I saw the new Harry Potter movie last night at an advance screening. I liked it better than the other three. It finally flowed like a movie, not like a book. There weren’t discernible chapters. And the plot just seemed more exciting. My friends who have read the books said that about 3/4 of the book was excluded, yet they all enjoyed it as well. They said they appreciated the fact that it felt more like a movie, and it was better to leave things out entirely than to touch on them briefly and never come back.

I laughed and laughed when I saw this item on the Linens-n-Things web site. Hopefully you’ll make the same instant assumption about the product, otherwise it’s not funny.

I received a free promotional CD in the mail with selections from The Woman in White. I guess they’re trying to generate interest in the Broadway run. Anyway, it’s really weird. I almost can’t pass judgment on the music, though, because it’s definitely the plot that’s weird. I might consider seeing the show. Now that I’m reading about the plot, I’m totally intrigued.

Dammit! Remember I went to the Park about a month ago to shoot photos of autumn, but there was nothing very autumnal about it? Well, apparently I really was way too early; I found these photos on Flickr just now, and they were taken earlier this week. I guess it’s time to go back to the Park!

I had a dream in which my friend Nicole was on a family vacation with me. I think we were in Vancouver. Anyway, we both had these new cameraphones that took really great pictures. Every time she took a picture, though, she had to write about the picture for a school report. And then I had to look over what she’d written, critique it, and sign off on it (like a parent reading a rough draft). I think it means that my friends are too young.

In a city that supposedly doesn’t sleep, how come every store closes early? Like why does Staples close at 8 o’clock every night, and why doesn’t the drug store stay open 24 hours a day? And why do all the post offices have last pickup at 6 o’clock? I mean, it’s great that all of the bars are open until 4, but what if I need something–anything–other than an alcoholic drink between the hours of 8 in the evening and 4 in the morning?

Amanda, Allison, Traci, and I decided that the statues at Plaza el Paseo needed to have some fun. We happened to have some inflatable instruments and microphones from Amanda’s brother’s bar mitzvah, so we forced the statues to join our rock band… er, bronze band.

Click for more pictures.

At this rate, I’m pretty sure the iPod that’s unveiled this time next year will hold every song ever recorded, will be able to drive your car, and will be too small to see with the naked eye. Unfortunately, even at a reasonable $299, no one will be able to afford the new iPod because of the enormous debt everyone will be in after buying each of the previous five hundred iPod versions.

Apparently there will be an ice skating rink in Bryant Park this winter. Sure, there’s already one at Rockefeller Center, and there are a couple in Central Park, but this one is better. It’s free.

The Pond at Bryant Park, scheduled to open on Oct. 28, will be a portable, Olympic-size rink large enough for 500 skaters to pirouette upon (or slip and fall) among the high-rises of Midtown Manhattan. A rarity among the handful of ice rinks in Manhattan, it will have no admission charge… [Read more.]

Skate rentals will be a hefty $7.50, but that’s about the same everywhere, and the lack of an admission charge way more than makes up for it.

It rained all day yesterday, and it’s supposed to rain the rest of the week. Today, however, it didn’t rain. I took the opportunity to go to Central Park and look for autumn leaves. I was more than a little disappointed with nature’s fall line-up, but you’re welcome to check out the photos anyway.