[Malin] I am such a slacker. I've finished four books in the last month and I haven't reviewed any of them. I finished "A Pale View of Hills" by Kazuo Ishiguro, "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman, "Mothers and Sons" by Colm Toibin, and "Self-Help" by Lorrie Moore. "The Magicians" was the best of the lot, but they were all enjoyable and I learned something from each.

So right now, for a change of pace, I'm reading Joe Posnanski's "The Machine," the story of the Big Red Machine (the 1975 Cincinnati Reds). I can confidently tell you it is great, because I was a Phillies fan in 1975 and they lost to the Reds in the playoffs approximately 1,290 consecutive times while I was a kid. The only Phillies game I actually remember attending from that era was a game against the Reds (regular season) which they won, and I was so excited. I hated Johnny Bench. I hated George Foster. I hated Sparky Anderson. I hated Pete Rose most of all (even when he came to play for Philly). And I love this book.

Tomorrow, we're heading up to Scary Cow's screening to see a friend's short film and cheer him on, but we'll see if I can't get some reviews up soon. Really been enjoying discussing books with people--"Un Lun Dun" and "The Magicians" specifically, but also some of my older favorites.

But I spent today finishing up edits on rikoshi's "Seventh Chakra," which is dang good, yo. So I'm doing a little bit of writing, a little editing, and I kinda feel like picking up a drawing pencil again... though I can't really top the commish Rolo and I got recently (yeah, you see the icon...).

Anyway, that's what's up wit da fox. How's you guys doin'?