Book: First off, The Thunder of Angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People Who Broke th Back of Jim Crow by Donnie Williams and Wayne Greenshaw is an excellent book. One image: a black soldier shot when he refused to get off a bus (the rule was you pay up front, get off, and get back on in the back ... if you were black) without getting his dime back. The police was called, he clubbed the man who then tried to flee the bus, and was shot dead.
One of the two maids and the privileged white teen who watched in horror never rode the bus again. The maid called E.D. Nixon, a Pullman porter who was the black leader of the area, the same man who a few years later chose King to lead the boycott. The wife of the soldier testified at King's trial (charged with leading an illegal boycott), but since she was not there, her testimony was deemed inadmissible. The murder of Private First Class Thomas Edwards Brooks was, of course, deemed proper.
The value of this book that can be used to put a proper context to the celebrations in a few weeks is particularly in the breadth of the characters involved. This is not just about King, but about Nixon, a local sympathetic white reporter, a top liberal white lawyer, various key women (black and white) in the movement, members of the Klan, and so forth. One of the authors is connected to the affair since his father-in-law bought the actual bus Rosa Parks was arrested in. And, overall the book is quite readable for all types of readers, young and old.
Legal Footnote: Given the controversy in Brown, the Supreme Court actually desegregated public accommodations, such as buses, on the down low via a bunch of one line orders upholding or overturning (as need be) lower court rulings on the subject. So, I read the lower court ruling striking down the law involved here. It was 2-1, and the great liberal judge Frank Johnson Jr.'s (only 37) first major case. He later was appointed to the court of appeals and wrote the lower court ruling overturned in Bowers v. Hardwick.
Looking through the cites, I noted a 1950 (four years before Brown) case that suggested a segregated golf course should be treated the same way as graduate schools (no segregation). The case was remanded, practice upheld on a technicality, and the Supreme Court let it pass (Douglas/Black -- brother-in-law to one of the characters in this book -- dissenting).
Movie: A few years ago, I saw an admittedly somewhat obscure indie about a woman who underwent a yearly ritual of trying to determine how many crossword puzzles she could complete in one day. She found it easier to do on subways, the background clamor sort of like white noise. Marathon was not mentioned in Wordplay, perhaps because her record of around eighty in a day in no big deal to people who could do the NYT puzzle in under five minutes.
The movie is a documentary concerning a crossword competition started by the editor (a major player in the doc, charming guy) of the NYT crosswords, tossing in comments from various celebrities who do the puzzle (including Bill Clinton and Mike Mussina, the Stanford grad Yanks pitcher) for good measure. It is a very enjoyable movie, even if some of the competitors come off a bit badly. A self-proclaimed "nerd girl" who won one year after the apparent winner was found to have made a mistake and a perennial hard luck loser were charming.
And, the idea of viewing a puzzle maker do a take-off on the title and later view the various celebrities work on it came off well too. I myself have not done a NYT puzzle, only the junior varsity types like the NY Daily News (when I did them regularly, I generally finished them or missed only a few clues). One can realize why the whole practice can be downright addictive and challenging. Time-wise, a few tricky clues generally held me up, so it could take me an hour to do one of those things, but then again some (ordinary) sorts have said they took a day to do the NYT puzzles (Mon-Sun in degree of difficulty, so a "Monday" is much easier than a "Friday).
I also use ink, but the 21st Century path is online puzzles like the one on Slate. I also was thinking about the theme idea -- the crosswords seem to generally all have themes. How about an anti-Bush crossword or one with a legal theme? After all, sometimes crosswords were supplied in educational contexts over my years. Anyway, in recent years, there were some nice documentaries over the last few years that were quite popular. This probably should add to the list.
As an aside, I also saw Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (Turkish music), which was a bit disjointed imho, but of interest as well. It was made by the director of Head-On, an interesting foreign movie on its own.