In Which I Approach the Alphabetical Annum.

I saw "Kong" today. It seemed like a very, very long movie. And it was. I was pretty tired of it after about the first hour and a half. I didn't realize how bored I could get with flawlessly animated monster battles. I guess I really like the guys in monster suits better. (Come to think of it, I preferred puppet-Yoda, too.)

I didn't make any New Year's resolutions, if you were wondering about that. But I recently found out that some friends of mine are living the alphabet in 2006, two weeks for each letter. This means they are planning their entire lifestyle (food, recreation, chores, learning, etc.) around the letter of the, uh, fortnight. I think that's a pretty cool idea, cool enough for me to take a flying leap onto the bandwagon already in motion. It's a good thing that I spent the first few days of the year hanging out with Meep, whose real name starts with an A, and with my sisters and my nephew, who also have A names. I think we may even have played Apples to Apples. Last week I watched "Annie Hall," and today I had dinner at Acapulco. I've been listening to Andrew Bird in my car, and today I told iTunes to play all the songs by artists who begin with A (why do I have so many tracks by Animal Collective and The Arcade Fire?).

Later this week I will listen to some African music, maybe while eating apples or dried apricots. I'll do a little archery and maybe some crunches to work out my abs, or amble around the neighborhood if the rain ever lets up. I might rent "American Splendor" and there's a good chance I'll read the book of Acts. It's a little late to start anything longer, as I don't want to be caught midway through a book on the 15th. So many intriguing authors start with B (Peter Beagle! Nicholson Baker! Jorge Luis Borges!).

With that in mind, the following track has been brought to you by the letter A and... um... my left elbow?

Ananda Shankar & State of Bengal - Pluck

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