I like Jack Black. I thought he was great in School of Rock and Orange County. I like Tenacious D. I thought Nacho Libre would be a fun movie.

But I can’t figure out what anyone involved with this film could have been thinking. I’m an easy laugher, and I didn’t even crack a smile. Jack Black’s talents are wasted in this movie, and there are no other decent cast members capable of rescuing the film from the depths. The plot was stupid (being based on a true story is no excuse), and the writing is terrible. How did this film get made?

I actually quit watching an hour into it and picked up a book instead. I recommend not spending even an hour of your life on this dog—just go straight for a book.

This is a book that cogently presents the case for atheism, but without the more aggressive tone of Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. Dawkins takes a scientific approach to the subject of religion, and his discussion is engaging and convincing.

I read this book with interest, but without any real knowledge of psychology or psychiatry. Someone suggested it to me as useful in understanding how men and women experience reality differently and communicate differently.

I don’t know what this means, but I spent a fair bit of my reading time wondering why I’m not like the women in the book. In some ways, the description of the female brain did hit home: I do pick up on others’ emotions, for example, and I’m very verbal. I’m definitely attached to my kids and the “mommy brain” she describes sounds familiar. I certainly believe the part about women experiencing more anxiety and depression than men.

But I think about sex more than she says I should (she says women think about sex typically one time per day, and up to four times on their “hottest” days), I don’t seem to gravitate toward symmetrical appearances as she says I should (I think Lyle Lovett is adorable), and I certainly don’t care as much about having my feet kept warm as she says is normal.

And not only am I a freak, but apparently my husband is as well. She says that men’s brain circuits are incapable of retaining emotional memories in their long-term memories unless they involve threats or physical danger. I don’t know which applies to our first date, but Patrick has photographic recall of that, as well as many other similar moments.

Not having reached menopause yet, I can’t comment on that part, except to say that the book leaves me less than thrilled to reach that stage of my life.

I’d be interested in hearing from people who can comment on the validity of the research underlying this book.