book sale and other miscellania

I'm now creating a new nightstand next to my bed, constructed entirely out of books. OK, maybe not, but that's what it looks like now. Penn State's annual book sale (held in the Ag Arena) is going on now. I went in yesterday (half-price day) and got a dozen books for $18. I found some good ones that I'd been looking for for a while: The Crossing and Cities of the Plain (the second two books in Cormac Macarthy's Border Trilogy, which began with All the Pretty Horses, which you should read), Lonsome Dove (which Matt has been telling me I should read for a while), a few classics, a few mysteries, a few throwaway pop novels, and more. Good stuff. We're going back today when Amelia gets off work. It's the last day of the sale, so you go in and buy a bag for $5, and then you get whatever you can fit in the bed. Should be good.

I'm listening to the Monty Python Spamalot soundtrack (the new musical) on Napster. It's odd. It's kind of like a greatest hits of Python songs combined with other stuff. Odd. Not sure how I feel about this. Also not sure if I'll be able to keep this on for the whole album.

We went and saw The Interpreter this weekend. It was a pretty good film. I feel like there were still a couple plot holes/overly convenient bits to it, but I'm pretty picky. I really liked the story and I thought Sean Penn was great in it. Nicole Kidman was pretty good too, though sometimes she seems like the type of person that I would never want to meet in real life. I don't know why. Anyway, this movie's cool for a couple of reasons. First of all, the plot revolves around a made-up African country and a made-up language, and I always think it's kind of cool when people come up with new languages just for entertainment. Except for Klingon. Even more interesting, though, is the fact that this is the first film that has actually been filmed on the floor of the UN. It has some interesting and good things to say about the role of the UN in international diplomacy, etc. Plus it lends a certain gravitas to the scenes filmed on the floor. But lest the politics scare you off, this is as much a psychological thriller as it is a political examination. It was just entertaining. Like I said, it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough that I came out of the movie liking it despite catching flaws.

OK, this song is pretty funny. It starts out soft and quiet with the lines "Once in every show/there comes a song like this/it starts out soft and low/and ends up with a kiss" which is true, if you ever have gone to or listened to a musical. It's pretty funny. The whole song is just about making fun of how Broadway songs always sound ("And now we'll change the key, etc.")

Well, I'm off to try and clean out the storage closet today. At least that's the goal. We'll see what happens.