Christopher seems to be in thrall to some sort of madness downstairs. There's yelling and clapping and sometimes crashing noises. I believe it has to do with sports of some kind.

Anyway, safely upstairs, with the ability to lock the door should things get out of control, I've discovered one of the most interesting little publications: The Texas Mercury, a weekly review, edited by James Versluys and Derek Copold. All the pieces in it are worth looking at, especially the extremely tasteless and possibly offensive to some, but hilariously funny, instruction on committing suicide the right way ("Use enough gun") by Hank Parnell. Go thee and read; there's even an essay on Lord of the Rings.

Last night we went for sushi with my friend Mandy (Dance Marathon!), who's usually an erstwhile and socially responsible student at Chapel Hill but is home for the holidays. Good fish, though the waiter lost our ticket and then brought us the wrong sushi -- we were hungry, so we didn't fuss, even if I didn't get my toro. The waiter also gave us a list of movies we'd all seen (after having a brief discussion about Minority Report with us), so we gave him one in return of ones he mostly hadn't. Then we went to see Catch Me If You Can, one of the best con man caper movies I've seen in a long while. Thoroughly enjoyable. John Williams even manages a restrained and fun score, and Leonardo DiCaprio proves that he can still act. I did have a semi-revelation at Christopher Walken's perfectly fine turn as Frank Abagnale, Sr., which is that I can't buy Walken as anyone but Walken anymore. His physical mannerisms and especially his diction are such that I can't imagine him acting in such a way I would not be completely aware the whole time that this is Christopher Walken acting. Anyway...

Things have gotten quiet downstairs. Maybe too quiet...