The Disappearing Spoon

The Disappearing Spoon
by
Sam Kean
read by
Sean Runnette

What an incredibly delightful book. It has the perfect mix of science fact and meandering story telling. You never quite know which way Kean is going to go. I mean sure, he's going to talk about the elements, and probably a bit about their discovery, but learning all the gossipy stuff about Curie or the hubris of Pauling and then BAM! Suddenly we're learning about sonic-luminescence.
This is really the type of book that you should read for yourself, or you know, listen to at least. There is no way that I can do it justice, so I'm just going to tell you to trust me on this one, embrace your science geek side and read the damn thing.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

I avoided this movie for a long time, because I thought it was something that it wasn't. In my head, I got the trailer mixed up with all those Dane Cooke or Paul Rudd "bromance" flicks that all, to a one, just totally suck. That is not this movie. In fact, if I would have known Kristen Bell was in it, I would have so watched it, except I did know, but I wasn't a fan of hers yet, not having watched Veronica Mars until after this movie had come out. That makes sense, right? Sure. I did know that Mila Kunis was in this film, so I had almost watched it based on that, except that I think she was dating McCaully Culkin at the time so that probably mitigated against her, at least a little bit. The only other people I knew in it were all Saturday Night Live alums, and well that isn't really a selling point.
Jason Segel has good chemistry with both Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis. Lucky bastard.  Of course he also gets naked with both of them, not counting sex scenes where he presumably wasn't naked and where both of the young ladies are filmed in such a way as to not show anything. It's kind of funny, because Segel actually does full frontal nudity in this movie - twice. Um, maybe I should mention that I'm watching the 'unrated' extended version. There is a photo of Kunis's character flashing that is a plot device, but I'm pretty sure it's her head on another woman's body.
Ruseell Brand as the other guy in Sarah Marshall's life is brilliant. I've read interviews that say he wasn't really acting that he is like the character. In which case I say, huzzah to the person in charge of casting. Also quite funny is Jack McBrayer who I loved on 30 Rock. Interestingly this character is very religious just like his Kenneth character, but not so stupid.
What's really the most interesting parts of the movie, though, are the two fake television shows that the Marshall character is involved with. The first with Billy Baldwin and the second with Jason Bateman, both of whom play themselves in the movie playing characters on these fictitious shows. The Baldwin show is a CSI spoof called "Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime" and is CSI but with every line full of intentional and/or obvious sexual innuendo. The Bateman show is called "Animal Instinct" where he's a cop and Sarah Marshall plays an animal psychic. They both look totally ridiculous, but honestly, if they were ever made, I would probably watch them, because I like procedurals, in the first case, and I like Bateman, in the second case. Interestingly, the shows were both on NBC and not some made up network. I know that Segel has ties to NBC, I find it interesting that they would let him use their logo, but then I guess that any advertisement is good advertisement (see above where I said I would probably watch the shows).
So, I'm painting a pretty rosy picture but there are some awkward moments, and not just the good kind played for comic or dramatic value. There were several scenes where I was embarassed for the actor and Segel in his role as the writer. There are two actors in this that I really don't like - Bill Hader and Jonah Hill. I'm sure they're both great guys, so let me instead say that I don't like their characters. Not in this or in anything else. Sorry. They both annoy the fuck out of me. Some of my dislike for Hader is misplaced dislike for Jim Carey because they remind me of each other in so many ways. But, there are a couple of roles of Carey's that I quite like, so I will hold out hope that someday Hader and Hill will not so utterly disapoint.
I don't want to end on a downer, so I've been saving the bestest mostest awesomest thing for last - Dracula the musical. Why do I have the feeling that Segel wrote more than just the couple of songs we see performed? And puppets? That totally rocked! I would love to go see that musical. I love that he made it a comedy and that Dracula has more than a passing resemblance to the Count from Sesame Street and that Van Helsing has no resemblance to Hugh Jackman.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall at IMDb

Pleasantville (1998)

Wow, this is an old movie - so old that the back of the DVD case lists the date in roman numerals, which took me just a couple of seconds to translate. What a great skill to have. 1998 you say? Why that's MCMXCVIII. (And the crowd goes wild...various pieces of women's underwear rain down upon the stage)
This was a movie I was never going to watch. It looked cheesey, and seeing that it was from the director of Big and Dave didn't help it. But, then I watched the Hunger Games and more importantly the DVD extras and liked how Gary Ross presented himself. And hey, who doesn't love Peter Parker and June Carter Cash?
I'm glad that I watched Pleasantville. Would it be too cheeky to say it was a pleasant movie? Okay, maybe a little. It was a nice story about normal kids thrust into a non-normal situation, and their coming of age. Plus, you gotta love any story where the fry cook discovers that his true love is as a painter and that his other true love is the married mother of his only employee.
Joan Allen is outstanding in this film, as is Jeff Daniels. Everyone else is good, but not really noteworthy, which considering the names of some of these heavy-hitters is a bit surprising. I have to think that if William H. Macy were given just a little more to work with that his character would have shined the whole way through, and not just in the end. Oh, there is one other name that is worth mentioning - Don Knotts. He played the t.v. repairman with a mix of devil and angel and child that was brilliant. I think it's easy to sell him short based on his career, but I doubt that he really has been given many chances to play anything more than the comic relief, which is too bad - he was conveying more with a look than any of the younger actors.
I wonder if Mr. Knotts is still alive? I had no idea how old this film was until after watching it, so when he first came on screen, my reaction was, "Hey! It's Don Freaki' Knotts! I didn't know he was still alive..." And then I enjoy the film and in order to write this check out the back of the case and see that it was released in MCMXCVIII, I mean 1998 (sorry), and now I feel a bit sad because he might not be still alive and for some reason that really bums me out. Okay Google, time to break it to me...

Pleasantville on IMDb

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Ladies and gentlemen! Gods and weird six-armed demon dudes! I present to you the fight of the year! And it's not what you think. You know after the first interaction between Perseus (Sam Worthington) and Zeus (Liam Neeson) how this movie is going to play out, and  being that it's rather starved for attention, it doesn't want to let you down. The real fight is between the storyline and Greek myth. And I don't mean to ruin this for you, but Greek myth does not win.
On one end of the Greek myth-as-movie spectrum you have Troy, which has all the names right and no godly stuff at all. On the second end of the spectrum you have Clash of the Titans (the new one) getting some of the names right and some of the deeds right and lots of godly super power stuff and on the the third end of the spectrum, you have the Percy Jackson books and movie which don't try to get it right because they are interpreting for a new generation and it has lots of godly stuff and demi-godly stuff. This movie, Wrath of the Titans falls equidistant between Clash and Jackson and three-quarters of the way away from Troy.
What the movie got right: Perseus is the son of Zeus. Zeus, Hades and Poseiden are brothers. Ares is the son of Zeus. Kronos is the father of Zeus, Hades and Poseiden.
What the movie got half-way right: Perseus and Andromeda - Perseus doesn't hook up with some chick to be his baby mama and then hook up with Andi years later, he's supposed to be with her from the start. Perseus and Pegasus - Pegasus assisted Perseus in his adventure with Medusa, but not any other adventures.
What the movie got wrong: Everything else. How can Perseus be the grandfather of Heracles if Zeus dies before Perseus has any kids with Andromeda? How is it that the Titans have power and the demi-gods have power, but the gods lose their power? How can Perseus have killed Ares before Ares makes his appearance in Troy? How is it that I'm even concerned about how this movie compares to Greek myth? The answer is sequels, baby! I am officially casting my vote for the movie to be called "Remember the Titans" so that people are always thinking they are about to watch a movie about football. Or, they can call it, 'Episode 6: The Return of the Demi'
It's time for me to get over my geeky worries and realize that no one is watching this film to see and accurate portrayal of the Greek myths involving Perseus. And they're not watching it to see Sam Worthington, because if they are it's just too sad for me to bear. If they're smart, they're watching this movie to see Liam Neeson, Ralph Feinnes, Rosamund Pike or Bill Nighy. If they had cast Clive Owen as Perseus, this could have been a brilliantly well-acted movie, and if they had different writers who were actually interested in Greek myth instead of making money, this movie could have been brilliant across the board.

Wrath of the Titans at IMDb

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines (2006)

This was the first of the Librarian movies that I had seen a couple of years back, and it turns out that I had missed the opening sequence looking for the crystal skull. So, that was kind of cool.
I was going to watch a different movie tonight, but it turns out that today is Bob Newhart's birthday - happy 82nd Bob!. Which means that he was 76 when this came out, so 75 when it was made. Dang he looks only a little bit older than my memories all those years ago of the Bob Newhart Show. Which is to say that he has looked to be in his 60s for 25 to 30 years now. Huh.
I spent the whole damn film, which is as enjoyable as the other two by the way, looking at Gabrielle Anwar. I know the back of the movie case calls her the "beautiful archaeologist" and I know several dudes who think she is super hot based on starring in Burn Notice, but I am not convinced. I don't think she's an uggo or anything. Oh my god, did I just write that? I really need an editor. No. Seriously.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Ms. Anwar. I just want to make her a nice lasagna and maybe a cake or pie. That girl could use some more food. Now, I know that she's proud of how she looks, else why would she play so many roles where she is showing off so much skin but it just ain't doing it for me. Maybe it's just her neck and her face. There is a scene right at the end of the movie where she is wearing a spaghetti strap dress and holds up her arm. I paused the movie for a minute to look at her arm. I know. I'm not your average bear. Her arm was not super thin and/or all muscular. It was a normal nice looking arm. Maybe she just has a mix of things going on? Normal arms, a sculpted abs region and a scrawney little neck and too thin face. Her abs, they don't belong to a hyper skinny person either. They are quite athletic and muscular looking like she must do a thousand sit ups a day. Funny, I didn't even think to pause the movie then. But not too surprising since I don't think she's very good looking. She could take half to two-thirds of the time she spends doing sit ups and spend that time eating lasagna and cake. Ya. I like that idea.
Also, I think Noah Wylie looks totally hot in glasses. Or at least he did when he was 35. I bet he still does.

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines at IMDb