Uncle John's and a movie review

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader in any of its various editions is as at home in "the necessary room" as is toilet paper and Oust. I have long enjoyed UJBR and the quippy little readings it provides, but this year I expanded Uncle John's influence on my life by purchasing a desk calendar. I have often thought that these would make interesting inclusions into the blog-o-shpere, but have up to now not felt like incorporating them.

Why now? I'm not sure if its because I have been so busy to be incredibly creative on my own, or because I have so much on my mind, but at least for today, I'll go to the "can" of Uncle John for a couple of interesting chunks.

Chunk 1: From Thursday May 15th

WHEN YOU GOTTA GO...
"A cemetery in Santiago, Chile, is offering its clients coffins with sensors that detect any movement inside after they have been buried. According to a spokesperson for the cemetery, 'We want to be pioneers and avoid catalepsy cases, in which a person gets completely paralyzed for a few hours and ends up buried as if they were dead. We want families to rest assured that if a case like this ever happens, their loved ones will be immediately rescued.'" -BBC


Chunk 2: From Friday May 30th
UNCLE JOHN'S DICTIONARY OF WORD ORIGINS
Mascara

Meaning: A cosmetic applied to darken the eyelashes.

Origin: The word comes from the Spanish word mascara (with a little ' thingy over the first "a"), which in turn comes from the Italian maschera, both of which mean, appropriately, "mask." The root of those words, however, is the Arabic maskharah, which means "buffoon" or "clown".

A movie review: (having nothing to do with Uncle John or the bathroom)
Christian and I watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium last evening. I liked the imaginative nature of the film. I loved all the characters and the actors. I thought the casting was brilliant and everyone was wonderful. The little boy was fabulous, the mutant accountant played his part to very convincingly, Natalie Portman was sweet and lovable throughout the whole film and Dustin Hoffman added another proof to his astounding ability to convincingly portray any character thrown at him. Mr. Magorium will stand strong beside previous characters such as Hook, Rain Man, the strange Little mumbly guy (I think his name was in fact Mumbles) in Dick Tracy and Tootsie. I suppose the plot could have been stronger and the loose-ends were many, but all in all it was a good rent.

The one glaring thing that stuck my crawl, was at the very end where Natalie Portman was dancing and conducting the store back to life. Eeeiwww! As accomplished and as cute as she is, I found this part of her performance stiff and limited. Where's Jim Carey when you need him?

I liked the movie, loved the characters but not so much the end.

Tom