Time to play catch-up, and rattle off a list of things that are taking up space in my brain. This way, I can fill it up with new stuff! Even better stuff! And thus, save the planet from extinction.

Andy Griffith died.  If you haven’t seen “The Andy Griffith Show” in awhile, this is a good reason to revisit it. Seriously, it’s still brilliant. And if you’ve never seen Griffith in Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, shame on you. Griffith plays a charismatic hobo/preacher who becomes a famous radio and TV personality, and then, drunk with power, aspires to politics. Griffith is amazing, playing a giddy sociopath, and is absolutely chilling at times. Check out this clip after the jump.  

Suave Professionals Rosemary and Mint Conditioner.  Suave’s done a bang-up job in the past few years of creating generic analogs of expensive products, and this is one of the best I’ve tried. Having used the original (Aveda Rosemary Mint) I can say that this is a dead ringer for it. Great stuff — excellent conditioner, zippy mint tingle on the scalp, lovely fresh scent that doesn’t overpower.

Also:  Aveda – $14.  Suave – $2.49.

Magic Mike.  So Steven Soderbergh made a movie about male strippers, starring Channing Tatum.  It’s not bad — hey, it’s Soderbergh — but the puzzler is why he was attracted to this material at all. The guy’s a stripper, but he has aspirations to be more. He takes another young guy under his wing, gets him a job, and then has to bail him out of a jam because the younger guy’s a dumbass. Mike likes dumbass guy’s sister. Matthew McConaughey wears leather pants. There’s absolutely nothing here that’s fresh or unexpected, and while the dancing scenes are pretty cool, the whole plot’s a lot of meh. It’s one of those films that, when you run across it on cable one afternoon, will be entertaining enough, but it’s definitely not worth making a trip to the theater to see, unless you grab a great group of friends and see it at a theater with discounted tickets and beer.

The Newsroom.  Just as Magic Mike is lesser Soderbergh, “The Newsroom” is lesser Aaron Sorkin. At times it actually feels a little like a parody of Sorkin, but neither of those statements is meant to suggest that it’s not good. Like Soderbergh, Sorkin when he’s weak is still better than 80 percent of his competitors. I’m waiting to see how the show matures as the writers and actors all find their feet —  a handful of actors (Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston) are comfortable with the pace and rhythm of the dialogue, and Alison Pill (Kim Pine from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) is amazingly good at wrestling with Sorkin-speak. But poor, just-barely talented Olivia Munn looks like she’s holding back tears in almost every scene. The tension and fear radiate off of her, she’s so far out of her element.

No jury trial for Portland’s naked flyer.  So the fellow who protested draconian TSA rules by stripping nekkid before going through security at PDX will not be standing trial.  First of all, it’s not against the law to be naked in public in Portland, so they couldn’t make the indecent exposure charge stick. So they settled for disorderly conduct, which is a misdemeanor, which also means that he doesn’t get a trial.  Make of this what you will.

And finally … A pit bull napping with a kitten and a fox. (via Cute Overload):