In my quest for a summer of zen wisdom, I have not had a cup of coffee in seven days.

No, I haven’t seen it, yet. Yes, I plan to.

• Kyle Aaron, Kansas City Star: “Hack In to the Middle Movie”
• David Elliott, MSNBC: “Matrix loads up on razzle dazzle”
• David Frese, Kansas City Star: “Keanu Reeves Returns with Virtual Visions”
• Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: “Wastes a Lot of Motion, but It’ll Drag You In Anyway”
• Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: “An Idealized World and a Troubled Hero”
• Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal and Constution: “Be Prepared for Some Glitches”
• Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: “Matrix Sequel Ups the Ante on Razzle-Dazzle”
• Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com, : “A Future Worth Fighting For”
• Noah Shachtman, Wired: “Matrix: Not Much Neo to Report”

Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq (washingtonpost.com)

The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants

The 75th Exploitation Task Force, as the group is formally known, has been described from the start as the principal component of the U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. The group’s departure, expected next month, marks a milestone in frustration for a major declared objective of the war.

No comment. This speaks for itself.

Seth sent me this review of a graphic novel, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. Satrapi’s book combines political history and memoir, portraying a country’s 20th-century upheavals through the story of one family. Her protagonist is Marji, a tough, sassy little Iranian girl, bent on prying from her evasive elders if not truth, at least a credible explanation of the travails they are living through. I think I’ll be adding this work, along with Love and Rockets, to my summer pleasure reading list.

I’m also eager to attend Sequence, the Kansas City Independent Sequential Art Exposition.

Update, May 19: Interview with Satrapi in the UK Telegraph.

Informal survey. Indulge me as I take a break from grading.

1. Do you have a particular time of day when your brain is at its peak?
2. Are there particular foods that seem to encourage or discourage the thought process?
3. How many hours a day of active “brain work” are you good for?
4. How much sleep do you need at night?
5. Coffee drinker or no?

As for me:

1. Relatively early in the morning and then later in the evening. Afternoons are usually not so good.
2. I wish I could figure this one out.
3. In the neighborhood of 8, I think, but it has to be varied work. I can’t grade for 8 hours straight, for example, or read, or write.
4. The recommended 8 hours. I will wake up after 8 without an alarm clock.
5. Yes, but I aspire to caffeine-free existence.