Here's an embedded playlist of what I've been listening to lately (you can use it stream the songs once for free):

• At the Bottom of the Sea - The Thermals
• Heartbeats – José González
• Trapped Under Ice Floes (Redux) – +/-
• Everyday – Vetiver
• Lapse – Bill Callahan
• Young Hearts Spark Fire – Japandroids
• Shampoo – Elvis Perkins in Dearland
• Trapeze Swinger (live) – Iron & Wine
• Start a War – The National
• Beggar’s Bowl – Polvo
• Genesis 3:23 – The Mountain Goats
• A New Clear Route – My Dad is Dead
• My Only Friend – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
• SIgn the Dotted Line – Jeff Mangum
• I Don’t Know Why – Mark Erelli

I recently finished reading the 3rd book in the Twilight series, Eclipse.  I think I liked this one a little more than the previous one although I thought the latter portion was kind of a let-down…stuck with the people waiting for the action to be over rather than with the action that we’d been headed towards.

I enjoyed reading Twilight enough that I continued on with reading and then recently going to see New Moon (2009,PG-13) with Lisa.  From ScreenIt!:

A teen must not only contend with her vampire boyfriend suddenly dumping her and moving away, but also the discovery that her best friend is a werewolf.

I pretty much felt the same about this one as the first one.  The book was enjoyable enough, and the film was tolerable as a companion to the book.

I give it 3 out of 5.

Tonight I finished watching By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (2009).  From Wikipedia:

By the People: The Election of Barack Obama is a documentary film that came out in November 2009 on HBO. The film was produced by Edward Norton during the 2008 Presidential election of Barack Obama. It follows Obama and various members of his campaign team, including David Axelrod, through the two years leading up to November 4th, 2008.

I heard David Plotz pan this documentary on the Gabfest, accusing the filmmakers of squandering their behind-the-scenes access and not getting any amazing Obama moments.  I don’t really agree (there were several moments that I thought were great…prepping for a debate, chatting off-stage while he is introduced, etc.), especially since the film was as much about a variety of other campaign staffers as about Obama…and they were interesting to watch too.  As the film closed with those folks reacting to the election results, I was reminded how I felt that night too…and that was worth remembering.

I give it 4 out of 5.