They say God never closes a door without opening up a thread. We’re here to do his work.

A quick rundown of geek hits: rumors fly that The Office’s John Krasinski is in consideration to play Captain America, that Ole Miss will change its mascot to Admiral Ackbar, and that Conan O’Brien has been blowing people away with his Tweets. Sorry; that last one sounded kind of dirty. And yet it’s the story most likely to still be true three months from now. Isn’t that how Hollywood works?

Question: Which actor would you like to play Captain America? Which pop-culture icon should become your school’s mascot?

There's potential for an OTI article here - how long can an Internet meme lay dormant before reviving it again becomes funny? It certainly forces us to IT'S A TRAP! ... sorry. that slipped out.

In less entertaining news, “Growing Pains” actor Andrew Koenig was found dead in a Colorado park yesterday, after having gone missing for several days. Police suspect suicide. His father, Star Trek veteran Walter Koenig, said that Andrew had been dealing with depression for some time. Among child actors who peak early, this isn’t unheard of.

Do you have anything cheerier for us to end on? Then by all means say it! Because this is your … open thread!

The Overthinkers answer listener email, touching on ethnic stereotypes in sitcoms, OTI muse Tilda Swinton, what’s so reliable about the Starship Reliant, how to Overthink something not worth Overthinking, and book recommendations from listeners.

Since this is a listener feedback show, we put our our monthly plea that you support us with donations and by shopping at Amazon using our affiliate link. (What to buy there? Glad you asked.)

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.

Download Episode 76 (MP3)

Lee:Ugh. “I Got a Feelin’,” the Black Eyed Peas, song, was nominated for the “Record of the Year” Grammy. What a joke. Though I don’t want to do it the service of even mentioning it on this site, it’s worth repeating that this is an awful, awful song. It has no redeeming quality.

Fenzel: TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT!!

Lee: Not lyrical, not musical, not cultural

Fenzel: LET’S LIVE IT UP!!

Lee: If anything, it actively subtracts from music in general for being so bad

Fenzel: I GOT MY MONEY!!!

Lee: As in, it makes other songs worse. Not just Black Eyed Peas songs, but the life’s work of other musicians is made less by the existence of this song

Fenzel: LET’S SPEND IT UP!!!

In “Wrestling with Wild Things, Part 1“, I promised to go through the 2009 movies that made me cry and break down why I broke down. But I first spent some quality time with the most recent of the bunch, Where the Wild Things Are, parsing what it’s about and how it works.

I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way, because it’s time to turn on the floodgates.

Today, we talk about why memories make people sad, the narrativization of loss, advances in clinical psychology, and why everything you think you know about therapeutic art may be wrong. Oh, and there are references to Star Trek V and Wing Commander. You know, to get everybody in the mood.

The Wrestler, Wild Things, Up, and the secret to happiness, after the jump.

People go to the movies for a variety of reasons: escape, catharsis, inspiration, a date, an air-conditioned room on a muggy Sunday afternoon. Rarely do we go in order to learn something. And we’re okay with that. We sacrifice science and accuracy in the name of entertainment. Hollywood has a hard time getting physics right: do bullets spark when they hit a metal surface? Can a bus traveling at 55 MPH jump a forty-foot gap? And just how long does it take a kid to fall from Niagara Falls, anyway?

But Hollywood has an even harder time depicting genius.

By “genius” I don’t just mean exceptional technical ability or artistic talent. I mean that insane burst of creativity that breaks conventional boundaries. A genius is not just someone smarter than us, but someone so much smarter that we can’t even recognize what they’re doing. The word genius itself, in Latin, refers to a guardian spirit; someone who created a great work was said to be inspired by such an entity. “Talent hits a target no one else can hit,” wrote Schopenhauer. “Genius hits a target no one else can see.”

To put it concretely: every heist movie has its techie guy. Every Bohemian romance has its tortured artist. Every business drama has its self-made billionaire. These people are not geniuses. The fact that we can recognize the tropes they inhabit proves it. Richard Feynman was a genius. Leonardo DaVinci was a genius. Warren Buffett is a genius. And I submit that Hollywood could not produce a satisfactory depiction of them.

Why do I say that? Let’s look at a few examples.

Who, me? Well, that's a pun, you see. Gaaugh, aren't I charming?

There are three compelling reasons to read this post.

1. You don’t know what Doctor Who is and you want to get familiar enough with the show to make the cute nerdy objects of your affection thank the world for your existence.
2. You want to read about plotting, plausibility and writing yourself out of corners, and you love charts.
3. God personally descended into your coffee shop / library or home office by means of a winch and pulley system and ordered you to do so.

This is where I’d encourage you to read on using a Dr. Who catchphrase, but, please love, if you’d just click on, just click that “Read More” button right there, NO NOT THAT ONE! Yesss, right there!! And I’m really suggesting you do it right now if you wouldn’t mind. You’ll spare us all some very slight, slight, inconvenience. Hm? Oh, just the destruction of all existence. Now, click it. Please.

Brilliant! You’re beautiful!

[This weekend's second guest article comes from Chris Richards. How could we resist—he takes up one of our favorite topics for overtinking: time travel. Let us know what you think in the comments!]

Earlier this month, JJ Abrams rebooted one of the most successful Sci-fi series of all time with his whiz-bang extravaganza.  But, unlike the Nolan-style reboot of Batman, Abrams didn’t ignore the fact that other movies came before.  Of course, unlike the Batman franchise, there were a lot of people who didn’t WANT to forget the other movies.  This, in and of itself, creates a problem: how can anyone reconcile the two?  Abrams decided to use one of Star Trek’s most-controversial plot devices, and creates a predictably paradoxical result.

Before going on, yes, there are major spoilers ahead for the new movie, past movies, and at least one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  You’ve been warned.

[This weekend, we're pleased to bring you two Star Trek related guest posts, this first by André Callot. As always, let us know what you think!]

Eyes, why should you see light who have shown me nothing but darkness? The unrelenting black of space, and also the metaphorical darkness of wanting to bone my mom.

JJ Abrams does not want to have sex with his mother.

I am sure that Mrs. Abrams is a lovely woman, and Gerry Abrams (JJ’s dad) is a very lucky man with nothing to worry about.

In this universe.

But somewhere, in a parallel world where Jim Kirk listens to the Beastie Boys and 9/11 never happened, JJ Abrams has murdered his father, married his mother and is right now wandering around Burbank with a white cane and a pair of dark sunglasses.

No, not really. JJ Abrams seems to worry about that, though.

Fringe and the new Star Trek both spring out of daddy issues. Nothing new about that. Hamlet, Robin Hood and Jesus Christ have benefitted from the power of the story of Oedipus: a story that, according to psychoanalytic theory, is so close to the male psyche that we are compelled, as a sex, to re-enact it over and over again forever.

The following article is 100% spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, don’t click the “more” button below.  But that leaves me in a bit of a pickle.  I can’t have spoilers on the OverthinkingIt.com main page, but I also need to fill this space with some sort of introduction.  So I guess I’m just going to say that this article has to do with Uhura from Star Trek, and also here’s a picture of Sulu without a shirt on to fill space:

As promised.

If you are ready for the spoilers hidden below, continue on, dear reader…

Whoosh!  Zap!  Pyoo pyoo pyoo!  Zwonnnng.

No, I’m not a elementary-aged child running around the playground while ODing on sugar packets and orange juice.  I’m just reminding myself of Star Trek’s wonderful sound effects from over the years.  We always remember Trek for its lovable characters, its often-hokey but always effective sets and special effects, and its idealistic vision of the future.

Today, though, we at Overthinking It’s Think Tank are going to focus on what really made Trek Trek: the zips, zaps, zoops, and that “Woo! Woo! Woo!” sound the ship always made when Kirk called for red alert. Who ever said space was silent?

Read them all and vote for your favorite at the end.