all the way to synthetic biology, GM crops, and gene circuits.

Whether you work with E. Coli every day or just cringe when you hear those words on the evening news, Microcosm will be an engaging, rewarding, and informative read. And it just might reassure Eric that something good and useful can be found in those smelly diapers.