torpor at baker desk

Writers I've decided to hate: A.O. Scott, David Amsden, Robert Novak
Writers I've decided to like: Maureen Dowd, Kenneth Turan, Anthony Lane

AO is the NY Times co-critic with a penchant for touchy feely reviews that are so routinely ambivalent that they are essentially valueless. Amsden is the fresh 23-year-old that everyone is calling the voice of the hipster literati -- I think I'm just jealous of him, but his writing has the novelty halflife of a stick of juicy fruit. Finally, Bob Novak is a dick who outs undercover CIA agents for political reasons.

(Maureen is a goddess. Kenneth is always right. And Anthony is funny, though also sometimes amorphous.)

So, my weekends are spent in the main lobby of my dorm, letting people in and out of the dorm. It's my insurance money as I look forward to my impoverished grad student future. It's stale and boring, and I just sit and watch movies, do computational labwork, and IM people on perhaps the only pleasant days to be in Massachusetts.

I had cereal today for the first time in 5 years. With nonfat milk. And let me say, nonfat milk is among the worst of beverages. You know how drinking water is better than drinking very dilute punch or lemonade without the sugar? It's like milk without the milk. And beyond this, it has the consistency of dilute white paint. Felt like adding some corstarch. But them's carbs there.

In boredom, I watched "The Hours" this morning. For me, it's up there with "Good Will Hunting," only with stifled tears. And when the movie was done, I watched it with Nicole & Julianne & Meryl's commentaries. And then I watched it with the director & writer's commentaries. And then, I felt I needed therapy and that the world was shit. I'm mellow again, after realizing that I'm no longer a student, and thus ineligible for free therapy.

But, if I may, the single scene that sums up the movie:
"I think I'm only staying alive to satisfy you"
"That is what we do. That is what people do. They stay alive for each other."