Potpourri for $100

Hi. I haven't been motivated to put together an awesome, inspiring post in the last few days, but here are a few little tidbits, from my brain to you:

***Warning: contains spoilers from Harry Potter and also from The Simpsons Movie***

* So I saw The Simpsons movie this weekend and I liked it fine. I thought a few things were thrown in just for shock value (i.e. naked Bart, lots and lots of cursing, Otto smoking a bong), but on the whole the story was reasonably well-crafted and I laughed a lot. It also made me want to move to Alaska. What ever happened to Spider Pig, though? And why didn't Al Gore make a cameo?

* I read the Harry Potter book the day it came out and am now doing a second, more leisurely, re-read. I wasn't sure if I even liked the book at first, but I've concluded that I do. It wasn't perfect, but it was acceptable, and (for the most part) a fitting end to the series. Most of my predictions were dead wrong (as I predicted they would be!), and the book went an entirely different direction than I expected it to, but that was okay. The ending was too rushed, and I had really hoped Snape would get a glamourous, heroic death, but there you go. However, I didn't think the epilogue was successful, even though Rowling said in interviews that it was left intentionally vague.

* In case you were wondering if it's possible to cut a big chunk out of your index finger with a butter knife, it is. Don't try it at home.

* I'm increasingly distressed by the previews of Underdog I keep seeing. I typically enjoy Jason Lee, but he may have just gotten on my bad list (see also the ill-advised Alvin and the Chipmunks movie). This is what underdog is supposed to look like:


Why oh why do film-makers insist on making animated, cartoon-length shows into full-length, live-action movies? No good can come of it.

* I had the strangest dream that I was competing on the Bravo Reality show Top Chef. The challenge was to create some kind fabulous salad, and all I could think of was a chicken salad, with packaged lettuce and pre-cooked chicken. And truffles, because if I have learned anything from watching Iron Chef, it's that using truffles guarantees victory. The show was being filmed in Manhattan (though I've never actually been there) and I had to keep running up and down a very hill-y street to a grocery store to pick up ingredients I'd forgotten. I woke up before the judging, but I have no doubt that I lost horribly and was thoroughly mocked and browbeaten by the judging panel. It was one of those dreams that leaves you feeling anxious and distressed for the rest of the day, even thought you know it's not real. I mean, I like to cook things from time to time, but I'm not a chef by any stretch of the imagination. What's up with that, subconscious?

* In case you were wondering, that's a Jeopardy reference, up there in the title line. Specifically, a reference to the Weird Al song.