Rejoice! and be cool

The heat has broken at long last.

Tonight I do not sit under the air conditioner while beads of sweat fill my eyes.

Went to the beach last weekend, and spent the day frolicking in the Sea of Japan.
Good times abounded. Every time I go to the beach, I am amazed anew by the sheer volume of people consorting on the sands and in the water. According to Wikipedia, as many as 100,000 people gather on the one-mile (1.6km) strip of beach on busy days, and I believe it. The umbrellas stretch off to infinity in either direction, and it is no small accomplishment to find valuable waterspace.

A follow-up to an earlier posting: the official site for the movie D-War (Korean title) may be visited here. Again, I heartily recommend it.

We've just started a book box at school, where in people can drop off books they've read, and pick up ones they haven't. I'm cautiously optimistic, but also desperate. I feel like (insert clever and humorous drug dependency-related reference here). I miss books. I quickly got through all those I brought with me, and while one of the bookstores here does have a reasonably comprehensive English-language section, I'd rather not spend money on books that I'll be leaving behind.

The book box also got me thinking about books on which I'm missing out back home. I've got the new Jasper Fforde on my list of to-reads, as well as Paul Shirley's memoir,and Joan Druett's Island of the Lost, among others, but I'm sure there are still many more that have slipped under my radar or will have done so by the time I once again in a land with English-language libraries. In order to keep track, and to hopefully assist anyone else looking for stuff to read, I've decided to keep a list on the side of books I want to read. Feel free to post suggestions on the blog or email them to me here. In the unlikely event that the Book Box proves successful beyond all imagining, I may well open up a second sidebar entitled "what I'm reading now" or somesuch, but this seems improbable at best, so don't hold your breath.

You'll note that the links on the sidebar all bring you to either a big Canadian or American e-retailer. This is simply for ease of information gathering. If you want to read any of these titles, I strongly suggest you go to your local neighbourhood bookstore and pick them up there. Or your library. Libraries rock. I strongly recommend the Toronto Public Library if you live in Toronto. I also strongly recommend Toronto itself.