20 questions (part 2)

Time for Part 2 in a 4-part series called "20 Questions." Now, I had planned to cover topics like sandwiches, dental hygiene, and the broom that I bought yesterday, but Jessi has made me feel self-conscious about covering those kinds of topics, so I'll have to scrape up something else. Here goes:

6. Go to any good parties lately?
As a matter of fact, yes. Saturday was Charlie's 2nd birthday, so we had a big bash. A brief run-down:

THEME: VeggieTales, of course. Including napkins, posters, balloons, and sidewalk chalk.
ATTENDEES: In the morning, it was just the fam. After Charlie's nap, all his friends came. And remember, we're still living in 1,100 square feet of house, so it was a tight squeeze. But if you don't enjoy spending an afternoon in a confined space with a dozen 2 and 3-year-olds, that seems like your problem, not mine.
FOOD: Napoli's pizza. The only pizza in the tri-state area that can compete with Pino's. Quite a treat.
HIGHLIGHT: On Charlie's behalf, I'll go with the presents. (This was probably more of a highlight for me since I ended up opening everything--with Grace's help--while Charlie played with a balloon.) Just a terrific showing by everyone. An excellent range of gifts, each one just as thoughtful as the next. Charlie has outstanding friends.
LOWLIGHT: The Badgers lost. And Joe sang into Charlie's PlaySkool phone. Kind of brought everyone down.

So there you go. And I'm still kind of tired.

7. Now that you've had some time to reflect on your Top 50 Movies of All-Time, are there any that you wish you'd included but didn't?
Yep. Two, actually. Good Will Hunting and Scent of a Woman should both have made the cut. And that would push out Dog Day Afternoon and The Negotiator, which is fine because I like both of the former better than both of the latter. But I've also seen some movies--I think Juno is one--since then that should make the list too. Maybe I'll do a revised list sometime.

8. What are you reading right now?
That's a tricky question because I'm always in the process of reading about a dozen books. If I had to pick one that I would say I'm "reading right now," it would be Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safron Foer. It's written from the perspective of a nine-year-old kid named Oskar whose father died in the 9/11 attacks. He finds a key in his dad's bedroom and goes through the 5 boroughs trying to figure out what it's a key to. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and it's solid. You'd like it.

9. What are you listening to right now?
I just bought the Juno soundtrack, and it's really good. But that's kind of a boring answer, so I just looked through the collection on my computer, and if I were going to make you a CD at this very moment, here's what I'd put on it:

"Brown Eyes," by Andy Davis
"All I Want Is You," by Barry Louis Polisar
"Good Morning Son," by Ben Folds
"Buckets of Rain," by Bob Dylan
"Nothing Fancy," by Dave Barnes
"All Will Be Well," by Gabe Dixon
"Big," by Gentry Morris
"Ghost Repeater," by Jeffrey Foucault
"Loose Lips," by Kimya Dawson
"Don't Touch My Hat," by Lyle Lovett
"Wild Rose," by Sam Baker
"Death of Me," by Tony Lucca
"Galuppi Baldassare," by Kris Delmhorst
"New Slang," by The Shins
"Sunday Morning Coming Down," by Johnny Cash

10. What's your favorite brand of frozen pizza?
Jack's Original. And once again, I won't listen to discussion on this.