Posthuman Blues

Free sample of chai latte at LatteLand: great stuff. Bought a book from the Hare Krishnas. Tipped street musician. Man in coffeeshop absorbed in do-it-yourself cryptography. ("Have you read 'Cryptonomicon'?")

Concrete heads silhouetted against the evening sky as I sipped espresso and read from "Spaceland." (Slight undercurrent of synchronicity; the dialogue in "Spaceland" seemed to mirror the previous hour's events. I yearned for a notebook.)

Human refuse congregates outside the movie theater, a Sargasso Sea of thwarted human ambition. Vapid blond woman cursing into her cellphone.

I watched "28 Days Later" tonight, although I missed the opening sequence. A terrifying and beautiful film -- definitely one to get on DVD. I haven't seen an apocalypse so convincingly rendered since "12 Monkeys."