Are y'all talking about "Sunshine Cleaning"? Is that the one where the sun is going dim because no one ever dusts it, so they shoot Amy Adams into space to Swiffer it off? If yes, then — well, no wonder people had to die.

It's strange
The people in charge of money get to be rich, and the people in charge of beauty get to be beautiful.

This is making me hungry for a Thatcherite sandwich.

Jay Leno — now in chewable tablet form
If Jay Leno was like an antidepressant, he would only be available in controlled dosages — not uncontrolled benders like this.

"Color of Night" screenwriter Matthew Chapman
wrote a book called "Trials of the Monkey". It's partly about the Scopes trial and fundamentalism, but it also features generous recollections of adolescent masturbation and other shenanigans. Shenanigans that got him in trouble. Hey, what else could teens do in the days…

Posthumous Thriller?
If he's already dead, doesn't that kill the suspense?

Wow. A list of things Do Shut Up Portia doesn't get —

Pshaw. Everybody knows prostitutes only do it to support their chronically ill children. Or, wait — that's strippers. Or is it screenwriters?

Wild Curmudgeon Blues
Entertaining inventory, but I have to be THAT GUY on one thing. "Wild Man Blues" is a 1920s tune by Jelly Roll Morton, lately of New Orleans. So it's a completely appropriate title for a movie about someone who loves old New Orleans jazz.

I want to live in Michael Crichton's head
Call me crazy, but how about the world of "The Andromeda Strain"?

It's strange to think that the New World was probably an Eden to the first humans who settled here. All the space they could want, and prey that had never before seen human beings — and so didn't know to run from them.

What an idea about words creating things. I wouldn't knock it. My religious background is poor to dirt-poor, but isn't one passage in the New Testament about the Word being made flesh? That's a tough act for humans to follow — at least until we've had time to play with enough Gs, As, Ts and Cs. We might not know yet…

Interesting discussion and enlightening comments. I read "Blood Meridian" every few years, but only for the articles. I can take or leave the centerfolds.

Thanks for the "Sneaky Snake" love. As a former kid who used to listen to it over and over, I can attest to Tom T. Hall's ability to hook children. My parents must have liked the song too — otherwise they would have killed me around the 180th listen.

I didn't luck out so good with summer-driving radio. Has there ever been anything more sluggish than early-80s top 40? I know that unengaging hits like "Eye In The Sky" and "Abra-abra-cadabra…I'm gonna reach out and grab ya" couldn't have been in the top 40 for more than one year in a row, yet they've permanently…

Downer! Downer! Downer!
Here in downstate Illinois, we sell furniture RIGHT. How? By breaking stuff and offering free onions:
http://www.youtube.com/watc…

It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw.
I've come to look for Amerrrrricaaaaaa.

@Hear God Laugh: cool, you saw "Zabriskie Boink" too?

Er — that should be "ZP" as in "Zabriskie Point", not "ZB" which was the porn version.

Good call on the ending. "Zabriskie Point" is on my short list of movies where, no matter what you think of the movie, it's worth seeing the climax. (I like seeing stuff blown up just as much as the next guy, but only here does it bring tears to my eyes).