Bite Me

Oh, I'm sure with such a title as "Bite Me" you expect this post to be about vampires. But no...they'll come later. In the meantime, I'd like to pay homage to one of my favorite authors: Zadie Smith. My freshman year of high school I discovered her novel White Teeth on my sister's bookshelf (a treasure trove of literary jewels) and fell in love. It's a kaleidoscope of humanity that touches upon topics as old as racism, ancient as love, and relevant as religious fundamentalism. It's all over the place, woven from many threads, that one never quite knows from whence they came and where they might end up--you just have to trust Smith knows what she's doing and then hold on tightly. Not that I ever would have considered letting go in the first place.

Smith's novel was made into a four part television series for British television station Channel 4 in 2002, and I believe it was aired once or twice stateside through PBS, but was never released on DVD. I thought I'd never get to see it until I hauled my ass to the UK, but thank god I magically stumbled across the complete series on Hulu.

I seriously finished watching the last video about an hour ago, and it was just as brilliant viewing as it was reading White Teeth. I know Christmas is nearly upon us, but maybe you'll find some time after the holidays and before the new year to watch a video or two. The second half of the series gets especially interesting when the twins in the story finally grow up...into some very fit men. Also stars that James McAvoy kid from Atonement...aka Mr. Tumnus.

http://www.hulu.com/white-teeth

Deliciousness: