can you hear it?

So much going on! The main thing being that I think my brain has finally imploded. It's really peaceful here under the rubble, although I'm starting to hear music in the water pipes which is kind of disturbing.

(but also kind of cool!)

(but worrisome!)

(it's just one set of pipes, so it's not like I'm staggering around town with a tape recorder capturing my secret symphony which sounds great to me but just like running water to everyone else. someone would call the cops (of course) and I would have to explain and it would sound as crazy as it is, until either the implant or the tiny pipe-dwelling musicians (and choir!) are revealed and I am VINDICATED! the end.)

I'm not going to say much about the election in this post, except that I'll be working until the polls close tomorrow. This pleases me! The library is an official ballot drop-off place, and I love watching people come in and vote. I worked the last day of the primaries and it was pretty thrilling to see people waiting in lines to drop off an envelope (TRUE FACT). I can only imagine how great it will be now that we've FINALLY arrived at the general election. I am a big old sentimental sappy sucker, but I have an excellent poker face so I should be able to get through it without any embarrassing I heart democracy outbursts. (I will just say this: do you think anyone kissing a ballot as they drop it off in a public library is voting for McCain? Me neither!)

ANYWAY. If you need a break from fivethirtyeight or CNN or Daily Kos tomorrow (or any time!) here are some wonderful things that have come up in my feed reader recently:

1. This great post at Sunset Gun about It Happened One Night. I love this movie! I enjoyed Kim Morgan's reviews when she wrote for Willamette Week, so I was happy to find her again when she was rightfully praised on Bright Lights After Dark.

2. The Fluxcast -- the podcast of Fluxblog. #18 was just released today (Monday) -- I haven't heard it yet, but #17 is a lot of fun, and so are all the rest. I never know what will be on it -- sometimes something new, sometimes something old, always something interesting. I've fallen out of the habit of listening to the radio, but this replicates that sense of anticipation: what will come next?! I love listening while I'm out and about -- either in the car or on foot. On more than one occasion I have frantically grabbed around for a pen to write down the name of a song before I realize that it's okay! I can find out later.

3. Leslie and Dag are on vacation in Ecuador and the Galapagos! Her internet access has been spotty, but I love getting as it happens reports from the equator.

4. I am ready to buy Roger Ebert's rice cooker cookbook, RIGHT NOW. "How does the Pot know how long to cook the rice? It is a mystery of the Orient. Don't ask questions you don't need the answers to."

5. The Year In Pictures: I came to this blog a while ago via The Sartorialist. It embodies one of the things I love best about the internet: an expert who is generous with his expertise and genuinely enthusiastic about his subject. I always learn something.

BONUS: puppycam, for when everything else is just too much. sometimes, for the preservation of blood pressure, a person needs to watch a pile of puppies sleeping. Thanks to the magic of the internet, NOW YOU CAN.