Diablo Cody is the voice of ... what?

I don't get Showtime - and have, in fact, never before now seen a Showtime show - but I do get Hulu (not a very exclusive feat, I concede) and have therefore seen Diablo Cody's new show, "The United States of Tara."

The show itself was a little better than I expected, but the funniest thing of all was the promo clip about Ms. Cody on the Showtime site. Now, I'm all for self-promotion (well, actually, I've never been very good at it at all), but this was enough to - really - make me do a spit take with my still very hot coffee Sunday morning.

In it, yarnhead Brie Larson, who plays Toni Collette's yarnhead daughter on the show, actually said this, and I don't think she was joking: "Diablo Cody is the voice of our generation ... blah, blah, blah ... I can't even speak to her."

Really? Granted I'm more than a little older than Ms. Larson, but I'll take, maybe, Barack Obama.

Even so, like I said the show is pretty good, and I have the sense it's going to get better. The only problem (and, yes, I guess it's a pretty big one) is the premise and how Toni Collette fits into it. Her multiple personalities are gross caricatures, and she looks so uncomfortable doing it that you get the feeling she's well aware of that. The rest of the characters, however, are fairly well drawn for a pilot episode, and I think Collette will get better as the show goes on, so assuming Showtime will keep letting me watch them for free, I'll keep doing so for at least a few more.

If you haven't seen it, there are certainly worse ways to spend your lunch hour than going here and doing so today.

As for Diablo Cody, if I have my French right (and I'm pretty sure I do), she has her ever-roving eye set next apparently on Shakespeare (and, since you're a writer who's almost as clever as you think you are, why not Shakespeare)?

According to the fantastic Froggy film site Cinempire, now that "Jennifer's Body" (in which, if I may be as piggish as possible, the titular "Body" belongs to the rather appropriately named Megan Fox) is in postproduction, she's going to write a modern version of "La Mégère apprivoisée," which is apparently the French title for "Taming of the Shrew."

My first reaction was, wasn't that done already on a sublimely silly episode of "Moonlighting"? Sheesh. As for Cinempire, even if you can't read French (and I really can't all that well anymore), it's still worth checking out. They report movie news like a lot of folks, but are quick to pounce on tidbits about filmmakers like Atom Egoyan or Pedro Almodovar, who don't usually get much attention from your average geeks. Plus, you can, if you really want to, see the poster for the upcoming Festival du Cinéma Espagnol de Nantes.

"Mad Men" finally gets its main man

Actually, I guess that would be Jon Hamm, who I have to assume is smart enough to never walk away from this series before it comes to its rightful end, but "Mad Men" really wouldn't be the same again if creator/mastermind Matthew Weiner had. Well, fortunately, that's not anything we have to worry about (so I can instead worry about whether or not my car can last until I have time to take it to my beloved mechanic Thursday morning.)

Word came down late Friday that Weiner had indeed signed a two-year deal with Lionsgate that will keep him on board through four of the show's projected five seasons. I can only imagine he's gonna hold out for real before signing a rather fat deal for the last hurrah.

The best news is that, according to Variety, along with a seven-figure payday for himself, Weiner was also holding out for - and received - a big boost for the show's budget. Now that he's on board, writing on season three is set to start immediately. Bring it on!

Easily the coolest thing I've seen today

Actually, this is so good I probably should have lead with it. Anyone who's been here before (and there are apparently a few of you, thankfully) knows that there's no movie that may never even come out I like to talk about more than Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are."

It now has a release of Oct. 16, 2009, and until I get to see the final project I'll still have doubts that Warner Bros. will let Mr. Jonze release the movie in anything approaching his original cut, which is apparently more than a little (appropriately, I think) warped. For now, we get a glimpse - courtesy of /film, where you can see more - of just how twisted his Wild Things might be, on these promotional skateboards Jonze plans to release through his Girl Skateboards Company. Though I tried my hand at skating as a kid, I was never terribly good at it (and, if I can confess, preferred roller-skating), but I think even I would learn a few moves for something as cool as this. Enjoy!


And, finally, a NSFW trailer

Although I kind of enjoyed Jason Segel's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," I also found it too short on laughs and too long on conventionality (though that "Dracula" puppet show at the end was a hoot). It's biggest crime was it wasted veryfunnyman Paul Rudd in a simply annoying role as a stoned out surfing instructor.

Thankfully, Rudd takes the lead role in the March 20 comedy "I Love You, Man," and he's surrounding by a first-rate comedy cast: Segel, Jamie Pressly of "My Name is Earl", Rashida Jones of "The Office", Jon Favreau, Andy Samberg and J.K. Simmons, who can make me laugh without saying a word. The trailer below is plenty funny, but be warned: It's also plenty rude, so please wear headphones if you're gonna watch it at work, and have a perfectly passable Monday.