The State of the Cabins (4/28/10)

Today is my brother's birthday - wish him a happy day even though he rarely gets on a computer and pretty much never sees his little bro's awesome blog. This is probably a good thing, since he's an insatiable comic book nerd and would probably go on about the Green Lantern or Grendel or some character I've never even heard of and would further alienate my already low (and yet highly valuable) female demographic. Anyway, Happy 37th, Justin.

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
None!

I'd feel like a terrible movie geek, but the fact is, it's prime TV-watching season, and Mrs. Fletch and I are watching and/or DVRing more shows now than we ever have before. Some are almost definitely short-term (read: until the season ends), like FlashForward and V, along with that other one that you might have heard is ending. Others are long-term, but have seasons that will be wrapping up soon (Community, Survivor, and Justified). Throw in a NOVA here and there and - whaddaya know - an actual trip to the theaters, and there you have it.

Though I did watch about half of Fred Claus and The Rocker. Yes, I know they're (each) bad, but I enjoy watching crappy, light movies when it's late on Friday or Saturday night and/or early on Sat./Sun. morning and I just want to sleep some more. They lull me and mildly entertain me in the interim.

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* I've been a fan of dick cheese - er, Richard Cheese, for some time now. The master or lounge-style spin on current pop hits is pretty damned funny in addition to being a pretty smooth singer that fronts a kickass old school band. If you somehow aren't already familiar with his work, go here for starters (I'm pissed they - Lala - don't have his newer albums on there, but you can listen to any song in its entirety once for free).

Anyway, I've had his version of Britney Spears' "(You Drive Me) Crazy" in my head for a few days now. It's so good, it almost makes me like the original. Richard is downright evil sometimes.

Book I'm currently reading:
Since we last spoke here, I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire. Really enjoyed it; possibly even moreso than the first. Pro tip: don't read the back cover of the paperback should you wish to read it. If something happens 200+ pages into a 600ish page novel, I consider that a spoiler. Thankfully, I didn't read it until after I'd passed that point, but it still pissed me off for anyone that had. I'm sure that plot point will be spoiled in the trailer for the July 2 adaptation as well. C'est la vie.

Now I'm nearly haflway through with Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. This is the first bit of Gladwell I've read, and though it's not bad, I'm a bit surprised that he's as famous and well-respected as he is. The writing isn't terribly memorable on its own, and the themes and thesis of the book are filled with pretty obvious observations, however heavily researched they may be. I guess you could say that I'm getting a bit of food for thought and some minor enjoyment out of reading it, but I wouldn't say that it's particularly memorable or entertaining.