BOOK 176: PLEASE DON'T COME BACK FROM THE MOON: DEAN BAKOPOULOS

Please Don't Come Back from the Moon (2005) was his debut novel, about fathers in Maple Rock, Detroit abandoning their families under a strange compulsion to go to the moon. It is narrated by the young Mikey, a would-be writer, whose father feels the same desire to leave. The New York Times said it "deftly weld[ed] magic realism with social satire". Entertainment Weekly gave it a B- saying it turned into a very conventional coming-of-age story. People gave it 3.5/4.

FILM 1511: SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE 

TRIVIA: The scene between Tom Hanks and Victor Garber crying over the movie The Dirty Dozen (1967) was completely improvised during the take.

The silhouette of the couple on the box of chocolates in a shop window outside Annie's house is, in fact, a silhouette of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The role of Annie was originally offered to Julia Roberts, who turned it down. Kim Basinger was also offered the role in the early script process, but turned it down because she thought the premise was ridiculous. After Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jodie Foster declined as well, Meg Ryan landed the role.

A pre-Seinfeld (1989) reference to the real-life "Soup Nazi": A male journalist is speaking as Meg Ryan enters an office at her newspaper, saying, "...he's the meanest guy in the world, but he makes the best soup you've ever eaten."

Jason Schwartzman auditioned for the role of Jonah Baldwin.

Garry Marshall was originally slated to direct the film. He is the brother of actor/director Penny Marshall, who directed Tom Hanks in Big (1988) and A League of Their Own (1992). She is the ex-wife of Rob Reiner, who plays Jay in the film.

Parker Posey was originally cast in the movie but later cut. She appeared with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks years later in You've Got Mail (1998).

This film's director (Nora Ephron) wrote When Harry Met Sally... (1989), which also starred Meg Ryan and was directed by Rob Reiner, who appears in Sleepless in Seattle (1993).

Demi Moore was considered for the role of Annie Reed.

Director Cameo: Nora Ephron: When Meg Ryan's character is in the kitchen in the middle of the night listening to the 'best of' radio callers, the caller 'Disappointed in Denver' is voiced by Ephron.

FILM 1101: BANSHEE CHAPTER

REVIEW: I’m really glad I didn’t look at the IMDB page before watching this otherwise I never would have watched it.  The poster and rating are awful but the film in places is genuinely scary and thought provoking.  In some places it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t explain everything at the end but it was real enough to have me hiding behind my cat and I haven’t been scared by a film for a long time.  I would recommend it for the jumps alone.

Film 1081: Pump Up the Volume

Trivia: Lala Sloatman (Janie) and Ahmet Zappa (Jamie) are real life cousins, but played girlfriend/boyfriend in the movie.

Christian Slater became physically ill several times during filming due to all the cigarette smoking he had to do.

Samantha Mathis and Christian Slater later went to to star in two other film projects together: "Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest" and "Broken Arrow".

Film 1060: Good Morning, Vietnam

Trivia: Robin Williams's portrayal of Adrian Cronauer has led to confusion as to the beliefs of the real Cronauer. Cronauer has said that the film is about 45 percent accurate, according to a biography on Robin Williams. Cronauer has said that the film misrepresented him to make him seem anti-war, when he was, in his own words, "anti-stupidity". In fact, today Cronauer - who is now a lawyer - remains an active Republican and was a vice-chairman of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. Furthermore, Cronauer has also said that if he'd done half the things Williams did in the film, he would've been court-martialed and sent to Fort Leavenworth.

This movie was filmed in Thailand, not Vietnam. On the back cover of early copies of the film, street signs can be seen in Thai.