Three things I kind of love right now-- a movie, a song, and a book.

i. The Addams Family Values. I kind of love the Addams Family movies, although I am also very puzzled by them. Who is the designated audience for these movies, besides me? They don't seem to be aimed at adults, exactly, nor at children. My favourite moment is probably Anjelica Huston reading aloud to their baby (who has a little Hitler moustache) from The Cat in the Hat, and she just looks so troubled by the book's inanity and cheerfulness. And Christina Ricci is incredible. Plus all these unexpected actors--David Krumholtz! Joan Cusack! Nathan Lane! Valerie from The Princess Bride! The dad from Drop Dead Gorgeous! And Harmony, from Buffy! (Watch enough episodes of Buffy, and you'll get to be as good at this game as I am, because that show had 1,000,000 actors. All those demons and high school students.)

ii. The iTunes free song of the week, Flight of the Conchords' The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room. I have been developing this theory recently that the best love songs have an edge of cruelty, and this (in fact) is what makes them sweet, credible. James insists there are no good romantic songs, but I think Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel #2 comes pretty close: "I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel/that's all, I don't even think of you that often..." Anyway, this Flight of the Conchords song has that same edge, although obviously it's played a lot more for laughs. "And when you're on the street/Depending on the street/I bet you are definitely in the top three/Good-looking girls on the street..."

iii. Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's being made into a movie, which was the first I'd ever heard of it. But I'm'a read the book first, because that's just how I roll. Neil Gaiman is masterful at mixing fairy tales with the postmodern and cynical. His books are so funny, but so reverent, they never lose their sincerity. So many of the best satires have too much cruelty to be enjoyable, they're too mean-spirited; but his books are something different, some kind of hybrid genre.

I'm exhausted. I wonder what would happen if I just went to sleep right now.