I remember hearing that on one of the Simpsons DVD featurettes, but I'd forgotten that story until now. That's pretty awesome.

@ted: God, I wish that were true.

@ted: True, it doesn't have Ian McKellen. But it does have Ewan MacGregor pointing at a priest and shouting "Illuminatus!" Just thinking about that moment makes me happy.

Guilty pleasure
The Da Vinci Code was a mess, but as much as I hate to say it, I thoroughly enjoyed Angels & Demons. It's probably my favorite bad movie of the past few years: visually gorgeous, an incredible amount of money on the screen, and totally ridiculous.

Giant undersea alien
So, Cthulhu?

David Brisbin, aka Mr. Ernst, also had a memorable appearance on Seinfeld, in "The Puffy Shirt."

I was also underwhelmed by Standard Operating Procedure. I was looking forward to it immensely, because I think Morris is one of our four or five greatest living directors, and my first reaction when the project was announced was that it was a perfect pairing of director and subject. But I don't think Morris's…

I don't know why, but I laughed at this. Nice work.

I was hoping that this was some kind of Amadeus reference, but…no.

I don't get it
Who was this Ted Danson, and why would you pay $10,000 for his skeleton?

I was really hoping to get me some Julee Cruise. Oh well.

Since no one has posted this picture yet, I guess I'll be the one:

What part of "di di mau" don't you understand?

We even have a talking room where students are encouraged to go in and talk to their heart's content…

It's fun to hang out in the Duchamp gallery, watching people drift into the room containing Etant Donnes. About half of them peek in, then leave without looking through the eyeholes at all. The rest look inside and get pretty freaked out.

Agreed. She takes a difficult role in Peeping Tom and makes it work. And her last scene in Frenzy—with that long tracking shot back down the stairs—is one of the most haunting in all of Hitchcock.

McGregor was definitely cast in the prequels as early as mid-1997 or so. I remember this because I saw him that year in The Pillow Book, and was slightly amused by the novelty of seeing the future Obi-Wan naked.

@Bucky: I'm with you. I think the speech is great—although it's McGregor's reaction shot that really sells it. (I'm convinced that Down With Love would make a sensational Broadway musical, except that I have no idea how you'd stage that moment.)

I adore "Down With Love," which I discovered solely because of Rabin's Year of Flops writeup. It's probably the single best thing the AV Club has ever done for me.

You are entering the vicinity of an area adjacent to a location. The kind of place where there might be a monster, or some kind of weird mirror. These are just examples; it could also be something much better.