'Tis a Gift

I'm just sitting here in front of the computer thinking about simplicity and how good it is with regards to book covers (see: one, two, three, four), album covers (see: one, two, three, four), and music in general (see: Oh, you know. It's called rock 'n roll.)

What do you think? Are these even simple? Or good? Because now I'm questioning the whole thing and getting all "whoa, what is simple, what is good, etc."

Harry Potter Hype

I am thinking about going to see Harry and the Potters this weekend. Not just because they are cool, and brothers, and dress like Harry Potter and sing songs like Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock and This Book is so Awesome, and you get to see little kids rocking out. It's also because the final Harry Potter book comes out in a few weeks (July 21) and I don't want to waste it by not being appropriately hyped up. It helps that Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix comes out on the 11th, too.

Here's a question, though. Do you think there's something wrong with all these adults reading kid's books? Do they make us stupider? Are we burying our heads in childhood fantasy because we're no good at being grownups?

Personally I will defend the reading of Harry Potter books, though I was initially skeptical. I'm generally pretty picky about writing style and less interested in plot. I was pleasantly surprised that these books manage to balance the two well enough for me to enjoy them. So I'm not going to feel guilty for a little indulgence. Plus books that can freak kids out enough to get them standing in line to read are awesome.

Key Words

Here is Amazon's list of Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIP's) for the book Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace:

annular fusion
medical attaché
entertainment cartridge
improbably deformed
howling fantods
feral hamsters
dawn drills
tough nun
prochain train
professional conversationalist
new bong
ceiling bulged
metro boston
tennis academy
red leather coat
soupe aux pois
red beanie
addicted man
magnetic video
littler kids
little rotter
technical interview
police lock
oral narcotics
sober time

These are all phrases that come up many times within the text so, as you can see, it's a really fun book to read. I look back on those 2 or 3 months with much more nostalgia than they deserve just because I enjoyed reading it so much (working a temp job at an accounting firm in downtown San Jose couldn't have been that great).