This is fascinating!

Really is. Kills me to think that the matte painting of Sigourney Weaver's apartment building in Ghostbusters was broken.

Good stuff.

I accidently stumbled across some Harry Potter slash fiction at work today.

Is anyone interested? I'm not sure I really want to read it because I'm not that much into fan fiction, but if anyone would like to see it, I could send it to you. It's in an email.

Check it out: the macroeconomics of the Hobbit: [link]

Oh that is just too wonderful for words:

One has to ask whether or not a more innovative monetary policy framework could have ameliorated the impacts of the dragon-induced economic downturn. If the peoples of Middle Earth had abandoned their gold specie standard, and switched instead to a paper currency, they could have revived trade-flows without sacrificing so many lives. Unfortunately, the lack of a central bank, or indeed any but the most rudimentary monetary institutions, was a major obstacle to currency reform.

Just saw Les Miz. I must thank you all for lowering my expectations just enough. Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried were not as bad as I had dreaded. Maybe it's leftover Veronica Mars glow, but I sympathized with Cosette a tiny bit for the first time.

There were some songs I didn't remember and some I was disappointed got cut off, but overall I loved it.

I saw This Is 40 this morning and...I found it kind of scattered and messy and I spent too much time wanting to shake the shit out of the leads to really like it, but some of the moments between the main couple were really small and warm and lovely, and the performances were generally solid, and a couple seriously hard laughs in there.

I missed some of the trailers--it's possible that Melissa McCarthy was in even more movies, but JESUS FUCK. Her I'm-unhinged-spouting-threats lady continues to crack my shit up, and she has me for at least one of her upcoming flicks. Which is to say--there are no scenes after the credits, but don't leave right away, because there is a MM outtake or two during them.

Basically, this is the first Apatow movie since The 40 Year Old Virgin that I've seen, and it's clear that casting is a big deal with his movies for me, because Rudd makes a fair amount better, and I'm a Leslie Mann fan too. I didn't like it as much as 40YOV, but I would not change the channel off it on cable if I stumbled on it again.

The two jokes that had me laughing really really hard: What's the difference between a gay beard and a straight beard? The smell. (not even vaguely mature, but with the context, and delivery, and...yeah), and the question in an interview between a Jewish publication and the musician "What makes this album different from all other ablums?" I know--it's obvious and cheap. And apparently the rest of the theatre thought it cheap. I kinda brayed. But I was alone.

First of all, before Les Mis, I got a commercial for a Mark Burnett-produced series of THE BIBLE. Apparently, just the whole Bible. Because, why not?

Les Mis: I liked it a lot. Cried a lot. But it also makes me miss the musical, because I felt like the music was very much subordinated to the movie part of it. Which it should be, but now I need to pick a recording of the show and listen to it to get my music fix.

I thought it was really nice that Colm what's his name, original Valjean, was in it, especially when they brought him back at the end. Man, that ending just kills me, even more than the deaths at the barricade.

People-wise, I thought almost everyone was quite good. Russell Crowe was easily the weakest link. Amanda Seyfried's voice was kind of thin, with a really fast vibrato, but kudos to her for hitting those freaking high notes. And I thought Hugh Jackman did overall a great job in a really vocally difficult role. He had no real chance on "Bring Him Home", though, because that's one of those iconic performances that will be forever identified with another actor. They should either have taken it down a few keys or have him sing it in falsetto, because the belting didn't work.

because the

Indeed not. I concur with the rest of your evaluation, Dana. I was pleasantly surprised by Amanda Seyfreid, although yeah, the vibrato was a surprise.

I saw Zero Dark Thirty this morning. It was really good, and I had no idea there were so many familiar faces in it! It didn't feel as long as it was; it was engaging and compelling for every minute, which I always appreciate. I like that the story was filtered through one woman's monomaniacal quest to find bin Laden. It was definitely hard to watch at times, but it doesn't glorify anything that happened.