On Friday Andy & I got to meet up with Phil and Brandon. It was umm an interesting evening. Phil was acting very goofy all night, and Brandon was trying his best to be low-key and casual about everything. Andy was in ‘host mode’ all night long and perhaps didn’t have as much fun as he could have. It had been so long since we’d actually socialized like that with a group of guys.

Paul Auster’s new novel “Oracle Night” is brilliant; have I mentioned that yet? It’s vintage Auster, except this time around he’s even more blunt with his sleight-of-hand, first tricking you and then make a point of showing you EXACTLY how he tricked you. No doubt it’s off-putting to some but I really enjoyed it. It has some melancholy observations about aging (and some very interesting parallels to his wife’s recent novel, “What I Loved”) but some great funny bits too.

“21 Grams” was a fine film with some of the best performances you’re going to see anywhere for quite awhile. Naomi Watts was radiaant in a very tricky, somewhat unsympathetic part. Same goes for Sean Penn. And they tried their best to make him look very sickly (he’s dying for most of the film) but he was still handsome. The film is told in this mixed up, random-seeming chronology, and for the first half you’re not quite sure whether what you’re seeing is the “present” or a flashback maybe. Rather than being gimmicky though, it’s integral to the storytelling of the film. I think that when you see something out of context like that it forces you to pay attention to everything more, and as result you see and notice all sorts of things that you wouldn’t otherwise. The visual style of the film is every bit as arresting as “Amores Perros.” Highly recommended.

So the “big boss” is out of the office on vacation all week. That could be good, or it could be bad. Lots of freedom, but Joe and I will pretty much be running things by ourselves. So if it’s quiet (which we are thinking it will be) then everything will be hunky dory. If it’s frantic … then ugh.

After work today I’m heading to the Mag Mile to do the rest of my Xmas shopping, hopefully. The shops should be less packed today. I wouldn’t have wanted to go out to the stores yesterday, but that’s exactly what Andy did last night with some friends. They drove to Target. I’ll have to ask him how it was when I see him tonight. Hooray for online shopping, which I did on Saturday.

Quimby’s stocked up on more copies of 100SP yesterday! I dropped off 7. Logan (store manager) asked for 2 signed copies. I guess this crusty old guy came in yesterday and demanded 2 copies. When Logan found they were sold out, he told the guy he could get 2 copies for him in a few days and the guy said that was okay as long as they were signed. I don’t think I know any crusty old men. That’s one thing worth sharing: when random strangers start getting excited about your book, that’s when as a writer things start getting very satisfying. So I was really happy about that.