Incidentally, I read Carte Blanche, the post-Faulks Bond novel by Jeffrey Deaver. Fun read, although his Bond is unrecognizable as either Fleming's or any of the cinematic portrayals. F'rinstance, this one turns down an opportunity to bed a (beautiful, of course) co-worker because he senses she's recovering from a…

My favourite Blyton series was The Secret Seven, so I was suckered into buying a whole series of the authorised follow-up books. I knew something was amiss when one whole book was about the Seven planning this amazingly elaborate and dickish prank against that annoying sister of one of them. And then in the last…

So is Mickey Spillane's original Mike Hammer stuff worth reading?

When you absolutely positively got to secret every motherfucking service in the room, accept no substitutes.

Hindus do actually believe in a monotheistic God.

He's the midway point between Canell and Steven Bochco. Fun genre shows with more heart and brains than you'd have thought.

I am now imagining every '80s TV series ever with Scott Bakula playing the lead role.

Sam also met Chubby Checker and was the uncredited inventor of the Twist.

I seem to remember Sam getting as much tail as any '80s male genre TV lead character. Which is a lot of tail.

I want an iPhone app that makes sputtering electronic noises when I smack it right now.

Steal My Idea: a man travels back in time and meets a young Hitler, not to kill him, but to reform him and unite Germany into a peaceful nation.

This and Wiseguy were the shows that really brought home the fact that I was a breed apart from other kids my age. They were all into Knight Rider, The A-Team and Airwolf (which, to be fair, I watched too); MacGyver was as highbrow as they got.

Bali is worlds apart from the rest of Indonesia. For one thing, the population is largely Hindu as opposed to Muslim.

I am Malaysian of Chinese descent and I think what happened in Indonesia is never far from the possibility of happening in Malaysia.

Here you go, daddy-o.

"Poor Jack. Turns out that butler was right; he really was the hotel's caretaker. Or a reincarnation of him. That's who he'd been all along.

"The Emperor is dead, and the galaxy is saved… but so is Darth Vader's soul. Hell, maybe this has been his story all along."

"…check out some hot, college strange."

I liked The Butterfly Effect. I never saw Ashton Kutcher in his sitcom or his MTV prank show, so I had no problems accepting him in a largely serious dramatic role. Wasn't that everyone's problem with it? Kutcher in a movie that plays him completely straight?

@avclub-27e87cc851baee4401e8eed1d89fa6ba:disqus [sigh] You're still not getting it. The Lion in Winter actually bothered to explain the political and economical reasons behind its arranged marriages. That's how arranged marriages work in real life. Mariko married Noburu because, and I quote directly from the book: