2005-12-09 - 10:15 a.m. "Inclement" is such a great word, it's a shame it's become so closely associated with weather that it almost has no other application. Had my first Netflix trauma last night. I'd ordered, and according to the envelope, received Monk, season 2. All excited, I popped the disc in, only to find out I was watching this. Aaaaggghhhh! So I worked on a song instead--thank you, Netflix, for keeping me on schedule. When John Vanderslice's Pixel Revolt came out earlier this year, I stuck it on my iTunes and never really sat down to listen in full. Now whenever I'm on shuffle, some quiet, thoughtful song with interesting lyrics will come on, and 9 times out of 10 it'll be him. (Sometimes it's the second Shins album.) I think this qualifies as the "sleeper" album of the year for me. "New Zealand Pines" is certainly one of the prettiest songs I've heard all year--like one of Barbara Manning's quieter numbers. Winter is the time to settle in with a juicy novel...and so I've started reading a good'un...it's Flicker by Theodore Roszak, a tangled little historical epic about film and film critics that reads like an E.L. Doctorow novel set in 1950's Hollywood. Rich, vivid characters, like the Pauline Kael-type femme fatale, and the mysterious monster-movie director Max Castle... Today marks my 16th year of meditating. You'd think I'd be more relaxed. Stupid wankers. thoughts? (10 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact