At Whole Foods today a friend of mine bought me a chocolate frog:

Mine looks less cranky somehow. I am torn on the issue of eating him. If he were crankier looking, it might be easier.

I went to go see “Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)” today. I know they are making an American version of the Stieg Larsson novel of the same name, but I can’t imagine that it will be better than the Swedish version. For one thing, it managed to condense most of the important plot points of a very complex and intricately written novel into two and a half hours without losing coherency, that in and out of itself is an accomplishment. The fact that they found an actress who could play the title character in a way that was true to the novel is nothing short of amazing, and I rather doubt that any American producer would be willing to cast an actress who would be willing to risk portraying such a character. In this film, as in the book, Lisbeth Salander does not come across as a victim even as she is being victimized. She remains very cold on the surface throughout, but Noomi Rapace manages to imbue small movements with an intensity that speaks to underlying thoughts. I say “movements” because her character, again true to the book, says very little and still the film orbits around her. When Noomi Rapace is on screen it is impossible to take ones eyes off of her. I would love to see what she and the director, Niels Arden Oplev, could do with the second book.

Amazon is having a sale on DVDs. I found myself browsing through the long list of discounted titles while on the phone with Daniel. I found a birthday present for him and then came upon the Val Lewton Horror Collection which has long been moldering on my wish list. I was excited about it being within my price range and then Daniel and I had the following conversation (paraphrased for conciseness): “I’ll buy it.” “Are you sure? Because I’d be happy to buy it …” “But I’ve wanted it for a long time.” “But it would go well with my classic horror collection.” It was an exchange that would have only been made complete by us each having our hands on either side of the box, attempting to gently wrench it free of the other’s grasp. This went on for awhile, but ended abruptly when I found another long standing wish list item marked to half-price: the Tennessee Williams Film Collection is mine, all mine.

• The national debt is gigantic. The Census Bureau sent me (and everyone else) a letter saying only that that the census paperwork would be forthcoming.
• One of my co-workers won our dead pool with Corey Haims. I had thought my choice of Mike Tyson was inspired, but he yet lives.
• My regular bridge partner is moving away sometime in the next month or so. I have learned an awful lot playing with him. I’m afraid I’ll lose ground after he leaves, all these nifty conventions wasting away in my bag of tricks.
• I liked the new Alice in Wonderland movie more than I thought I would. I saw it in IMAX 3D, it was visually spectacular but that might have just been the format. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I was glad that it was not a butchered retelling of the original but a riff on it.