Heading Home With Your Newborn

This is one of the better books I've read in preparation for the arrival of our little one.

The Cartoon Introduction to Economics

Cartoons, economics. Fun to read; and I learned something about economics, as well: tax equivalence was something I hadn't read about before.

Suspicion

We watched this old Hitchcock film on DVD. As Ming said during the film, "Cary Grant never plays a bad guy." He's good at being nasty, though: the role reminded me of his role as TR Devlin in Notorious.

Mildred Pierce

Here are some photos from the HBO production of Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet. They are filming exteriors in our neighborhood: when I looked out our bedroom window this morning onto the adjoining alley, I could see the top of Kate Winslet's head as they were rehearsing a scene. They had constructed a mini-set in the alley, which was all gone by the time I got home from work.

A Touch of Greatness

This film about an inspiring teacher is really worth watching. It is indirectly an indictment about our educational systems as well. Both uplifting and depressing at the same time.

The Duchess of Duke Street

This BBC series is available over streaming Netflix. I found the first few episodes of the first season enthralling (the main character is quite the "character"), but I got somewhat bored while Ming watched the rest of the season. Still, it is high-quality television.

Op-Ed Contributor - Allergy-Free New York - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - Allergy-Free New York - NYTimes.com

This article about trees and pollen in New York City is fascinating. Humans are causing more allergies through selection of trees to plant!

Peter and Max

This book, based on the universe from the comic book Fables, is a delightful read. Like the comic, the characters are drawn from familiar children's story characters (mostly): it tells the story of Peter Piper, Bo Beep, and the Pied Piper of Hamlin (who is Peter's brother). Like the comic, it also has some of its weaknesses: most of the characters are developed without much depth (in particular, Max the Pied Piper), and the ending just slams the book to a halt. Nonetheless, if you like Fables, you should read this book.

Punished By Rewards

This book talks about the problems with using carrots (as opposed to sticks) with children, in the workplace, and in society. A bit long-winded and full of anecdotal evidence, but the book presents a very plausible theory of how people dislike any efforts to subvert their control (whether real or perceived) over their lives.

Milk

Wow, a remarkable performance by Sean Penn: he truly lost himself in the title role of Harvey Milk. Not enough time to write something that does justice to this movie, so I'll just say I loved it.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

This morality play is entertaining (if a little black-and-white, both in its plot and literally in the film color). Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne: two of the great actors of their generations. The difficulty of Jimmy Stewart's position would have been made clearer with a bit more exposition of his life as a Senator, but that's just nit-picking. Well worth watching.

Frost/Nixon

Fascinating film about an event of which I have no recollection; of course, I was only 8 at the time. Who knew that Diane Sawyer worked for the Nixon White House?

Economic View - When a First Choice May Not Be the Best Choice - NYTimes.com

Economic View - When a First Choice May Not Be the Best Choice - NYTimes.com

This article is funny: especially the point about CEO's.

Noguchi Museum

 
We finally made it out to the Noguchi Museum (or more accurately, had the opportunity to stop in on our way home) today. It is a lovely little museum out in the hinterlands of Long Island City: difficult to reach by public transit.

Aging and vision

Well, I've hit the age where males start noticing bodily changes. Besides various internal inspections of organs, I was finally told I need bifocals for presbyopia. Everyone said it would happen at 40, and it eventually did!

Being female must be so much more difficult than being male: so many more physical changes over one's lifetime! And, of course, pregnancy...

xkcd: Computer Problems

xkcd: Computer Problems

Parenting

I've been reading Alfie Kohn's fascinating book Punished By Rewards (which I was led to by Daniel Pink's book Drive), which argues for a radical rethinking of how we interact: in particular, with respect to rewards.

As I read more about him online, I found the article linked to by the title of this post. That article summarizes his philosophy with respect to praise (as a reward) and parenting. I like the philosophy very much, but it is also a troubling indictment of our incentive-driven society.

Legacy of Ashes

This fantastic history of the CIA is kind of depressing: it shows how organizational dysfunction can be caused by inadequate/bad/misguided leadership, as well as the inability of our Presidents to use the CIA appropriately. If you want to know all of the crazy/illogical/misguided things that the CIA has done in the name of America, read this book.

I was particularly intrigued by the portrait of President Clinton as uninterested/uninformed about the rest of the world. Even though President George W. Bush was not very well informed, the picture that the author paints of Clinton's initial years in the White House is not very different.

YouTube - Top Secret DrumCorps Basel Tattoo

YouTube
- Top Secret DrumCorps Basel Tattoo

Pretty amazing!

Joe Wong at RTCA Dinner

YouTube
- Joe Wong at RTCA Dinner

This Chinese-American comedian is pretty funny!

Tying shoelaces

Interesting information about tying shoelaces. I learned that not all knots are the same recently: apparently, about half the time I mistie my laces!

Capote

It is clear that Philip Seymour Hoffmann deserved his Oscar for his portrayal of Truman Capote in this film. There was something essential missing from the film, though: the fact that writing "In Cold Blood" may have destroyed the rest of his career was missing from the storyline, since the movie ends with the execution of the killers. Still, a compelling movie to watch.

Event Horizon

One of the wonderful things about Madison Square Park is the public art that has appeared here regularly. The latest exhibit is quite fun: 31 life-sized statues placed all around the park (a lot on top of landmark buildings in the neighborhood). Check them out!

Up in the Air

This film starring George Clooney was a wonderful film to watch: witty dialogue, great characterization, interesting plot, great acting. A far better film than Avatar, certainly. It feels like it belongs with "Michael Clayton" in George Clooney's output: a "really good" (and I mean that in a non-grade-inflated, good way) movie that didn't achieve blockbuster status. Highly recommended.

Drive

Drive, by Daniel Pink, is a fascinating book about work vs. play, motivation and money. Some experiments have shown that economic incentives ($) can actually lower the long-term performance of so-called "knowledge workers". That is, performing an interesting task (i.e., writing software) can become less interesting to workers if management links performance too heavily to pay. The best explanation in the book for that is that it takes away the worker's sense of autonomy: people want to work, and they want to solve interesting and worthwhile problems.

Well worth reading. The author gave a talk about his book at work, but I wasn't able to listen to the talk, unfortunately.

Dexter Season 3

Wow, what a great series. The series uses the guise of a serial killer to explore human relationships; the writing is fantastic, and the acting is very compelling. Jimmy Smits must have loved playing the psychotic Miguel Prado; what an over-the-top character!

Can't wait to watch the 4th season, with John Lithgow!

Lords of Finance

This lovely book tells the story of the Great Depression, and how many errors (both political and economic) led to it, as well as World War II. The time span roughly covers the founding of the Federal Reserve system to Bretton Woods, and introduces many important historical figures. It is remarkable how the "conventional" experts failed: how astute John Maynard Keynes was, and FDR was the right person in the right place, and how the poor health of Benjamin Strong led to his premature passing from a critical position in the world's financial leadership. This book is a very easy read, and well worth it to show how hard it is to understand macroeconomics.

Ghost Writer

An excellent film from Roman Polanski. The film felt like it was filmed in the US (which was surprising to me, since he is still being held in Switzerland), but apparently it was all shot in Germany. It's a political thriller with some surprises and filled with all kinds of recognizable actors/actresses. I recommend it highly.

Pasita

We went with our friends Frank and Jinyang to this little hole-in-the-wall tapas place. Not a huge selection of tapas, but not bad nonetheless; and the pizza was quite good. Prices were reasonable, although not that cheap. Recommended if you're looking for decent food (but not high-end).

USA Networks Character Approved

We got to go to the Character Approved awards given by USA Networks to "characters" who have shaped our culture. One of our friends was given an award (I don't want to drop names, so I'll let you guess who it was). It was an entertaining media event: there were lots of TV types there (although we only recognized Jeff Goldblum). Several other people seemed familiar.

Robin Hood

We finished watching the first season of BBC's recent Robin Hood series. It's not very believable, but still fun and entertaining to watch. If you're not looking for authenticity, it's pretty decent TV (certainly by American sitcom standards).

SD26

We went to this relatively high-end Italian restaurant north of Madison Square Park. Nice ambience (and not too noisy, as we were there on the early side). We ordered several "half-sized" entries, which was not cheap, but gave us a chance to sample their cooking. The food was lovely, and not overly salty like some restaurants we've eaten at lately. The octopus was really tender, and the squab was delicious.

Dexter Season 2

Wow, another great season of Dexter. I love this show: great writing focused on character development, a plotline that stretches through an entire season, and really good acting. The sister character turns out to have real depth in this season, too. Great stuff!

Super Bowl!

Wow, an exciting game! The Colts were outcoached and outplayed. Sean Payton's decision to open the second half with an onside kick was gutsy, as was his call to go for it on fourth down at the end of the first half. Although I'm not a Saints fan, I am delighted that they won for New Orleans. Plus, I was getting tired of all the hype in the media about how great Peyton Manning is: they were anointing him the best of his era even before the game happened.

The Who

Well, a surprisingly tight Super Bowl game. The Who is just sad: Daltrey can't hit any of the really high notes in the songs anymore; neither can he sustain his lines. I don't know why agreed to do this sad performance.

Dexter

We started watching Season 1 of Dexter on DVD. Wow, fantastic stuff! Great TV, albeit a bit bloody. The writing is great: one continuous background story across an entire TV season. The story speaks to the alienation that all of us experience (although in extremely exaggerated form). If you can't take the bloodiness, though, don't watch it.

Metropolitan Museum: French Art Deco

We saw an exhibition at the Met titled "Masterpieces of French Art Deco", which included panels from a mural that came from a crazy French ship called the Normandie. Titled The History of Navigation, the mural reflects an era of luxury ended by The Great Depression.

Coraline

This movie based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name is quite good: it tells the story of a brave little girl's battle with an evil witch. It does the book justice, based on my memory of the book, in creating a magical alternate reality that the witch manufactures to lure Coraline into her trap. It's probably too scary for young kids, though.

Dexter

We started watching the first season of Dexter. Creepy, bloody stuff, but the series does a wonderful job of creating a set of compelling characters (and a gripping storyline).

Julie and Julia

An enjoyable little movie: Meryl Streep is stunning in her performance as Julia Child. Stanley Tucci is great as her husband, and it was fun to see Jane Lynch as her sister. The rest of the story (about "Julie") was not very interesting. Nonetheless, the movie is fun to watch.

The End of Overeating

This book by David Kessler, who was commissioner of the FDA, talks about the research showing that the combination of sugar, fat, and salt can be considered addictive to many people. Well worth reading.

A Face in the Crowd

Wow, Elia Kazan's film about media, advertising, and politics (and the corruption that power brings) is fantastic. Andy Griffith got to act his head off, and go over the top in every scene he was in. Well worth watching! It speaks to a more naive time in American history, when media manipulation was much more obvious, in many ways.

Jets!

I missed a lot of the second half, but turned the tv back on to see the Chargers get to 17-14. I still cannot believe the Jets won!

Kathi Roll

Kathi rolls (or kati rolls, I can't tell what the right spelling is from the various restaurant names) are basically Indian burritos. Yummy, and relatively cheap too!

District 9

This film was great! Much better than Avatar, certainly. The main character/actor was hilarious as a nebbish who stumbles into big problems. A definite must-watch if you like science fiction.

The Battle of Algiers

This fantastic film about the Algerian revolution is well worth watching. It feels like a documentary, but it isn't; but it isn't really fiction either. It revolves around historical events of the time, and tells the story of the FLN (the Algerian rebel group) and the French police and soldiers who are tasked with bringing down the FLN. It demonstrates how they wind up succeeding in their short-term goal of pacifying Algiers, but fail at retaining the cost of the country. Probably most apropos to our current war is the scene where the French lieutenant tells the press that his methods (torture) are necessary if France is to retain possession of Algiers.

The Princess of Nebraska

This odd movie about a Chinese woman who travels to San Francisco to get an abortion is very difficult to follow. The cinematography is gorgeous, but otherwise I couldn't appreciate the movie very well.

South Pacific

This revival at Lincoln Center (the Vivian Beaumont Theater) was glorious to watch. If you get chance to see this musical, it is well worth it. A lot of memorable songs, and some really great actors with beautiful voices.

Mark Waid

I recently spent some time catching up with comics. Mark Waid has written some great stuff. Empire is a story about a supervillain who takes over the earth. Very dark stuff, but not as dark as Irredeemable, an ongoing series about a super-powered hero who doesn't have the emotional capacity to be a hero, and instead becomes a villain. Both are well worth reading!

Sherlock Holmes

What's Christmas without a nice action movie? Sherlock Holmes has an intricate plot, great actors, and fine entertainment value. Robert Downey, Jr. is always a pleasure to watch, and Jude Law was a great Dr. Watson. Rachel McAdams wasn't that compelling, unfortunately, but that's not that surprising given the imposing actors she had to work with. The mysterious Professor Moriarty was clearly held back for a sequel; hopefully next year---although I don't know how Robert Downey, Jr. has time for all of the movies he is involved with.

Prime Suspect

We watched Prime Suspect 2, part of Prime Suspect 4, and started Prime Suspect 3. Helen Mirren is fun to watch in this role, although the accents are a bit hard to parse.

Legend of the Seeker

This series is a guilty pleasure: the episodes that we happen upon fun are always fun to watch. The writing is mildly predictable, and the situations amusingly contrived. But it's always fun, especially since I grew up on Dungeons and Dragons.

Avatar

Well, James Cameron's blockbuster 3D movie surprised me. As expected, the writing was predictable and (to be generous) the dialogue was not very interesting. A few jabs at Bush, and the story is a parable about evil corporations destroying a native civilization in search of profit (by mining the stupidly named "unobtainium", if I heard correctly!). Unexpectedly, the movie was compelling due to the 3D visuals. I agree with the NPR reviewer, who said that the 3D-ness blended in: for much of the movie I forgot that it was a 3D movie. Cameron did a great job of creating a reality on screen that sucks you in (despite the movie's weaknesses), and for that it was worth watching. As a side note, I was also amazed that Ming liked the movie more than I did.

Citizenship

Ming is now a citizen! The swearing-in was mildly bureaucratic: 153 new citizens from 53 countries were minted today in Manhattan. No cameras or cell phones were allowed in the federal courthouse, so we could not take any pictures.

The Royal Family

We saw the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of The Royal Family, a parody of the famous Barrymore family. Quite a fun production, with a lot of well-known character actors. They all got to ham it up quite a bit, and there is some sparkling dialogue. We saw the final performance, and the theater was quite full with "theater people". One of our friends saw Tommy Tune, for example.

Stiff

I've been slowly reading this book in the mornings while on the subway going to the squash club. It was a difficult book to get into, mostly because I'm a little squeamish about dead bodies (which is what this book is about). But it is highly informative and entertaining: the author, Mary Roach, is pretty hilarious. Definitely worth reading, as long as you can stomach the topic.

Prime Suspect 1

We watched the first season of Prime Suspect. Much of the plot centered around the sexism in the British police force, and how Helen Mirren's character broke through the (non-glass) ceiling to run a murder investigation. A well-written and well-acted story, and there were all sorts of famous British actors: Tom Wilkinson, Zoe Wanamaker, Ralph Fiennes, to mention the most well-known.

Becoming Jane

James McAvoy and Anne Hathaway: a beautiful acting couple. This piece of historical fiction has lots of tiny touches that remind one of Jane Austen's works. I noticed the relationships of the story to Pride and Prejudice: the documentary on the DVD mentioned many more. An entertaining movie, if not very deep.

Prime Suspect 6

We watched the 6th season of Prime Suspect, a British procedural starring Helen Mirren. A younger competitor in her department is played by Ben Miles (who was in the BBC series Coupling, as well as the recent production of The Norman Conquests on Broadway). Why do the British make such high-quality TV?

Due South Season Three

We finally finished watching this series. It definitely jumped the shark somewhere during that season: still, it was an amusing cast of characters to watch. The ending was a bit disappointing, though.

New Moon

I went to see this movie (albeit reluctantly), since Thanksgiving is the natural time for vampires and werewolves. Unfortunately, my worst fears were realized: this movie is not worth watching. Overwrought teenaged angst, no plot: what more could you expect from a bad movie?

Matt Damon

I saw Matt Damon outside the Mandarin Oriental hotel near Columbus Circle. I was too lazy to get a photo on my cell phone, though.

Reilly, Ace of Spies

We watched this 4-CD series, which was a fascinating (semi-fictional) story of Sidney Reilly, the first international superspy. Well done, although it was weird to see Russians and Germans speak English with an English accent. Sam Neill played the ruthless Reilly with aplomb.

Random Passage

This mini-series is a beautiful adaption of a novel of the same name about the settling of Newfoundland. I don't think I can do it justice, other than to say that it is well worth watching. The main character, Mary Andrews, is fantastic; and it was good to see Colm Meaney in a non-Star Trek role as one of the other important characters.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

A fascinating cast of characters inhabits this entertaining book about the world of rare book dealers and thieves. Well, one thief in particular. The author, Allison Hoover Bartlett, finds an interesting way to tell the story of John Gilkey, an obsessive book thief, but the insertion of her own commentary and self-reflection into the narrative ultimately are boring, as there is no real resolution to her own involvement in the story.

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

This radiant film about an elderly woman's accidental discovery of friendship with a genial young man is well worth watching. There isn't much more to say: it's a beautiful story about aging.

Complications

This fantastic book (a National Book Award finalist) by Atul Gawande about a surgeon's experiences in his residency is well worth reading. Hopefully you are able to cope with the descriptions of the cutting of human flesh: I found it painful to read at times (which is why I didn't become a physician). But it is refreshing to read Gawande's explanation about how he (and doctors in general) thinks about his profession. This book is more about surgery than his more recent book, Better.

How to Steal a Million

This Audrey Hepburn/Peter O'Toole romantic comedy is light-hearted and warm. Audrey Hepburn is stunningly beautiful, as in all of her movies. The documentary on the DVD about her life was also done well; I hadn't realized that she had spent so much energy in trying to help Africa.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Wow, two of my favorite actors: Robert Downey, Jr., and Val Kilmer. The movie is hilarious! Definitely worth watching, if you don't mind a little gratuitous violence. The self-referential plot is quite clever.

Mrs. Henderson Presents

An entertaining film that is based on a true story: a widow buys a music hall. She finds a manager who comes up with the idea of having naked women stand still, as if in a museum. Sounds trite, but it's a nice story with some fine actors (Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins). Definitely worth watching.

When Do We Eat?

This movie set around a sedar is pretty hilarious. The plot is crazy beyond belief, and full of zany one-liners and funny plot points. Deserves to have a cult following!

Finding Amanda

This cute movie was enjoyable and touching. Matthew Broderick displayed his usual lack of range and portrayed a clueless schlub; Brittany Snow was great as his prostitute niece. And Maura Tierney, who is always great fun to watch, played Broderick's long-suffering wife.

Poor People

I started this incredibly well-written book, but couldn't finish it, as it was too depressing. The author, William Vollmann, sure can write: but he writes about a topic that is guaranteed to make you sad: impoverished people across the world.

Quinceañera

This movie is a beautiful coming-of-age story. The story opens and closes around a sweet-sixteen party (named Quinceañera), and in the middle explores the relationships in a religious Hispanic family riven by internal conflicts. Very enjoyable film.

Barcelona

This movie was a fun story about Barcelona in the early 1980's. Virulent anti-Americanism and stupid Americans make for plenty of humor; and the dialogue was snappy and well-written. Thumbs up!

The Long Goodbye

We watched this long movie over a couple of nights. Excellent movie, in the way all Altman movies are excellent: they tell great stories with interesting characters. Elliot Gould in his youth was fantastic as Philip Marlowe.

Brideshead Revisited

We decided to watch the "classic" British television serial (10 episodes) based on the novel. After just a few episodes, it was clear that the movie that we watched sucked, big time. The series is beautifully done, and is far more about the influence of religion (in particular, Catholicism) on the characters' lives. Definitely worth watching!

Microsoft Money replacement

Hey, now this is incredibly useful...a way to keep using MS Money after Microsoft is done supporting it...

This post has gotten a lot of hits, so let me clarify. The link takes you to a python script that you can adapt to download quotes into MS Money. You have to understand a little bit of programming (and Python, in particular) to be able to use it, unfortunately. If you have that knowledge, this is a great way to work around the end of MS Money.

Trader Joe's

Wow, a Trader Joe's within a few blocks of our apartment: that would be outrageously wonderful!

Amsterdam

Since I enjoyed the movie Atonement (based on a novel by Ian McEwan), I thought I should read Amsterdam, which won the Booker Prize in 1998. The novel is beautifully written, but dark and verging on depressing in the way it portrays humanity. I hope Mr. McEwan has a more optimistic outlook on life than his novels depict! Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this novel.

Eastwick

We watched the new TV show Eastwick, which is based on the novel by John Updike (which I haven't read). It was entertaining since one the stars is Paul Gross, who was in Slings and Arrows and Due South, two old series that we've watched in the last year. Nothing profound, and somewhat predictable (especially since I'm familiar with the basic plot), but amusing.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Because we have been watching Brideshead Revisited (with the actor Anthony Andrews), we decided to watch another movie that he stars in: The Scarlet Pimpernel. Filmed a long time ago, when he and Jane Seymour were young. A corny and predictable plot, but entertaining (especially in how it makes fun of the French.

Atonement

This film, which was nominated for many Oscars, was beautiful to watch. A bit depressing, but very well written and acted. I can see why it was so well-liked by the Academy: it's a "feel-bad" story about life and about story-telling itself. Highly recommended.

Prisoner of the State

I tried to read this book, which consists of Zhao Ziyang's notes about his life (and Tiananmen, in particular). Unfortunately, my knowledge of contemporary Chinese politics is fairly weak, and the notes were pretty dry analyses of what went wrong: nothing really gripping, other than the historical context. So eventually I gave up: the first book I haven't finished in a while.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Finally got around to watching this movie, which was quite entertaining. David Yates (who is apparently directing the last 4 of the Potter movies) did a good job of producing a film from a rather dense book. It's been several years since I read the book, and the book did a great job of hitting the book's highlights (and even throwing in some details without tedious explanation). Take that, Chris Columbus!

The High Line

 

We went to see the High Line park that opened this summer. It was quite crowded, but for most of its length the crowdedness was bearable. (At the current northern end that wasn't the case: it was too busy). Overall, a nice experience and pretty park: the elevated walk is quite nice!

Nisos

Had dinner at this Greek restaurant. Good food (and good-sized portions) at a very reasonable price. Highly recommended; I'd like to go back when it's not after a long work day; as it was, we were both very tired and didn't quite enjoy it as much as we should have.

Slumdog Millionaire

We finally got around to watching last year's winner of the Best Picture Oscar: and it was well worth it. The story was very well written, and the kids were really cute. The main plot sure made India look like a pretty corrupt place, though: it would be interesting to know if that was accurately done.

Slumdog Millionaire

We finally got around to watching last year's winner of the Best Picture Oscar: and it was well worth it. The story was very well written, and the kids were really cute. The main plot sure made India look like a pretty corrupt place, though: it would be interesting to know if that was accurately done.

Due South Season Three

We've been watching episodes of this season on and off (Netflix is great!). It's not as fun as the first two seasons: Callum Keith Rennie (who recently was on the Battlestar Galactica series as a Cylon) wasn't as entertaining as Benton Fraser's partner. Still, an interesting series to watch: I like seeing how Canadians portray American society.

Revolutionary Road

This novel is a beautifully written book about two depressingly useless people in the 1950's. I found the book hard to finish, as all of the primary characters are revoltingly unhappy with their lives. I wonder whether the movie was worth watching? DiCaprio and Winslet make a great cast.

I read this book mostly because of the relation to the TV show Mad Men (which is fantastically good). But even though the TV show's characters are in some ways just as unhappy as the characters in the book, it is far more palatable to watch their behavior and actions on a screen (vs. reading their innermost thoughts).

Charlie Wilson's War

A quite-funny and too-obviously-topical movie about the unintended consequences of the American covert intervention in the Afghan war. Tom Hanks really looked like the real Charlie Wilson!

Brideshead Revisited

We watched this film, which was gorgeously filmed but kind of dull. The reviews were not so good: apparently the TV serial from ITV is much better. Castle Howard sure looks nice, though!

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

I watched my first film on "Instant" Netflix. Pretty poor resolution, but it was fine for this movie. The movie itself was pretty hilarious, and very "NY" in its storyline. Very un-PC, though!

The Holiday

We watched this puff-piece (entertaining, though) on DVD. I loved seeing Eli Wallach (his tough-guy movies long behind him). The mention of Ennio Morricone's music was cute, too.

A Ship of the Line

I think I've read enough of the Hornblower series. The three I read (Beat to Quarters, A Ship of the Line, and Flying Colours) are pretty good, and capture the central part of Hornblower's (fictional) career. Entertaining stuff, even though Hornblower was a bit neurotic in his insecurities.

El Vez

An oddly decorated Mexican "diner" (at least in the decorative style) with great Mexican food! I really wanted to try their guacamole (they had seven! different kinds), but I wasn't hungry enough. I thought the tacos would be less of a meal, but I was still stuffed afterwards. And this restaurant is right across from Capogiro Gelateria: what more could one want?

Tinto

Dinner at Tinto was quite a treat. Their tapas was excellent, and like everything in Philadelphia, the price was much more affordable than Manhattan!

Capogiro Gelateria

We spent a weekend in Philadelphia, and the highlight of the trip (for me, at least) was this wonderfully delicious gelato store. It was incredibly good gelato: probably the best I've had in the US.

Pride and Prejudice

I finally got around to reading this novel, and on my new iPhone, no less. It was odd reading on an electronic device, but I got used to it. I tended to skim while reading on the iPhone, but maybe not too much more than when I read a novel whose plot I know pretty well (from the many film adaptations that I have seen).

Boy, what a "talky" novel: there is minimal description, and lots of dialogue!