I agree this all sounds awful! I'm with Flag on the Moon — at least when I grew up Southern California in the 80s, it was 'yes' to ostracism and 'no' to physical violence (or even implied physical violence).

Agreed. "The Grass is Blue" is a great album (with a lame title, though it's explained in one of the songs).

I took my 8 and 4 year olds to it, and they loved it. The simplistic story overlayed on the footage — plucky bears overcome obstacles — is a bit lame from an adult perspective, but the movie is nonetheless beautiful to watch. (I feel very lucky to have kids who like watching nature films, reading animal books, etc. …

Cosmos! Why are there not reviews of this?

The Intouchables is really excellent. I didn't have high expectations — from its description it sounds horribly sappy — but it's remarkably clever. The best description I can think of is that it's like "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly," but very funny. (Make of that what you will.)

I was just watching the original Star Wars last night with my 8-year old, and I really can't agree with the statement that it "hasn’t aged well." It has a remarkable combination of crisp but not frenetic plotting and characters with actual character (in contrast to the wooden, featureless ones of the later movies) —…

Quaker sells "masala oatmeal" in India, which is fantastic. I've tried to replicate it will lots of turmeric, cumin, and onion, but haven't gotten very close.

The Warhol-ish party in Midnight Cowboy. Why do I never get invited to parties like that?

Eugene, Oregon, right next to the true Springfield of Springfield, Oregon, is named after Eugene Skinner. I don't know why it's not called "Skinner," except that "Eugene" sounds somewhat better.

The recent "

By the way: Gleick's (non-comic) biography of Feynman ("Genius…") is excellent — fascinating and fun.

Can't you just put a big "print" button at the top of the site?

undun is truly brilliant

I've seen the Los Angeles version a few times, and it's awful. Solving crimes from a sun-drenched villa.   Cringe-inducing "witty" banter.  I can't figure out if it's serious, or a parody of itself.

I just have to add I love the AV Club comments section — speculations on filming cop dramas in undersea domes *and* actual first-hand accounts of the economic situation in China.  What more could you want?

The second movie is a bit dark, and is better — I mean more excellent — than the first one.

Since I was listening to The ArchAndroid earlier today, I feel compelled to point out that it's truly an awesome album.  This interview is kind of dull, though.

My 8-year old liked it a lot, even though parts of it were above his head, and it took a bit of explanation from mom & dad.  Maybe its being non-obvious is part of its appeal?  He's also quite fond of numbers, and the sections on infinity were a big hit.

"Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence." — http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…

This lose-lose model seems to be the basis of much of modern capitalism.  I'm totally confused about how it can possibly pan out.  I'm glad I'm not 20 now…