Saturday afternoon tunes: "I don't have hopes and dreams"

It all began when I saw Peter Weller in a striking episode of "Fringe" a few weeks ago -- as a tormented scientist who had placed high-tech implants everywhere under his skin. I found myself wondering: What draws him to films involving the theme of flesh and mechanical devices merging and interpenetrating? (The first two "Robocops," of course, and the totally-Cronenberg "Naked Lunch." Now -- appropriately enough -- "Fringe.")

And that, in turn, got me thinking about the hard-rocking neurosurgeon/particle physicist whose invention of the oscillating overthruster opened the breach between our world and the 8th dimension.

Which, in turn, got me thinking about this song, sung by Peter Weller to Ellen Barkin (at least until it was interrupted by a gunshot) in "Buckaroo Banzai:"

Fun facts: Weller's currently finishing his Ph.D. in art history (emphasis: Italian Renaissance) at UCLA. And Ellen Barkin decided, not unreasonably, that she had a better body than the body double hired to do some of her squishier scenes in "Buckaroo Banzai," so she did them herself.