i'm all eyes, ears, and coffee

1. After reading Alissa Wilkinson's review of Away We Go, I bugged Johnny non-stop to take me on a date. He liked her review, too, so away we went to the movie theater after my appt. at the Hotze clinic on Tuesday. We both loved it - the film, that is, though the Hotze clinic is very swanky.

We recently started playing catch-up with The Office thanks to a friend's loan of the DVDs, so we're obviously big fans of John Krasinski. I've only seen Maya Rudolph on SNL, but I was really impressed with her performance in Away We Go. In fact, their characters - Burt and Verona - reminded me of mine and Johnny's temperaments. There's also the fact that Dave Eggers (one of my favorite authors) co-wrote the movie with his wife, Vendela Vida. I mean, we just had to see this movie. Highly recommended.

2. OK, so I wasn't smart enough, nor committed enough, to keep up with Derek Webb's scavenger hunt of clues the past few months. However, I had a hunch that whatever he was up to was very creative and brilliant. And from sound clips, I could tell that his new record, Stockholm Syndrome, would be amazing. I just prayed to God that the ordering process would be straightforward for slow folks like me (it was, phew).

There was such an overwhelming response to Stockholm Syndrome that the servers crashed or something, and lots of people had trouble with their downloads. But everything is working smoothly now, so go ahead and pre-order one of 6 versions; you get an immediate digital download.

I'm a longtime fan of Derek Webb's music, but I think this is the best thing he's ever done. It sounds fantastic, he's singing & songwriting better than ever, and as always, his lyrics make me think deeply. I prefer music which I don't "get" in one listen; I like to study the lyrics and ruminate. Oh, and Webb's making-of documentary, Paradise is a Parking Lot, is very well done. 5/5 stars all around.

[iPhone]

3. Houston summers call for a few things. One, Johnny and I walk around our 'hood between 7:00-8:00 pm so that we don't melt into the ground. We still sweat, but without heat exhaustion. Two, we now pull down the living room blinds in the afternoon which helps immensely. You would think A/C helps, but not entirely. Three, iced coffee is a Godsend. I mix mine with coconut milk, which is the film on my "include beer" (I wish) glass above. Yum-my.