It’s Patriot’s Day which means it’s Marathon Monday in Boston. As usual, I will be screaming at the Wellesley halfway point in spirit. Patriot’s Day commemorates the “shot heard ’round the world.” The British and Minutemen fought the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

The well-crafted book “Holes” is now a movie. A Disney movie. You must forgive my initial reaction wherein my brain conjured up a dull scene of several round holes in the ground tightening up into a montage of many sets of Mickey Mouse ears. But my fears can be put on hold. According to Glenn Lovell of the Mercury News, director Andrew Davis was able to push through a faithful adaptation of Louis Sachar’s novel by repeatedly reminding the studio that the award-winning and beloved book contained all the questionable scenes already. Some concessions were made for graphic violence and language, but with a screenplay by the author himself, the movie may effectively shed its cute mouse ears.

Nothing buys publicity like controversy, and Justin Lin had already maxed out ten credit cards and received $5,000 from MC Hammer to create his film “Better Luck Tomorrow“. So when Roger Ebert unexpectedly stood up after a Sundance showing to defend the film against a critic who pronounced it “empty and amoral to Asian Americans,” Lin’s six-figures of debt fell by the wayside. After a remarkably successful limited release, the film seems guaranteed to pull in profits for MTV Films, who paid a reported $500,000 for distribution rights. The film spirals through the dark side of overachieving “model minority” high school schoolers who embroil their lives in crime. Such, dare I say, mainstream criminal behavior from Asian Americans in a film not involving opium, kung fu, and dragon lady madams is rare. The central theme of defying the perfect student stereotype is echoing well with the very students who are achieving the high expectations typically set for them by their parents. Lin thought carefully about not only the general stereotypes but also the lesser known class conflicts between Asians of different backgrounds. Tired of Hollywood’s Asian status quo, the actors participated in the film for little pay. Actor Jason Tobin’s resume lists the same role over and over: Chinese delivery boy. May this film be a fruitful break in the cycle for everyone involved.

If you’re an American ceramics nut and in Seattle, make sure you visit Laguna, a vintage pottery shop in Pioneer Square. They also have a bridal registry, making it possible to sign up for discontinued ceramic dinnerware patterns.

Pages from a 1949 candy salesman book. Vintage yummies! (via Pop Culture Junkmail)

Another unaired Firefly script is online for reading. The upcoming DVDs will include unaired episodes so if you want to watch them unspoiled, don’t read.

The Newark Museum (in New Jersey) is currently running an exhibition called Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy. The 175 studio ceramic pieces illustrate the various methods of decoration and form that potters use to give shape and meaning to their works. There are functional pots and pots created purely as art. Some pots are plain in form but fancy in decoration. Others are simply glazed but elaborately shaped. Within the simple definition of a pot, there are infinite bounds for artistic expression.

A very neat bookshelf in the shape of a man. (thanks Brad)

French fries cut no thicker than 0.28 inches. No more than six patties on a grill at a time. These were just a few of the contributions to the McDonald’s operating “bible” from Fred Turner, a former long-time employee. Now 70, he is back on the job, brought in by exec Jim Cantalupo who himself came out of retirement to shine up the golden arches. Turner is in charge of product improvement, meaning he’s working on ways to make their products more appealing, and also trying out new items. Perhaps he will bring back Julia Child’s favorite beef tallow fried french fries.

Every year in Montana, the Big Mountain Resort has a Furniture Race on the last Saturday of the season. Participants attach skis to various pieces of furniture, are towed to the top of the slop, and then hurtle down. It appears that they have a broad definition of the word “furniture” as evidenced by this year’s photos of a satellite dish, spaceship, and giant banana.