Wad Plotzky, you are right. The book "Forrest Gump" is heavily indebted to Voltaire's "Candide" in structure and in its satirical nature.

Bale had a tantrum worthy of Klaus Kinski. And he worked with Werner Herzog, too. Hmm, is there a connection? Perhaps Herzog drives actors mad. We know he's not above hypnotizing them. And Herzog pulls Joaquin Phoenix out of a wrecked car, and then Phoenix has a complete career meltdown. Coincidence? I think…

Safe is his masterpiece for sure, but 'm Not There is up there. Velvet Goldmine the one I enjoy watching most, though.

Todd Solondz hates himself and the rest of the human race, which is why he sucks as a filmmaker.

@Tim Lieder:
Yeah, that was somewhat disconcerting that he recognized someone from someone else's flashbacks. But think about it—he's a journalist, and he's obviously studied the Brian Slade case in and out, gone through old photos and shit, etc., and has been able to associate faces with the names being mentioned in…

"It's just what you need when you're down in the dumps
One half hillbilly and one half punk
Three long legs and one big mouth
The hottest thing from the north to come out of the south"

What, no Hombres' "Let it All Hang Out"? Too white, I guess.

Why is that needless to say?

This game was a rarity for me because I rarely finish games I think suck. I thought the ending was supremely satisfying, not in a "Wow, that turned out to be awesome!" way but in a "Thank god it's over!" kind of way.

The actress looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't remember ever having seen her in anything. The other day I was flipping channels and "Signs" was on (the M. Night Shyamalyamalalan piece of shit) and she was playing a sheriff or something. His movies are just ridiculously implausible. C'mon, a lady sheriff?! …

The lady President
Didn't she play bass in Talking Heads for a while?

I want to say that was the first season. That was pretty gnarly for TV.

Saddest Rankin-Bass Xmas Special
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. Holy shit, I'm starting to tear up at the thought of the pile of snow under which poor Nestor's mother lay dead. As a kid I was traumatized (of course, I was a wuss who bawled all the way through Snoopy Come Home until Snoopy came home.

Breckinridge, that's the big dumb dude who Rico told to take off his helmet during a training exercise with live ammo and then got his head blown off, right? Yeah, mighta been.

That tall dude at the Minnesota-bar
He played one of Jim's smartass brothers in an Office episode this season. You know, the one where Pam meets Jim's smartass brothers.

What?
No "Chasing Jamie" jokes?

Agreed. Go rap WastedDean's knuckles with a ruler.

I actually liked the mission in the worm. It was retarded, and when I was playing it I was thinking the whole time, "This is retarded" but it was just so cheesy and ridiculous that I enjoyed it anyway.

Anything less than an A-
and I would've been pretty darn irritated.

I AM PLEASED
…to see that this set contains a couple of tracks from one of my favorite Orbison albums, "Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson." It's not available on CD so I've been listening to the vinyl rip I made of it before I gave it back to the person I borrowed it from.