Or: In which I post a random series of links and thoughts, many recycled from my Twitter activity of the past week. Or: In which I provide you with some good reading and viewing to keep you busy until I get back from San Francisco next week and can write a real post again.

- I finally watched Happy-Go-Lucky and loved it. Mike Leigh has such a distinct point of view as a filmmaker, and truly understands the power of comedy. Laughter is a razor-sharp tool in his hands. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, this one is available as a watch instantly.

- Speaking of a distinct point of view, if you feel like every realistic YA novel you pick up sounds the same and you’re tired of it, read Bennett Madison’s The Blonde of the Joke.  It reminded me somehow of The Virgin Suicides, though it’s been so many years since I read that book I can’t say exactly why.

- And speaking of the deadly knife-edge of humor, Jon Stewart needs a special Emmy for these eight-plus minutes that amount to a TKO of Glenn Beck.

- A.O. Scott has an article in the Sunday Times about children’s movies, mostly, but really all of his (very insightful) observations apply to YA and kid books as well (and the contrast between them and entertainment for adults). Among other things, he writes:

Sometimes we make too much of the division between generations, which is after all not a gap but a continuum. Every adult is a former child, just as every child is an incipient adult, and at their best, children’s film and literature (which of course are almost never made by children themselves) is an attempt to communicate across this distance. Young viewers may see a premonition of what lies ahead as well as a sympathetic rendering of what they already know, whereas adults may find pleasure in recalling old hurts and relief that they are not at the mercy of them.

- Of all the public radio podcasts I download week after week, the one that most often moves me intellectually, and emotionally, is To the Best Of Our Knowledge. The current episode on war and the theme “Esprit de Corps” is particularly moving and relevant to the news of the week.

- As a writer and reader of the “small” and “domestic,” I give Lizzie Skurnick a big, fat thank you for her response to the now-infamous woman-free Publishers Weekly Top Ten of 2009.

- In case you missed the news, my brilliant agent is moving to L.A. to open up a West Coast office for Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. I am very excited about this for business reasons, and selfishly happy that Michael will be 1500 miles closer.

There you go. One link for each day until I’ll be back to write a legit post. Yes, I know some of you are eagerly awaiting my What I Love About Boredom and Loneliness post, and yes, perhaps I’m stalling. Until then!