Happy New Year!

So today is just a few quickies ...

First off the L.A. Times really let me down today. The paper was awesome enough to publish a story about how the marching bands are dealing with the rainy weather this Rose Bowl season, but then had a variation on the worst cliché in newswriting: "rain failed to dampen spirits." (disclosure: I've used it, too. it was one of my first stories at the Albany Times Union)

Secondly, I want it on the record that this is my primary New Year's Resolution: to read four Shakespeare plays (King Lear, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream and perhaps MacBeth again), this goes along with my standard thing of learning to do more cooking (this year I make the family sauce), reading more, and exercising more.

Next thing for the record: USC 45 Texas 31. Sorry, Andrew, but go Pac-10!

Looking back on 2005: the four must get albums: Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning," The White Stripes "Get Behind Me Satan," Gemma Hayes "The Roads Don't Love You," and The Magic Numbers "The Magic Numbers."

As I told one of my kids this year who was seeking advice on how to live her life at 13: "listen to good music every day."

Happy 2006!