Get Down On It

Midway between the shock of beginning another academic year and the onset of the holiday rush, I'm taking some time to breathe and reboot. Lately this involves partaking of my favorite pop culture distractions, including several movies. On a chilly night in Boston last weekend I saw Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited, which I highly recommend. Then, the following rainy day, I returned to the same theater for Ang Lee's Lust. Caution., which I highly recommend avoiding.

I heard the ubiquitous Alex Ross on the Leonard Lopate Show this morning talking about Salome. I do plan to read his book, but my reading patterns being as they are, I'm sure I won't get around to it until at least early 2008. Later, the chess master Gary Kasparov was on Fresh Air. Another book I probably won't read for several years, if at all. I would like to finally learn to play though. Preferably on a gigantic Alice in Wonderland chessboard. Earlier, I happened to catch Barack Obama dancing with Ellen - impressive, but I'll have to check YouTube for Hillary's moves before I make my final decision.