Loved: Julie & Julia. Funny, smart, inspiring, edible. I've dusted off Mastering the Art of French Cooking and am contemplating where to begin (not with the recipes for brains). Normally I steer away from overly creamy and buttery recipes--I do a lot of Italian and Asian-style cooking with minimal fat (cooking oils excepted). But this film is a reminder that now and again, exceptions must be made. I shall be starting some brioche dough tonight in honor of that sentiment.

Reading: Lorrie Moore's Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?. Just finished rereading Hamlet for the hell of it. Somehow the one seemed to follow from the other. Also reading: Hattie Ellis' Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee.

Watching: Seeing Meryl Streep crow and swoop as the gigantic and joyous Julia Child is the high point of Julie and Julia--but Amy Adams is lovely as well. They don't ever have a scene together in this film--but have plenty in the remarkable Doubt. Then there is Adams' Sunshine Cleaning, a stealth libertarian film that somehow manages to be thoroughly morbid and heartwarming at once. It uncovers the liberating effects of free enterprise and self-reliance, blasts bureaucracy and soul-killing public schools, and has Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin.

All good.