reviews: Over the Hedge, Thud!

Saw Over the Hedge last night, which was great. I really enjoyed the Ben Folds songs, and I admired the film's honest criticism of suburban culture, praising all the sappy ideals while admitting that life's never peaches and cream. I mean, yes, it's basically a funny movie, but I enjoyed the sincerity more.

Finished Terry Pratchett's Thud!. Also great. I have a hard time thinking of Pratchett as satire, because, while his stories are very funny, I read them primarily as stories, because Pratchett consistently satisfies Snider's Law: if I were a quasi-autistic incarnation of death fascinated by humanity and released from my post, I would proceed just as Death does in Reaper Man. The humor is primarily a function of the world Pratchett has created, and other jokes never go so far as to be unbelievable within the logic of that world, even when they reference quantum mechanics, relativity, or 1970 protest songs.

If you haven't experienced both, you should.