The Smarmy Carny

Ferrell as Harold Crick

Stranger Than Fiction looks to be a crisp comedy with roles well-suited for Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman. It's due out November 10, in time for the Thanksgiving Hollywood push. Based on the trailer and other media I have seen thus far, I have placed it on my List of Movies to See (until I see it, of course).

Karen "Kay" Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is a depressive author who is suffering from writers block because she can't figure out how to kill off her main character, Harold Crick (Will Ferrell). Harold Crick is an IRS agent with OCD who lives alone, eats alone, and sleeps alone. Unbeknownst to Key, Harold is a real person, and he begins to hear Kay narrating his life as she writes it.

Harold visits a professor of English literature, Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who gives him advice about how to interact and react with the narration and developing storyline.

Finally, Key has a breakthrough and figures out how to kill him. As she foreshadows the events in her book, Harold is alerted to his imminent death. After hearing Kay on a talk show, he sets out to find the author narrating (and controlling?) his life.

Also in the movie are Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana, the love interest and Queen Latifah as Penny, Kay's assistant.

See the trailer for Stranger Than Fiction. Be sure to visit Sony's Stranger Than Fiction site (and click on "Enter the Site") to experience this well-developed site. (Kay narrates your cursor's movements as you navigate the site.)

Even though it was just a click away, I finally discovered Lists of Bests, which is part of the 43 Things family. Read more about my 43 Things at Random Fodder.

Lists of Bests allows you to create and find lists of products, places, goals and people. From the Pulitzer Prize to the Oscars and beyond; you can start the list yourself or find existing lists. For example, I have already added myself to several lists, such as:

• Academy Award's "Best Picture"
• Roger Ebert's "The Great Movies"
• 50 States of the USA

You can also start your own personal lists like "My Top 10 Favorite Books," "My Films for Computer Geeks," etc. There are three types of lists: award lists (lists of particular award winners), definitive lists (lists from other publications that are set in stone), and personal lists (created and edited only by you).

The most fun part about Lists of Bests is that when you add or create a list to your profile, you can easily check off your progress item by item. Especially useful is that, when I checked all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners that I had seen, those movies were already checked off in the "Roger Ebert's 'The Great Movies'" list when I visited it.

Here are the lists I have completed:

Here are the 5 lists I am still working on, but closest to completing:

What are you waiting for? Go get started today!

This week's Foto Friday brings us a scan from a brochure I found when in the urologist's office. I quickly realized that a urologist's office is a wonderful place to pick up some fairly interesting brochures.

This particular brochure is for testicular self-examination. The first disconcerting thing was the picture of the man who looks a bit too gleeful and pleased about his self-examination. Another oddity is that, despite the fact that the office was a modern building, the brochures seemed to be at least 20 years old.

Enjoying it?

See Dick run. See Jane run. See Spot explaining the theoretical physics behind black holes and time travel.

That's right — Stephen Hawking is slated to write a tehoretical physics book with his daughter aimed at children.

Of course, the planned children's books will not be a straight, dry telling of the facts, but his daughter, Lucy Hawking, says that it will read more like Harry Potter, without all the magic involved.

This project really should come as no or little surprise. After all, Hawking is one of the few theoretical physicists to attempt (let alone accomplish) the feat of ::amazon("0553380168", "explaining theoretical physics in laymen´s terms")::.

As any rational person should realize, The Da Vinci Code is fiction, and not much else. It's just ::amazon("1400079179", "a novel")::, just ::imdb("tt0382625", "a movie")::. Why, then, are many Christians up in arms over the story, if that's all it is? The answer is simple, as Massimo Introvigne points out:

People who ask this question usually have not read the page of The Da Vinci Code titled Fact, where the author, Dan Brown, asserts that "all descriptions of [..]documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate" and are based specifically on the fact that "in 1975 Paris’ Bibliothèque Nationale discovered parchments, known as Les Dossiers Secrets" which reveal the story of the Priory of Sion.

Some Christians are arguing that The Da Vinci Code is a positive because it is getting people to think more about early Christianity. In reality, I think that the only thing people will really think about early Christianity is, "Is that true?" This surface-level response to mainstream entertainment will not provoke further discovery of Christ and the actual events of early followers. In addition, many non-Christians will likely believe the fictional "facts" and incorporate them into their already wavering view of Christianity, religion, and God.

So, all things being equal, feel free to believe everything you read/see in The Da Vinci Code if you also readily believed all the "facts" given in movies such as National Treasure, too.

I will not attempt to list the problems in The Da Vinci Code. It is, after all, just a movie. For more information on The Da Vinci Code and its fallacies, check out these informative pages:

• Da Vinci Answers — Josh McDowell's podcast discussing The Da Vinci Code
• "The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion Please Stand Up?" — Massimo Introvigne
• "The DaVinci Scam" — Terry Paige, Houghton College professor
• "The Da Vinci Scam • Decoding Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code"
• The Da Vinci Code Discussed — The Life

One interesting fact regarding the filming of the movie: Westminster Abbey refused to allow filming on location, stating "theologically unsound" premises in the book. Filming was moved to Lincoln Cathedral, whose bell "Great Tom" was silent for the first time since World War II during filming on August 15 - 19, 2005.

Today, Saturday May 6 2006, is Free Comic Book Day!

To find out which comic book shops in your area are participating, head over to the Free Comic Book Day site and enter your zip code. There are a surprising number of participating shops, so you shouldn't be disappointed.

Of course, you can't just walk in and snag that signed, rare edition. There are a limited set of comics available for free.

By now, the geeks have already snagged what they wanted, but you should still call and head out to your nearest shop!

How to . . .

If you're anything like me and you frequently take public transportation, spend your lunch hour in mall food courts, or have textbooks that require book covers, you'll find FlapArt to be a valuable product. FlapArt really is merely a book cover, but with a twist for the mentally twisted. Michelle Watters is the genius behind these wonderful covers:

Awhile ago, my husband Brian said "wouldn't it be funny if you were sitting on the subway reading a book and on the front cover it said, How to Murder a Complete Stranger and Get Away with It? Imagine what people around you would think, especially when you finally finished the book".

There are quite a few various book covers available, including these ones:

• How to Murder a Complete Stranger and Get Away With It
• How to Make your Grandmother a Porn Star
• The Nutritional Benifits of Nose Picking
• How to Overcome Nymphomania
• How to Steal From Your Employer and Get Away With It

I'm not sure how these FlapArt covers will work for you . . . either it will help keep strangers at bay, or it will be a conversation starter. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell which of these contradicting results you'll get, which is disconcerting. I'm sure plenty of people will purchase FlapArt to start conversations, and others will buy FlapArt to keep that talkative old lady on the subway from even thinking about telling you of her day.

Either way, FlapArt is sure to give you personal gratification, knowing that even if you're reading a bit of ::amazon("0802844375", "Alvin Plantinga")::, people will think you're reading about "How to Make your Grandmother a Porn Star."