I don't even really care about Gaspar Noe's impulses or intentions as a director. In "Irreversible," the two most commonly exploited things in movies, sex and violence, are stripped of any sense of titillation, climax, or facile, manipulative catharsis with the use of the simple cinematic trick of reverse chronology.…

Unlike the fire-extinguisher-face-bashing scene, the disturbing thing about the rape scene isn't so much due to visual graphicness. It's really Monica Bellucci's performance and the way she is brutally reduced to wails of raw animal anguish. The rapist is killing her soul right in front of you.

I couldn't believe it when he began hosting "Sessions at West 54th." He did his best, God love him, and his bashfulness was kind of refreshing compared to the overpolished emptiness of most television hosts.

I read quite a bit about the David Bowman book but haven't actually read it. I know he idolizes David Byrne, though, so I've tried to keep an open mind about Tina, although "crazy-eyed harpy" has long described my characterization of her, which may be unfair and sexist. It seems she talks shit about Byrne whenever…

Thanks. I think I'll continue to pass on the "Just Head," a rare thing for most men.

Man, I love that show. Is there anything better than the smell of coffee brewing, a Sunday paper, and that trumpet-and-sunburst opening? I miss Charles Kuralt, though — that lovable old two-timing dog.

Is "No Talking, Just Head" worth listening to? I've assumed the thing I'd like most about the album would be its title, so I've avoided it. Harrison, Frantz, and Weymouth are great musicians, but it's kind of like what (I think) Jack Nicholson said about Mick Jagger — that he plays an instrument, and it's called the…

This sounds like just the sort of thing I'm in the mood to read right now. I appreciated the review and will probably pick up the book today.

Cheapskate
I'm aware that this is a lame comment, but … I grabbed a copy of "Indignation" last week but doubled back from the bookstore counter and re-shelved it after checking out the cover price: 26 bucks for a slim novella (the page count would be cut in half, at least, if the book were bound in a more…

I wish there were a Jacques Tourneur director's cut of "Night of the Demon." It would be just about perfect without the close-ups of the demon shot and inserted into the film by producer Hal E. Chester. It's one of the few instances where accurately assuming the director's intentions is a piece of cake — just cut…

Ah, a rape/"marriage is for the birds" combo joke. The new-style Sarah Silverman button-pushing meets Henny Youngman old-school.

Hey, I would have willingly stood in line for the Easy-Bake Holocaust Oven. Those Polish winters are cold, so 100 watts of toasty warmth would have been mighty appealing.

Seriously, guys, rape is a bad thing. I know the thought never occurred to you. Also bad things: the Holocaust, child molestation, crucifixion, female genital mutilation, slavery, hate crimes against gays and lesbians, and Alzheimer's. In fact, those things are so bad, perhaps it goes without saying that they are…

Anybody remember their first Rape Easy-Bake Oven, and how grown-up it made you feel, even though the rape was powered by a mere light bulb?

She was askin' for it in "The Godfather: Part II." It was wrong, yes, and Michael had become a monster, but come on. "I wouldn't bring another one of your sons into this world," insulting "this Sicilian 'thing' that's been going on for 2,000 years," etc. You say stuff like that, you know what to expect.

Everyone knows that JT is a churnin' urn of burnin' funk.

I'm going camping this weekend with some friends, so I hope to put my rape-campfire skills to good use. Sometimes there's nothing better than good, old-fashioned outdoor rape, in the fresh air and under a starry sky.

Byrne's afterword in a photo book about CBGB and OMFUG makes for some excellent bookstore-browsing reading. He's always been careful (and quite respectful and self-effacing) about the way he describes Talking Heads as fitting into the NYC punk scene. The art-school-dropout thing aside, it's incredible that Talking…

That's also my least favorite song from "Harold and Maude," associated with my least favorite parts of the movie. "Trouble," on the other hand, is a great song, used during the movie's best sequence.

My mother kept a doll from when she was a little girl, one plastic cheek shiny where she'd rub it with her finger, and she insisted that it was haunted and would fall onto her from a shelf above her bed in the middle of the night, even if it was placed behind rows of other dolls.