wherein i am right sometimes and wrong sometimes.

So I was wrong about SVU not surviving without Eliot. But you know why? Because I was only beginning to realize how awesome Olivia is. (I do miss him, though.)

I did have a bad Hulu Plus moment when I was like, oh! I want to watch an episode of SVU! How abouuuuut... the most-watched one! And Hulu was like, oh, it's last week's episode. Because more and more people are watching online, I guess. But go for the best-rated, guys. I recommend it. (Of course, it's "Doubt." That episode is the most amazing of TV ever. Maybe.)

Also, I feel like I was just talking about this - "You think I'm reading your mind... but really, I'm just reading your blog."

Overheard at the bus stop.

"Patagonia is, like, J. Crew to North Face's Gap."

Ahh, I think you mean The North Face, preppy post-college kids. Conversations like these always remind me of my suburban high school days.

But those kids turned out to be cool when I dropped my cookie sheet on the bus. "Oh, at least there weren't cookies on it! That's what I was worried about!" It was a nice moment of everyone looking at me (heyyy, attention!) - at least, a nice moment of quasi-community on the bus. A friend and I had a difference of opinion today on riding a crowded bus, and I'm not saying that I love standing on a moving bus or anything, but I think the extrovert in me can't hate being surrounded by so many people.

So, I LOVE THE INTERNET. And if you want to know why, well, it has a lot to do with why I like talking to strangers on the bus. Read "Plug In Better" for a little bit of it.

P.S. Did you know that Mr. Darcy's income, in today's terms, would be SIX MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR? I feel like I don't quite understand these things in old-timey pounds. And, Austen fans, please go immediately to Men of Austen.

"The object of love is the best and most beautiful."

As I read this link to a letter on love from John Steinbeck to his son, I first thought of a friend waving his arms in distress at East of Eden being chosen for Oprah's book club and exclaiming, "It's GOOD because it's by JOHN STEINBECK!" (His edition of the book, regrettably, had an Oprah logo. That's not why it was good.)

Then I thought about trading favorite books with another friends (which everyone should do, with all their friends), finally reading East of Eden, and realizing that Steinbeck really knows something about love and life and other things I don't know much about.

And he does. Incidentally, he also sounds like a really good dad.

Hear, hear. Also, read.

Here it is - "No More E-Books vs. Print Books Arguments, OK?"

So Jonathan Franzen hates e-books. JONATHAN FRANZEN. Seriously? Dear Jonathan Franzen, I read Freedom. I read it more than once. I don't like hearing so much about bodily functions but you got women's sports right and wrote about my generation in a way that works. I liked it. But it is a MILLION PAGES LONG. I need an extra-large purse to carry it on the bus, it falls on my head when I try to read it in bed, and also, the bird's eye on the cover is a hologram. I think I'd enjoy reading it on an e-reader just fine.

I have a lot of books. People make fun of me for owning them. I don't have an e-reader, but I have been known to read on the Kindle for iPhone (which is also, apparently, hilarious). But e-books! Some of them are free! They're searchable! They have dictionaries and things in them! You can hold all of them at once! And if you hate them, read a real book, because you DO get to choose. It's the modern experience.

Here's the thing. Something about the e-book hatred has been bugging me, and I finally figured out what it is. It reminds me, I think, of when people refused to get cell phones in 2004. If you think they're annoying or keep you too connected, don't get one. Or turn it off and leave it in the car. Or use it in moderation. But some people around you are going to have them and like them, and they're apparently here to stay, and I don't think we can deny that they're a convenience for many people for a reason. (And, friends, I love you and admire your principles, technological or not, both now and in 2004.)

So - let's choose our own reading adventures and enjoy that people are reading, okay?

horses and drama.

This Illustrated Review of War Horse is, yes, hilarious and charming in the way of Hyperbole and a Half - it was Linda Holmes's "what's making me happy this week" on this week's Pop Culture Happy Hour (which, guys, are you listening?) and it's great, besides the fact that I'm behind the times on this. And also, I consume wayyyy more pop culture commentary than I do actual pop culture. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Anyway, the best thing about that piece is that it reminds me of Greg's Barbaro Responds to Fans, but I might be biased, since Greg is a real life friend.

I've been watching Dawson's Creek for the first time. I've been watching it all in a row, which has led me to a discovery about predictable network dramas. I keep saying things like, "When is Joey going to date her professor?" and "YESSS closeted gay storyline is here!" (although, to be fair, i thought it was going to have a happy ending) and "Wait, Audrey and Pacey haven't hooked up yet?" I'm not a super prediction machine usually, but watching [a certain number of] seasons in [a certain amount of time]? Kind of revealing about the story arc.

Hulu always asks me if I want to share my watch history with friends. And I'm always like, ABSOLUTELY NOT.

The work of choosing.

This is the best thing I've read this year. Maybe longer, since it's the first week of January and all.

But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars - compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things.

David Foster Wallace via the Hairpin, on a post that mentioned "the work of choosing," which I originally thought was going to be what my mom calls "picking your battles," but is something a little different. The Hairpin post (and the linked previous one about setting boundaries) are pretty much nice life goals, too.

Remember when Thomas Merton asked, how do you tell people they are walking around shining like the sun? Well, here's the question. How do you choose to notice that people are walking around shining like the sun? This is the work of knowing who we are. Ah, adult life.

"I want you to help me catch a killer of women."

[crazyintense lisbeth salander eyestare]

remember? from the trailer?

so yeah, saw girl with the dragon tattoo. it's good. and keep in mind that i also saw the swedish version of the movie and read the book, um, more than once. so there you have it.

[SPOILERS]

points:
1. daniel craig is extra craggy, as usual. very nice choice.
2. remember when people were saying that rooney mara wasn't going to be able to look like lisbeth, and casting her was shallow and hollywoody and stuff? they were wrong about that. she's perfect.
3. stellan skarsgard is creeeeeeeeeepy. but genial. kind of like in good will hunting, right? my movie companion and i agreed that he gets point for actually being swedish, and i'm not sure how his character would have come across if i hadn't already known he was the worst of creepers. but really, nice casting.

worth a watch if you liked the book. although! remember what the book is about? it's super disturbing and you need to know that before you see it. i've been through this several times with several people. you know what this movie is going to be about. don't see if it you don't want to.

that said, points for faithfulness to the story. the beginning (libel trial, millennium in trouble, relationship with erika) is fast - maybe too fast, if you didn't know the story. they left out his jail time (because why was that necessary, really) and his relationship with cecilia, and they added a random comment on swedish history and nazis, i guess? but otherwise, very nice job with the plot.