Odd bits:
1. Since when did 1970s/1980s era junk become “retro”? I was searching on eBay for a candy jar/canister and waded through a bunch of listings for stuff no more than 20 years old that was characterized as being “retro”, which is apparently a code word for “tacky”.
2. I love my Treo phone, except for the fact that I have to use a wired headset with it. I would pay to have it Bluetooth enabled so that I could have a cute little wireless earpiece while using it in the car. The keyboard does suck on it also, and I covet the Blackberry keyboard. Perhaps I don't love it as much as I'd like to think that I do.
3. Here’s a very funny review of Bill O’Reilly’s book geared toward teens. If you saw this guy standing across the schoolyard from your kids, you would call the police. That smirky smile on the book’s cover just makes him look like a really creepy child molester.

Books: Just One Look by Harlan Coben. His books are always competently written and well-paced, but the complexities of the plot far overshadow how the characters are developed.
Sock by Penn Jillette. How to describe a book told from the point of view of a sock monkey? More pop culture and musical references than I’ve ever seen in a book before. Every page is making me smile.

Movies: Sky Captain and the Whole Freaking World of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. This is what happens when you let engineers take over the production of a movie. Lots and lots of gorgeously rendered backgrounds and action sequences. Beautifully sepia-toned images. Absolutely nothing of interest in the plot or characters. I should disclose that I took a little 45-minute nap in the middle of this movie, so it’s possible I missed something important that would have changed my opinion. But that’s doubtful.
Ladder 49. The reviews on this have been widely divergent, and based on the previews, I was ready for an updated version of Backdraft. This movie, despite the explosions and the races to save children from burning buildings, is not about firefighting at all. It’s the story of a man who made certain choices in his life and his knowledge of the consequences those choices will bring. There is no syrupy, typically American happy ending here, only the truth of those choices.

Dreams: A whole series of bizarre vignettes this morning, all rather movie-like in how they appeared. I was the assistant to a man who had to deliver information to another, more senior-level man, who was creating a presentation on the state of higher education. My boss was not pleased when the uber-boss started talking to me directly and asked me to participate in the presentation. This all took place in a high-ceilinged, darkly-paneled office. Lots of fear, uncertainty, doubt and testosterone was floating around this little scene.