I had no idea that in order to enjoy my life I had to first have my tastes approved by a select panel of tastemakers for age-appropriateness, proper balance of ironic detachment and earnest appreciation, and deep cultural merit.

Delpy, same here. Thunderously loud and it still didn't make me a metal convert but. Yeah, I'm old.

Groundbreaking
I'm not even into much metal but the man was an amazing singer. So many metal and hard rock singers clearly were hugely influenced by him, and when you hear him grow; "Sing me a song, you're a sing-ahhhhhr" it's "Ozzy WHO?" time. Not that Ozzy isn't Ozzy but Dio had PIPES and sang like he meant it,…

Pea-brained salmon?
I think that's more memorable than dead ears. I'm not sure whether "Well done" or a polite golf clap is more called for.

Yuh… I mean Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, and Bogart? In a hurricane? Trapped with mobsters? And 95% of the movie is set like a stage play, incredibly claustrophobic… Robinson though does steal the movie, in absolute top form. I'd call it on of the top three Bogart films, too.

I saw them open for Beck and the Cardigans. What a bizarre triple bill. They were wretched, and this is from someone who likes Merzbow (in smaller doses). Art students leaping around abusing computers and making Important Music. Bleah.

About two years ago
We switched off the TV for the usual combination of economy and elitist tofu-swilling bragging rights about how progressive we were. The interesting side effect was that yeah, we got what we really wanted to watch from various legal and paralegal sources, but also that once you lose it, you don't…

What I dug about the Oz books is that they didn't throw that "Dreams don't really come true" Depression shit in. Oz was real.

Yes, if Hollywood has taught us anything, it is that "darker" is the secret ingredient to add perceived gravitas and depth to ANYTHING. When I was five the 1939 movie scared the shit out of me and I still find it a little unsettling, but why go for the original tone of the Oz books — things will get scary but…

The best bad records to own for hipster douchebag cred? A few finalists…

I agree.

A friend covers Cannes for a network every year and reports the same thing: that is becomes a blurry succession of chasing people, drinking, editing, writing, sunburn, chasing people, drinking, interviewing… she makes it sound harrowing.

No, that would be "I can imagine her gratefully accepting the Hammer of Thor."

Crushage here for the same reasons, plus the Boy Scout in me always wants to rescue the doomed. For some weird reason I see a spark of humanity in her…

Man, I'd give them George Clooney for a shot at Portia. Yowza… I want to be Ellen for an hour.

Could I please unlisten to that?

She makes me feel funny, but not in a particularly good way. Kind of a train wreck of sexiness: You have to look but you're glad you were not on board. Perhaps she's a lovely person though. I read her blog before posting this and she either is sweet, brilliant, and perceptive or completely nucking futz.

Yeah, that was the least enthusiastic introduction I've seen in "Gateways." No mention of how Python begat a new wave of absurdist/intellectual/satire/crude comedy, including of course Eddie Izzard and probably Bill Bailey, maybe The Young Ones, rippling on to all those Zuckerman/Abrahams movies and almost anything…

I've appreciated Meaning of Life more over the years. Brian was maybe their best thing ever, as they had the mix of sheer silliness and perfectly directed anti-establishment satire mixed with enough cash to make a proper movie. But Meaning of Life has them dong their best acting and I think that the more posh…

I was five months old when JFK was shot. I don't mind being 46. I used to be younger than all of you, and most of you will someday be older than I am now.