IN WHICH soap is rightfully celebrated, as is a mythic quest for a magical (plastic) guitar.
Briana’s pick: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox
Although I’m not sure that it’s necessarily nerdy, the documentary, “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox” is certainly wacky. On the surface it’s a story about soap. Dig a little deeper and it’s about a man on a mission to change the way the world thinks, one bottle of soap at a time.
Dr. Emmanuel Bronner, a third-generation master-soapmaker, emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1929 and started making his famed organic castile soap in 1948. In between then he lost most of his family during the Holocaust, adopted a philosophy called the “All-One-God-Faith” and the “Moral ABC,” pretty much abandoned his children, and was committed to a mental hospital from which he later escaped before fleeing to California.
No matter how eccentric or generally kooky you find the man, he made a good product. And while the documentary is at times a bit self-indulgent and unfocused, it’s certainly the most interesting film I have ever seen about soap.
James’ pick: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Guitar Hero, Rush, “2112.” ‘nuff said.