Even as a comedy is king of the cinematic hill this week, a Newsweek blog on pop culture wonders if 2009 is the most depressing year ever at the movies. I guess the writer of the article didn’t go to any movies in 2007. That was a rough stretch.

The newest film by the Coen brothers—A Serious Man—opened in limited release. Here’s a slice from the CT Movies review of the film: “One cannot watch it without pondering deeply some inherently biblical questions about the meaning of trials and the nature of fate—and without wondering if it's secretly a kind of adaptation of the Book of Job, with a trick ending. It takes pieces that the Coens have been playing with for years and puts them together in one very dark, very funny, very human package—and for that, it's a film worth seeing.” Another CT article points out how the Coen brothers are asking big questions in their newest work. This looks like one to keep an eye on (though given the R rating—earned because of excessive profanity and sexual situations—you might not want to actually see it, but read carefully about it).

Top Five Television Shows (according to Nielsen TV ratings, week of October 5)
1. NCIS , CBS
2. Dancing with the Stars, ABC
3. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS
4. NBC Sunday Night Football, NBC
5. The Mentalist, CBS

Notables: Our obsession with crime shows continues.

Top Five Books (according to USA Today research)
1. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
2. A Touch of Dead, by Charlaine Harris
3. Have a Little Faith, by Mitch Albom
4. Cross Country, by James Patterson
5. Arguing With Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government, by Glenn Beck

Notables: Our obsession with vampires continues as well. A Touch of Dead is another volume in Charlaine Harris’s series ”The Southern Vampire Mysteries” (the inspiration for HBO’s hit TV series True Blood).

Top Five Web Searches (based on the Google Trends report for Wednesday)
*Exercise caution when searching; some topics may be inappropriate.
1. bruce wasserstein
2. popthatzit.
3. pop that zit
4.
5. quidnunc

Notables: Bruce Wasserstein died suddenly on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. He was the chairman and chief executive of Lazard Ltd., one of the most respected investment banks on Wall Street.

Items 2 and 3 make my stomach turn. I guess there is a site where you can go and watch videos of people…well…the name says it all.

I think it’s best to avoid item #4 altogether.

As for item #5, today we shall all learn a new word that we actually might want to use: quidnunc. A quidnunc is “a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip; a gossip or busybody” (definition via Dictionary.com). Given all the gossip blogs, gossip mags, gossip shows, gossip in the pews, I’d say the world is filled to full with quidnuncs. (The word has gained sudden popularity because a character uses it in the movie Love Happens—which, given the box office returns, is the only thing people found interesting in that movie.)