High GE and Low BP

It finally feels like Europe. My current apparel includes a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Aah - just stay this way dear weather, stay this way.

Tons of reading / watching accomplished this past week. Quick overview includes Murakami's Kafka By The Shore (Brilliant, btw - that is what I call complex thought without the profanity of verbosity :-), another PD James, a Jodi Picoualt's Nineteen Minutes (Engaging even if slightly predictably soppy), Towelhead (Movie - existential / sexual angst of Arab teenager growing in post 9-11 America ... hmm, unnecessary Arab element, clearly brought in only to add 'one more layer to the plot'), Mississippi (I know I've mispelt that!) Burning (Again fairly competent retelling of Southern integration issues from an FBI agent's pov), District Nine (Intelligent idea, kinda OK film), Up In The Air (again, again ... but still enjoyed it ... "your boyfriend broke up with you on text? Yah, thats like firing someone on the internet ..." Ha ha ... don't bother trying to laugh if you haven't seen the movie) and 2 others I can't remember. Am now ambitiously trying to read an Umberto Eco, but I do not harbor any great pretensions about my staying power.

Tons of important news as well. Have been actively following up on BP's Mount Atlas sized f**kups ... its STILL going on. I just figure if we can't repair it, we shouldn't be making it folks ... of course the internet is a repository of info on the spill, but I found a really funny Slate article that asked readers to write in with what they felt the BP executives deserved in punishment. There was the inevitable 'dunk em in it and burn baby burn' type replies, but there were some genuinely interesting thoughts as well. http://www.slate.com/id/2255773/?from=rss ... And for those who have been living in caves and are wondering if BP stands for Bharat Pharmas, there's a cute intro video the crisis as well. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1772825659?bctid=89381329001

And of course the US still defends waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/06/03/bush_torture/index.html ... because they got him to confess to plotting 9/11. Never mind he would have probably also confessed to framing Roger Rabbit and tinkering with Amelia Earhart's aeroplane after those levels of torture.

The news does depress sometimes. And it just popped up - we let the Bhopal gas tragedy villains just walk away as well. Oh darn.

Next will be some cheerful pikchurs. Pukka promise.

Till the next ...

Sush