Things that struck me about the “Facts of Life Reunion” movie last night (Yes. I watched it. Shut up.):

-That Nancy McKeon thinks she’s such hot stuff, she can’t bear to lower herself to a “Facts” reunion. I guess there was some Mafia wife movie on Lifetime she was shooting or something.
-I heard one of the ideas floated was to make the occasion Jo’s funeral. That would have been interesting.
-Natalie with two good-looking boyfriends? Please.
-Tootie looked like some sort of cheap hooker.
-The mention of George the handyman (a pre-stardom George Clooney) was funny.
-I’m sorry, but no one dances after packing away a Thanksgiving dinner.

Helen Thomas rocks. That is all.

Just got back from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” First, the good news: casting was excellent, with all the three young leads and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid especially fine. The chemistry between the kids was good, which bodes well for future films. The production design also was first-rate, giving you a detailed look at what Hogwarts would be like.

But I came away from the movie quite unsatisfied; the word that occurs to me is “inert.” There’s nothing overtly wrong with this movie, but maybe that’s part of the problem with it. Chris Columbus hits all the marks, giving you the scenes you remember from the book. But you know how a child’s book report is just a flat retelling of a book’s events, without any of the spark that made it so interesting? That’s this film. You move from point A to point B to point C, but without the life behind the words. Imagine what Tim Burton, say, would have done with this material.

Of course, Burton would never have been given this project, because they couldn’t have been assured that he would follow the book slavishly enough for all the tiny cloak-wearing fans out there. “Harry Potter” proves, I think, that following the book is not the most important accomplishment a movie can make.

A maker of surveillance equipment, MetaSignal, is excited about how the 9/11 attacks will boost their sales to safety-conscious amusement parks:

?Before September 11th, I think people would be very offended to think that they could be tracked in a theme park. People are more giving now in terms of their civil liberties.?
-Feng Chi Wang, MetaSignal president (via MSNBC)

Let that sink in for a minute.

Watched Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life” this afternoon. It either helped or hurt, I’m not sure which, that I was in sort of a dreamlike state myself while watching the movie – I needed a nap, apparently. But anyway, it had some wonderful rotoscoped animation, and dealt with some mind-bending topics about dreams and life and perception. Miles away from the usual crap they want us to swallow at the movies these days. Not totally successful as a movie, it’s still quite a work of art and worth experiencing.

Tomorrow is Harry Potter day at ‘words mean things.’ My prediction? Entertaining but nothing special. We’ll see.

Anybody seen “The Man Who Wasn’t There”? I’m so looking forward to that one.

Just when you thought the Survivor franchise was dead, they up and figure out ways to keep it interesting again. The team switch was brilliant, and now Señor Probst is hinting that the traditional merge won’t happen. I personally hope they throw as many curve balls at the contestants as they can muster. Unpredictability is maybe the most important factor in enjoying this show, and I hope they keep it up.

Even better, the whiny, lazy, fingernails-on-the-chalkboard Gen-Y ringleader Lindsey was given a much-deserved boot last night. And my guy Ethan, the low-key soccer player I hope wins the whole thing, came through in the clutch for Boran to win the flaming arrow immunity challenge. How great is that?

My friend Dave Deadman was on the Food Network last night. “Food Finds” did a show called “Wisconsin Dairy,” and Dave’s company, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, was profiled on it. It’s kind of cool to see someone you know on TV. Dave (and his father and brother) did a great job on the show, which was filmed over the summer. Also, the Food Network lists the Chocolate Shoppe URL on their web site, although they don’t make the text into a link. This is irksome to me since I designed the Chocolate Shoppe site.

Did I mention I could use some work?

One of my favorite Simpsons episodes was on in syndication last night: the one where the town is going to pass an anti-immigrant law, and Apu tries to get out of it by buying fake papers from Fat Tony:

“You are from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Your parents are Herb and Judy Nahasapeemapetalon.”

The current climate adds a strange new dimension to this, of course. How long will it be before our every experience isn’t filtered through this new lens?

Another in an endless series of pop-culture confessions: I went out yesterday and purchased Star Wars Episode I on DVD. And after watching the film at home with the George Lucas et al commentary on, I can honestly also confess that I hate the film just a little bit less than I did when I saw it in the theater. But it became even clearer to me after listening to the commentary track that Lucas looked at the film like a big Erector set. He was so jazzed up about the technology and what he could do with it that he forgot about story, characters, and the simplicity and pulpiness that made the first three films so much fun. Forgetting about the audience is a fatal flaw in any filmmaker, and even more fatal for Lucas, with the most famous movie series in history to follow up. The fact that it hangs together better as an intellectual exercise on video is exactly what’s wrong with the picture.

I don’t expect any better with Ep II. But time will tell.

Actual report on Entertainment Tonight:
“Later, we’ll find out how the latest air disaster in New York delayed Gisele Bundchen’s arrival at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.”

Oh my sweet lord.