Looks like I'll be home for the next 48-72 hours with a muscle strain of my lower back. Maybe a post or three from the confines of my bed while I recuperate. How convenient, trapped in bed on Super Bowl weekend.

Yes, I did say that I would put together the eight Eastern Conference NHL teams that I believe will make the playoffs as I did for the Western Conference yesterday. I also stated that I would put together an Erotic story of sort for those who lack Erotic Romance and Passion in their life. But first I want to show you a brief review of a movie that I saw a couple of nights ago.

I know about 25% of you reading this DO leave the house on occasion to see a movie. My guess is about 25% of you never leave the house, but at least have a high speed connection that enables you to download movies, and view them somewhere between your chat and cyber sessions. Mostly, this is for the other 50% of the room that never leave the house, could never afford a movie even if they did leave the house, and connects to the net via dial-up and unable to download a song, let alone a full feature film, without being disconnected.

First off, before you see Juno... and you really, really should see Juno... forget everything you've heard or read about Diablo Cody... yes the famous stripper-turned- blogger-turned-Golden-Globe-nominated-screenwriter and now Academy Award Nominee.

The wonderful 'Juno' isn't a woman's version of 'Knocked Up'... it's an adult version of 'Knocked Up,' starring teenagers. In my opinion, it's not only the best comedy of the year, but one of the best films, period.

The title character is a sharp, sardonic high school junior who, after a somewhat offhand carnal encounter with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker... finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. Her girlfriend Leah suggests it may be a false alarm. "It's probably just a food baby. Did you have a big lunch?" A series of over-the-counter pregnancy tests confirms the fetal reality.

Juno's initial thoughts turn to abortion, but a visit to a clinic where the receptionist asks her to catalogue "every score and every sore" soon has her checking ads in the Pennysaver for couples seeking to adopt. And so, with the support of her dad and step mom, she tracks down a well off suburban couple, the Lorings, eager for her baby.

Seasons change, and so does the size of Juno's belly. She gets to know the Lorings better... sweet but maternally desperate Vanessa and especially wry, boyish Mark. Mark is a former would be rock musician-turned-composer of what he describes as "more commercial stuff." "Like what?" Juno asks. "Commercials," he explains. Juno takes to hanging out with him while his wife is away at work, bonding over her precocious appreciation of Iggy Pop and Dario Argento.

Just as the story appears to be headed toward a distasteful liaison, though, it veers in a more humane direction, one that allows for irresponsibility and disappointment without venturing into Social Services territory. Indeed, one of the great pleasures of Juno is that it is able to distinguish between a bad situation (being 16 years old and pregnant) and truly unhappy circumstance. Juno's parents are disappointed but not disapproving. The Lorings, while not quite as they first appear, never slip into callous caricature. And Paulie Bleeker is everything, I imagine, you would want in the teenage father of your unintended child. Juno herself, moreover, wastes no time on self-pity. Even her moment of greatest despair is an unselfish one, occasioned not by her own predicament but by the worry that it may be impossible for any two people to beat the odds and remain in love.

This generosity of spirit is Juno's most pleasant surprise. Early on, the film seems as though it may amount to little more than a series of ironic jibes, especially during the somewhat off key scene in which a drug-store cashier sells Juno a series of dubious quips ("fertile Myrtle," "your Eggo is preggo") along with her pregnancy tests. But it soon settles into a rhythm in which even the sharpest jokes... say, Paulie applying Speed Stick to his inner thighs in preparation for a jog while the Kinks' "A Well-Respected Man" plays in the background, are pitched in an endearing key.

The obvious comparison is with Judd Apatow's recent oeuvre, and plenty of people describe the movie as Knocked Up from a girl's perspective. But even though Juno's accidental parents are about a decade younger than Apatow's, a better description might be Knocked Up from an adult perspective. Juno recognizes that some overgrown boys never really do make their peace with maturity, and may, in fact, actively choose to go the other way. There are no convenient shifts of character or improbable attractions required to reach its happy ending... it's all right there from the beginning, waiting to unfold.

A well assembled cast below:

The title character Juno - (Ellen Page)
Juno's best friend, Paulie Bleeker - (Michael Cera)
Juno's girlfriend Leah - (Olivia Thirlby)
Juno's dad - (J. K. Simmons)
Juno's stepmom - (Allison Janney)
Maternally desperate Vanessa - (Jennifer Garner)
Wry, boyish Mark - (Jason Bateman)
Drug-store cashier - (Rainn Wilson)