If Little Black Book was an independent movie, if it didn’t feature extreme Palm product placement, and if it didn’t feature Brittany Murphy in the lead role, you would probably go and see it.

As it is, you will go to the multiplex this weekend and see Collateral or The Bourne Supremacy. Because you know that even if they don’t feed your soul, at least there will be fast cars and name actors and you will be distracted and air conditioned for two hours.

I don’t mean to suggest that Little Black Book is a great movie. But it’s certainly a lot better than it deserves to be.

Mostly because of Holly Hunter, who is, as she almost always is, a better actor than anyone else in the film. She takes a part that would traditionally be played by Rose O’Donnell or Molly Shannon — the “wacky supportive girlfriend” — and takes it places that nobody else could.

The writing helps her get there — the script is at least 33% better than your average summer comedy. Not quite David Mamet snappy, but there are sentences and paragraphs and are brilliant and quick and dry.

And although there is a farting dog (which did make Catherine laugh, I admit), there are also wandering sheep.

The rest of the supporting cast is mixed.

Kathy Bates and Julianne Nicholson are excellent (although Bates is really just playing her usual role, this time inhabiting Jerry Springer).

Ron Livingston plays the Matthew McConaughey role unremarkably (he’s not really called on to do very much), Stephen Tobolowsky has his moments, and Kevin Sussman looks like he has promise (especially if he can avoid Cosmo Kramer pigeon-holing).

Oh, and there’s Brittany Murphy. My jury is out: through most of the movie she comes across as a sort of older Hillary Duff or Lindsay Lohan (or a junior Sandra Bullock). But she too has her moments, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there is a great movie or two lurking inside her. Someday.

I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that the constant presence of Carly Simon music in the movie, along with a plotline that involves Simon herself, was a draw for me. I am an unrepentant Carly Simon fan (see also Heartburn). If you aren’t then you may wish to avoid the film.

Little Black Book won’t feed your soul. But it is something of an unexpected surprise.

My friend Steve has been posting some great photos of China after the war on his site.

Those Greeks are doing some pretty fantastic things for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics: flying dancers, articulated flame holders, giant choirs, super fireworks. I’m not a huge fan of the Olympics, but this is about the most spectacular spectacle I’ve ever seen.

We are at that time in the summer on Prince Edward Island where the taste of the coming fall is in the air. If we are not careful, we will blink and it will be February. To aid in the effort to suck every last drop of marrow from the summer, I present the following:

This is a photo I took on February 19, 2004 from the front door of our house at 100 Prince St. in Charlottetown. It had just finished snowing. A lot. Notice the parking meter.

Time to go to the beach.

I have a friend — let’s call him Dmitri — who got addicted to the Wikipedia. It served, I think, as the ultimate procrastination tool. And he was in deep, to the point where he got involved in the internecine battles that necessarily accompany any endeavour that involves both freedom and authority. I think he’s gone cold turkey now. So if you’re reading this, “Dmirtri,” don’t click on the link below.

Others, however, may wish to explore the definition of Captcha, a concept I’ve encountered often of late, and the name of which I only found here on the Drupal website.

By my calculations, I have been using computer mice for about 14 years — roughly the same amount of time Catherine and I have been together, which makes sense because it was her mouse-equipped supercomputer that was the first one I used with a mouse.

Knowing that our friend G. was in need of a mouse, I made the trip up to the attic tonight to the mouse archive. I thought I might have a spare one. Here’s what I found:

I have, as you can see, accumulated a lot of mice over the years.

My favourite is the square Logitech — quite un-ergonomic, I think. On the other end of the spectrum there is the Countour Design on the far-right: countoured to my big hand. Otherwise, there are, from left to right, an IBM, an Acer, a Microsoft, a no-name, a Perfect Micro, and a Compaq.

Truth be told, I don’t know why I’ve accumulated all of these.

As I type, they’re bagged up and ready to head up to G.’s to see which one will work with his ye olde laptop.

Do you remember that scene in Billy Elliot where Billy is dancing, and he enters another plane, a plane of pure happiness? For me, that plane is attained by playing charades.

My primary problem in this regard is that charades cannot be played alone, and I have managed to surround myself with a group of family and friends who either don’t embrace playing charades, or who are decidedly charades-averse.

And so I never get to play.

As my family members will, I’m sure, attest, I tend towards the manic side of the charades spectrum during play, always taking the labyrinthian and circuitous path so as to amplify the challenge (and, if I’m to accept an accusation of attraction to the pure “look at me” quality of the game, more time on stage). I recall a charade for “Happy Days” that I managed to sproing out into 9 or 10 individual clues.

From Isaac, charades-averse himself, comes a link to this hilarious trailer on the ZeD site (warning: hilarity may only exist if you are charades-positive). Watching it, I’m evermore thirsting for a match.

But alas, no.

If perchance anyone in the readership is a member of an underground charades playing speakeasy, please let me know. I’m in.

Imagine a horror movie in which a reclusive computer programmer is trapped in the back room of an old Victorian house while a dozen disembodied ghouls are trying to scratch their way into the house so as to be able to eat his brain for lunch.

As there are a dozen workers scraping down the outside of 84 Fitzroy St. today, in anticipation of a paint job, while we work inside, this is pretty much what the today feels at the office.

I was confused. Now I am not. Here’s a primer for those of you still confused:

The Far Side of the Moon - 2003 Canadian movie from director Robert Lepage. “After the death of his mother, a man tries to discover a meaning to his life, to the universe and to rebuild a relationship with the only family he has left: his brother.” says the Internet Movie Database.

Man on the Moon - Milos Forman’s 1999 film about comedian Andy Kaufman.

A Walk on the Moon - A 1999 Tony Goldwyn film wherein “[t]he world of a young housewife is turned upside down when she has an affair with a free-spirited blouse salesman.”

CBC News is reporting that RainMaker Call Centres is taking over the space in Bloomfield abandoned by Help Desk Now.

A couple of points not included in the CBC story:

• The company already operates sites in Tignish and Summerside (reference)
• Their primary client is Trendwest WorldMark Resorts (reference). RainMaker calls Trendwest the “3rd largest family oriented resort company in the world.” What that really means is that they sell timeshare vacations.
• RainMaker says they have “different culture and work practices” than Help Desk Now. Presumably this extends, at least in part, from the fact that they are an “outbound” call centre. This means that they’re not answering the phone, they’re making calls. To sell timeshare vacations.
• The call centre “solution” that RainMaker uses they bought from a company called Genticity, which is based in Charlottetown. The ACOA website says says that Genticity “received $450,000 in private equity investments, a $219,600 loan from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and a further $100,000 investment from Technology PEI.”
• The Chair of the Board of Genticity is Jamie Hill, formerly of Online Support, PEINet, Cycor, etc. (see here and here and here)
• Other customers of Genticity, highlighted on their website, are Island Waste Management Corporation (owned by the Province of PEI), On Line Support (Founder and former President: Jamie Hill), and iWave (Chief Executive Officer: Jamie Hill)

I’m not saying all this adds up to anything more than a bunch of facts. But I think a thorough examination of the public money that’s gone to call centres and related companies and the return on the investment in terms of tax revenue and employment, would be a useful exercise. Such a review may demonstrate that our public money has been wisely applied. Or not. I’d like to know.

You must admit there is some irony, especially in this slow tourism year, in our public money going, at least indirectly, to support a company whose primary business is selling vacations in places that aren’t Prince Edward Island.

An interesting side note: the most recent financial statements of iWave Information Systems Inc. (available from SEDAR) show that iWave paid $9355 for the Internet domain named iWave.com.