Since our case wasn’t being tried today, I headed into work for the first time in a few weeks. I’m having to take time off unpaid as I’ve gone over the ten days of jury duty that work will cover, so every day I can go in, I will, to minimize the damage. In Red […]

[Read more →]

Today’s book, The Secret of the Unicorn, is one of the biggies. It’s half of a two-parter that is probably one of the best-known and most beloved sets in the series. It is classic middle-period Tintin, and it’s probably one of the first books we read when we were getting into the series. Like the […]

[Read more →]

Another bike commute to jury duty today. An unexpectedly long lunch meant I got to really enjoy the awful Euro dance music coming from the Dance Zone kiosk on the Third Street Promenade today, where I chose to park my bike, eat my lunch, and read today’s adventure, The Shooting Star. I think the strongest […]

[Read more →]

After having pumped my tires on Thursday, cleaned the bike on Friday, and purchased a new lock cable on Saturday, I rode to jury duty for the first time – rode my bike, period, for the first time in a long time. The commute was not bad at all, just 20 minutes, much of it […]

[Read more →]

Another picturesque spot to do some reading: in Morro Bay, looking out at The Rock. King Ottokar’s Sceptre, which introduces us to the Balkan nations of Syldavia and Borduria, sets the scene for some of Hergé’s richest inventions, from the two nations’ cross-border rivalry to the maddening diva Bianca Castafiore. The travel brochure which Tintin […]

[Read more →]

I think you’d really have to stay at the Madonna Inn for a week or so to get the full effect, switching rooms every night to get a better sense of the variety of decor. Our “Bit of Solvang,” or a “Study in Blue,” as it could be called, was fine, but fairly unremarkable. The […]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

After attempting both new Santa Monica beer places for a special “end of a long week of jury duty” lunch — both the Fifth Amendment and West 4th/Jane were closed, despite advertising that they’d be open — I ended up at Le Pain Quotidien for lunch, where I enjoyed a tasty prosciutto sandwich and mint […]

[Read more →]

In my quest to find a different place to eat lunch each day that meets my requirements of shade and breeze, I headed to the spot where the pier begins, amidst the crush of equal parts tourist and homeless folks out on a slightly muggy day. Cigars of the Pharaoh, which includes Tintin’s first brush […]

[Read more →]

I ventured a little further afield today, as the temperature had dropped a bit today, down to a more comfortable Santa Monica cool. I walked five or ten minutes to the beach during lunch and found a breezy, shaded area to read my book and eat my lunch, marveling at the relative emptiness of the […]

[Read more →]

I moved a short distance from the County Building today to a shady tree in front of the Santa Monica Civic Center to spend my lunch break. Next up in the Tintin Canon is Tintin in the Congo the most controversial Tintin book – for good reason – and another one that I only have […]

[Read more →]

My new job could be a lot worse. I get to work in Santa Monica, my commute is pretty short – ten or twelve minutes – I’ve got free parking, I only work five hours a day, I’ve got an hour and a half for lunch, and I don’t take my work home with me. […]

[Read more →]

It’s time for the end of the year wrap-up, which I haven’t really done with any consistency (see the Best Live Shows of 2004 and Top Ten Films of 2004), but I’m going to give it a shot. 2008 has been an extremely busy year for us, our second full year in Los Angeles, one […]

[Read more →]

I suppose every year should really be the Year of the Book, but reading more books was one of my few New Year’s resolutions, along with running another marathon and…well, I guess that’s about it. I’m currently cruising through the very interesting Celluloid Skyline (and give the site a visit, as it’s much more than […]

[Read more →]

When a movie is adapted from a book, we always get inundated with a new batch of books with movie-themed cover art. Nevertheless, this is still a little creepy.

[Read more →]