The 4th; Thom's visit

7/2

Dropped Bryan off at the Airport, receipts off at Rice, then headed in to school.

7/3

Band practice, then Cindy & I squeezed in some Sopranos since the next day was a holiday.

7/4

I had intended to hit a couple of 4th of July parties, but I hadn't logged much time on Resident Evil since getting back from California, so I ended up spending a good portion of the day on that. Cindy and I made dinner once she got done in lab; either steak or something Greek-ish, I can't remember...

7/5

For 7-year-old Ward, we went and saw Transformers. The parts that involved giant robots kicking each others' asses were awesome; the parts that involved people talking or situational giant robot comedy were not. But my inner 7-year-old was happy.

7/6

Thom was in for a wedding. We did Goode Co. BBQ for dinner before retiring to Hans' for beer.

7/7

Since Texadelphia hasn't made it to Boston yet, we went there for lunch. Thom and co. spent part of the afternoon getting ready for the wedding, while I played more Resident Evil (pretty much a full blown addiction by that point). When the guys got back from the wedding, there had been some vomit-based collateral damage to Thom's grandparents' Buick, so he got that cleaned up and we all had some Shiners. Except for Dave (not that Dave), who was pretty much passed out by that point.

7/8

We hit Star Pizza for lunch, and Cindy & I went to Rudz for drinks later that evening.

Bryan's visit

6/29

Something I've learned: when you don't have actual vacation days, you have no reason not to a) stretch the days you're going to be gone on either end and b) just be generally vague. So it was that I had a day off in time for Bryan to come into town.

He, Sabrina and I hit up Reggae hut for lunch (I think there were some bad "Jamaican" puns made, and jokes about a nearby funeral home). Food was great, as always. After that, we went and saw Evan Almighty, although I don't know why, because it was pretty bad.

The entire day, I was resisting the impulse to jump in line for an iPhone. Instead, we headed back to my place for some Wii.

We met up with our respective better halves for some Star pizza that evening, and then hit the Davenport for some fancy martinis. We capped the night with a traditional night swim at Sabrina's apartment complex. With alcohol.

6/30

Bryan and I hung around my place and played some Wii before hitting Central Market for dinner ingredients. We got an artichoke, and made Bryan's famous tomatillo chicken tacos.

After that, show at the Proletariat: Voxtrot. It was filled to capacity when we showed up, but in half an hour, enough of the jaded hipsters got bored that we were able to get in. The band kind of got screwed; didn't go on until after 1:00 and played only a short set. Good show regardless.

7/1

Bryan and I decided to catch Ratatouille Sunday afternoon (great flick), before having Indian food for dinner at Khyber. I always enjoy Khyber when I go; it's a little pricey but it was a good meal.

Becca's Art; Concerts; Lab Dinner

Updates resuming soon my ass. The past six weeks or so have included two (2) trips by air, two (2) trips by car, two (2) weddings, two (2) weekends of company staying at my place, one (1) paper almost finished, and a whole lot of good times.

It has also left me nearly six months behind. So expect to read about those events in, oh, February. For now, I've got to get back in the habit, so in between loads of laundry I'll get at least one entry in before moving on to a late birthday present for Cindy.

3/5

Rebecca arrives in town so that she can do her installation at the Lawndale Art Center, but sporting a minor Wii sports injury on her foot which is starting to look a bit infected. Cindy and I point out our proximity to a minor emergency center before leaving to catch a film at the Angelika.

We see Zodiac, which is quite enjoyable at the beginning, but slows toward the end, and the fact that the real case remains unsolved makes the ending... unsatisfied.

Rebecca opts not to get her foot treated due to the $100 co-pay.

3/6

Cindy and I head off to see the Shins at the Verizon. As is often the case, the show proves less than satisfying, with the sterility of the venue infecting the band's music. I enjoy seeing them, but the most fun is just hanging outside with the smoking crowd, where we find Dan, Nick, Mandy, and, randomly, Bryan's brother Evan, and Katie (that I met at the genetics retreat and her boyfriend, with whom we talk about music, both listening and making.

Afterwards, given Becca's and our proximity to it, Mai's seemed like a great place to meet for a late dinner, and was satisfying and refreshing as usual.

3/7

Hui, who had not felt like much of a part of the lab since long before he graduated, had finally found a job (or at least a post-doc) and so is leaving. Consequently, Olivier arranges a a goodbye event for him. We meet at the Ginger Man for a couple rounds, and for once I arrive early enough to get the free glassware. After that, we amble over to Nit Noi for some Thai. Cindy joins us and meets the lab and Olivier. Olivier orders for us (soup, curry, pad thai, eggplant) and does a good job.

Afterwards, a quick trip by home and then off to numbers for the Explosions in the Sky show, which is characteristically enjoyable. Greg has a new ladyfriend with him...

3/9

Art, Tafia, "the taco train", the Mink

Becca's art show opens Friday night, so she and I head there and immediately grab beers: me for refreshment and her for that good ol' "liquid courage" because she has to give a brief artist's talk. There were a few pieces I liked. The best ones not by Becca are some very intricate paper cuttings attached to the walls that are somewhere between internal organs and flowers, a flickr group called "Never Been to Houston Before" where people that had never... you know, been to Houston posted pictures of what they thought Houston was like; a clever idea, but maybe one that could have done with some editing and focus.

There is also the guy who constructed skateboard-style ramps in a room and used them to run up and along walls, creating patterns of scuffs and documenting the process with his camera. It's a nice combination of performance art and other media, but better in principal than in practice.

Becca's work is, as usual, brilliant. She had covered the floor with white vinyl to give the room a unified look, and then her tape was various shades of blue and worked in clever ways with the doors and corners of the room. Cindy shows up with her brother, as did my parents, aunt and uncle, Dan and Emma, Jeff and Jim, and Will. It's nice for my parents to get to meet some of my closest friends here (particularly Cindy), and I am glad to have brought out support for Becca.

Afterwards, due to familial constraints, Mom and Dad take off. Becca and I go to Tafia to crash an art party, and take advantage of what free food was offered there, although we foolishly buy a round of beers before moving to the free wine. After that, around the corner to Tacos-a-Go-Go for some food with Becca's crew, then to the nearby Mink for some drinks before calling it a night.

3/10

I head out to Susan and Jerry's to catch Mom and Dad for lunch before they head back to Waco. Later that evening, Cindy and I meet up with Molfese, who had moved away with his lab but is back in town for his birthday. We catch him at BW3's, have some wings for dinner, but then have to pass on a Wii session in favor of catching Deerhoof, who put on a good show but whose music I'm not sure I'm arty enough to "get".

Fancy meal, Christmas with Cindy; Phone and Cousin Jer; Preparations; Trip to Waco; Waco day 2; Christmas Eve

12/18

Pretty sure I spent a good deal of time wrapping Christmas Presents that night. It's not something I'm good at, and my choice of cheap wrapping paper combined with my neurotic perfectionist tendencies made it difficult.

12/19

So one thing I wanted to do with all my extra money was to take Cindy somewhere nice for dinner. And what better way to express your love than through vast quantities of grilled meat? With that in mind, we went to Nelore .

Thomas and I have previously gone to Fogo de Chao on a couple occasions, and I was certainly a big fan. Great meat and lots of it; expensive but worth every penny. When I saw, a while back, a review in the Houston Press of this place, and that its owner was a former employee of Fogo, and that it was a good $15 cheaper per-plate I started looking for an excuse to go, and now I had one.

First, the service was great. Very professional. Free valet, too. The building was cute, definitely cozier and more romantic than Fogo. The salad bar was likable, being less about salad and more about antipasto sorts of things. There were some side dishes available there too, stew sorts of things that I couldn't quite figure out how they fit in with the meal.

Everything was fine so far. But when we flipped our little coasters over to the "bring us meat" sides, disappointment ultimately came. The meat was overcooked, dry, and underseasoned. I wanted very much to like the place, but next time I'll spend the extra money and go to Fogo. Shame, that.

We returned to my place. There may have been some dessert. We definitely exchanged presents. I had given up on the waffle iron, particularly in the face of mounting evidence that her parents had probably gotten her one, and what I really wanted to get her was a bit out of budget. Instead, I got her a TV antenna so she could finally experience the HD part of her HDTV; an FM transmitter for her iPod so she could listen to it in her car (and, hopefully, to keep me from having to listen to talk radio and the same damn 10 scratched CDs she keeps in her car although that doesn't seem to have quite worked out); one of Found Magazine's compiled books, which I noticed she spent quite a bit of time looking at when we were at Dome a few weeks before; and trash bags. Nice trash bags with the diamond-patterned reinforcements and built-in drawstrings. She'd been envious of mine for quite some time, and so I bought them for her, mainly as a joke, although I like to think she's enjoyed using them, to the extent that one can enjoy trash bags (that aren't filled with some kind of gaseous narcotic).

As for what she got me, well, here it is. It was a very thoughtful gift, and she spent way more on me than she should have, and it's really a cool piece of equipment: a compact, portable turntable that can be battery operated, fit in a record crate, has a built-in speaker, and also audio outs for hooking up to my stereo.

Except that, as we all know, I'm horribly, horribly picky about my audio equipment. I'd probaly eventually have gotten around to getting my own turntable, probably for around 5x what this cost. And so I was kind of left with something that I didn't really want.

But I was good. I was very excited and appreciative and all that. There was no sense in being a dick about it. And it has been fun to have, because, really, I probably wouldn't have gotten around to buying a nice turntable for a long time. And it was a really nifty, thoughtful gift. Now I just have to come up with a good plan for how I'm going to explain buying a new one in a year or two...

Anyway, all in all, it was a nice little "date night".

12/20

Cousin Jer was in town for a visit, so I figured I'd try to catch up with him. Also, my brand new phone finally arrived. I forestalled Cousin Jer time to get the phone set up, only to discover, upon removing it from its packaging, that a screw was missing. Which was very disappointing. It completely screwed up my plan of getting to try out the phone for a couple of days and get my number ported over before going to Waco. And I didn't know quite what to do. Try to find a screw? Call Amazon? Call T-mobile? It was complicated.

Anyway, I put that aside and had to deal with the inconvenience of going to pick Jer up from out in BFE, and brought him back out here, knowing I'd have to return him at some point. I was a bit put off by the situation, but we ended up having a good time. We went to check out Two Rows for dollar beer night (and I think ran into some people), and then, when it got to be closing time, headed to Woodrow's.

Taking Jer out in Houston is always fun, if for no other reason than that he's appreciative of the embarassment of riches we have in the way of attractive women. I guess living in the midwest does that to a man. There was one girl at Woodrow's, who had apparently been scammed into a double date with her friend's boyfriend's friend and was not at all happy with it, so she decided to hit on Jerry instead. First she asked for his number, and then wrote her number on a receipt after he bought her a drink. I never really get how he does it... Anyway, all in all it was a good time.

12/21

Jer stayed over and I ended up taking back home the next day. I gave up on my idea of leaving for Waco that day, as I hadn't packed and still had this whole phone issue to deal with. Instead, I made the long round trip of taking him home. While in the car, the girl from the previous night called him. They ended up going out a few times over the holiday, apparently. Susan and Uncle Jerry apparently liked the girl, though they were a bit disturbed knowing that they had met in a bar (apparently that's a foreign concept to them). Jerry ultimately couldn't commit to anything, living out of state as he does, and somehow this is all my fault (according to Susan), because they met because of me.

So anyway, back at the apartment, I did some packing and started making calls about my new phone. Amazon actually has really good phone service, once you find their number. They agreed to ship me one next day, and even rerouted it to Waco. Except it didn't ship out the same day, but instead on Friday, and then with the weekend and the holiday it didn't show up until the next week. But it turns out that T-mobile reception at the house in Waco is crap, so I ended up not activating the phone until I headed back to Houston the following week anyway.

I got a little Zelda time in that night and got to hang out with Cindy, too.

12/22

Got on the road to Waco early afternoon. The goal was to make it back to Waco in time for John Mark Hoffman's (friend of the family) surprise birthday party at Poppa Rollo's. Got there the same time as Dad, somehow. Spent good time with Mom and Dad. Ate pizza. Made awkward small talk with some of Mom and Dad's church friends from our First Methodist days. In retrospect, wished I had ordered a beer.

After that, home, Becca showed up, and we had some good family time.

12/23

Having a hard time remembering specifics. I don't think I caught up with the guys, as David wasn't in town yet and Thom was out at his parents' place in Groesbeck. Actually, I think the Hoffmans came over and exchanged presents with us. They very nicely got me both the Sufjan Stevens Christmas boxed set, and the import-only Okkervil River tour EP I'd been really wanting. Sweet.

12/24

Christmas Eve. We took some food and things out to our former maid's apartment, as we do every year. Went to church for Christmas Eve service. Dinner at Ninfa's, which has become a tradition. Had their great chicken breast/cheese/butter/rice/ham/white wine dish. Drove around looking at Christmas lights. Got a little sick later from too much rich food. Despite that, enjoyed my absolute favorite time of the year.

Prole; Work, Ninfa's, the Mink; Niko Niko's, Agora, Domy, Saucer; Star & Work

11/27

Another Monday night at the Prole...

12/1

I worked a little late, and then Cindy and I went to Ninfa's for dinner, where she was not quite impressed enough with their green sauce. Rebecca and Ali were coming into town to stay at my place, and they met up with us there. We dropped their stuff off at my place and then made for the Mink, where a group of their art cohorts were hanging out. I got to meet the guy who did my painting, and he was nice, but we didn't get into a deep conversation about the piece or anything.

12/2

We started our day the way God intended: late. Went to Niko Niko's, got some good food, and then we were in the mood for coffee so we went over to Agora, which the girls liked, and hung out a while before wandering over to Domy, a place so cool it made me wonder how I had gone this long without ever knowing about it.

It's a very artsy book and toy store, and featured lots of books on contemporary art, music, graphic novels, and weird Japanese toys. I heard two college-age girls say, "We don't have anything like this in Austin. We need this entire street in Austin." Trade you a music scene for an art scene, ladies?

Anyway, after that Cindy ran off to lab and the girls got ready to go to their artsy party fundraiser thingy that Ali had a piece in. After dropping them off at some random warehouse downtown or another, I went back, chilled, and then eventually Cindy and I met them downtown at the Saucer for some beers.

12/3

After an aborted attempt to try out an "authentic Italian" pizza place on Westheimer, which was apparently closed Sundays, we gave up and went to Star, which was, as always, good. Then I got Becca and Ali packed off and got to work on stuff for my committee meeting.

Carpentry; Proletariat; Randa & Sabrina; Practice; Valhalla; Mom & Dad, Cindy's Reunion; Movies and Rudz

7/31

Unhappy with the fact that my keyboard wasn't really beefy enough to straddle my keyboard stand, my thoughts turned to engineering a solution. Luckily, I thought to consult Lab Dan, who himself was an experienced engineer in the Navy ("in the navy").

He had some good ideas, and offered to help me construct something that night, which was good since he actually had a space to work (his garage) and a full complement of tools (including those of the power variety).

We met at the Lowe's near me, and grabbed a pre-cut plank of wood, some rubbery shelf lining, some contact cement, and some spray paint. We headed back to his place and set to work. I glued the shelf lining to the top side of the plank, this would provide a nice non-stick surface to grip my keyboard.

Dan set to work cuting some small pieces of wood; these were then glued to the underside of the plank and provided hold the arms of the keyboard stand in place. Finally, we primed and painted the thing, and left it to dry.

8/1

Um, went to the Proletariat, I guess. Can't remember details.

8/2

Randa was in town, an occasion which called for drinking. She, Sabrina and Shawn picked me up from school, dropped by my apartment, and then we made for the Saucer downtown. It was pint glass night, and by ordering a pint of Sam Adam's seasonal summer beer, I scored myself a free logoed pint glass. Sweetness. We had dinner; I enjoyed their tasty buffalo chicken wrap. And then there was more beer. I finally got around to trying their "chocolate truffle": a pint of Young's Double Chocolate Stout, with a splash of Lindemann's lambic framboise (rasberry). Quite tasty.

We stopped by Woodrow's in the village for a round before calling it a night.

8/4

The annual graduate student council night at Valhalla arrived. Cindy had grudgingly agreed to take off work early and drive me over there, but that afternoon Dan came by and offered me a ride over... on his motorcycle. It seemed to me that this was a way for everyone to win. I got to ride a motorcycle and start drinking early; Cindy got to work later and not have to alter her schedule. Apparently my changing our plans pissed her off, though she later got over it and realized that I was, as usual, right.

Anyway, the motorcycle. Dan's got a Honda VTX 1800, a cruiser-style bike with a 1.8 liter engine. That's bigger than some cars, like Cindy's (1.6, if I recall correctly). It's only slightly smaller than my car's 2.3 liter engine. And this is on a bike that's a fraction of that weight.

Anyway, I'd never ridden on a motorcycle before. Hopping on and riding out of the parking garage, I was scared shitless as I realized that the ground was moving below me, with nothing between me and it but my balance. Moving out onto the open rode, the feeling intensified, but I started to understand how it would be signifcantly less scary with the bike under your control. Dan had, wisely, informed me not to move around, and that you didn't actually have to actively lean into the corners, but that the laws of physics pretty much did that for you. All you had to do was follow what felt natural.

We made it to Rice without dying, and I actually found the experience quite thrilling.

So on to the beer. We had kegs of Shiner and Lonestar available to us. Not only that, but my car was safely back at my apartment, so I was free of responsibilities and proceded to start getting dee-runk. Char had cleverly gotten venders to sponsor the event, so the beer flowed freely. It was a good time.

The kegs began to run out and arrangements were made to move the party on to the Saucer. Cindy showed up to pick me up, and after a brief stopoff at my apartment, we headed to the Saucer. I got involved telling some story (oh, how mom had called me to ask for an explanation about my car being towed and me replying angrily that it was none of her business and that I had been well on my way to forgetting that little slice of injustice) and we missed our exit off of 59, and then our attempt to turn around somehow got me even more bizarrely turned around, which almost never happens.

We eventually made it to the saucer, where Oliver was working on a girl, Wanda was working on a guy, and Cindy and I got to work (more boringly) on an order of cheese fries (which were inferior to the Cricket's variety, though I've always thought that the Saucer was an inferior version of Cricket's, though the Saucer is probably the older of the establishments). Lots of grad schoolers made it out, which was always good to see. It's fun to get everyone in the same place every once in a while.

8/5

Mom and Dad came into town to catch a flight out to New England the next day. As an early birthday dinner we went out to eat at Pei Wei. Mmm... lettuce wraps...

Cindy's high school reunion was at the nearby Sam's Roadhouse, so a quick trip up the road from my aunt and uncle's got me there.

It didn't, however, get me in without having to pay their damned $3 cover. Cindy didn't know about it because she managed the ol' "I'm talking on my cell phone" trick. Regardless, it was idiotic, so they go on my monetary karma list, owing me $3 (along with my apartment complex and the city of Houston).

Despite the crappy venue with its crappy country and annoying suburban clientele, I had a good time with Cindy. It probably would have been a better time if I'd thrown back a few extra beers, but I had to drive us home.

On the way to the bathroom I snagged a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce, nearly full. We'll be generous and put the value of that at $1, bringing Sam's Roadhouse debt to me down to $2.

One word of advice, though. If you have a bottle of hot sauce in your pocket and it leaks a little, and you move it around to keep it from leaking more, and you happen to be a guy using the bathroom at the time, be careful what parts of your anatomy you touch with that hand. Just FYI.

8/6

A nice, leisurely Sunday. I finished up watching the movies that Cindy and I had rented, including the aforementioned Jesus Is Magic. There was also that other movie Cindy and I had rented... maybe something she had seen but I hadn't. For the life of me I can't remember what it is now.

Got a call later in the evening; Dan and Kristin were up at Rudz. I stopped by for a couple of rounds, before taking off and making a Whataburger run. Will was up at Woodrow's, so I dropped by and consumed my food there, along with beer, conversation, and darts.

Car and Proletariat; Practice; Freebird's, BB&B, Holly; Tapatia, Village; The Village (again); Guitar Center and BBQ

7/24

Cindy and I left early to pick up my car from The Other Body Shop. It was way the fuck out west, near where Dan used to live (like a quarter mile away from his old house). I saw it sitting in the lot and noticed that a) they neglected to removed the tire rubber marks from the paint and b) they neglected to replace the cracked plastic on the grill. What, did they do the whole fucking repair blind folded? The incompetence is staggering. Simply staggering. Rather than let them do touch my car again, I told them that I was taking it and would let the other shop finish up their shoddy work.

Joke's on them, though, because I never actually paid the deductible.

I enjoyed driving it home, of course, though I was pissed about having to deal with more repairs, and all over a fucking tire tread from an 18 wheeler.

Anyway, later that evening it was another Monday night at the Proletariat, which I was free to actually drive to. What a luxury!

7/25

Another night of band practice. I got Whataburger for dinner on the way home, which is always nice.

7/26

Cindy's birthday was coming up, so I stopped by Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up the magnetic spice rack she wanted. Stopped off on the way home at Freebird's for a burrito, which I hadn't done in quite some time.

Holly, who I kind of sort of dated a year or so previously, was back in town and I caught up with her and her mom for a round at Two Row's, and I remembered why I don't ever go there for dollar beers anymore: it's fucking crowded.

7/27

Took the car back by Foreign Auto Body ("the good place") and they got the rubber off the paint, which was nice. They ordered the part for the grille, and told me that I could come back in when the part was delivered and they'd install it while I waited.

Got back home in time for Holly to pick me up, and we went to Tapatia for lunch and had a little more time to catch up before she dropped me off at school.

Went to the village that night with Cindy. Had a couple rounds at the Ginger Man, then went next door to Woodrow's, where Char and some of the other usual suspects were. I was enjoying a beer when I saw a tow truck drive by with my car.

I had parked in a spot that was, technically speaking, signed as tow away, though the sign was pretty nonobvious, nailed to a telephone pole at the very corner of the street and about three feet off the ground. People parked there all the time, and still do. Dunno if it was a new pig, or if Houston was feeling poor, or if somebody was on a power trip, but I got fucked.

Took me a while to track down the car, but I eventually went to pick it up, only to see a ticket on the windshield. Grand total was about $250, which I have added to my karma list. This list includes the city of Houston for around $260 (the extra $10 is a recent addition that I'll explain when the time comes), the apartment complex for $50 (erased when I managed to get an extra month at my old rent, and get a cheaper rent than I was originally quoted when I renewed), and $2 at Sam's Roadhouse for making me pay a cover for their crappy bar (also to be explained later). Probably more entities that have screwed me out of money, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

7/28

Cindy had been talking up Reggae Hut for a while, so we settled on that for her birthday dinner. It was located on Almeda, and we parked in the lot behind the building and went in. The walls were brightly colored and the place sparsely but likably decorated. I felt very white, but in a culturally immersed sort of way, not a threatening sort of way.

We settled on an order of plantains as an appetizer, an order of jerk chicken, and an order of curried goat. The plantains were given to us immediately and had been cooked to a dark color. Our meals came next. Both were served with some very well-seasoned and tasty veggies, and black beans and rice. The goat was OK. It was very much like lamb, except maybe a bit stringier. The curry seasoning was fairly light.

The jerk chicken, however, was incredible. The meat was flavorful but also moist. The jerk seasoning was spicy but oh-so-tasty. The portions were generous on all counts, and we had at least a meal's worth of leftovers. Consider me a convert.

Afterwards, sraight to Little Woodrow's (carefully choosing my parking this time). We had a few drinks there before things got a little too crowded, and we recruited Char and Angela to go to Hans' Bier Haus. As always, I enjoyed the nice selection of beer but also ran my tab up a little higher than I might like to.

This visit, we decided to try out bocci ball, which I have concluded is the ultimate drunken game, combining positive aspects of pool (rolling and colliding balls), shuffleboard (distance-based accuracy), bowling (hand-rolling), and croquet (but with less frustration). Great fun all around.

7/29

Mom and Dad had agreed to fund a little birthday spending, so I opted for some implements of rocking. I got one of those x-style keyboard stand, which turned out to not be an ideal design for my small and light keyboard (which was later remedied), but also a little shaky on carpet. I also got a keyboard bag which turned out to be a little big, but the extra size ended up being useful in solving my stand problem. Finally, I happened to see the official songbook for Ben Folds' Songs for Silverman and figured I'd grab that, too.

Levi was working and he hooked me up, saving me (or I guess Mom and Dad) a ton of money.

Cindy and I were invited to a couple of barbecues that weekend. The one thrown by her friends started first, so we headed up to the Heights to partake, bringing with us chicken and sausage to grill. There was other good food around, including ice cream cake. We took off a ltitle while later, and I checked in with Anup to discover that his barbecue had ended, so we grabbed some movies and headed back to my place for films and cocktails.

First up was The Squid and the Whale, which was painfully and realistically awkward and had the air of a more serious, more caustic Wes Anderson flick, which makes sense since it turns out he produced the thing. Great movie, but not exactly uplifting.

We also rented (but didn't watch at that time) Sarah Silverman's Jesus Is Magic which was, frankly, crap. There was something else, too, that I watched later, but I can't recall right now.