Pop culture round-up...

Reading:

Latest installment of Buffy Season 8, which ended with a total whooooooa moment. I'm still working at learning how to read comics, which sounds silly, but it's very different from just about anything else. Plus, the gap of a month between issues means that I never remember anything, but that just means I have to go back at least an issue to re-read. It totally makes me appreciate how smart Chip must be to hold all those different comics series in his head.

Also: Some book that Oprah recommended called by Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. There are parts that make me roll my eyes, but conceptually I am on-board with the need to quit obsessing about the past & the future and just get on with the living right. now. And the stuff about how fear is paralyzing (for no. good. reason.) also resonates with me. But honestly, I can only do about 6-8 pages a day before I'm ready to do something else. (I like my spiritual enlightenment in small chunk...)

Watching:

A little bit of the Olympics. I dunno. I'm just not that into it. I kinda hate how the coverage is so focused on just specific athletes rather than on specific events. I'm the kind of dork that, if I'm going to watch, I want to see the prelim races and then the final so I see how it all shakes down. Not just the last five seconds when an American wins something. Also, I hate the new gymnastics scoring system, and when exactly did the team competition get boiled down to just 3 gymnasts per country? I much prefer collegiate gymnastics (go Gymdogs!) with 6 per team. Three just feels so rushed And it might've been nice to actually see all four countries, rather than just us and China. I'm just sayin'...

Last night, went to Mamma Mia. First off, how much do I love that there's a theater near my house that is just five bucks? LOVE. Two things: It made me want to run away to some Greek island. So pretty. Also, yes, it is total cheese, but if you just embrace the cheese factor, it is FUN. I kinda dug that nobody dances particularly well, because in truth, most of us don't--but we might like to shimmy and wiggle every once in a while. And I love the fact that Meryl Streep wanted to just do this totally fun, silly movie. And finally: Lily Kane! (Okay, she would probably prefer to be called her real name, but that character from Veronica Mars was so awesome that I may not really ever be able to name her properly.)

On dvd: Blood Diamond. I'd give it a solid B. Leo's accent comes & goes, but I found the story compelling. It was really, really violent though (to be expected I know, what with the civil war business). It is one of those movies where it gives me a little perspective though--we may think things suck here, but duuuuuuuuude. It could be so much worse. We don't even know.

Eating:

Lots of grilled things. The weather's been awesome this week, so I've been firing up the grill a lot. I can eat mountains of veggies if they've been tossed with olive oil & grilled. This week: corn, okra, eggplant, zucchini, onions, and yellow bell pepper from the Tuesday farmer's market. I've been on the road so much lately that I haven't been able to pick up for CSA box for a few weeks--I'm stoked for tomorrow & am planning to do the Saturday market for coffee, bread, and if I'm lucky, goat cheese.

Alrighty, back to the paper I'm working on. I finished one paper this week (a mountain of revisions that nearly pushed me over the edge) and am trying to complete a first draft of another one. Feels good to get the decks cleared a bit before my research grants starts in October. Whee!