Published: October 07, 2009 07:58 am      

Entertainment Picks (October 9, 2009)

3 Things to check out this weekend

30 Rock—Season 3

DVD ($49.98)

Amazon B0024FAD9M



Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan return for more merry mayhem behind the scenes of a fictitious Big Apple TV network running on mishaps, misunderstandings and misguided programming. Oprah Winfrey, Steve Martin, Clay Aiken, Sheryl Crow and numerous other recognizable guest stars are hilarious as their own famous selves, and bonus features include commentary, deleted scenes and a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the cast giving a read-thru of the season’s finale episode.

—Neil Pond, American Profile



Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Sports Spectacular

Softcover, 486 pages ($18.95)

Amazon 1607100347



The “Bathroom Reader” folks turn their wide-ranging, fact-grazing gaze on the world of sports with this handy-dandy compendium of tidbits, anecdotes, origins, quotes, trivia and factoids about football, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, hockey, tennis, bowling, wrestling, racing, paintball and many other competitive odds ’n’ ends. Sports fans of every stripe will want to keep it handy anywhere—like the bathroom—they might need something endlessly browsable at their, shall we say, disposal.

—Neil Pond, American Profile



How Many Licks?

By Aaron Santos, Ph.D.

Softcover, 175 pages ($14.95)

Amazon 0762435607



The author puts his doctorate degree in physics to entertaining use in this collection of procedures for mathematically finding—or, at least, realistically estimating—the answers to an array of fanciful questions. How many pennies would it take to fill up a wishing well? How long would it take to dig your way out of prison using a spoon? What’s the total around-the-bases mileage logged by Hank Aaron in his 755 home runs? No matter how you feel about math, Santos’ puzzle-solving prowess shows you just how much you can do when you put on your thinking cap.

—Neil Pond, American Profile