I kinda see your point, but don't forget he essentially lobotomized Aunt Amy - the reason she's so vacant is because she had the temerity to sing once, so he wrecked her brain.  The family just tries to keep her within a manageable level of criticism.

One of the episode's strengths is that its premise is so flimsy that they had to find interesting things to fill it, and while that's a task they sometimes fail, in this case they hit it out of the park.  One of my favorite visual images the show ever produced is from this episode.

And yet somehow, despite the bad writing, the awful special effects, the hammy acting, the inept direction and editing… It's the music that I find offensive.  Holy crap.

It's not quite The King's Speech being filmed in the same set as a hardcore gay porn (SFW, I promise), but it'll do.

I admit I have trouble getting into Sea Change, but "Little One" may be my favorite single Beck song.

It's one of my favorite pieces, so a strong vote to keep it in.  It also helps underline why the beautiful harmonizing between Turpin and Todd in "Pretty Women" is undercut by such perverse context.

@Scrawler2:disqus : I think I've posted this to you before, but this gif is the most perfect thing on the internet.   Just what I need when I'm having a bad day.

Totally safe for work, don't worry!

@Scrawler2:disqus : but if that's true, who does he take his Ikea-monkey parody photos with?

Someone needs to get Franco the help he so desperately needs.  This isn't funny anymore.  This is a cry for help and we're all laughing instead.

@avclub-ffffda8ada4827900cbf65fd20281080:disqus : No, in fact!  The chorus tells us they'll "make us laugh / with their funny jumps. / We'll visit them with you / in the magical land of Gummis!"

I love love the Gummi Bears theme song in Russian, which is somehow more ridiculous than the already-ridiculous English version.  It somehow manages to plug the Disney corporation (multiple times!) and tells children they have no choice but to fall in love with the characters.

Premonition!  I added "In the Meantime" to my ipod a few weeks ago because I had a sudden memory flash and realized I hadn't heard it a while.  So for the last few weeks it's been on constant rotation for me.  Glad to hear they haven't disappeared entirely, and - on quick listen - the new single ain't too bad?

That is one nutty hospital.

Yeesh, I absolutely hated Closer, which felt too much like overwritten misanthropy porn.  To each his own?
Speaking of minority opinions, I think the finest work Jude Law has done since his early films is his turn as Karenin last year.  I never would have pegged him for the sexually frigid husband in Tolstoy, but he's…

She gets a lot wrong - but - her old-fashioned prose feels more 19th century than more contemporary translations, even when they're better and more accurate.  It's hard to judge sometimes because, for example, Dostoevsky can be a lot more blunt and crude than Garnett's Victorian English… but they're still pretty good.

If you need a much better entry point for Tolstoy I highly recommend the novella Hadji Murat.  Easily my favorite work of his, and it clocks in at a zippy hundred pages.

It only gets worse from there.  I mean that in a good way: the last hundred or so pages of the book are a complete mindfuck.  It's my favorite American novel.

It's a very good movie, but it's not Highsmith.  Minghella's take on the character is entirely different - fascinating in its own right, and with an ending that's like a sucker punch to the gut - and Hoffman just plain steals every scene he's in.  Damon is also very good (although I'd still give the edge to The…

After a while, you kinda just want to smack him.