Off to T&C

Isaac and I are on the plane. Dallas ETA is 2:13 p.m. CDT. We're still debating whether to start with a cocktail in flight. "Vodka or virgin," Isaac just said, "that is the question." (We decided against first class; Isaac would have felt obligated to "tie one on.")

The second-annual Memorial Day Weekend Tea & Crumpets Affair awaits.

Fall has arrived

LAS VEGAS — After a four-day summer that saw two heat records, the desert southwest welcomed the first day of fall on Wednesday.

Meteorologists predicted highs in the mid-80s for Wednesday, just two days after a high of 108 obliterated by 6 degrees the date's previous record.

By Friday, experts with the National Weather Service said, winter will have arrived, with a high as low as 71.

Listing, Part 2

At the Review-Journal we've recently started sort of a blogging book club — certain staffers with large reading appetites write about books they've read (here's one of Anne's on this page.

So I've been thinking about blogging and reading. Unfortunately, I'm slow at both. But here's my list of my five favorite books (in order, of course):

1. "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
This 1980 Pulitzer Prize-winner was published 11 years after the author's death. His mother had hounded southern Louisiana professors for years in hope she'd find someone who would recommend the work. She finally found her mark in Walker Percy, himself a novelist who was then a member of the faculty of Loyola University in New Orleans. The head "Dunce," Ignatius J. Reilly, is one of literature's classic characters.

2. "Travels With Charley" by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck's nonfiction story of his 1960 Long Island-to-California journey with his faithful poodle. His description of bears in national parks is one of the funniest things I've read.

3. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
Like "Dunces" and Nabakov and "Heart of Darkness," I was slow to get to "Gatsby" and other classics. Wonder if the Barstow Unified School District is to be blamed. After reading this one, I couldn't remember why I had disregarded it so long.

4. "A Walk in the Woods," Bill Bryson
I wanted to include a Bryson book on the list; I'm not certain this is my favorite among his works. But it was the first one I read and is much-loved.

5. "What's the Matter with Kansas," Thomas Frank
Over the past 3-4 years I've read nonfiction primarily. Especially politics. Franks is probably the best writer among those I've read (apologies to Malcolm Gladwell and Al Franken, who is actually quite good). The author's main question: Why do so many people (especially in rural and suburban Kansas, where he was raised) vote against there own economic self-interest? The "backlash," he calls it, as he travels to every corner of the state.

Listing, Part 1

While I have yet to see "Once," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "The Savages" and many others, here are my five favorite movies of 2007:

1. "No Country For Old Men"
2. "There Will Be Blood"
3. "The Bourne Supremecy"
4. "Across the Universe"
5. " Charlie Wilson's War"

Hello

12 May 2008 — My first blog post. The end.