August Round-Up

Oy. I've had way too much to do these past few weeks to even think of a round-up, but I want to get this up before the month of September is over and ANOTHER round-up is due, so here goes.

Movies Seen: Fourteen, with one in a theater, that one being "The Simpsons Movie," which I loved. (Spider Pig!) Of the rented movies I saw, I think "The Lookout" was probably my favorite of the batch.

Books Read: Four. "Heart Like Water," which was about Katrina and its aftermath as seen through the eyes of French Quarter writer who chose to stick it out through the whole thing, was probably the best book I read. "God Is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens was also good, and while I agree wth almost everything he had to say in the book, I still think he's a hugely arrogant prick. The biggest disappointment was Miranda July's "Nobody Belongs Here More Than You," her first collection of short stories. I thought they were all filled with a forced quirkiness that bugged me to to no end.

Fancy Dinners Out: Two. One was another night at the Nob Hill Cafe for some Italian food and twins stalking, although we weren't close enough this time to hear what they talked about. The other was at Garcon on Valencia, and it was pretty good French bistro fare. I had a salad that came with a poached egg and sherry vinegar glazed pancetta that was quite good, but I burned the hell out of my arm on a hot dish of tagliatelle gratin. It would have been nice if they'd warned me about that!

Live Shows Seen: One, which I already wrote about here.

Shoes Bought: None!