MEDIA MONDAY--I'M BACK EDITION
[Thanks for the posts Doug! Everyone, if you don't already, keep up with Doug's blog: Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Myself to Death. It's good stuff, and usually on subjects even more interesting than donuts.]

What have you been listening to, reading and watching?

Classical Music gets a Facelift in Florida
This doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm a bit nervous here in Nashville over a new symphony hall downtown and the prospect of trying to lure a big name young conductor. I usually like the symphony as much as the next person, but it's generally too expensive and too antiseptic an artistic experience. So it makes sense that the small ensemble chamber music scene has begun to flourish in South Florida now that the Symphony has disbanded. It's where they should have been focusing their attention all along.

Weekend Box Office
1. Fantastic Four (I'm surprised... was predicting a bomb)
2. War of the Worlds
3. Batman Begins
4. Dark Water
5. Mr. and Mrs. Smith

I haven't seen a flick in a while--can anybody report? Matthew Yglesias points out that in picking one to see, you could choose the Spielberg film and give your money over to a crazy cult, or pick Dark water and send money to the Yglesias family.