It's almost over! This awful summer of death and disaster will soon give way to a glorious season of overall pleasantness: we're of course talking about fall TV programing and prestige movie releases! By the autumnal equinox, our stiff souls will be kindled by the warm glow of really neat stuff on the screen. It's like springtime for the indoor set. So come, little seedlings, let the winds of quality carry us through what's two weeks out.

Movies

· Hey, have you downloaded Patton Oswalt's new stand up album? It's surged up to the number 4 slot on iTunes today. So Patton, a comedic gem, is making his Serious Actor Turn in Big Fan. The trailer will instantly dissolve any skepticism because Patton just looks like he's acting his big, lesbian-lookin' heart out. Also, it's kind of comforting to know that people are downloading a brainy comedian's album in droves. People: they can be great! (Aug 28)

·TIFF! Tiff, what a great name for a festival. Say it aloud, isn't that fun? Okay so: big Important Movies are premiering at this Toronto film festival. Like the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man. It's about wormy midwesterners. And, once again, the trailer on its own is marvelous (related: would you like to see my favorite trailers of all time? Here and here.) But TIFF's most anticipated premiere will be The Awl's favorite peen flashing adaptation: The Bad Lieutenant, staring the mystifying Nicolas Cage! The reviews coming out of Toronto should make for some choice reading. (Sept 10)

TV

·A couple of weeks ago I was in a teeny conference room with a writer/actor for The Office and some other oily members of the Hollywood press corp. So. We're chatting about the show and the challenges of writing about Pam's pregnancy. And he was like, "When we can't write something funny, we try to write something real." So it sounds a bit trite now but The Office has done this successfully for five seasons. You try to do that. (Sept 17)

· House. Come on guys, Hugh Laurie is a dish. He can do no wrong because of this:

(Sept 21)

DVD
· Crank 1 was described by our hero, Patton Oswalt, as the "the cinematic equivalent of meth, terror, oral sex and shameful joy, delivered at the end of a taser." Crank 2 totally outdoes the lung-bursting, shame inducing, shit-your-pants action of its predecessor. (Sept 8)

· Obsessed is basically like The Room with Beyonce. It is out on DVD this week. It makes every bad decision a movie can make but does it with complete conviction. (Today!)

· Stuff Happens with Bill Nye comes out next week! Bill Nye is how my snot-nosed generation understood the scientific repercussions of putting our faces on hot stoves! (Sept 1)

Music
· Jay-Z: Blueprint 3.0. When I was too lazy to take the train back to my austere apartment in Brooklyn, I would pay a cab driver to take me. When we could come over the bridge, a giant billboard of Jay-Z would emerge on the horizon. Here's something I have never felt for a musician before: proud to live in his hometown. We must believe in Jay-Z for he believes in us. (9/11.)

· Juliette Lewis: Terra Incognita. We are going to buy this as a novelty item. Maybe we will like it! (9/1.)

· Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs. The thing is, we buy all these albums. Sometimes we love them! Sometimes they come on your iShuffle and make you sleepy. (9/8.)

Tickets
· AN EVENING WITH MARIANNE FAITHFULL at Town Hall. If you can still get tickets? Get them. (9/24)

· Also Motorhead is playing at Roseland! (9/9)

CANCELED
· "THE 50TH LAW-Book Tour with Robert Green and 50 Cent." Some things were too good to be true.