A bunch of little links, which I don't have many comments for... I would normally avoid any "news" related URL containing the word 'heartwarmers', but this picture is the absolutely cutest thing I've seen on the internet all month. [via Eclectica] While it appears to take a fussier approach to cooking than I prefer in real life, the food weblog Saute Wednesday is very fun fantasy reading. [via Eatonweb] If you thought NPR's ludicrous linking policy was an abberation, go check out Don't Link to Us!, a log of websites with stupid linking policies. [via RRE] And while I'm not sure intellectually why this is any more disturbing than visiting a cemetary plot or having an urn of ashes, I'm creeped out by this company which sells LifeGems, artificial diamonds "created from the carbon of your loved one". [via Strange Brew]

reading:
Human Croquet; Kate Atkinson
The History of Lace; Mrs. Bury Palliser
Jane Fairfax; Joan Aiken

Everything on TV may be in reruns but if that means you haven't been bothering to stop by Television Without Pity, you've been missing out on recaps of "classic" episodes of many of their shows. And, in the case of Enterprise, this has included recaps of The Original Series and, just this week, of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

reading:
Mysticism & Logic; Bertrand Russell
The Best American Short Stories: 1989; Margaret Atwood, ed.

I always feel as if I am betraying my sensible feminist roots when I read wedding-related websites, but horror-stories (a la Etiquette Hell) and dress-sewing and centerpiece making plans both entertain me. My latest guilty pleasure is Going Bridal, a wedding journal complete with sewing project updates and a "Cavalcade of Bad Bridal Fashion" section. [via not martha]

A fun usability article from the IBM developerWorks site: "Everything I need to know about usability, I learned at the arcade".

By necessity, repetitive tasks are streamlined in games. This isn't always true for productivity software; with the latter, it's anyone's guess as to whether a particular common task will be convenient at all. Game designers try to avoid designs that will result in players complaining of pain after a couple hours of play; designers of productivity software don't seem to consider this at all.

reading:
Mysticism & Logic; Bertrand Russell
Emma; Jane Austen

While it's been a slow period here in Screenshot land, I'm still enjoying weblogging and don't plan to stop any time soon. As I said way back then, "This could be fun. I can't wait to see how it all turns out."

Remember kids: always check Rotten Tomatoes before plunking down your perfectly good money for a movie. It was ignoring this advice which led me to see Full Frontal this evening. I at least enjoyed it more than the person I saw it with, but both of us left the theater shaking our heads. It was a self-aware film about film making, and tried to be all cute and clever about being not just about film making but also about making films about film making, and so on. It's all very meta. With the tag line "Everybody needs a release" on the posters, I suppose the quest for meaningful relationships, and the randomness of finding "The One", even for a while, also runs through the movie as a major theme, but it wasn't treated particularly interestingly. I'm sorry, but it's not "modern" or "edgy" to throw an internet-based romance into your story anymore. I still can't figure out what the point of the Hilter-monologue play was, except as a model of how bizarre actors and directors can become. The bad film quality was as annoying as most reviewers thought. I understand why it was done, but the quality was so bad, I sometimes couldn't tell which character was on screen.

As a single positive, David Hyde Pierce did an amazing job and was the only interesting character in the movie, no thanks to the script. He actually acted, and left all of the meta layers of meaning alone. He has one scene where he's on the phone with the vet because he's afraid his dog is dying, and it was utterly realistic and touching. He even managed to pull off a somewhat overly symbolic scene in which he goes to get himself a beer after having been fired - his boss having asked him whether he drinks his beer out of the bottle or a glass, and then telling him the company is looking for bottle-drinkers. It's a contrived set-up, but he doesn't over-act the moment when he has to decide if he'll pour this beer into a glass as well. I wanted to know more about this guy, and the rest of the characters were just a distraction. Unfortunately, most of the movie was about the other characters, so I really can't recommend bothering to go see this mess.

My clever friend (who should say hi in the comments if they'd like to be publically credited) was observant enough to spot a small note of interest to X-Files fans, though. Remember in Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose where Scully and Mulder use a psychic (Clyde) who can see how people are going to die to solve a case? And the following bit of dialogue takes place:

Clyde: "You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified one that autoerotic asphyxiation."
Mulder: "Why are you telling me that?
Clyde: "Forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business."

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.

I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called "Yellow."

So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all "Yellow."
-- Yellow, Coldplay