In a strange turn of events, despite having summer band activities three nights this week, I have watched more Netflix movies this week than I have in a long time. I’ve watched 7 movies in the last 90 days, and over half have been in the last five days.

I’m really excited to get back into Deadwood again, but disappointed with myself that the timing of things slipped and I’m going to need to wait until Tuesday now to get the next disc. I should have arranged my queue better when I sent in the last one. Oh well. The third season is starting stronger than the second, I think. I really missed this Shakespearean western. Richardson and Farnum, Starr and Bullock, Alma and Elsworth, Swear’gen and even the hoopleheads. The menu theme for Rome is playing in the background now, and I have a few other HBO series discs in my queue. It’s good television — better than what the networks put out on their summer lineup (but I have taken a liking to the Next Best Thing.)

ALA, a big librarian organization, is having their annual conference this week. I pondered for a while going, but it wasn’t in the cards this year. I said that last year too. Maybe next year I’ll have more time and money and inclination of what to do with myself. But I did take another step towards professional librarianism this week when I watched Desk Set. Fifty years after that was filmed, I think the “electric brains” have made a giant impact in organizational research and reference, but I think it’s obvious they haven’t replaced people — they’ve just changed the nature of reference.

And the irony of my ever-long queue of Netflix movies and when they finally bubble up to the top was not lost on me when I received an animated movie about dancing penguins on the first day of summer.