Sin City

Extremely violent, but necessarily so.

Really an incredible story. I didn't know what to expect. The characters (especially Rourke's Marv) were well-written and honest.

Glengarry Glen Ross

A good friend of mine suggested watching 'Glengarry Glen Ross' and I was not disappointed!! I had never heard of the movie (I know, I know..the SNL skit) even though the cast included many of my favorite actors.

Great movies make you feel something. 'Glengarry Glen Ross' did such a good job of drawing you into the pressure and stress these people were under that I felt worn out and well..stressed during most of the movie. I regret not seeing it sooner. My buddy has never let me down with movie recommendations.

River-Horse: Across America by Boat

Without question one of the best books I've ever read. I love his mix of narration and both political and natural history.

Kernel Berkeley DB File System (KBDBFS)

I recently came across some amazing projects at the File systems and Storage Lab (FSL), Stony Brook University. One in particular is the Kernel Berkeley DB File System (KBDBFS). Essentially, it's a filesystem on top of an in-kernel database. It's pretty incredible work. I hope to see it continue to mature and hopefully be made available as open source. Oracle's recent acquisition of Sleepycat has lead me to read more about Berkeley DB. I'm more familiar with relational database management systems, but I look forward to learning more about Berkeley DB.