some things i've been enjoying lately:

>>i read the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (yes, i have fallen victim to the today show book club. lucky me.) i found it interesting mostly because when i worked in italy, i babysat two brothers, one of whom was ten years old and pretty severely autistic, and his younger sibling, who was mildly so. i had never really encountered autism at all before, and in fact, barely knew what it was, except for stupid stuff like "rain man," and i think the only thing the public took away from the film is that autistic people can count the exact number of toothpicks that you've spilled on the floor. or something. babysitting the kids was tough, even though they were lovely and incredibly intelligent and sweet, especially the younger one. the older one liked me a lot, i think, and as long as there were defined rules and boundaries and expectations, it wasn't too difficult. but then one day i lost my patience after he was really cruel to his brother, and i spoke harshly to him, and he flipped his shit, really, like, lost it for a couple of hours. it was kind of terrifying. ever since babysitting them, i've wanted to know more about autism, and though i doubt that reading a short fiction novel on the subject qualifies anyone as an expert, the book definitely gives a lot of insight into how to deal with autistic children and the kind of things that they are going through. plus, it's well-written and a bit of a mystery novel, so it's a quick, enjoyable read.

>>tommy, charles and i went to see washington social club on friday night at the black cat. i know that they've been around for a while, and everyone already thinks they're a great band, and i'm late to the game, etc etc. honestly, i wasn't really into them at the start of the show. i stayed in the back and sat at a table because i am 84 years old and can't be bothered to stand for long periods of time. but as soon as tommy dragged me to the front, praising them to the high heavens, i started to like them a lot more. he bought their cd, so hopefully i can soon steal it from him unnoticed and listen to them more in depth.

>>saturday afternoon, i went to see the dan flavin retrospective at the national gallery of art, and also ended up taking in the gerard ter borch exhibition in the west building. now, it should be noted that i know absolutely zilch about art, and in fact, i rarely enjoy it. i am an uncultured philistine; when in italy, i could barely be bothered to waltz through the uffizi gallery or any other of the innumerable and amazing collections of art easily available to me. i nearly fell asleep in the galleria borghese. so, you're just getting the opinion of an art retard here, basically. you can read kriston for some actual art knowledge, and a couple of posts about flavin.

anyway. i liked the flavin retrospective, mostly, though i have to say i definitely don't get a lot of his work. for example - i think his most famous piece is this golden-colored fluorescent tube that's set up on a wall at a 45 degree angle. and that's it. please to explain?

most of the other sculptures, or whatever you would call them, were really beautiful and interesting, and i liked the multi-colored ones because they were purty. i like purty things. a few things about the exhibit itself - i wish the floor hadn't been carpet because i think it would have been cool to see the lights be somewhat reflected off a different floor material, and also, i wish some of the sculptures had been in their own rooms. a lot of the time there were several in one room, and there was just too much light coming off of all of them, and i think some pieces might have benefited from being alone and having their light more concentrated. also, it might have helped my eyeballs from being burned out by all the fluorescent light that attacked me at every turn.

then i went to see gerard ter borch, who was a big old dutch painter, and i liked his work, too. kind of graceful and intimate. also, he is apparently the BOMB at painting fabric, and i have to say i agree. you'd look at some of the satin dresses on the women in his paintings, and it basically looked like he had cut out a piece of white satin and glued it onto the canvas. incredibly realistic. and purty.

>>oh, still listening to the arcade fire. funeral. i've recommended them about 37 times already. please take my advice if you haven't. and please let me know of any awesome new music, because i am itching to buy some cds.