Yeah, that was my assumption as well. He wanted to walk away from the entire situation, and taking the money would have have very much not been walking away from it. Obviously you can read thematic elements into this choice as well, but strictly as a plot point, it wasn't totally outlandish.

It's hard to know what to say about the adoption of hardline Zionism among the Christian right. It certainly is true, as you note, that these types are quick to scream anti-Semtism. Complicating this, however, is that it's also true that actual Jews are generally totally creeped out by our new fanbase, and their…

As someone who (like a good percentage of North American Jews, I assume) runs in fairly urban, liberal circles, anti-Semitism is basically non-existent in my life. That said, what limited experiences I've had with it — usually in the form of offhand remarks — leads me to suspect that a fair amount of casual…

Please add to the list:

I feel the same way whenever I read anything by Elie Wiesel. I mean, seriously. Night? The Forgotten? The Trial of God? How much more on the nose can you get? We get it already: "Wah, Hitler was mean!" Get over yourself already, Debbie Downer.

So, can someone explain to me the premise of this show? I've never seen it and I don't really know anything about it, but I gather from the comments that it's basically set in the present, but it employs as a framing device a narrator from 2030 who is putting the present day events in context for a pair of future…

Why the fuck did I read this?

You can definitely blame Apatow for the diarrhea scene. I remember reading some article where Apatow was all, "You should include a scene with explosive diarrhea" and Kristin Wiig was all, "I dunno, seems a little broad" and Apatow was like "Just film it and see what happens" and then test audiences were all "Haw haw…

I'm pretty sure the age of consent wasn't the issue in that scene.

Carolla is a libertarian? I thought he was more of an "angry, put-upon, hard-truth-tellin' regular guy," sometimes referred to in the vernacular as an "asshole".

I realize this thread is now dead, but I just went and listened to some of Smile. Here are the lyrics to Vege-Tables, passed along without comment:

Uh, yeah, this criticism applies to every single female action hero ever, with the possible exceptions of Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton. And both of these exceptions owe a lot to the fact that the heroes relied more on resourcefulness and mental toughness than on brute strength.

I'm actually pretty open to the possibility that the over-familiarity of the songs in rotation on classic rock stations has caused me to overlook some better stuff. Maybe I'll try to overcome my natural laziness and complacency and give their lesser-known stuff a listen. And while I'm on this self-improvement kick,…

I'll throw my hat in with JBP. I understand that the Beach Boys were a highly influential and innovative band. I understand that The Beatles were in awe of Pet Sounds. And I occasionally enjoy accompanying their greatest hits in an off-key falsetto.

I agree with you, with the important caveat that Christmas music gobbles mountains of cock, and all of the world's problems would be instantly solved if we melted down every last recording of Christmas music and flung the steaming pile into the sun.

Eh, not really. The term is an attempt to pretend that Islamic radicalism isn't a mishmash of garden-variety demented religious fundamentalists but actually a coherent political/religious/military movement motivated by a common ideology and determination to touch our white women.

I kind of agree. I'm not going to see this, but I'm secretly wishing that my 14-year-old nephew would beg me to take him. It looks dumb and cliched and derivative, but…boxing robots!

It's your ackman, fool. You've got a huge ackman. Way to drop the ball.

What I can't forgive is Johnnie Depp's dangling modifier (hey-ooo!). "In an effort to correct my lack of judgment, please accept my heartfelt apology," makes no fucking sense. God damn you, Mr. Depp, why must you rape my mother tongue (hey-ooo!)?

I'm more than worried about this. The interplay between the characters is what makes the show funny. I don't really want to see the Gob Hour, or Tobias Loves Lindsay.