This weekend, new Saturday Night Live cast member Jenny Slate said “fuckin” during a sketch. Andrea and I were both surprised, so I think we watched it about 5 times on our DVR just to make sure.

Afterward we got to talking about who else had “dropped an f-bomb” on SNL over its 35 year history. I did a little research on the topic and decided it seemed like something that would appear on mental_floss. So I took a little time to write up a quick story for them and submitted it without talking to my editor. I told him, if he liked it, he could run it; if he didn’t, he didn’t have to.

Well, apparently he liked it because it’s online! So if you were wondering what other folks have said “the F-word” on SNL, now’s your chance to find out.

the zombie Little People will walk the earth.

Sunday night, my wife and I were picking up our daughter’s collection of vintage Fisher Price Little People that she received a few years ago for Christmas. These are old, worn out Little People that my sister bought at a garage sale, so many of them have seen better days. One in particular was really torn up, to the point that most of its hair was missing from the top of its head. I picked this one up and said, “Looks like a zombie got hold of her.”

Ya know how in the Bugs Bunny cartoon there’s a little light bulb that’s visible over someone’s head when they’ve had a really good idea? That moment occurred for both my wife and me, when I said those words. The next thing we knew we were on our way to Michael’s to pick up supplies.

And this has been the culmination of a couple of nights’ work since then. We’ve chosen only the most messed up, torn up, chewed up, dirty Little People we can find for this little project, but considering the subject matter, that’s exactly what we want. It’s been a lot of fun and we have other ideas in mind that we’ll hopefully get moving on in time for Halloween. So keep checking back – or follow me on Twitter to look for updates – and we’ll post again soon.

This is the one that started it all…

The blood on her is pretty fresh, so she was just recently turned.

Here’s a comparison to the living Little People (Person?) these two lovely ladies are based on.

This is also the same mold.

Lately I’ve watched so many movies and TV shows in between working on mental_floss articles that I simply haven’t had time to review them all in-depth. So these will simply be 5-banana ratings with a few comments thrown in for good measure. Sorry, but I gots to get paid!!

Big Man Japan: 3 / 5 bananas
I was really expecting something entirely different from this film, but I was also pleasantly surprised by what I got. Think “The Wrestler” meets “Godzilla” and you’ll have some idea of where this one’s going. Interesting, but not something I feel I’ll need to revisit anytime soon.

Mad Men Season 2: 5 / 5 bananas
This season was absolutely amazing, as expected. The writing on this show, especially the zingers tossed back and forth between the characters, absolutely blows me away. Great stuff. Andrea and I can’t wait to start watching season 3 on Amazon video-on-demand.

District 9: 5 / 5 bananas
I went into this film knowing very little about it other than the basic premise – 20 years ago, aliens came to earth and have been living with us as third-class citizens ever since. I had no idea where the film was going, how things were going to turn out, or what type of film it was going to turn out to be. I’m so happy I went in blind, because I think had I known all of this, I would have been very disappointed. Actually, I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Some are criticizing the film for certain aspects of the filmmaking and, oddly enough, I can completely see where they’re coming from, I just don’t care. I went along for the ride and had a blast. I can’t wait for this DVD.

Inglorious Basterds: 5 / 5 bananas
Possibly one of the most boring films I’ve ever seen that I absolutely loved. Tarantino has a knack for building tension in a scene by having his characters talk, saying so much without saying anything at all, then punctuating the scene with explosive violence. It’s a bit like sex, really, and with Basterds, Tarantino has created one of the most rewarding cinematic orgasms of his career. I worry a little about replay value for me, because often, once I know what’s coming in a QT film, the impact becomes lessened and the slow burn begins to nag on me. But I’ll rent it when available and see how it holds up.

Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus: 1 / 5 bananas
I rented this one because I thought it might make a good special review like The Asylum’s “The Terminators” film I did recently. After watching it I decided it really wasn’t worth the time. It’s bad, folks. Big surprise, huh? Seriously, even morbid curiosity doesn’t make this one worth watching.

Network: 5 / 5 bananas
A classic that I hadn’t seen in a while. It still holds up today, possibly even better than it did when it came out.

Good Night, and Good Luck: 3 / 5 bananas
While I found the subject matter – and the performance by XXX – fascinating, the film never really came together for me. I was honestly expecting there to be more to the story, but it felt like big chapters were being skipped so they could get to the end for the big payoff.

Stuck: 3.5 / 5 bananas
Based on the real-life story of a homeless man hit by a young woman who drives home with him stuck in the windshield of her car, this is a strange little film with some very interesting, “What would you do?” situations. I don’t know that the womans’ reasons for not helping the man were valid enough for her heartless actions, but I’m not entirely sure there are any reasons good enough to treat another human being this way. An interesting, little-seen film that’s worth a look.

Slacker: 3 / 5 bananas
This cult classic from wandering/wondering auteur, Richard Linklater, is one of the defining indie films of the early 90s heyday. Personally, I found it to be pretty boring, pretentious, and empty. Maybe that’s the point, but it felt like there was far too much love for its subjects to really want to be satirical. Not one I’m going to revisit anytime soon, but I can at least admire what it’s trying to do.

Step Brothers: 3 / 5 bananas
This is a great film by any means – it especially has problems in the latter half of the 2nd reel – but it definitely has its moments of sheer ridiculousness to make it worth watching from time to time. I noticed this time, though, that it’s the supporting characters that really have the best lines, rather than stars Ferrell and Reilly. I kind of appreciate that fact, actually.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome: 2 / 5 bananas
I hadn’t seen this one in at least 15 years, so decided to check it out on Netflix Instant Watch. It was not good, unfortunately. It seems anytime you start injecting too much comedy and/or kids into your film, you’re doomed. See Indiana Jones 2 & 4 (though I still like Temple of Doom). See Star Wars: Episode I. See Star Wars: Episode 6. What was really disappointing was the fact that there are so many great ideas in this film that simply are not carried through. The whole thing is one wasted opportunity after another.

Fallen: 3.5 / 5 bananas
I sold this one on Amazon, so I thought I’d watch it one last time before I shipped it to its new owner. While I still really enjoy it for the story, the direction really doesn’t hold up well. The blurry, almost nightvision shots as taken from the demon’s point-of-view look very dated and, frankly, silly at this point. Unfortunately, those shots are pretty common throughout the running time, so it really hurts the overall effectiveness of the film.

The Backyard: 3 / 5 bananas
A Netflix Instant Streaming morbid curiosity entry about jackasses who beat the shit out of each other in their backyards because they want to be professional wrestlers. For the most part it’s worth watching so you can psychologically evaluate all these numbskulls. Most just do it for fun, to entertain their friends, or for a quick buck, but none of them are really doing much of anything to expand their skillset beyond figuring out the next thing they can use to hurt themselves withh. But there’s one story in particular – a guy who is actually taking steps to get into the WWE – that makes the whole thing more than mere exploitation.

Walk Hard: 3 / 5 bananas
A very good spoof of the musical biography genre. Like Anchorman, it’s the individual moments in the film that are really funny, rather than the overall plotline. In fact, there’s a pretty big section of the film that’s utterly forgettable. But there are plenty of laughs in between that make it a fun one to catch every once in a while.

The Ten: 4 / 5 bananas
I can’t help it – I like The State alumni films. This film has a few weak spots – namely the annoying rhino (or is it a hippo) cartoon in the middle that I fast-forward through now. But there are so many great spots – the two middle-aged guys groovin’ out to Bonnie Raitt, the Diane Wiest conversation, Winona Ryder getting it on with a puppet – that it’s not a complete failure by any means.

Dead Man’s Shoes: 4 / 5 bananas
This little-seen Irish film gives us an interesting take on vengeance. Ex-military brother comes home to seek revenge on some thugs who messed with his younger, mentally-deficient brother. As we see flashback scenes of what they did to the young man, you can see how they were cruel, but were their actions worth getting killed for? Throughout the film you’re meant to question if the older brother has gone too far, until you realize there’s more to the story than meets the eye. And then you’re left wondering if he was justified or if he was just deranged.

30 Rock Seasons 1 and 2: 5 / 5 bananas
I watched a few episodes of this when it first came out a few years ago and I just couldn’t get into it. I think it was just something I wasn’t expecting, so it threw me off. Thankfully I’ve caught up on this incredible show and am now chomping at the bit to keep watching as the seasons are released on DVD. Needless to say I’m very glad I gave this one another shot to win me over.

The Wrestler: 5 / 5 bananas
Wow. What an amazing, emotionally-draining film. I was with The Bull every step of the way, feeling his pain, feeling his frustration, feeling his hopelessness. I cannot recommend this one enough, but know going in that you will not be happy afterward. Such a great film with an incredible performance by Mickey Rourke.

Mysterious Skin: 3.5 / 5 bananas
What a disturbing film. I’d describe the plot, but I don’t want those keywords to start pointing people to my site from Google. Let’s just say it was a breakthrough performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and leave it at that.

My latest mental_floss story is up! I’m really happy with it, but so far it’s not blowing up like I expected it to. Maybe this will be a slow burn one like I’ve had before. Here’s hoping.

I just finished The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The copy I have is a version that was sold to promote the 2005 film adaptation starring Mos Def, Martin Freeman, and Zooey Deschanel. With that in mind, the book is 309 pages long, but 93 pages deals with the production of the film. I didn’t know this until I was on page 216 of the book and the story suddenly stopped.

Now I’m all for cliffhangers. I’m all for a series of books or movies that continues the story. But, man, talk about leaving you hanging – there was zero resolution to this book. Even the Lord of the Rings saga, which was not originally intended to be broken into a trilogy, but was meant to be read as one, long story, had more natural breaks between books than HHG left us with. Maybe it plays differently on the radio, where this story was first produced, but on the page I was left feeling very disappointed with our heroes’ escape from…something.

Then again, maybe this is intentional. Maybe Adams was playing with the storytelling status quo, wherein a story has three specific acts and closes with a satisfying dénouement. Maybe he wanted to mess with us; to throw us off our balance. The rest of the book is so haphazard and random that perhaps this shouldn’t surprise us when he stops before we know why anything is happening.

I guess what I’m saying is, for me, HHG was more a jumble of really funny pieces, but the overall story left me very disappointed. What’s most frustrating is that I appreciate a movie that’s structured like this. In fact, I love Will Ferrell’s Anchorman, primarily because it’s little more than sketch comedy scenes strung together with a threadbare plot. But for whatever reason, this absurdist storytelling doesn’t work for me in a book. And what’s most frustrating about that is I really thought some of it was hilarious.

I loved the concept of what mice on planet Earth really were. I loved Marvin, “the Paranoid Android.” The inner monologue of a missile that was suddenly turned into a whale cracked me up! But put it all together and you don’t really have much coherence. It’s almost like someone turned the improbability drive on at around the midway point of the book.

I know I’m going to get crucified for this in the geek community. To some people, not liking HHG is akin to not liking air. But aside from a few laughs, there was nothing here that helped me understand why this book has become such the cult phenomenon that it is. Maybe I have to read the rest of the 5-part trilogy to see how it all fits together, but, honestly, based upon the first book, I’m not sure I really care.