L o b a B l a n c a {dot} c o m

Ms. Foster, waxing poetic

Looking for the perfect gift for the actor-obsessed loved one in your life? Then you might want to check out this auction. Apparently, the Hollywood Wax Museum is going to auction off several wax statues from their collection. Included in the auction are life-sized statues of Laverne and Shirley, Kirk and Spock, the Fonz, Terminator 2 Ahnold, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman (looking strangely like Sarah Ferguson), Marilyn Monroe (looking even more strangely like a young Betty White), Travolta and Thurman from Pulp Fiction, zombie Michael Jackson, some Star Wars blokes (no Jar Jar), the Scream Killer, Forrest Gump – three pages of nothing but wax statues up for sale.

The problem, however, is that the statues look only minimally like their corresponding characters/actors. Case in point: this wax statue of Jodie Foster from Maverick.

Um. No.

Looks like her in the same way that your reflection in a car door kind of looks like you…but not really. I’m actually kind of shocked at how unlike the actors most of these statues look. Madame Tussauds apparently makes the statue process look so much easier than it really is.

Of the statues that I looked at, probably the closest to realistic I saw were Darth Maul and the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. However, they don’t even showcase the Tin Man on the main page; you have to click on the Dorothy photo to see him (Dorothy actually scares me a little; she looks more like early-in-the-movie Regan from The Exorcist).

However, skip ahead to page 4, avert your eyes from the wax crucified Jesus at the top of that page (really?), and you’ll see some pretty cool costumes, including one of Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger outfits (minus the glove, unfortunately). I wouldn’t mind that, actually—and I think it might be less scary than some of these statues.

Another long time in between finished books, but finally I am through with Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer. This was a “That sounds kind of intriguing” pick from my last trip to the library. I’d never heard of Robert Sawyer, but I’m: a) a big sci-fi geek, and b) interested in religious discourse. Score on both things.

This was a delightful read. It starts out with the whimsy of a Douglas Adams tome and steadily metamorphoses into an oftentimes provocative examination of what it would mean if aliens reached Earth and we learned they were a far more advanced species that believes God created the universe and all within it. Such is the dichotomy for the Human protagonist, Tom Jericho, an atheist who now finds himself faced with uncertainty about the beginning and ending of life, both through personal crisis and professional dealings with the alien visitors.

I’m still a little uncertain as to whether or not I found the ending to be satisfying. On some levels, yes, it works. I’m not really sure what exactly is holding me back from giving this a perfect 5, but there’s something there that’s not quite what I expected it would be. I guess I was expecting an 11th hour option that I secretly knew was never going to occur. Perhaps a second read is necessary, but for now, I will give this a final score of 4.5/5.

Next is Walking in Circles Before Lying Down, by Merrill Markoe. I know nothing more about this book than it has a photo of a dog on the cover. Yes, I have done blind book buys before based solely on the fact that a dog was on the cover, and I did it this time, too. Hopefully, this will end up being as successful as the last time I did this and ended up being introduced to the wonderment of Paul Auster through his delightful book, Timbuktu.