What Jack Nicholson’s As Good as It Gets is to Bill Murray’s Lost in Translation, Nicholson’s About Schmidt is to Murray’s Broken Flowers. The actors in question are both senior Hollywood players, distinguished and experienced. Both the former films, despite their differences in setting, are existential and witty. Both the latter are existential yet tedious. I had the same feeling watching Broken Flowers as I did watching About Schmidt - boredom.

On a trip to London the other week, I was wearing a nice pinstripe suit. With my neatly ironed shirt, conservative tie, and smart cufflinks, I thought I looked very presentable. But as I’ve already admitted, I also bought some pomegranate juice. What was I thinking? Sure, it was OK, but what a yuppie. So here’s a question: does how you’re dressed and what you’re doing affect what you buy? Do you feel compelled to buy more expensive stuff because you look like you should be able to afford it?

As this blog reaches another milestone (this is the 200th post), I get the feeling I’ve written far more than I set out to. So I thought I’d round up some statistics: 200 posts - approximately 1.6/day since 25th June. 246 comments - approximately 1.96/day, and an average of 1.23/article. 2,958 spam comments caught by Akismet - approximately 167/week - although this is nowhere near my personal email, which hovers more around the frightening figure of** 4,000/week** - I love SpamAssassin.

There seem to be only two types of fiction-based TV programme: The episode starts, everything changes, then everything ends exactly the same way it started. This is typified by comedies, such as The Simpsons, which often have crazy storylines that seem irretrievable, but end up where they began. In fact, more than one episode of The Simpsons has parodied this technique. The episode starts, everything changes, then everything ends up differently at the end.

Here’s a fun thought experiment: imagine what innovations would be necessary, feasible, or useful if the fundamental biological or physical restrictions of our world were different: not generally, but in a specific area. For example, let’s say that the hair on our heads grew not at the rate it does now - approximately 0.5mm/day - but at 1m/day. It seems clear that hairdressers, as least as they are currently organised, wouldn’t be able to keep up.

Once a year (today is the day) I wake up and realise I’ve been given a free hour. Does anyone else savour that moment? (Of course, once a year, I lose an hour - but I prefer not to talk about that…)

Maybe it’s just me, but diabetes seems to be a hot issue recently. In my ignorance, I didn’t realise it was so widespread and so important. A recent podcast on the IT Conversations site with Larry Ellingson (former chair of the American Diabetes Association) discussed the disease in detail, and there was a single fact mentioned that took me by surprise: 300 million in the world (4%) have diabetes. However, the prevalence of diabetes in the Western world is considerably greater, primarily because of poor diet and exercise, which exacerbates Type II diabetes.

Does it ever seem like every single Hollywood movie trailer uses the same voiceover? Well, it pretty much does. Don LaFontaine is probably the guy you’re thinking of: he’s only got a few major competitors, and you’d recognise each of them too. They all got together in a limo one day (video here). So, any suggestions for what to do about this obvious oligopoly? Let’s hope the FTC get straight on it, anyway.

For those who don’t keep up with such things, the American car industry is in big trouble. Detroit’s sales have been declining for some time, hurt by high costs, and Japan is stepping in to take their place. Some Americans, of course, will only buy American, but many seem to be taking the more pragmatic approach. High gas prices and a preference for marketing big cars and vans among America’s car markers haven’t helped.

5 / 10. Medium. OKish. Reasonable. Not too bad; not too good. All of these phrases describe Wedding Crashers. One of the more infamous moments from Top Gear has Jeremy Clarkson drumming his fingers on the top of a (notoriously bland) Vectra for an entire minute, unable to think of anything to say. This film elicits the same lack of reaction from me. As I watch films these days I tend to take notes so I can write up reviews afterward.