Casablanca is like a child's perfect dream of movies for grown-ups: exquisite, magnificent silliness from start to finish.

Yes, but "Mr. Lisa" blatantly acknowledges the artificiality of its happy ending. This one is unambiguously sweet.

"Lisa, It's Your Birthday"
This may be the single sweetest, most heartwarming episode of The Simpsons. Of course, The Simpsons is famously not a very heartwarming show. But his is a great episode, largely because of its fantastic script. It seems odd that this episode, rather than next week's "Mr. Lisa Goes to…

The Cortexiphan trials, ostensibly, happened in '81. Simon supposedly got kicked out in '85.

Massive Dynamic has always been in downtown Manhattan. And what I meant by "not too far apart" is that, geographically, they're quite close together.

Didn't they resolve the Big Eddie subplot in the terrible "Frank Sobotka melts your braaaaaaaaaaaains" episode?

I also liked "Across the Sea." Remember, Lost was a genre show about religion, and religion is just completely fucking silly. But it resonates if it works as metaphor. And "Across the Sea" worked as metaphor. So the episode worked, but it worked metaphorically, like a myth.

I don't think I even cared about Peter and Olivia hooking up until midway through the Fauxlivia arc, but this made me happy.

I'm glad to see all these positive reactions to this episode! I agree. This was one of my favorite episodes of the season, if not of the series. Peter and Olivia's issues were dealt with speedily and, more importantly, believably. And over blueberry pancakes- as cathartic a meal as has ever been produced. "Breakfast…

Still better: http://www.youtube.com/watc…

At the Mountains of Madness
Goddamn it, Guillermo. This is not the movie you should be making right now.

"Jones' Tippi Hedron Look"
Has the entire world decided that Jones is a terrible actress? She continues to convey the opaque inner life of Betty Draper elegantly, through small gestures and facial expressions. But reviewers seem to have decided that Jones simply IS Betty Draper. Does anyone have any thoughts on the…

Let's all just pretend we never heard Janeane Garofalo was in this and go about our lives in peace.

The question is, which other people like the music you like?

We had the head half. Fort Gay, WV had the ass half.

Borders.
Borders is not a very good book store. It maintains a mostly mainstream stock and charges an undue price for many of its offerings. It reduces the market share of independent book sellers. It sells shitty coffee (well, now it does).

On the one hand, I'm told Mr. Cyrus is a nice guy in person. On the other hand, he is more full of shit than Cthulhu's colon, so fuck him.

If we play her songs backward, will they no longer be terrible?

Other Things David Lynch May Be Responsible For:
Flintstones, the movie.
Everything Billy Corgan has said or done since 1997.
The cancellation of Carnival and Deadwood.
Showgirls.
The breakup of The Beatles.
The continued existence of the Frisch's Big Boy hamburger chain.
My dreams and/or nightmares.

As a horny 16-year-old, I interpreted it as a too literal attempt to dramatize the sexual component of coming of age. I still think that's it, but I no longer think it's excusable on those grounds. It's ridiculous, and more than a little creepy.