JUNE ROUNDUP

While I'm throwing stats at you, I might as well do my monthly roundup of all the pop culture I've ingested...

I read 5 books this month - Then We Came to the End; I Love You, Beth Cooper; and books 4-6 in the Harry Potter series (which were rereads). That's not quite the 6 I needed to get back on pace for the year's goal (which is 40 books) but it is my highest monthly total this year. I've now read 19 books in 2007, which puts me on pace for 38...and that is what I've read for the last 2 years. I guess we'll see what happens. I do have 2 books on the shelves waiting to be read and, of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be (hopefully) arriving three weeks from today. My average for the year is 3.17 books read each month.

I read only 9 stories in June, which brings my total to 89 on the year. Sadly, that total is higher than my May total was. Eventually, the story totals will go up since I still have a bunch of SF magazines stacked up waiting to be read and two more should be arriving soon; I also have my eye on some original anthologies. I'm averging just a shade under 15 stories read per month so far this year.

I read only 5 comics in June, 4 trades and 1 single issue. That brings my total on the year to 85, of which 19 have been trades. From here on, I will be reading mostly trades with just the occasional single issue thrown depending on my interest in a specific project. I'm averaging 14.17 comics read per month or 11 single issues per month and 3.17 trades per month. Hmm, the trades and the books totals are equal.

I bought, downloaded, or received 13 CDs in June, which is the same total as May. That gives me 60 new albums on the year, an average of 10 per month. Wow. Well, the eMusic subscription certainly inflates those numbers. Two of the CDs this month were EPs and I counted 9 EPs on the year so far. I also downloaded 1 song this month (Wilco's "The Thanks I Get") for a total of 11 on the year (or 1.83 per month).

I saw 4 movies in June - Knocked Up; Surf's Up; Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer; and Ratatouille. Of those, I liked Knocked Up the best; in fact, it's right up there with Zodiac for my favorite movie of the year so far. This was my biggest month for seeing movies and gives me a total of 11 on the year; it's highly possible I hadn't seen 11 movies in the theater the past two years combined. That's an average of 1.83 per month (same as single songs).

Once again, I'm not sure what I've watched on DVD this past month. I know Grant and I finished off Superman Animated Series Vol. 2 and we've watched 12 episodes of Batman Animated Series Vol. 2 (as well as a feature and a commentary). We've watched the first three Harry Potter movies to get Grant up to speed. I've watched an episode from The Wire Season Three (and may watch another yet tonight). Can't think of anything else; I do plan on keeping better track here in the second half of the year, however.

So, there you go - another month of pop culture boiled down to numbers. Thrilling, wasn't it?