the heat is on

so hot today and everyday this week. ah well. at least the air conditioning is working properly now. we had a service call yesterday (to the tune of $100) and while the good news was that it wasn't more expensive, the bad news was that one of the faucets on the exterior house is broken. apparently you aren't supposed to leave hoses attached to the faucets over the winter. no one told me that. so now i have to call a plumber if we ever want to water the back lawn. the joys of home-ownership.

didn't watch much on tv today, or movies. trying to get through "finding neverland" but i'm finding it unbelievably slow. i love peter pan in almost every form, but for some reason, this film isn't grabbing me.

dh and i watched "hitch" with will smith the other night. it was okay. will has been much better in other things. i think it was a weak, predictable script. kevin james did some great work with physical comedy, but that was about the only thing i enjoyed.

i started reading dan brown's angels and demons, which is apparently the prequel to the da vinci code. i enjoyed the latter, but i haven't really understood what all the subsequent fuss is about. everytime i turn on the telly, there's something else on discovery or the history channel or some other pbs wanna be about "the truth behind the da vinci code." have these people never heard of fiction??? or imagination??? give me a break.

i also started arthur c. clarke's time's eye, which has been slow going to start. i'll give it a few more pages and then abandon it. gone are the days when i feel compelled to complete every book i start. i finally realized that my time is more valuable than that.

dd has been into "mary poppins" of late, and can sing numerous verses of "a spoonful of sugar" and "chim chimenee." it's quite amusing.

just found out that i am going to miss "margaret garner," the opera that the cincinnati opera co-commissioned with two other companies to celebrate the opening of the national underground railroad freedom center. i am so bummed. now i can't hear denyce graves and angela m. brown in person. and toni morrison is even going to be in town to give free lectures. damn this bedrest. i guess i'll have to rely on my esteemed media colleagues to give me the blow by blow. one of my friends is in the chorus as well... but there will be other operas. if anyone local is reading, GO. it's a once in a lifetime experience. toni morrison wrote the libretto and richard danielpour wrote the music. there's an excerpt of the music here.

i am excited that the new "real world" season has started. it's my guilty pleasure. perhaps because it's so far removed from my current existence. and morgan spurlock's "30 days" series looks interesting as well.

until next time....