Anil’s Neighborhood

Let me make this perfectly clear, if I had one of these I would not get any work done ever again. I would be taking him everywhere.

I'm back! I've been totally neglecting my blog here, but I've been super busy with weddings, shows, and just everyday life. I've also been working in a new website, and should have it up and running soon.

As for 80's music Friday, here is some Megadeth, one of my favorite bands from back in the day. I am photographing them on Monday in San Jose, and am looking forward to seeing them and High On Fire!

What do you daydream about? Is it something far-fetched, or something that might actually happen?
Submitted by lost_in_eternity2207.

With apologies to Kanter and Ebb, mostly I daydream about being able to like the life I'm living and live the life I like.

Can I do it?  Maybe.  It often seems like I'm just *this* close before something screws it up.  Usually related to work.

    very un-san francisco-like sunset...but wow :)

Sunset

The SF Chronicle was at the courthouse for the California Supreme Court ruling today for reactions. You can spot San Francisco City Hall, where all of this began four years ago, kitty-corner in the background.

So fucking nice in San Francisco today. Good call by Simon Wistow to go get pissed at Zeitgeist with some good peeps and talk some shit. Now I'm chillin' on the couch with Rudy, who is fully worn out from his long day at work, waiting for my sweet to get home from her happy hour so we can watch Hellboy and have a private party. It's a good day!

• 09:25 @forwardretreat that reminds me... #
• 12:55 If you didn't already see it on @laughingsquid's blog, you mustwatch @philbronstein's "Making of a blog logo" video at www.sfgate.com/ZDJH #

Hey! LoudTwitter did all the work. Neat!

The Schick Quattro for women ad is really terrifying if you've read or seen the movie "The Ruins".

Sooo I know I promised to read 50 books this year, and I AM well on my way but have been lax on updating. Here are my most recent reads:

#10   The Little Friend by Donna Tartt -- I listened to this as an unabridged book on tape, read by the author, which I felt greatly enhanced the experience. I really enjoyed his book and the images still sit with me a few weeks later. I don't think she has measured up to the amazing Secret History, but this is still worth a gander.

#11   Livia by Anthony Barrett  -- a wonderful biography about Augustus Caesar's wife, Livia.

#12  Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges -- This book is on the favorite list of many literary-minded friends and I have to admit that I just don't see why it's so brilliant overall. Maybe I'm the one that's not so brilliant, sigh.

#13  The Game by A.S. Byatt -- It was just ok. Nothing of the brilliance that Possession had. Overall I felt like it was rather a let down. But I bought it second hand for about $2 so I suppose it evens out.

#14  Salem Falls -- Jodi Picoult -- Better by far than The Game but still, just OK. I picked it up at the airport in Oakland in a shop that had a terrible selection of books. She has done some work with Grub Street in the past so I tend to want to patronize authors connected with one of my favorite organizations. It's an easy read but the whole teen witchy thing felt cliched.

#15 The Witch of Portobello -- Paulo Cohelo  who, according to the book flap, is one of the most beloved writers of our time (he is?).  So I haven't read the Alchemist yet, don't sue me. At any rate, this book was also a fast-paced read but I did find that the ending rather fell flat for me as some great "literary" fiction has a tendency to do. Again, maybe I just don't have an overall affinity for the esoteric? What I liked about this book was the style--not a single bit of it was told from the POV of the main character but instead, through a series of interviews of everyone that knew her.

#16  The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay -- I really liked this book partially because it was about books and about a bookstore and because the characters are so strange and peculiar. Despite the oddness of the cast, the book is very accessible and reads quickly. Definitely recommend.

#17  The Collected Poems of Carl Sandburg  --  Ahhh just plain wonderfulness. I often read poetry to Joe before we go to sleep at night. When you read poetry aloud to someone who isn't much of a reader, you realize that accessiblilty is of the utmost importance. I was struck by how many of his poems, now 100 years old in many cases are still so very relevant, fluid and modern even today.

I'm also halfway through Aldous Huxley's The Island, partway through Margaret Atwood's The Tent and sigh of sighs, only about 400 pages into War and Peace. I like the Peace portion a lot but the War portions tend to drag on for me. And I can't figure out how late 18th Russia had so many damn princes and princesses...they seem to be everywhere you turn around!