Today is the day that Cinematech begins, two episodes a night, starting at 10 East/7 Pacific. Bethany's and mine will air at 10:30/7:30 tonight.

I am suddenly very excited about it, even though I don't think I'll be able to watch it live. Fortunately I have asked nearly a hundred people to TiVo it for me, you know, just in case. In fact, you should all TiVo it for me, supposing those hundred or so fall through.

Either way, it would be cool if you watched it and told me what you thought, as long as it is not "oh my god you have the largest butt this side of Jennifer Lopez" because duh, I know that already. But constructive criticism would be super-cool.

Anyone else notice the suspicious influx of the Pedigree "We're for puppies" campaign this weekend before the launch of Nintendogs? Conspiracies, I tell you! During the SVU marathon, no less! One minute Bob and I were ordering the $15 deal from Amazon (with an October 2nd ship date, mind you) and the next minute I was screaming "NOOoooooooooooo PUPPIES!" and determined to buy it at full price, tomorrow. Bastards.

Oh forgive me for heading once again into the world of religious debate, but being as I've just adopted Pastafarianism, I wanted to smile on, pass it on.

The Good: My job description at GS recently changed, and now I'm in charge of Features. It's an honor and totally exciting, and really I'm too busy doing features to be writing about it here, but I pencilled in a few minutes of journal-writing time for myself.

The Bad: I pulled a muscle in my leg last week and couldn't walk for three days. I was hopped up on codeine all weekend and let me tell you, it wasn't as pleasant as it should have been.

The Ugly: I'm walking around now with a cane and a nasty limp. While it's half pimp-worthy, I think it's a sign of trouble when people start calling me grandma.

I have nothing of value to say, so I'm going to just pass you on to things infinitely more interesting. It might seem like a cop-out, but really, you should consider it a favor.

The turn of events in Ireland is compelling enough on its own, however Wikipedia always manages to make cool things even cooler. Reading this article introduced me to Wikipedia's neutrality caveat. If the neutrality of sources for certain articles in their database is questionable, then they dedicate a page to its credibility. I love nonpartisanship!

I've been too busy with work to spend my usual time over at Apple Trailers, but mindcavity keeps on top of things and showed me the trailer for Grizzly Man. After speaking with a friend who went to Sundance, I'm so officially psyched about this movie, I can barely contain myself.

Tim Tracy has a knack for the cool, and passed this hot little video my way. Officially swiped, Tim!

I'm far too lazy to make playlists, so my favorite new pastime is to find portions of my music catalog, alphabetically, that go really well together. Last week was "Moody": Leonard Cohen, Liz Phair (old, mind you), MOP, and Madeleine Peyroux.

This week it's "Catchy with an Edge": Pixies, PJ Harvey, Portishead, The Postal Service, Prince, Prince Paul, and The Prodigy. Feel free to nominate any bands that subscribe to this theme and whose names will automatically be sorted by iTunes into Pi-Pr.

20 minutes ago I was three blocks north of my apartment picking up some soup from my favorite little hole in the wall Vegan Thai Restaurant.

15 minutes ago I was one block north of my apartment coming out of my local bodega after talking to the owner and buying some eggs, which I wanted to have for breakfast tomorrow.

12 minutes ago I was coming back into my apartment when I heard three rounds of gunfire from outside.

10 minutes ago I was back down on the street. (I understand this is the point where you might call me an idiot, but if there was gunfire outside my apartment, I had to know it.)

7 minutes ago I was standing outside my local bodega while the other patron who was in there when I was (a few minutes earlier) told two cops about how he stepped outside the store and the guy standing next to him pulled out a gun and started shooting at a group of kids across the street, who returned fire.

3 minutes ago I came back into my apartment and sat down at my desk.

9:47PM hit return.

My former step-father was Canadian and when he was wooing my mother, my boyfriend at the time and I would always make jokes about Canada because I hate everyone that tries to marry my mother, on principle. So I fell into this nasty habit of making little digs, always masked behind jokes, about Canadians and all kinds of supposed inferiorities that they have.

Of course, it's not even remotely true, and now I'm certain that it's quite the opposite. We have a long way to go before we're as developed as Canada, but in the meantime I can't even think about making those jokes anymore.

...until someone gets their hands on the BFG and makes a terrible CGI movie out of it.

So without giving away anything of substance, I saw Willy Wonka last night and was surprised and pleased at how it was both deferential to the material and unique in its own right. There were a few things I thought were better in the original, and a few I thought better in the remake, so all-in-all it was a good experience.

Also it reminded me that I need to pick up Cry Baby, which has finally been made on DVD.
And possibly Young Frankenstein.

At the theatre, there was a poster for the Transporter 2. I've been quite resistant to the idea of a higher power, but this was the kind of proof I needed to accept one.

The walk home, though hilly, is a place for me to get reading done. I have received an enormous amount of flack about this from friends who can't understand the art of walking and reading at the same time. I don't understand why; I'm not oblivious to the environment and I glance up occasionally. In fact, if you try it, I think you'll be amazed at how little you need to look at where you're going in order to actually get there.

I suppose that I've now just unintentionally rehashed a theme of the book I finished on the walk today, You Shall Know Our Velocity by David Eggers, a book that I had been meaning to read pretty much since I was introduced to the [Order of McSweeney's] almost eight years ago.

Eggers is a great writer, evidenced both in Velocity and his first book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. But I feel that on so many levels, his characters are unrelatable. Not in thought, the emotional conflict of the 20-something is Eggers' forte, but in deed. These incredibly profound characters, who are not necessarily admirable, but are complex and real, act like children. Did I miss the point of the book? I wanted so much for the protagonist to make one decision that I would have made, because I would have then felt the connection. Instead I was supposed to, I believe, be in awe of his absurd decisions, and admire his whim. Perhaps I struggle with it because I'm limited to the realm of non-fiction, and scoff at alternative methods of acquiring peace of mind.

Although the journey through the book ends up being cathartic for the main character, I received no such release. Now I'm sitting here swimming in these thoughts, completely unable to piece them together. I enjoyed the book, but at the same time it pissed me off. I want Eggers to age ten years, figure everything out, and report back to me as soon as possible. Maybe then, I'll get his velocity.