For Shane

Caliope, Chairman of the Board, Asphodel

Ron and I were watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and this guy came who was supposed to Bajorian (you know with the wrinkly noses and one big earring) and he looked EXACTLY like Harmid Karzai, the President of Afghanastain. EXACTLY!

I finished the Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Dr. Cutler. I'm passing it on to Robin and then Ron. Now I'm started reading The Tree Bride which is follow up to Desirable Daughters by Bharti Mukherjee. I'm really excited about it. The next few weeks are crazy busy with work so I might not post a lot.

I hope that Lisa found her way here.

I have a horrible cold. So Sunday I stayed in and read a trashy book -- For Matrimonial Purposes by Kavita Daswani -- Indian Chick Lit. I should have known when quotes on the back cover compare it to Sex in the City, Bridget Jones’ Diary and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was that easy to read kind of thing you want when you are sick.

I'm still reading the Dalai Lama book. It's really good.

I was overcome this week by the Andy Warhol documentary on PBS. Really inspiring and well done. Although sometimes I think they read a little tooo much into the work. I saw the filmaker, Ric Burns, on Charlie Rose. I really like when he said that his film was subjective and he didn't interview people that didn't like the work.

This was the first time that I really understood the Warhol films. Seeing them as photography or painting with the element of time. They are very zen if you think about it. Just watching a man sleeping and taking it all in. The portrait film series is super brillant. Made me think about film.

The reason that I’m writing these 9th grade book reports is… well there are several reasons.

Reading fiction is a huge part of my life and a huge priority in my life. But I read so fast that I often feel that I don’t retain anything. I don’t remember book titles or authors’ names. I think (hope) that blogging my reading progress will help me to think about what I’m reading and why. I am also hoping to improve my writing skills. Did I just use blogging as a verb? Yikes.

I seem to be able verbalize what the books are about and what I’m taking from it to Ron better than here. I’ll work on it.

There is a connection between my photography and the reading. Much of the photographs, to me, are film stills. I have a constant search for, not necessarily narrative, but tableau and scene.

I think there is a librarian gene in me that is driven to document and categorize. I bought a notebook and started writing down the date, Title and Author of the books that I read. Some of you know that when we were kids, Peter and I cataloged our personal book collections with index cards. We thought this was normal. Our Dad is a librarian, that’s what you do. When I was an intern at Art Com when I was about 22 they thought this was hilarious. I never heard the end of it. Of course, they didn’t mind when I cataloged their video library.

Hee hee, spellcheck doesn’t recognize blogging.