What I’m reading: Not a lot; just some Scott Pilgrim comics. I was kinda zonky all week with lack of sleep, pain from that root canal, etc.
What I’m listening to: Songs from the Capeman, Songs from Venice Beach, and some other songs.
What I’m watching: Shutter Island, some episodes of Louie (wow!), and The Horse’s Mouth and Up In The Air. I’m sorta astonished at the utter hollowness of Up In The Air, compared to the novel. The movie pays almost no attention to what The Traveling Life is really like, focusing instead on Firing People Is Soul-Destroying. The romance was inane, compared to the apocalypse of the narrator’s affair. And while Clooney’s starting to age, a man his age who travels that much should’ve been much sallower/puffier. The skin turns green from all that airplane air & light, people! But that’s nitpicking. The real problem is that the story they chose to tell was barely an echo of what made the novel a surprisingly good book, and instead became a George Clooney vehicle and a muddled statement about corporate America that couldn’t criticize any particular company because the studio relies on them for subsidies and product placement fees.
What I’m drinking: Bluecoat & Q-Tonic, but I didn’t drink too much last week; I was taking mega-ibuprofen to help treat that root canal, and didn’t want to risk stomach bleeding.
What Rufus & Otis are up to: Ru’s still getting over that blister on his paw-pad, so he didn’t go anywhere during the week. Otis has gone stir crazy and now runs up and down the hall at high speed, throwing his squeaky toys in the air and acting like they’re alive.
Where I’m going: Flying home on the redeye Wednesday/Thursday, and I hope to go nowhere else for a while.
What I’m happy about: Getting an iPad last Friday. Holy crap, is this a fantastic device. I decided to pick it up before the Portland trip to see if it could replace my laptop for a light work-week (that is, a trip in which I wouldn’t be doing heavy-duty “live from the conference” posts for my magazine’s website, or processing photos). I packed along a bluetooth keyboard for writing longer form stuff like this, but it’s just been fantastic so far. I watched Horse’s Mouth and Up in the Air on the flight out here, and only ran down about 12% of the battery. Go, future!
What I’m sad about: Something better will come along.
What I’m worried about: Whether I’ll have time to get to Powell’s, Stumptown, and Winn Perry while I’m in Portland. I’m also hoping I get to meet up with my various friends (that is, friends from all different portions of my life) who live out here.
What I’m pondering: Whether Spain is really better than the Netherlands. All I can say is, I had much more fun in my weekend in Amsterdam than I did in 5 days in Madrid.