Don't laugh at me.

I don't watch scary movies very often. Until I watched "Devil" the other night, I think the last real horror movie I saw was "The Grudge". This is because, after an epidemic of boldness and stupidity my first year or two of college, I realized that after I watch horror movies, I CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT. I don't know what it is, haunted houses and things that are real like, oh say, people with guns, don't bother me too much, but show me a freaky movie and I will crawl up under five blankets on my bed (which I have probably moved to the center of the room by this point) with all the lights on, the tv on, and probably a book to read (the more distractions, the better). Don't tell me they're not real. I KNOW they're not real. I'm not an idiot. But maybe it's a symptom of my all too willing suspension of disbelief (which makes me generally a rather easy to please movie-goer), that once I watch something horrifying, I'm reminded of it in the most ridiculous places. So because of this...ahem...problem that I have, I have been studiously avoiding watching television commercials for the upcoming movie "Case 39"- some hooey about a foster child and the curse that plagues her- anyone who helps her DIES. Oh dear. Silly though it be, I can tell that it's scary and I don't want none of it. ANYWAYS, the point of this unnecessarily long explanation is that, with the tv on, but muted, in the background while trying to register for classes just now, I happened to look up right at a moment of scary-face-showing during that commercial. I deeply regret it. Guess how I'll be sleeping tonight?

If you ever wonder why I'm so obsessed with Law & Order (I can't help it!!), the New York Times captured it PERFECTLY (it's like they're living inside my brain) in their recent review of the new Law & Order: LA:

"'Law & Order' episodes hold attention, year after year and rerun after rerun, because the story arcs are both suspenseful and predictable; the plots are luridly fascinating, but their resolution is comfortingly familiar."

I don't have anything to add. It's like neon comfort food. Mmmmmmmm.

This is the first 9/11 since 2001 that I haven't gotten up in the morning and just felt like sitting on the floor and sobbing all day long. That's a step in the right direction, right?

I still want ALL of these. Time has not diminished my love for an Amy Butler rug. First purchase for my future new apartment? Yes. When will this happen? I have absolutely no idea.

Back in...June? It seems like it's been forever, but really (apparently) it's only been a few months...I started reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. I'm not quite sure what to say about it.

Plot first, I guess. A fairly famous (and fictional) American artist is arrested at the National Gallery of Art for attempting to attack a painting (depicting the myth of Leda and the Zeus-swan). With a knife. I know, right? He is admitted to a psychiatric institution under the care of Dr. Marlow, psychiatrist and main character extraordinaire, who is also an artist of sorts and, taking an intense interest in his patient's case and only confession that "I did it for her", goes to extreme lengths to follow the artist's obsession with a possibly fictional woman whom he paints and sketches over and over and over again. Eventually Dr. Marlow finds this woman (a faint memory of her anyway) and the reason for his patient's obsessive focus on her. This case becomes something of an obsession for Dr. Marlow himself as he tracks down former amours, associates, and paintings of his patient. It is interesting to see a number of lives unfold and the way they reflect and re-reflect one another. The contemporary story-line is frequently interrupted by first letters and then narrative snippets from the life of the mysterious woman at the heart of all this arty intrigue.

The main problem with The Swan Thieves- its length. It was, like I said, an interesting story, but there simply was not enough material to fill all of those pages (and, it seems, nearly half of my suitcase). I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as The Historian, but all in all, this was pretty wonderful. It's not the kind of book that I could gobble and gobble and finish quickly. Her writing is quite dense, and the book was very slow going for me. That being said, Kostova's writing has moments of quiet brilliance and unexpected insight. I really loved the imagined paintings that make up the core of Marlow's search. Each one seemed absolutely real and vivid. I wanted to see all of these paintings in real life, though the descriptions were so skillful that somehow I'm not sure I'd need to.


It was a nice book to span my time in D.C. D.C. is the main setting for the story, and it complemented my frequent museum visits well. Also provided great Metro reading as I could only focus for bits anyways.

Great if you're in the mood for something to nibble at. If you haven't read The Historian yet, read that instead.