Mock Turtle Soup

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.