For shame, mbs. It's from "Ask" by The Smiths.

magnus, this might be off-topic, but I've been really enjoying your posts on the BSG recap threads this season. One of the show's great stengths for me was the way it portrayed religion as an immense force, both in people's lives and the political arena, without endorsing or condemning it, and always playing it off…

Didn't mean to be a dick, Ghaleon, I just read that line of yours as a blanket statement. Anyway, with memoir/personal writing, the proof of the pudding is in the reading. If the author can write well and give us an insight into his thoughts and motivations, I'll forgive it for not being especially original.

How the hell did I forget Coming To America?

Yes, but a big part of the superhero mythos is how they're symbols of human potential - the whole "you don't have to have powers to be a hero" sort of thing. Most obvious (and cringeworthy) example: the New Yorkers in the first Spiderman who throw things at the Green Goblin. Syndrome misses the point of this, and…

Bowfinger still holds up. Chubby Rain. "I've never done it lying down before." Eddie Murphy shooting the drum kit. "You wanted alien love, didn't you?" Terence Stamp playing a cult leader. "Shakespeare? Shake…a…spear? I'm a spear chucker now, am I?" The kung-fu movie they're making at the end.

I too stopped believing at an early age (lapsed Catholicism FTW!) and I've never felt any kind of "voice of God" or spiritual intrusion into my own consciousness. The closest I've come to understanding something like that is reading Philip K. Dick's writings about his breakdown/spiritual experience. But I can…

"I wouldn't read a book-length work of a guy reacting to people of varying volume levels and proximity to authority unless he's an Augustine-level person of consequence."

Admiral Neck, I came here to post a similar response, but you did a much better job than I would have.

Music!!
My albums of this year so far, in no particular order:

magnusbardford, you have the best claims to fame (I remember your Kingsley Amis story from that Box of Paperbacks entry). According to my parents, Will Self ran a bouncy castle when I was little, and I was once given a clip round the ear by him when I refused to get off. Unfortunately I remember nothing of that…

I believe "Ghostface" is appropriate, if you think calling him "Mr. Killah" is overly formal.

I always liked watching (UK) Kitchen Nightmares, when it was on Channel 4, and Noel's review has basically pinned down why. A recurring theme is Ramsay trashing an overly pretentious menu and replacing it with simple, well-cooked food, which is always a decent principle. I'd rather eat a hundred ordinary dishes made…

It makes perfect sense, Ellie. When most of my friends were on campus and we shared the same classes or societies, it was a good way to keep in touch and meet up. But now I've graduated and have friends all over the place (different cities, different countries), it becomes a lot harder to sit down every so often and…

And Vinyl Retentive? That feature introduced me to the Foundations *and* Miriam Makeba. There's got to be more old LPs knocking around in AVC staffers' houses. Get on it, guys!

Mbs, it's pretty sad when you realise that between 1999 and now the grapes either died or went to rehab, and the banana is now playing crappy local bars in a "reunion tour" for cash.

Imperial Bedroom was also Costello's attempt to do a late-period Beatles (production-wise at least), so maybe that accounts for the cohesiveness.

Does the guinea pig ever get out of its car?

Big Mouth Billy Bass's career has taken a real dive. From The Sopranos to this?

Garth Merenghi's Darkplace
Nowhere in the comments? For shame.