Obviously, I'm aware that Springfield is a cartoon location with an intentionally vague setting, and I don't give any iotas of shit where it's "actually" located. My jokey fan theory is not meant to be taken too literally.

I never got the sense it was an intentional reference. I'm not asking for a "this reminds me of the time…" flashback, but some kind of clever line or self-aware wink would have maybe made the reused plot more palatable.

Actually, it wasn't a Cleveland joke — Homer said "When you're 16, I'll drive you to Cincinnati, and you can see everything there is to offer." I actually seized on that joke as evidence that The Simpsons really do live in the "northern Kentucky home" that's mentioned in "Behind the Laughter," since Cincinnati is…

(Along with the obnoxious billionaire worship) this little similarity to a previous episode didn't bother anyone?

I enjoy North when I'm listening to it, but it may be the only Costello album that I can only sing or hum or even name just one song from ("Still"). I have a similar problem with Il Sogno: it's that rare Costello album that doesn't have many memorable melodies.

Yeah, I've gone back and looked at some of the contemporary reviews from that period, and they really seem to harp on the wordiness of the lyrics or criticize the production style as overly "cerebral." It was released right after The Juliet Letters, so I think critics were still in the mood to take shots at Costello…

It really is tough to make a top ten list for him because his first five records are all essentials. Personally I would, in no particular order, have:

While I really enjoy this record (and this great article about it), I think the most underrated late period Costello rock album is Brutal Youth. I find myself listening to that album a lot, even more than some of the classics like This Year's Model. Momofuku is a similarly eclectic mix of songs, but not as good a…

I guess I've got to hand it to you for making me sort of nostalgic for a show that I never really liked. This show seemed very odd just from the promos - it had all of the qualities of a lame TBS-style cable sitcom except that something was slightly off. It makes sense that Jon Heder was supposed to be in this because…

I don't know if this counts, but I met a very nice and cute girl at a party and got her number and befriended her on Facebook and was looking at her "liked" media in the sidebar and I saw shows and bands and movies that I was a fan of myself and I was all set to marry her and then I looked in the books section and…

Whoa, I definitely never envisioned Bloomington, IN as a haven for snob's. If anything, I thought you were going to complain that everyone won't stop professing their love for John Cougar Mellencamp.

I hear a lot of new pop country because I live in southern Ohio and frequent its bars, and yeah, all of it is just blatant pandering. Most titles/choruses are just t-shirt logos ("Truck Yeah" and "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" come to mind). That's the party stuff that white "proud redneck" teens/college bros…

Are you saying you are thankful you've never met Louis CK?

Yeah, you're right, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman suck.

True. They should have interrupted this movie with commercials every seven minutes or less, shown slow motion replays of each scene after it happened and had Joe Buck and Troy Aikman talk over the whole film so that it was able to capture the excitement of watching a real football game.

Everyone fetishizes the Cleveland Curse, but no one cares that those of us in southern Ohio are almost equally miserable. The Bengals still haven't won a single playoff game in my lifetime… at least the Browns won one as recently as 1994. '94 people!! Plus the Indians, unlike the Reds, have won the pennant in my…

I saw it. It was enjoyable, in a dumb way. Reminded me a lot of the jail scenes in Face/Off. Not a great action movie, but an entertaining flick.

The part about his videos being visually hilarious holds true for Joel, at least in the case of "We Didn't Start the Fire," but 95% of Joel's compositions do not suck. It's probably closer to 35-45%, and the ones that don't suck are occasionally good.

Kurt Cobain and I disagree with you.

I'm still torn on whether I should go to the theater in my graphic tee that has Ron Burgundy's suit printed on it (like one of those fake tux shirts) or get really in character and wear my ugly, super-seventies three piece denim suit. (Interestingly, both clothing items were bought at the same Goodwill).