After watching this movie, take a little time to research the story of Harold Russell, the man with hooks instead of hands. Very inspirational-he’s the only actor in Oscar history to win two Oscars for the same role. (There’s also some sadness to his story-to wit, what became of his Supporting Actor award.)

Excellent flick—but what is up with that closing theme song??

If you’re a Beatles fan, you should give Love a listen even if you’re not big on the mash-uppiness of most of the tracks. Why? Because of “I Am the Walrus”—for which George and Giles Martin have at long last made a true stereo mix. (The classic version, for technical reasons, used simulated stereo from a mono mix for the latter half of the song.)

This is an excellent book for married/committed couples who have joint finances.

Money can be a big problem for couples. Each partner may have different ideas and attitudes about money, and it may be such a hot-button issue that it becomes easiest just to ignore. The Family CFO outlines a personal finance system for couples, with these key strengths: (1) It frames discussion of family finances as if the family was a business, adopting business language to help neutralize the negative emotional aspects of money discussion. (2) It advocates a top-down approach to personal finance, encouraging you first to look at the big picture, then to break things down into smaller chunks only as necessary (thus avoiding cumbersome work over unnecessary budgeting details—what the book calls the “Dog Food Syndrome”).

This book has also been published in paperback under the title The 7 Most Important Money Decisions You’ll Ever Make. It’s a weaker title that obscures what the book is really about, but the content is the same.

I would have liked a little more banana flavor to this. Otherwise good. Thankfully there is no gorilla flavor.

No OK Go fan’s collection is complete without the DVD in this set. A couple of unexpected gems: a compilation of “Million Ways” dances contributed by fans for their YouTube contest, and a 2000(?) dance number for “C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips”—a routine reminiscent of Sha-Na-Na that looks like it was done for public-access cable, thus managing to be the most charming of all. There is also some great behind-the-scenes footage of all of the rehearsal that went into the “Here It Goes Again” treadmill routine (including Trish Sie prepping Tim Nordwind for the live MTV performance by screaming in his face while he rehearses).

I read the book, then saw the movie. Books such as this are difficult to translate to film because they rely so heavily on relating the characters’ inner thoughts and motivations, and on doing so in a clever and witty way that works only in writing. Thus I have to agree with others who say the book is better.

Having said that, I think the movie is beautifully executed and did the best job it could have possibly done with the material. It is visually lovely, and Claire Danes’s and Jason Schwartzman’s performances are excellent as always. Steve Martin was passably good but let me down a little—then again, maybe that is the fault of the movie for losing a bit of Ray’s character in the adaptation.

I still don’t know exactly what’s in this, but it reminds me a lot of mocha, and I love mocha!

Eclipse Chocolat is a gourmet chocolatier in San Diego, California.

From the label: “Matcha green tea infused white chocolate, flecked with ginger and toasted rice. 25% cocoa butter.”

It is so weird to watch Hugh Laurie as the brilliant, dark, sarcastic Dr. House when the only other role I’ve seen him in was as the goofy, happy, dumb-as-a-post Prince George in Blackadder III. How does he do that?