Thursday Odds & Ends: Nobels, vooks, Tudyks, Phantoms and origami

+ The Nobel Prize for Literature was announced today, and yet again I was shut out, apparently disqualified for not actually having written a "book" of any kind. Luckily, the Swedes had a back-up author handy and awarded the prize to Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born German writer. Her win prompted what I find to be a hilarious headline from Entertainment Weekly: "Another obscure Nobel Prize literature winner! Sigh." I know, I can't believe J.K. Rowling and Nora Roberts were shut out again this year either. Damn it!

+ While we're on the subject of books and such, have you guys heard of a Vook? It's a book that incorporates video into the narrative. So if you're reading "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" on your Kindle or iTouch, you might see Quasimodo pop up on your screen and wave seductively at you. Or something like that. As the reviewer mentions in the linked article, you can see how this might work well in a non-fiction or how-to book, but it seems really weird and unnecessary to me for fiction. Don't you think?

+ Time Out London has a nifty list of the 50 Greatest Animated Films, compiled with help from director and former Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam...so you know the list will probably be very odd and go on for at least 10 films longer than it should. (I say that with love, of course. "Brazil" is one of my favorite movies.)

+ Speaking of Pythons, have you ever wanted to see Alan Tudyk doing a Monty Python sketch in drag? Of course you have! And now's your chance because he's starring in a show called "An Evening Without Monty Python" at the Town Hall in New York. I think the purse goes quite well with his eyes.

+ And while I was reading about Tudyk and Python and Broadway, oh my, I also stumbled upon this little newsy nugget: an "Addams Family" musical starring Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane is opening in March on Broadway. It could be fun -- although to me, no one will ever top Raul Julia as Gomez Addams. He was dreamy in those movies.

+ Okay, I seem to have turned into a theatre obsessive this morning, but I promise this is my last piece of news about the Great White Way or Shark or whatever it's called. I had no idea this was happening, but apparently, there's a "Phantom of the Opera" sequel set to debut in London on March 9, 2010. It's called "Love Never Dies," it takes place after the events of "Phantom" and I swear this is what the article says, it "continues the story of the obsessive Phantom, who has moved from the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of New York's Coney Island." Somewhere, Gaston Leroux is triple-lutzing in his coffin. I don't think I'll be seeing this show unless it stars a pantsless John Barrowman and even then, well...okay, I'd be pretty interested in seeing that.

+ In other ridiculous news, Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody has decided to further tank his career by signing on to star in the new series of "Predator" movies, produced by Robert Rodriguez. Oh man, as if "King Kong" wasn't bad enough...

+ Check out this trailer for a documentary called "Between the Folds" which profiles 10 artists and scientists who have devoted their lives to origami. Really some gorgeous work...

Wednesday tid-bits

Here are a few things to tide you over while you wait for the season finale of Lost tonight and polish up what to say in case Charlie finally, FINALLY, gets offed. (Personally, I’m trying to decide between, “Don’t let the Shire door hit your ass on the way out” and “Better you than Vincent.”)

* Today in The Washington Post, Tom Shales gives a number of reasons why I should probably just erase the new Mark Burnett/Steven Spielberg-produced reality show “On the Lot” from my Tivo, including the sad fact that most of last night’s fledgling directors couldn’t tell a story to save their lives and seemed clueless about that pesky three-act structure thing. Sadder still is the fact that the always cynical and always wonderful Carrie Fisher didn’t get even more snark time.

* This past Friday, a bunch of doctors and science types got together to decide if Abraham Lincoln could have survived his gunshot wound if it had happened in 2007 instead of 1865. The answer? Yes. He just wouldn’t have been writing any more Gettysburg Addresses. Or talking. Or, you know, moving much. Still, they think he could have finished his second term. So I guess our presidential expectations have diminished just a wee bit over the last century and a half, eh?

* And finally some good news. Maybe. The Addams Family is being turned into a Broadway musical, slated to open in the 2009-2010 season. Written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, who penned the 2006 Tony winner “Jersey Boys,” the show will include Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday and the rest of the gang. I’m looking forward to seeing who plays Thing because eventually, one day, I'd like to hear this conversation: “Really? You were on Broadway? What did you play?” “A disembodied hand.” "Did Andrew Lloyd Weber put you up to this?"

Also, how does a disembodied hand sing? Should I just not worry about it?