rickroyal

- I think it's almost time to give up the ghost and purchase a new laptop. The case is cracked in many places; the cd/dvd player stopped working a few weeks ago; it's horribly underpowered compared to more recent models; bad sectors are starting to pop up on the hard drive. It was purchased for me the summer before I went off to college. There's a certain appealing symetry in replacing it once my collegiate career is finished.

- While reading yet another book wherein a bright, young guy in college has a girl from home turn up at his dorm room (in front of the woman he's trying to woo that night) to tell him that she's pregnant and the kid is his, I suddenly realized how much I hate that plot device. Despise it. Loathe it. It's lazy plotting. Surely there's a better, more interesting way to show that the guy is irresponsible that doesn't lean on the nauseous crutch of puritan guilt. And it was shaping up to be such a good book. Alas.

- A friend pointed me towards Beautiful Agony, and I have to say that it's one of the most appealing things I've seen in a long time. And I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it first. But certainly worth the investment. #17 is by far and away my favorite.

- Another friend pointed me to Charlize reminding me of the Magician, who used to smoke out of everything. Denis Leary's comment about pot leading to carpentry was never truer than in her case; you should've seen the contraption she ended up making. Simpler times, it seems.

- I feel slightly cheated having purchased the soundtrack to Pieces of April. I haven't seen the movie (it looked interesting, but for some reason Katie Holmes didn't make it a must see), but the lure of new Stephin Merritt music was enough for a purchase. And while the songs are good, they're rather slight. "One April Day" almost seems like half a song. It's a beautiful half song, but still. "Heather, Heather" and the dreams song don't seem to have the cohesion I expect from him. "You You You You You" is probably the best of the bunch.