Arrrggh!!

I totally understand, Anne.

Today, we went to the new public library here in Alameda and signed up for library cards. We didn't check anything out, but went to the bookstore afterwards. Although I'm currently reading a book, and I picked up A Prayer for Owen Meany not long ago, I purchased Infinite Jest ($10 for the tenth anniversary edition!). I nearly purchased The Kite Runner, and remembered that I keep meaning to read Lolita. Once I got home, I also remembered that I've been wanting to read Middlesex. Oh yeah, and Kavalier and Clay, and On Beauty, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, and Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, and The Omnivore's Dilemma... did I mention that I started Pride and Prejudice, but have yet to finish it? The same goes for Vanilla. At some point, I'd like to read a Haruki Murakami book. And whenever George R.R. Martin finishes writing his Fire and Ice series, I plan to read it.

This is bad. It's really bad. If I had stuck around the bookstore or the library any longer, I'm sure I would have remembered more books I need to read. Or "discovered". more. I began to panic a little, at the thought of all the books out there. But on the plus side, I guess I'm giving fiction another chance.

Microwave Meme

"Quik" blog cribbed from C(h)ristine

Read/Reading:

Reread Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I devour everything Sedaris touches

Currently reading What is the What, by Dave Eggers. Whatever you think of AHWOSG (which I happened to love) this "novelized autobiography" or "fictionalized memoir" or whatever you want to call it is a departure for Eggers. Eschewing his self-referential cleverness, Eggers just simply tells the story of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee. Although I've only gotten half, one of the paragraphs is already haunting me. "We have forgotten the friends we have known from the north, the interdependent and peaceful lives we once lived with them. This war has made racists of too many of them and too many of us, and it is the leadership in Khartoum that has stoked this fire, that has brought to the surface, and in some cases created from whole cloth, new hatreds that have bred unprecedented acts of brutality."

Soon will read Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace

What is up with all the Davids? Okay, on the coffee are this month's Allure Magazine, U2 by U2, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, Pastries from the La Brea Bakery and American Boulangerie


Viewed:

Borat - it *looks* like the kind of movie that you could easily wait to watch on DVD. But trust me, there is a particular sequence that um... really, really has a certain je ne sais quoi on the big screen.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, "Once More With Feeling" at the Parkway.

Lost. Bam bam bam chicka. 'Nuff said.

Veronica Mars

Battlestar Galactica (SciFi Network). Just started watching the miniseries, and it's even better than everyone says. Yeah, I'm a geek. So what?


Memorable eats:

Dinner at Pappo

The New Zealander

Korean BBQ and Dduk Gjim at Oh Gah Nee

Soon: Hideki's and Oliveto

Cooked:

Potato Leek Soup

Dark chocolate truffles

Salt roasted branzino

asparagus with hollandaise

Plum tarte tatin

Happenings:

Work.

Brought Hideki, our Zen sushi master, some fresh wasabi. It wasn't the right night to eat there, but we'll be back soon.

Starting to master eka pada bakasana in yoga. I can do most of the arm balances, but this one used to confound me. I've discovered it's really a matter of straightening the arms, tipping the head forward and spreading the shoulderblades. Oh yeah, and massive ab work. Next up: Mayurasana.

Voted. (Who's house? Dems' House! And the Senate. Woo! Oh, and Rumsfeld, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Sing with me now - Na na na na, Na na na na, hey hey hey, Goodbye!)

Crazy, Crazy, everbody laugh!

Watched Borat this afternoon, and yes, it's as outrageously funny as everyone says. Having seen Borat in action before on Da Ali G show, I thought I would be prepared. And I was, for the most part. But for the parts in which I wasn't... dude, Sacha Baron Cohen is one uncompromising performer. Not only does he remain in character throughout some pretty hilarious scenes, but he put himself in situations that no one in his right mind would. There is one particular sequence that is simultaneously one of the most grotesque and hilarious incidents ever recorded on film. I keep wanting to scratch out my eyes, yet at the same time, I'm cackling manically about it. Mostly in disbelief.

pssst! don't tell anyone!

... but i just downloaded j.t.'s new single, "my love."

Hey, the beat is phat.

But I also just downloaded The Crane Wife. And it is lovely.