Pars

We got takeout from this excellent Persian restaurant. We were very pleased with the two dishes we had, a chicken in pomegranate sauce (fesenjen), and an eggplant stew. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from our apartment, which was pleasant given the nice weather we've been having!

Slings and Arrows, Season 2

I loved the first season of this Canadian show (only 6 episodes in each season, unfortunately). The second season is even better! The storylines feel tighter, and the mad life of the main character, Geoffrey Tennant, is just fun to watch. The over-the-top performances of some of the characters is just hilarious, too!

3 Women

This mysterous Robert Altman film is incredible to watch, although confusing as anything if you try to analyze it. My advice on the latter: don't. It feels like a weird precursor to Blue Velvet or any other of David Lynch's films.

Food Matters

Mark Bittman (who has a great blog in the NY Times on food) wrote a short book that summarizes succinctly what many other books/authors have been saying (the most famous of whom may be Michael Pollan): eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables. The book is filled with delicious-sounding recipes!

The Police Building

We walked by this interesting building tonight. It's quite a sight!

The Evolving World

This book is a detailed (and fairly tedious) exposition of how evolutionary biology ties into many aspects of modern life. I skimmed lots of it, given its dryness. There were some fascinating facts in the book, but overall it did not grab my attention.

Wave Hill

This beautiful little garden/park/grounds is a nice visit, although certainly out of the way. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any photos to post. The website is pretty accurate, though.

Slings and Arrows

We watched the first season of this excellent Canadian comedy about a small-town acting troupe. Rachel McAdams (who is in this year's "State of Play") was in it. No one else that we recognized, but the cast is great. Definitely worth watching!

Neverwhere

This BBC series is very odd (as befits something written by Neil Gaiman). I hadn't realized until I read the wikipedia entry (linked above) that the series preceded the book of the same name. I preferred the book, although the series was fun to watch.

Lost

Well, the second-to-last season of Lost is over! One more left. The last episode of this previous season started to tie up story lines, with the mandatory cliffhanger (which became obvious as the episode wound to its close).

Who is that guy who killed Jacob? Hmm...

Star Trek

Wow, JJ Abrams and Star Trek. All in all, an excellent reboot of the series and some good storytelling. There were some bits of physical humor that seemed a little out of place (but were OK in retrospect), and a bit too much of a few characters running madly around the Enterprise. But certainly worth watching, especially if you're into Star Trek/science fiction.

Your Inner Fish

This excellent book about our relationship to fish (as expressed in DNA and physiological evidence) is a great, easy read. A great overview of how evolutionary theory (it's not "just" a "theory"), and how the evidence through fossils, DNA, embryology, and anatomical comparisons all line up.

State of Play

At the behest of my wise cousin Pauline, we got the BBC series State of Play (she posted a comment that the series was great, after I blogged about the new Russell Crowe movie). Indeed, it was great, and far better than the movie. The only downside to watching the series is that the movie preserved all of the essential plot elements, so that we didn't have that many surprises. Oh well, still a fantastically well-done TV serial!

How To Live

I don't remember where I heard about this book by Henry Alford, but it was an entertaining (if not very deep) book. The full title is: How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth). For some reason I thought it might have some nugget of profundity: instead, it was a funny history of the author's relationship with his mother (and some interviews he scored with various interesting contemporary figures).

I almost fell over laughing over some of his stories/quips, so all in all it was a worthwhile read.