A friend brought over a copy of “Scratch” this weekend and I watched it (IMDB) (Vikipaedia). It’s pretty terrific. . . the interviews are well-done, and the music is so-so fresh.

New goal: go to scratching contest sometime.

Also, one of my favorite columnists – Slate’s Explainer – opened up his mail bag and published some of the best unanswered questions of 2006 . . . of which there are something like 7,000. Some are funny, some are thought-provoking. I guess you get to choose how seriously to take them. My favorites from the article include:

• Is it possible to collect all the cookie dough in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream and actually bake cookies from it?
• Why did Zidane head-butt his opponent in the World Cup final? Do the French not fight with their fists?
• Why is grilled chicken tasting increasingly rubbery and odd?
• PYGMIES: How/when/where/still in existence/do we mate with them?

Eye update: Still messed up, but improving.

First of all, I think that today I discovered my people. Headline in the Globe: “Hatred of Rachael Ray can be a powerful uniting force.” Holla.

Secondly, I considered feeling sheepish buying Teen Vogue today. I decided against it (I bought the magazine, just decided not to feel bad about it), but the whole thing made me feel old. Also on the subject of things that I should be too old for, I watched a half-hour piece on MTV tonight about Jay-Z going to Africa to improve sanitation conditions. It was actually pretty well done (I’m a fan of the True Life series and the other documentaries that MTV seems to hit well when they try hard). It showcased the Play Pump, which is a technology going into a lot of new wells being built. A few kids can run around a merry go-round, and the well harnesses their energy to bring clean water out of the ground. Holla.

Also interesting: an article from Slate today discussing the conventions of magazine covers. Evidently green is an unpopular color for magazines, as is brown. The article also made me think about numbering – in magazines odd numbers are always favored on the cover – but isn’t it strange that if you think about it, 43 seems bigger and more exciting than 46. But I may be thinking about this too hard. I know Plainy will have something to say about odd vs. even . . . Holla.