* Neil Gaiman informs us that the rest of the world seems to "get" the movie Stardust, as the film's made $118 million total so far. Also, the DVD of the film arrives in stores Dec. 18th (according to Amazon). I'm on record about loving that film, and I've yet to run into anyone who didn't love it once they saw it, confused reviews and even more confused advertising notwithstanding.
* Portland geek joy! Good-guy radio smartasses Cort and Fatboy announced last night that in January, they'll host a charity screening of one of the bring-geeks-joy films, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I'll be there, with my $15 contribution. I haven't yet heard date, time and locale, but A) I'm sure they know and B) I'll pass that along when I know. And next month, Cort and Fatboy's late-night film will be (just in time for Christmas!) the set-at-Christmas, um, er, monster flick Gremlins. That's Friday, Dec. 14th (not the first Friday due to scheduling needs) at the Bagdad, 11:00 p.m.
* In the I'm-easily-amused department: My Amazon log-in includes my full first name Christopher. Amazon's front page shortens that and asks me "Not Christ...?" Uh, yeah, I'm not.
* Right now 94.7 FM's having one of its (increasingly interesting, I think) Live Saturdays, every song recorded live at concerts, sound checks, and 94.7-sponsored sessions originally attended by a small number of people and now played for the entire 94.7-listening audience. When these started several months ago, I thought the live playlist wasn't especially deep; the station's doing a better job of digging good live stuff out now, though. Admittedly this set included Blue October, a band I really don't "get," but not all the songs can be my personal winners. The station just played Radiohead's "High and Dry," and -- ooo -- it just started a concert rendition of "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen.
* Later today, I'll be making a very, very thick and tasty lentil soup. It's my family's variation on a lentil soup recipe from the Rheinlander here in Portland, and it's a family favorite. GREAT cool-weather food.
* Oh, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit was on cable this morning. I think I forgot how great and well-written that film is. It reinforces my belief that Robert Zemeckis is a great technician -- I think only he and his crew could've pulled off that film in as accomplished a way that they did -- but that he can get too focused on the technical achievement of one of his films. In other words, I'm not sure how much he's focused on, or even interested in, the stories he chooses to tell. So I have to trust the writers to (in a way) get Zemeckis to do something interesting, story-wise. I trust what the screenwriters of Roger Rabbit came up with. I also trust Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, and they are the real reason I'm excited for Beowulf. Let that film have depth! Which I think and hope is what Gaiman and Avary brought to it.