I finally got around to seeing Girl with a Pearl Earring tonight with Kathleen and a friend. I wasn’t sure what to expect. On one hand, Ebert loved it and I love me some Colin Firth. On the other hand, Scarlett Johansson has been annoying the crap out of me lately. Luckily my Mr. Darcy fixation won out. It’s a wonderful film. Slow, yes, but not boring and not overly melodramatic. Tom Wilkinson made a wonderful villain in his few scenes. The cinematography was lovely; every shot looked like a painting. Scarlett completely made me forget how vapid and shallow she is in real life. I highly recommend it if you’re in the mood for something a little different.

Random Fates Intersecting: I was reading Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything just last night and came to a footnote about Vermeer in the chapter about microscopes. Bryson mentions that some art historians believe Vermeer “cheated” by using a camera obscura provided by his friend Anton van Leeuwenhoek. It’s a bit of a conspiracy theory, though, so I didn’t expect it to be mentioned in the film. But there it was! Some guys bring in a big wooden box and Vermeer shows Griet how it works. It wasn’t integral to the story or anything – and he only admitted that it “helped” with the paintings – but I was still surprised that they worked it in.

Rest in peace, Father Joyce. I never met the man but his legend (and name) were everywhere in college.

So far I’ve got two sponsors lined up for the 40 Hour Famine. Come on, people! You know you want to see me delirious with hunger. (Snookums is still laughing at my Mother’s response when I told her about the event: “Forty hours? Is that all? You should have to go for seventy-two!” Me: “MOM!”)

Crap. We just reached a major milestone here at w-g and I didn’t even realize. The 10,000th comment was posted on Friday! (It was the one where I crowed about my restaurant booking.) That blows my mind.

NOTE: That’s 10,000 in terms of ID numbers in the database. I have had to delete some comments in the past so in real terms there are only 9,915. Still, that’s a lot! Of the 10,022 that are in there now, 3,095 were posted by me. That means 69% (6,927) were made by you folks. Well done!

Big Brother 4 started last night and at last the big secret is revealed: The winner will take home a million bucks! I was pretty satisfied with that revelation (though I would’ve loved it if the “monkey in the house” rumor had been true). The other big reality shows have all gone to a million, and Big Bro needed the raise to compete. I also like the idea that they aren’t going to tell the housemates for a while. So many of them gave “It’s the experience!” as their reason for going in, it’ll be interesting to see if they change their tunes once they hear the prize has quadrupled. I was also really happy with the “Back to Basics” approach of the show. The house is huge but it’s basically the same layout as last year. The Kickoff Show was fairly fast-paced and I liked that they just introduced the contestants, showed a quick clip of rejected people, and then got them into the house. (None of that whole “introduce pairs of people but only let a few in” thing they did last year.) The contestants themselves are a mixed bag, I think. There were a couple interesting people – I liked Trevor, Merlin, and Catherine right off the bat – but several of the girls just seemed like cookie-cutter “girlz gone wild!” types. I was pleased that some of them were over 30, but a little dismayed at the lack of overweight and gay people. (I like to have all the stereotypes represented in my reality shows.) But hey, Gretel didn’t look too bad! I was mesmerized by her boobs all night. How do you do that? Snookums thinks she had secret powerful structural apparatus hidden under her armpits. All in all, I think it was a much better kickoff than last year. I’ll be watching.

Wait, that’s Kate Beckinsale in Van Helsing? Whoa, I had no idea. Seriously, movie promoters, you dropped the ball on this one. I haven’t been hiding from the advertising; I see it on websites, bus stops, and TV commercials. Snookums even asked me last week: “Is that Kate Beckinsale on there?” Me: “No way. It doesn’t look anything like her and besides, if it was her they’d mention her name somewhere. And anyway, she was already in a crappy vampire movie last year.” Seriously, why hide the girl? She doesn’t even get billing anywhere on the posters I’ve seen! Was Underworld really that bad?

My friend Leigh-Anne sent me an interesting e-mail the other day. She works for the American Red Cross and she wanted to pick my brains for a little market research. She writes: “We are putting together a commemorative knitting kit based on our World War era “Knit Your Bit” campaign which enabled civilian volunteers to support troops by knitting needed clothing and blankets. Our goal is to release this knit kit for the 60th anniversary of D-Day and as the world remembers and memorializes the 60th anniversary of the ending of World War II.” A prototype of the kit is pictured here. “This is a sock-knitting kit which would include instructions and all the tools necessary to produce one pair of (WWII regulation) socks. There also will likely be two other sets of instructions for vintage/era knitting projections such as a muffler, gloves and/or cap.” The kits would be sold for around $25 and proceeds would go to support the Red Cross’s emergency and disaster relief efforts. And it comes in a groovy reusable tin!

I e-mailed Leigh-Anne right away to tell her how awesome I think the project is. I love the idea of all these new young knitters putting aside the novelty scarf yarns for a while and discovering a connection to our collective past. For most of us us, knitting is a hobby, something that we do in addition to full-time jobs and financed by our own discretionary income. Sixty years ago, it would’ve been something your Mom taught you as a skill you’d need in married life. You would’ve made all your clothes. (How foreign a concept is that?) During the War, making socks and sweaters was a small but direct way these women could contribute to wider events in the world. It’s just amazing to think about.

Anyway, Leigh-Anne’s given me permission to start publicizing the kit to get feedback from my fellow knitters. What do you guys think? Personally, I’d get at least one for myself and probably give them as gifts too. I think it’s a brilliant idea and I can’t wait to see the final result.

We had a lovely dinner party last night with Andrew and Kathleen and Major and Steph. The only problem – other than my shifting Rodd’s chocolate pie in the fridge and causing it to become lopsided – was when Kathleen suddenly began sneezing and coughing ten minutes into the evening. The cause? A previously unknown cat allergy. Ouch. Dr. Amy Jones apologized and spent the rest of the night napping in the bathroom.

I don’t have any Star Wars figures other than a set of Phantom Menace Beanie Babies I found in Chicago a few years back, but if these Galactic Heroes turn out as cute as they look, I want them all.