Entertainment

Book Review

It’s “Official”: Kathy Griffin’s Memoir a D-List Dream Come True

Kathy Griffin's "Official Book Club Selection" has something for everyone... as long as you're not Oprah.

You think you know Kathy Griffin.

But as it turns out, you don’t know Kathy Griffin at all, not until you read her new book, “For Your Consideration: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin.”  A mouth-watering 350 pages in length, Ms. Griffin’s memoir explores aspects of her life you’d never even realized existed.  From her dysfunctional family life in Oak Park, Illinois, to her days of getting bullied by the other students AND the nuns throughout Catholic school, to the interminable months she spent clawing her way to the top of the talent heap at the Groundlings, Kathy shows us what her life was like before the Bravo series, before the Emmy wins, and before all the fame.  Hollywood’s Public Enemy Number One gives us a never-before-seen insight into her early life, showing us the framework for what would become a successful, if not notorious, career bringing down the A-Listers for fun and profit.

And there’s plenty of A-List-bashing fun in this book.  For instance, did you know that she spent an entire night cuddling – just cuddling – with Quentin Tarantino?  Or that she had sex with Jack Black and loved it?  Perhaps you were unfamiliar with the running feud she has with Jerry Seinfeld, or the time she got in trouble for telling people on the red carpet that Dakota Fanning was in rehab.  Yes, Ms. Griffin brings her A-Game for this venture, poking fun at every star from the Lohans to the Jonas Brothers, from Brooke Shields to Bill Maher, from Oprah and Gayle to Mary Kate and Ashley and everyone – and I mean everyone – in between.

But those of you just expecting a 350-page celeb-basher will be surprised to find a deeper, darker, and decidedly more poignant side to this book.  Here you will find tales of her brother Kenny, a pedophile and a drug addict who literally died in their mother’s arms.  She also discloses what it was like to film for her show while simultaneously dealing with a divorce from her embezzling husband, Matt, and the death of her father.  And then, in perhaps the most gruesome chapter of the book, she tells us in horrid detail about her botched plastic surgery, complete with pictures of her bruised body (“My post-op lipo photos?” She asks in the caption, “Or first date with Chris Brown?”).

But through the good, the bad, and the very ugly, Griffin maintains that conversational, spur-the-moment style of delivery that she’s become known for from her stand-up specials; reading this book – which climbed to #8 on the Amazon charts – comes easily, as though the bombastic comedienne is sitting with you in your living room and telling you a story, asides and interjections intact.  So go ahead and take a chance on this one (especially if you happen to be a famous talk-show host with a book club); despite its length, “Official Book Club Selection” will leave you wanting much, much more.

 

Zune Review

Zune vs. iPhone vs. iPod Touch, which is better? 

By Dan Keylin

Take a short walk around campus and one thing you’ll notice is that everyone is holding either a iPhone or iPod.  Apple is simply the king of MP3 players, and Microsoft is looking to change that.

The Zune HD is one slick device.

The Zune HD was released today to a moderate level of fanfare, and I decided to get one.  I’ve also been a proud owner of an iPod touch, so I’llcompare and contrast the two devices:

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Zune HD is smaller than the iPod touch, and about a hair thicker, but it also weighs only about half as much, and feels very well-built.  The OLED screen is stunning, and comparing a Zune HD and iPod touch side by side, you can tell the Zune HD has far better color contrast; the blacks on the Zune HD look deep black, while the blacks on the iPod Touch look dark gray and washed out.

The user interface on the Zune HD is also amazing.  The touch screen is just as responsive as the iPod touch, and menus have really smooth animations.  

When you play a song, a background is a picture of the artist, and album art is in the middle of the screen.  If you are playing a song by a popular artist, there will actually be pictures and biographies of that artist that you can see as you play the song.  It’s a great touch, and makes the now three year old iPod touch interface look dull in comparison.

“Contrary to the name, the screen resolution is NOT high-defintion.”

Watching videos on the screen look great (although contrary to the name, the screen resolution is NOT high-defintion).  The picture viewing is basically the same as the iPod touch, including multi-touch so you can zoom in and out by pinching your fingers.  It seems the multi-touch on the Zune HD works just as good as multi-touch on the iPod touch, which was a pleasant surprise.

While the Zune HD no doubt beats the iPod touch in regards to screen quality and user interface, it also has several shortcomings.

For one, there is no massive application store for the Zune HD, at least not yet.  Microsoft is trying to have iPhone app developers port their applications to the Zune HD, but they aren’t in the Zune marketplace yet, although there should be a somewhat expansive app library for the Zune HD by the holiday season.  

Microsoft is going to have a lot of trouble catching up to Apple’s App Store, so if applications are a deal breaker to you, the Zune HD may not be the device for you right now.

The iPod touch’s internet browser, Safari, is also superior to the Zune’s updated version of internet explorer, which froze several times on me.

Comparing (from left to right) iPhone, Zune HD, iPod touch.

Perhaps most important is that the Zune HD only works with a windows computer, so all those Mac users will have to use bootcamp or another program to run windows on their Macbook.  If you have a windows computer, Zune Software (Zune’s version of iTunes) is really nice, and a new change of pace from iTunes.  Both iTunes and Zune Software have their strengths and weaknesses, with iTunes having a simpler UI with more in depth options, while Zune Software was a much better album artwork matcher (it got pictures for about 90% of my library compared to iTunes which only got about 60%).

Overall, both devices are on an even level.  The screen and user interface on the Zune HD are truly amazing, but it falters when it comes to its internet browser, lack of applications, and support for Macs.  

If you have a Mac and don’t know how to run Windows on it, you should probably stick with your iPod.  If you have a Windows computer the Zune HD is a bit more compelling option at this point if applications aren’t a necessity for you.  Either way, you really can’t go wrong.