Bad Hair Day

In the last couple days, i've remembered the joy of being between books. I clambered through the last of my graduate reading (Jane Jacobs' The Nature of Economies) just to be able to put it up on the 'last five' and then on Sunday i started looking for a new book to read. I love the feeling of being moments away from starting a new book. I scan my shelves, book shops and libraries, trolling through every bit of reading material i can find, knowing that i could choose from anything. Generally, i even take some pauses, reading a magazine article or two, picking up a book and looking at the font. I really like the feeling of 'about to start'. The book i finally selected was Umberto Eco's illustrated novel The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, which thus far is a blast, a sort of allegorical argument of book-knowledge versus personal/emotional knowledge.

On a completely different subject... We saw The Da Vinci Code today, which was pretty good... very Ron-Howard-y & felt a lot like i'd seen it before a couple years ago when i read the book. More than anything, though, it just felt like a cheap knock-off of National Treasure. No, all in all, it was pretty much what i expected, and i wasn't disappointed thereby. No overkill on the zooming/spinning shots that Ron Howard is so fond of, sometimes interesting cinematography, and the same 'damn good story' that Dan Brown told poorly... My only 'complaint', which isn't even a complaint, is the Tom Hanks Apology tacked on to the end, a sort of "can't we all just get along" for zealots and atheists alike... All in all, a pretty ok movie.

And finally, as most of you know, the U.S. was embarrassed in their first World Cup Match on Monday. We looked terrible. Two more games against Italy & Ghana. A difficult task, and we likely need two straight wins to advance... But we shall see. Keep the faith, America.