I have pretty much Plei's attitude toward Rand. Though I was more a worshipper of Dagny than Dominique.

I have pretty much Plei's attitude toward Rand. Though I was more a worshipper of Dagny than Dominique.

Oh, totally.

I still find Rand herself fascinating, because she was just such a fucked-up thing.

Yes. I keep meaning to read a bio. Apparently her expectations of her devotees were extreme and capricious.

What was the name of the couple that she totally fucked up too? Brendan or something or other?

Maybe the reasoning behing filming Apt Pupil was that the first two movies were so good.

That was the second attempt to film Apt Pupil, btw. The first attempt got about 3/4 done (it was to star Nicol Williamson and either Fred Savage or Ricky Schroeder) and the financing ran out. I think it was a first time director/low budget deal that just couldn't quite get finished, but it's been a while since I read the article about it (in a CFQ issue about Stephen King).

I spent part of Thanksgiving reading The DaVinci Code. Yes, yes, I was warned. Clumsy writing. Clumsy to non-existant character development. A few fun ideas buried in a sea of "I saw that coming three chapters ago". I'm about 3/4s of the way through and I'm pretty sure I know how it'll end. On one hand, I do like to finish books. On the other hand, life is short.

I read "Apt Pupil" a few years ago, and loved it in a shuddery way. I really like King's shorter works.

A plot summary for the upcoming TNT film The Librarian is available: [link] (spoilery, I suppose.)

Highlight: "As THE LIBRARIAN: QUEST FOR THE SPEAR opens, brilliant 30-year-old student Flynn Carsen (Wyle) is kicked out of school by his professor because he believes Carsen, after earning 22 degrees, lacks life experience and thinks it would be a disservice to him to continue on... Their adventures - laced with deadly headhunters, rushing waterfalls, collapsing bridges, Mayan Death traps, a healthy dose of comic banter and maybe even a touch of romance - eventually lead them into the hands of the Brotherhood, who force them to help track down the missing pieces of the Spear of Destiny."

"As THE LIBRARIAN: QUEST FOR THE SPEAR opens, brilliant 30-year-old student Flynn Carsen (Wyle) is kicked out of school by his professor because he believes Carsen, after earning 22 degrees, lacks life experience and thinks it would be a disservice to him to continue on... Their adventures - laced with deadly headhunters, rushing waterfalls, collapsing bridges, Mayan Death traps, a healthy dose of comic banter and maybe even a touch of romance - eventually lead them into the hands of the Brotherhood, who force them to help track down the missing pieces of the Spear of Destiny."

Yes, but will there be singing and dancing?

Flynn Carsen (Wyle) is kicked out of school by his professor because he believes Carsen, after earning 22 degrees, lacks life experience and thinks it would be a disservice to him to continue on

With 22 degrees, surely Carsen has more than one professor to plead his case to admissions.

And what's with the Spear of Destiny? Truth flies like an arrow, Destiny flies like a spear, fruit flies like a banana . . .

I've watched too much TNT from my sickbed, and that preview makes me larf and larf. The destiny of the world is in his hands. And the hands of the boring chick from Coupling.