I've decided that art does two things. It celebrates that which is beautiful and condemns that which is ugly. Good art does one or the other. Great art does both.

So I've been reading the novels of Dennis Lehane. If you've seen the film Gone, Baby, Gone it's based on the fourth book in a series of detective novels. I pretty much devoured all five books in the series in rapid succession. They're really good contemporary hard-boiled crime fiction ( Read more... )

I want to tell you about a horrible war that happened. It’s a horrible war that took place right in your very home town. It took place in your local bookshop ( Read more... )

So, I haven't posted around here in a while. I figured I'd drop by and say, "Hi. I'm not dead ( Read more... )

Me: "I'm looking at a poster for a TV Show that is described as 'Mind-Blowingly Inappropriate' I was wondering if you had any idea what that meant?"

Laura: "I'm pretty sure that means it's on Fox."

Last night I had the opportunity to see both the Tim Burton film of Sweeney Todd and the new remake of Sleuth. Both are childhood favorites of mine ( Read more... )

Dear Universe ( Read more... )

Every time I go to the kitchen I feel like I don't belong there. I feel like I'm about to transgress on some previously unarticulated protocol. Are those unattended bagels in the middle of the room REALLY for the taking? I grab what I want and then make a mad dash back to my desk where I feel safe again.

So after completing White Jazz, the fourth book in James Ellroy's LA Quartet I decided to give Dresden Files a try. I'd heard the name of this series around various places but never given it a serious look until I had a conversation with wunderworks in the comment thread of another LJ post. I figured I'd give it a try. At lunch I finished Strom Front which ( Read more... )

Three years ago I interviewed at two companies on the same day. The first was a fly-by-night start up located in the basement of what used to be some kind of research laboratory. The other was a rather large, clean, spit-n-polish corporate place ( Read more... )