Well, since it hasn't happened yet, changing the name of the salon isn't the worst thing in the world. Yes, Malcolm McClaren said "establish the name" as an important tenant, but when Nick freakin' Punto, who I had actually thought retired when he disappeared from the Twinkies only to show up in the playoffs with the Cards, joins the hated Bosox I can't spread his name and fame. So there. And as a baseball move, Punto ain't gonna solve the sox' problems as their utility guy; getting rid of Lowrie seems like a downgrade. And bringing ex-Yankee middlin' reliever, Mark Melancon into their pen doesn't send shivers down my spine. And as much as I disliked Papelbum for his ugly mug, I won't mind not seeing him come out of their pen.

Angels dumped a lot of money on Pujols and CJ Wilson. I am intrigued in getting to see one of the best hitters in baseball on a more regular basis; I don't watch much NL ball so I haven't seen him play too much. The best comment I saw out of all that commentary came from Pujols' wife who was crediting God for bringing her hubby to below the Orange Curtain to play ball; she said it was only right that it would be for the Angels. Good one!


Had the interesting, still recuperating from flu experience of being able to read a book and then watch the movie in the same week. The original Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" made the book seem so much better. What was a multi-layered, slowly unraveling tale became a lot more straight forward; I am a little intrigued now to see what David Fincher does with the American re-make that is out now or soon. I'm halfway through the second one and the Swedish film version of that one is on Netflix instant as well.

The casting of Lisbeth was right on in some ways. I was pleasantly surprised to see them be faithful to the novel in casting a tiny-framed, tiny-breasted woman for the role, but she seemed too old; I would never mistake her for a 14 year old except in some of the more flattering (read: dark) lit scenes; she seemed to have an aged bitterness that didn't exactly fly with my vision of Miss Salander.

Off to my first practical class at bartending school today; I suspect they water down the drinks; I expect to do some additional homework, happy hour research afterwards...

Cheers,
Brian