I spent the entire day at home imitating a slug – sitting or laying in one place while reading the hours away or watching dvds.

I finished The Hunt Club by John Lescroart. Years ago I was a faithful fan and read all of his mysteries as soon as they were published in paperback – Dead Irish, The Vig, Hard Evidence, The 13th Juror, A Certain Justice, Guilt and The Mercy Rule. Although a few of the main characters from his past novels make cameo appearances, Lescroat uses The Hunt Club to introduce a whole new world of characters. The backstory is well done and all of the red herrings make logical sense. At 512 pages, the book runs a little long and could have used more editing to eliminate some of the repetition.

I started reading The Kite Runner by Khalid Hossei but didn’t get too far because I was distracted by The Assignment. You would think that with a cast that includes Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland and Ben Kingsley it would be a halfway great movie. Notsomuch… it was long, a little confusing, and convoluted. And they tried a Basic Instinct-type ending which plain didn’t work because it felt like an imitation of that memorable finale (was she or wasn’t she the killer?). You know? There was so much potential… but it just missed its mark. Though that didn’t keep me from devoting two hours to it.

Then I popped in 11:14. Again, great concept with a solid cast that just missed its mark. The film recounts the events that take place leading up to 11:14 p.m. one night from the viewpoint of the different characters. Using flashback, each perspective adds new layers and details so that by the last recounting you’re finally in on the whole story. Though there isn’t one character I sympathised with or even liked. In the end they all got what was coming to them.

I broke one of my resolutions. I turned on the tv to catch the premier of 24. I couldn’t help myself. It would have been torture to wait until November 2007 for the release of the DVD. So I caught up with Jack Bauer and enjoyed the first two hours of the new season. I think I’m going to have to make a weekly exception for 24 and House.

A part of me feels guilty for really doing lots of nothing today. I should have done a load of laundry, bought some groceries, edited an annual report. I guess now I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.