Another installment.

That's right, gentle readers, it's time for another round of "Picks and Pans". I think today's magic number is four. I may have made this trickier, since I did a music list last night, but I think I can make it on non-musical items. So without any further ado, here we go:

PICKS

1) Lava Lamps - It's cheezy, but I have two, and dammit, I love them. For the last few years, mine have not gotten enough use due to the fact that I couldn't really see them on my once-cluttered desk, but now that the desk is clear, I am enjoying their amorphous glow almost every night. It's fantastic. Random memory specially catered for Augustin: one of those lamps is the same blue lava lamp that sat in out window that we used as the one distinguishing characteristic of the old days in Pioneer Heights. Good times.

2) Wes Anderson Movies - I was worried there for a bit. I will be among the first to admit that The Life Aquatic was a bit of a letdown. Of course, it's hard to follow up the greatness of Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, but I thought he could have done a bit better. Fortunately, The Darjeeling Limited has brought his stock right back up. It's gotten back to his roots more, even if he didn't have any of those clever cutaway shots with the labels or items on desks or tabletops. Then again, Bottle Rocket, his first film didn't have those either. Well, regardless of the highs and lows, I don't think there is another modern filmmaker whose catalog I like top-to-bottom as much as Anderson.

3) Comfort Food - This seems like it should be a gimme, but far too many people overlook some of the classics in their pursuit of classy dining. You know what I'm talking about; barbecue, mac 'n cheese, pasta, mashed potatoes, all that good stuff. I realize it's far from healty, but dammit, regardless of calories, that food is just good for you.

4) The Beach - My fellow Bay dwellers, I think we take our beaches for granted far too much. I know we seldom have weather that most people would consider "beach weather" but dammit, that doesn't mean that the beach disappears. There isn't much in this world that's quite as soothing as just sitting on the beach, preferrably at night, listening to the waves come and go. I may just be sappy, but I always marvel at the thoughts that come to me when I'm doing that; the idea that the water crashing upon the shore in front of me has traveled thousands of miles just to be there, and it will keep on going infinitely (or presumably so - back off, you friggin hippies). To my landlocked readers, I don't mean to make you jealous or anything like that, I just want those around here to appreciate having a beach as much as I do.

Eh, it's getting late -- I'll do my four pans tomorrow. Gotta keep you folks guessing a little bit from time to time.