LAST SUNDAY, in sunny New Haven (it really was, for once–my face is tawny and one shoulder is still a bit burnt), I saw Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” for the first time. Fun stuff! “The Family Guy” was just whatever, maybe I saw a lame episode. But “Harvey Birdman”–Hanna-Barbera characters are Soprano-style mafiosi–I thought I’d fall off the couch. Awesome. The one with the Yalies was really funny too. Sadly, though, no “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast,” a truly stellar show. “Good morning, America, how are you? Don’t you know me? I’m your native son–Space Ghost!”

I also saw the Ian McKellen “Richard III” again. Intellectually lightweight (there’s not too much to be gleaned from the play–we’re not talking “Richard II” here–but the McKellen version skips what little depth there is) but so, so, so much fun. From the opening with the 30’s chanteuse swinging her way through “Come live with me and be my love” (from Marlowe, not Shakespeare–a nice kick) to the noirish angles and use of bars and shadows, the movie rocked. The last, say, ten minutes were really stupid, though (again partly Shakespeare’s fault, but not entirely), just a lot of stuff blowing up and then the weird, unsatisfying, struggling-to-be-meaningful final moment. But McKellen is, as always, fun to watch (best movie of his that I’ve seen: the excellent “Gods and Monsters“); he convinces you that he just happens to talk like a Shakespearean character. The movie was even better than I remembered it. Not Great with a capital G, but very much worth your time and rental dollar.

Scariness: In college, The Rat and I determined that one of our friends had a personality that was a cross between Richard II, Richard III, and Lady Anne.

This was a problem.