Strawberry, banana, coconut lime. Wow! I got a snazzy Vita-Mix blender for my birthday and have been going nuts with the smoothies.

There seems to be so little writing on gender, at least in the mainstream. I had to get this book on Interlibrary Loan, because the Minneapolis library system doesn’t have it.

I just got it yesterday, but it looks funny and interesting.

Well, it’s really long. I am enjoying this academic thriller, but it’s a little bit predictable.

Wow, this is the best book I’ve read all year! Granted, I haven’t read that many books this year—but I really enjoyed this one. I was up until almost 2 am this morning finishing it. The dazzling array of alien races, the various worlds, the interplanetary politics, the myriad characters… the first half of this book had my head in a whirl. But the fast-paced edge-of-your-seat action kept me reading the last half in one sitting. I could hardly put it down. Gotlieb’s evocative style creates a very gritty, real world full of surprises.

AnthroGal is right, there is zero drama here, but as a Minnesota hometown gal I had to go see it even though I’m not a huge fan of the show. I thought the subject matter lended itself well to an Altman-style film: large ensemble cast, wide shots with lots going on and everyone talking at once, great dialog that’s easy to miss. The actors were well-cast and did a competent job.

At the end I wasn’t sure what Lindsey Lohan’s character was there for. It didn’t seem realistic that so many people could listen to a teenager talking about suicide and just laugh it off, change the subject, etc. Granted, that might be a typical Minnesoton response to an uncomfortable conversation so maybe that’s why it pushed my buttons.

Of course I knew I was taking a chance when I checked this out on impulse from the library. I thought at best it would be really campy and funny, but in the end it was pretty much unwatchable. The box claimed that by watching this DVD I would learn to levitate things and control people with my mind, which seemed like such an outrageous claim I had to check it out. But although Kreskin claims to have genine psychic powers, all that was revealed were silly parlour tricks.

If you’re watching this on DVDdo not miss the audio commentary with the director and the actual real-life subject of the film. I learned lots of fascinating details that didn’t actually make it into the film (like the fact that he didn’t actually work for the hotel at the time of the conflict; he had quit his job there years before and gone to work at a different hotel). Also the director talked about which scenes were recreated from actual documentary footage. Amazing.

Utopia/dystopia. An emotionally powerful story of magic and the hope of nonviolent resistance to armed military occupation. I read it aloud to my sweetie, but at the end I was crying so hard I had to stop and take several breaks.

A stylish and sensitive story of two conjoined twins (played by two real-life twins, not conjoined, who also wrote and directed this film). I really liked it.

I heard the first track on this album, “Keep Going,” on the radio and it’s my new favorite song. Sorta creepy southern roots dub/electronica with crazy chirping frogs in the background and a drawling voice giving directions “to the swamp.” Fabulously strange! This is going to be a centerpiece in my Halloween mix from now on.