One line

Read

The Twenty-seventh City (Jonathan Franzen) - complicated, clever political thriller, everyone is corrupted (including me?).
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords (Perry Marshall / Bryan Todd) - excellent.
The Road (Cormac McCarthy) - always been a fan of his writing and this is one of his best and most readable, a bleak future but really digs into relationships and the contrasts of humanity in the midst of hopelessness.

Unfinished

Assassination Vacation (Sarah Vowell) - fun and insightful observations on America then and now [still reading it].

Watched

West Wing Seasons 1-7 - romantic (but hopeful) notions of people in power, good characters, scripts and stories.
Thank you for smoking - funny look at spin.
28 Weeks Later - 28 Days Later had some cleverer themes I think, but this was freakier in many ways - great looking and sounding movie.

Visited

San Francisco (2003, 2004) - great place to walk around, great places to eat, good vibes, saw Shihad and the Donnas.
North Carolina (2 days in 2004) - nothing like I imagined, green and hot - i have now gone swimming in both major oceans, gave some context to Wyckedness, if incomplete.
New York (Feb 2001, 1 week in 2004) - stood on top of the twin towers Winter 2001 and was in love, Summer 2004 not so infatuated with the heat and mass and concrete, plenty of favourite spots (central park, galleries, union square book shops, brooklyn bridge, time square at night).
Washington DC (weekend, Feb 2001) - great museums, monuments, whitehouse is less impresive than i imagined, how can there be homeless people in the most powerful city on earth?
Melbourne (2 weeks all up over last few years) - some great parties, friendly people who can have conversation, great to get around, friends I miss.
Sydney (24 hours in 2003) - pretty city for lots of reasons.
Los Angeles (spent about 3 months on and off in 2005 and 2007) - crazy.
Vegas (1 fun, but not so crazy night, 2006) - Cirque Du Soleil and lights at night on the strip.
Los Angleles (2007 - 2 nights on way to Europe) - way less crazy (see above) - actually quite relaxing.
Frankfurt (18 hour delay on what should have been a 2 hour stopover) - I never would have thought a German airport would be so thrown out by a short thunderstorm, between the airport and hotel room didn't see much else.
Monaco (few nights 2007) - beautiful location, nice walks and perfect climate. Good company.
Lavagna, Italy (1 night) - wow - small town - no tourists - slow pace - warm, friendly people - cheap, great food - could have stayed a month.
Genoa, Italy (barely 1 night) - don't remember much besides some beautiful architecture and dirty streets - it was late though and we were celebrating.
Hong Kong (2 hours in downtown on stopover 2007) - wild, hot, rainy. Would love to go back without my laptop in tow.

Heard

Above (Mad Season) - great dynamics, one of my staples for the last year.
Antics (Interpol) - a Friday afternoon special at work.
Lucinda Williams - raw and rocking, great lyrics - bit of a 2006 obsession - have been listening to her album West alot lately.
The Dukes - best live band in town ... Matt is a great songwriter.
Luke Hurley - Unique New Zealand Singer/Songwriter (and amazing Guitarist)
Our Love to Admire (Interpol) - the latest album by Interpol is a nice development from Antics - and is on high rotate at the moment.