AUGUST ROUNDUP

Two-thirds of 2007 is gone already. School is back in session; I am in a new position at work. Lots of changes going on at the Steiner house but they are positive ones. I have a feeling my pop culture intake will be shrinking from here through the rest of the year.

I read 3 books in August - Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, Spook Country, and Bad Monkeys. That brings my 2007 total to 25, still one book behind a pace of 40 books on the year. I need to read 5 books in Sept. in order to get back on pace and I have serious doubts that will occur. Still, I'm going to keep reading (and I won't count the book on lifeguarding I need to start studying).

I read 10 stories in August, coming back down to more normal numbers for me. These stories comprised the whole of two issues of F&SF; I have 4 issues of my SF mags stacked up to be read. The year's total of stories read is at 125.

I read 12 comics in August and they were all single issues, which is the first time that's happened all year. It also brings the comics total to 107 on the year with still only 23 trades read (the books are back ahead). These numbers will fall drastically as we go through the rest of the year, since we are watching our spending and I'm going to have to cut down on my comics habit considerably.

Once again I got 6 CDs in August, all downloads but one (I received Kelley Stoltz's Below the Branches from my brother). My total for the year is now 72.

I didn't see any movies in the theater in August, though I did want to see Superbad and Stardust. They may end up being ones I catch on DVD. The year's total stays at 14.

DVD viewing is a bit more complicated. I watched 4 full movies on DVD - Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, 300, Wet Hot American Summer, and Blades of Glory (which I also saw in the theater). Grant and I watched 8 episodes, listened to 2 commentaries, and watched 1 feature on Batman: The Animated Series Vol. 2 to finish off that set. We also watched 6 episodes, did 3 commentaries, and 1 feature from The Simpsons Season 9. I also watched one episode each for The Wire Season 3, Entourage Season 1, and Futurama Season 3. Whew.