‘Death with Interruptions’ (book)

Portuguese Nobel laureate Jose Saramago has a fondness for what-if premises.

His most famous novel, “Blindness” (basis for the new film by Fernando Meirelles), explored what would happen if an epidemic of blindness spread through society. The fallout wasn’t pretty – and it didn’t smell good, either, as personal hygiene took a nosedive.

In his new novel, “Death with Interruptions,” Saramago, now in his 80s, ponders the consequences if death were to take a holiday for six months or so. The book is more compact and playful than “Blindness” – yet in many ways it’s more profound. His conclusion: We need our mortality more than we may realize.

The book starts out with a simple enough statement: “The following day, no one died.” This doesn’t usher in the eternal paradise one might expect, even though much of the population in the nameless, landlocked country where the story occurs greets the disappearance of death with a “high tide of collective joy.”

Fortunately, there’s a safety outlet. Death is still alive and well, so to speak, in the countries neighboring Saramago’s imaginary realm. It isn’t long before some victims of “this recently inaugurated eternity” are being transported across the border – some willingly, some not – to breathe their last.

Throughout the book Saramago, by so fancifully distorting reality, paradoxically unveils reality, shining a stark light on how we live and organize our lives.

‘Stylista’ (TV)

The CW’s “Stylista,” set at Elle magazine, pits wannabe fashion editors in a foot-in-the-door reality-competition version of “The Devil Wears Prada” – a meme the network itself released into the atmosphere. In “Project Runway” terms, it’s a show for those who aspire to be not Michael Kors but Nina Garcia, a former Elle editor now of Marie Claire. Except in the decorative details, it is exactly the same as every other gimme-a-job reality show ever made, with the contestants all banged up in a fancy dormitory from which they disappear one by one after themed weekly challenges.

The killing catch-phrase this time is “you’re not the right fit,” and the woman who delivers it is Elle Fashion News Director Anne Slowey, who did a little “Project Runway” judging in its first season.

Contestant Megan, who has inherited money, is the show’s mean girl; DyShaun is her sidekick, Ashlie her adversary and Kate, a law-school dropout whose cleavage precedes her, her target. Danielle is, superficially, the Betty Suarez of the piece – as she says, she’s “bigger than most girls” – although unlike the “Ugly Betty” character, she’s fashion-conscious. Only a couple of them, however, express any interest in writing.

“Stylista” airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on The CW, Sunflower Broadband Channel 17.

‘Damn Right Rebel Proud’ (music)

Hank Williams III would have you believe he’s just another redneck, hiding out in east Tennessee with a pistol, a case of beer and a bad attitude.

He may be, but he’s an artist, too.

A natural-born storyteller – like his father, his grandfather and presumably every ornery member of the cantankerous line – Williams not only carries on the family tradition, he builds on it on his latest album with the kind of lyrical virtuosity the original Hank used to transform country music. His subject matter just happens to be a little different.

But “Damn Right Rebel Proud” isn’t all whiskey, weed and wild women as Hank III would have us believe. Sure, there’s plenty of that stuff. But his “Damn Right Rebel Proud” shows you can’t dismiss him as a wannabe redneck who knows his audience.

There are moments of pure beauty and uncommon insight from a man capable of playing top-notch traditional country music and subverting it in the same instant.

Williams covers the same kind of ground he worked in three previous albums, but he carves it up in new ways both musically and lyrically. He sings directly to and about his audience – guys who work for a living, count out change for a six pack and get betrayed by the system.