Shill: I got to read an advance copy of a little book, Afterglow, a long interview with Pauline Kael conducted a bit before her death a year back. Good stuff. When it comes out, read it -- it's short and fun. Yummy facts: Kael liked The West Wing and the film criticism at Slate and Salon!

Spoiler: Susanna is wrong and Andy is right, I decree. How can you not like the ending of Book IV? Okay, yes, if you can't go read Book V right away, as none of us can, then it's annoying to end with so much unresolved. But this is the epic plot arc, and it's great! Harry and the danger to the universe are finally maturing! Susanna and I do agree that it's a cliffhanger; I suppose that Susanna and I just don't share a taste for cliffhangers.

I spent the post-work hour eating frozen yogurt, wandering, and picking brambles out of a blanket with Michelle. Today I'll see a Guster concert with Adam and other friends. I work forty hours a week at a bookstore and I ask "paper or plastic?" I guess this is my life, but I don't recognize it. I feel like a database that has changed faster than its index.