I'm surprised the New York Times even has a Dinging section.

Never heard that one, but the story of how George won Tammy's hand — by storming into Tammy's house to rescue her as her abusive husband looked on — is the very pinnacle of country soap opera, as are Tammy's tales of a drunken George staggering around their mansion firing a shotgun into the ceiling.

The Voice
What a voice she had. No doubt her tales of suffering domesticity spoke to millions of women, but she also sang about female desire — listen to the wonderful "Almost Persuaded" which contains the great country double entendre "I was almost persuaded/to strip myself of my pride." She was certainly…

Match Point was a piece of crap, no matter how well received at the time.

You guys seem to be repeating Keith's original argument on Dylan, that throughout his long career he's put out a horrible album and then comes back with something transcendent, or at least pretty great. Blood on the Tracks, which followed both Self Portrait and New Morning, is a case in point.

Gotta agree with lexicondevil, this whole McCartney is great/McCartney sucks debate was beaten to death at least a decade ago.

a collective nomination:
Saturday Night Live.

My Tom Waits story
….one of those almost moments.

@prof. I agree that was an overstatement. Paths of Glory and Strangelove are two of my favorite movies, and very much about important stuff. But over time the style of his films became more interesting than their substance, IMO. Or, more accurately, their style more and more *became* their substance.

Lex, true enough, Kubrick's film deals with the basic struggle of Jack and his family — they're pretty much the only people in the movie, except for Strother Martin's character — but he doesn't really address the nitty gritty of Jack's struggle between his love of his family (his child in particular) and his need for…

In fairness to Kubrick, I should say that he either missed the main point of the novel or chose to make a movie about something else. I like the look of his movie of The Shining a lot — no one lights a movie like Kubrick — but I don't think it's really ABOUT much of anything, which is a common Kubrick weakness, IMO.

Geez, this is one of the longest threads ever, and from what I've read, all on point.

The Mad (NASA) Scientist!
I guess this is a bit cruel, but man, the lady who was in charge of the astronauts seemed to come right from central casting. A bizarre touch.

Mr. Parsons
It's too late to add anything, but to quote a truly horrible song by David Crosby, I feel like I owe it to someone:

Notes From the Underground hooked me from the start, too, and I love it to this day.

@gogiggs: Agreed on Miller's Crossing. I loved the Coens' earlier films, but I thought and still think Miller's Crossing was and is a highpoint, from that first scene on. Your description of its virtues is spot on.

DeLillo's White Noise grabbed me from the get-go. One of the funniest books I've ever read, and one of the truest. Also love at first read: Raymond Carver's short stories.

a new band from England
I remember when I was 13 and I heard this new band from England. There had been a bit of buzz about them, so I tuned in when they were scheduled to play on this weird TV variety show that usually featured acrobats from China and standup comedians from the Catskills circuit. The band was called…

I'm another instant lover of the Rev. Green, but in regard to Michelangelo's first-listen experience, I would note that when you fall in love with the horns before hear Al's voice, you're falling in love with the wondrous groove provided by the late, great Willie Mitchell, Al's producer. What a partnership those two…

I too love the Animals. The band, I mean. First time I heard "House of the Rising Son," winging into my friend's transister radio from some distant radio station while on a canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness at the age of 14, my life changed.