TOTAL for April 2006:

• 13 new books (.43 books per day): listened to 12, read 1, relistened to 1, lost interest in 2


• 21 new movies (.70 movies per day), lost interest in 1


• 1 radio/performance (Woody Allen)


• 39 entries total (1.3 entries per day)


• lost interest in Wickett's Remedy : A Novel by Myla Goldberg (2005) -- from the author of Bee Season, story of a soft drink, too long


• read The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston (2002) -- biological weapons, from the last page: "The virus's last strategy for survival was to bewitch its host and become a source of power."


• watched small chunks of The Great Raid (2005) -- too violent

• watched The Beat That My Heart Skipped "De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrêté" (2005) -- remake of Fingers, excellent soundtrack, violent, negative view of landlords


• watched Rent (2005) -- another negative view of landlords, glamourizes heroin, poverty, senseless bohemia; "Take Me or Leave Me" worthwhile

• watched Howl's Moving Castle "Hauru no ugoku shiro" (2004)


• watched Serenity (2005)

• listened to The Deadhouse by Linda Fairstein (2004) -- Lola Dakota? very noir

• watched La Flor de Mi Secreto "The Flower of My Secret" (1995) -- abandonment, new beginnings, mother, village


• watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

• watched Lords of Dogtown (2005)

• listened to 9/11 Commission Report Executive Summary read by Grover Gardner (2004) -- unity of purpose, unity of effort


• listened to The Teammates : A Portrait of Friendship written by David Halberstam, read by Tate Donovan (2003) -- ballplayers from the legendary Boston Red Sox teams of the 1940s: Ted Williams, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr


• watched The Girl in the Café (2005) -- one movement

• watched The Polar Express (2004) -- forced insertion of modern culture (i.e. Aerosmith) defaces this children's classic

• listened to Tuesdays with Morrie : An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson written and read by Mitch Albom (2004)


• watched The Constant Gardener (2005) -- Excellent, same director as City of God

• listened to Gilgamesh : A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell, narrated by (2004) -- Cliff Notes at the end worth listening to, very helpful explanations

• listened to Jackie, Ethel, Joan : Women of Camelot written by J. Randy Taraborrelli, read by Beth Fowler (2000) -- Kennedy men are bastards

• listened to Bait and Switch : The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich (2005) -- the inept leading the hopeful


• lost interest in Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (2005) -- stopped at the end of disc 7 of 16

• listened to Homegrown Democrat by Garrison Keillor (2004)

• listened to Standup Comic by Woody Allen (1999)

• listened to The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Neffenegger (2003)


• watched The Mother (2003)

• relistened to Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett (1997)

• watched Jarhead (2005)


• watched Panic (2000)

• watched The Price of Milk (2000) -- must be a Boxer, Karl Urban played Eomer

• listened to The Best Democracy Money Can Buy : An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth About Globalization, Corporate Cons, and High-Finance Fraudsters by Greg Palast (2002)


• watched Revolution #9 (2001) -- man becomes psychotic


• watched A Tree of Palme "Parumu no Ki" (2002)


• watched Under the Sun "Under Solen" (1998) -- "There is no new thing under the sun." Bible, Ecclesiastes i. 9.; "I said yes."

• watched Mysterious Skin (2004) -- UFOs, Little League, child abuse, memory, friendship

• listened to Down Came the Rain : My Journey Through Postpartum Depression by Brooke Shields (2005)


• watched Thumbsucker (2005) -- are you ready to let go of your thumb, it used to be a real hassle to put on underwear in the morning, now not so much, debate, Rx, we're all addicted to something, mother issues, oedipal complex, infantilism

• listened to Kiss Me Like a Stranger : My Search for Love and Art by Gene Wilder (2005)


• watched Once Upon a Mattress (2005) -- another version of the 1959 Broadway hit; in the 1964 and 1972 versions, Carol Burnett played Princess Winnifred


• watched Sin City (2005) -- modern film noir, well executed, highly styled, overly violent