(1) I recently re-watched the original Austin Powers to see how good it was. Eh, I only laughed out loud in the bathroom scene with Tom Arnold ("Who does #2 work for?"). The other funny part I had forgotten was when Austin is trying to do an 84-point turn in the narrow corridor with the bad guy's vehicle. But what was really interesting is that Dr. Evil comes back from outer space and doesn't have a feel for money. Holding the whole world hostage, he first asks the world leaders for $1 million, and they bust a gut. But then he ups it to $100 billion, and they're alarmed. I remember seeing that scene when the movie first came out, and thinking that yeah, $100 billion would be tough for the world governments to come up with as ransom. My oh my.



(2) Just watched Michael Clayton last night. The previews were scaring me (i.e. they weren't movies I wanted to watch and so I wondered what the heck I had rented) but it turned out pretty sweet. I like George Clooney when his ego is in check, and it certainly is in this one. Plus, how can you not put a Sydney Pollack movie in your Netflix queue? (BTW I am not discussing plot because that's dumb. I am merely nudging people who are on the fence about a movie. If you get burned by a few of my nudges, then you will know to not rent movies I push.)

(3) The CNBC headline above the stock ticker currently reads, "Stocks Skid as Stimulus Worries Smack Banks." Perhaps because of my recent heroin analogy to the stimulus plan, I misinterpreted this at first.