I was wondering that, too.  And jesus, why so theatrical?  If you just wanted to put down an elephant it seems like carbon monoxide would be the way to go.

It's said that if Keith Richards was in total control of the Stones they'd sound like AC/DC.  For what that's worth.*

Perfidious Pete?

If Don is replaced by some really Nubian dude, Sterling can swing over to the Mao quotation and say "It's always darkest before it's totally black."  I won't hold my breathe, though.

Also on Fresh Air a couple weeks back.

Also: would Betty even know how old Megan actually is?

Also: how did the father beat the Nation of Origins Act and all of that?  I had him pegged more as "his parents emigrated around WWI (when he was small) and they spoke Yiddish at home, maybe everywhere."

It's not clear to me that Don would've entirely disagreed with Henry's thoughts on the song & dance — that is, I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate someone bagging on his old lady, but he didn't seem too impressed with her either.

Although I don't have anything to say about your mother, my own parents live in New Mexico, and whenever I go visit them I build up enough aggression that a rumble might be just the thing.  Maybe I'll look you up?

I'm no Mifune enthusiast, but from your above description it sounds as though he might stray from "overacting" (or whatever) to "Klaus Kinski-esque", which can be thrilling indeed.

I'm a few hundred pages into Dreiser's 'An American Tragedy' and am enjoying it very much — it's definitely a Great American Novel-type novel, and it casts a very jaundiced eye on the "American Dream", which seems particularly relevant these days.

"Ecce" and "Homo" across the knuckles; then, when I was about to issue a stern beating, I'd holler "Behold the man!" and get down to it.

Scenes of eyes being messed with definitely bother me, by and large, but one of the ones that fucks with me most — I shit you not — is the episode of 'The Simpsons' where Homer burns his eyes with a laser (?) and they instantly form a scabby crust.  Imagining the… crispiness is the issue.

Well, like Norm said up above, if you expect a YA book to be well written you're banging your head on the wall.  Kids don't read enough to have nice things.

That reads as "picturing J. Lawrence nude, maybe with some bush."

Dave Thomas?

Yeah, for an advertisement for that shop Sex they were pretty good.

Well, he did say that Johnny Rotten is gone, but not forgotten.  Maybe it was a super-secret Neil Young code, two decades (or whatever) in advance.

It bears consideration that every train coupling has something like 6" of slack per car; thus, a 100 car train can glide backwards like 50 feet without warning.

There was a phase at my job where I read a lot of YA books aloud, and as I remembered 'Boxcar' fondly I was expecting to enjoy it… but boy, is the writing shoddy in that unit.