hora de nadar

Just delete this.

I'm almost finished reading Obama's new book.  The foreign policy chapter is the best.  Not very narrative or inspiring, but it does feel good.

Halfway through Melville's The Confidence Man.  Love crawling around in that strange century's mind.

Stack of plays here to read.  Might be a spoiler upcoming in this paragraph.  I guessed the secret audience-shattering ending of the new Neil LaBute play by reading reviews in the New Yorker and the New York Times.  It's called "Wrecks" -- punning on the Greek classic play -- and it concerns a man (played by Ed Harris) at the funeral of his wife.  Apparently the ending is very shocking, but when John Lahr wrote that the woman had been fifteen years older than her husband, well, I am sure I just spoiled it for everyone now.  I'll still read it when it's in print.  That guy cranks them out.

Gave up on watching The Nine after two episodes.  Still staying with Lost, happily.  Haven't missed an episode of Ugly Betty yet -- what's not to love?  There's America Ferrera, for one thing.  Real women have curves.  But Studio 60 is what I especially like, it's smart, too smart for network TV so it probably won't last long, and it's about writers, TV writers but I guess that counts. I should write Mark Roberts, the producer of Two and a Half Men, now that he's talking to me again, and see if the show bears any relation to reality.

The new Lindsey Buckingham album is very good, especially the first song and the Stones cover, I Am Waiting.  I posted the lyrics to Not Too Late on The Last Good Name.  He could have been singing about me.

Watching old Mexican movies.  Criterion just released the first Alfonso Cuaron movie, Solo Con Tu Pareja, on DVD.  Also watching and rewatching L'Auberge Espagnole and the new sequel Russian Dolls, which follows the same batch of international students in their romantic quests.  Really love these movies.  I don't even know what language it's supposed to be in, there are so many.

Speaking of Russia, the music download site has gone through some changes.  Visa and Mastercard decided not to allow them to use their cards, so you can't buy songs any more.  To retaliate, AllofMP3 has decided to offer their catalog for free, if you download and play the music on their online player.  I still have about six bucks of credit on the site, so I'm still going to download some Incredible String Band and X-Ray Spex.  Basically, though, you can hear anything for free now. 

Snow just came in at the library, by Turkish Nobel novelist Orhan Pamuk.  It's too long.  Maybe I'll skim it.

They did Leonard Bernstein's Mass at Krannert over the weekend, with dance and everything.  I didn't go.  Maybe I'll download it.  The newspaper reviewer was ho-hum.  Dannie was anything but.  Sorry I missed it.  Anna Russell died.  And Jane Wyatt.  And the old guy on my route. I had just put up a new tube for him.