The Mixed Blood Theater’s production of Neighbors may offend you. It may unsettle you. But it won’t bore you. The titular neighbors are two families: the Pattersons and the Crows. Richard Patterson is an ambitious classics professor married to Jean, his intelligent but somewhat aimless wife. They’re a biracial couple (he’s black and she’s white) raising a willful teenage daughter, Melody. Richard is deeply troubled when the Crows, a family of black entertainers who style themselves as a minstrel troupe (complete with blackface that is never removed) move in next door. The Crows are loud, abrasive, and crude; everything that Richard detests. When Melody begins hanging out with young Jim Crow (yes, Jim Crow) and Jean starts to spend her lonely afternoons sharing tea with Zip Crow, a charming but brash dandy with a fondness for top hats), Richard fears that his neighbors will sabotage his family’s upward mobility.

Neighbors is one of the more disorienting plays I’ve seen. One minute, you’re watching an outrageously bawdy minstrel skit. The next, you’re watching a deeply hostile argument between husband and wife. Neighbors‘ bipolar tone mirrors America’s attitudes on race: we laugh when Chris Rock pokes fun at black stereotypes, but we become uncomfortable and a little defensive when forced to confront our own attitudes on race. The play is at its best when it forces us to squirm under the weight of our own assumptions and biases, right until the surprising ending.

Mixed Blood is making all of its mainstage performances available for free, so you have very little to lose in checking it out. Full disclosure: I serve on one of the theater’s advisory committees.

When I first read about the new Kindle Touch that Amazon unveiled today, I didn’t give it much consideration. My Kindle DX is a little bulky, but I like the big screen. However, a Kindle Touch might be slightly more accessible for me. It turns pages with a tap on the screen rather than with the push of a specific button. If I could trigger a tap with a switch attached to some sort of stylus, I’d be able to at least turn pages forward. It will be something to ponder when it’s time to replace my DX–although I see no reason why my DX shouldn’t last for quite some time.

As for the Kindle Fire tablet–meh. It looks nice, but if I want a tablet, I’ll probably get an iPad.

I meant to see Paul while it was in theaters last spring, but it’s perfectly enjoyable as weekend home entertainment fare. It tells the story of two British geeks, Graaeme and Clive, on a pilgrimage to America to attend Comic-Con and then visit famous U.F.O. sites across the Southwest in their rented R.V. Soon after embarking on their road trip, they run into (almost literally) Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), a shipwrecked alien on the lam from his government minders. Paul has been a “guest” of ours for several decades–long enough to have picked up colloquial English and a fondness for cigarettes and pot. He enlists the humans’ assistance in his quest to rendezvous with a rescue team sent by his people.

From there, Paul doesn’t deviate much from the buddy/road trip movie formula. Wackiness ensues, various things blow up, one of the nerds falls in love, and everyone learns a little something about themselves in the end. The script resorts to dick jokes a few too many times and the love interest (Kristen Wiig as a fundamentalist Christian) is a bit one-dimensional, but it generally treats its characters with endearment. The movie is something of an homage to geek culture and makes a few clever references to other well-known science fiction films. Paul tries a little too hard to get laughs, but it doesn’t wear out its welcome.

Based on reactions from those playing the beta preview, Diablo 3 looks like my kind of game. Lots of monsters, lots of atmosphere, and lots of mouse clicking. It probably won’t be out until next year, which gives me time to finish up Torchlight and decide whether I want to play as a Monk or Demon Hunter for my first play-through.

Netflix’s decision to spin its DVD business into a separate entity surprised and annoyed me at first. I’m not happy about having to manage my DVD and streaming queues on separate websites. But if this move allows Netflix to build a comprehensive streaming library that makes a companion DVD subscription service obsolete, it will be worth the inconvenience. I find plenty of good stuff to watch on its streaming service (mostly television series), but its still woefully lacking in current film releases. As long as customers like me see Netflix make progress on obtaining the necessary licenses to expand its streaming library, I can put up with the company’s growing pains.

Still, Qwikster? Netflix must truly believe that the days of DVDs-by-mail are numbered for it to choose such a juvenile and easily mocked brand name.