The weakness of the dollar?

Good to know. I'll fix it accordingly.

In the book.

Loggia
Lost Highway 2?

Whoa. Small world.

Eh. Sorry. There's no warranty of all-inclusiveness with these things. If you're a UCB fan, you'll want to keep reading this week, however.

Love this album.
I used to check it out from the library all the time when I was in junior high. (It's just part of why I was such a popular kid.)

I'm not sure red herrings is the right term but, no, I don't think there's a coherent system to be figured out here. I think we can safely talk about the symbolic value of elements like Bob and the Black Lodge. It's dream logic but it's a dream with meaning behind it. But any attempt to get Star Trek with it and…

In defense of…
Can I just say that as much as I enjoyed this column Steven Hyden is wrong about "Brown Eyed Girl." Yes, it's an overplayed oldies staple but anyone who thinks of it as a goodtime song is listening. It's a song about sex, nostalgia, and loneliness and the devastating revelation that the past is…

I have one very fond memory of RC. I was visiting a friend of mine in Columbus, OH and we got snowed in. We had to depend entirely on what could be obtained from a nearby gas station for sustenance and entertainment. That left us with RC, frozen pizza, and the movie SKEETER.

Second on EXORCIST 2.

I'm by no means suggesting that we not pay attention to these guys because they had racist views. If you start eliminating all art that doesn't toe the line you're not going to end up with much left. It's also best not to ignore those views. They come part and parcel with the work while providing a window into the…

"As much as the stories" sound like a bit of an exaggeration to me. (And who could quantify it anyway?) But, yes, they sure couldn't have hurt. Every bit of good taste and refinement in me wants to resist all those image of musclemen, dripping swords, heavy-breasted women, and scowling animals but I can't. His stuff…

No. And it's too bad, too. It would be a good time to talk about him. CLOVERFIELD and THE MIST (pretty great, politically pointed movie that nobody saw that's now out on DVD) are essentially Lovecraft stories in all but name.

I love the Kurt Busiek CONAN comics. Nothing against Timothy Truman, but I do hope Busiek comes back once his DC exclusive is up.

"Overestimate": Indeed. Fixed.

Bigger.

It's a really bad book. And I feel a little at a loss because it's an Edgar Rice Burroughs knock-off—more on the history of that next week—and I've never read Burroughs.

Nah. I just think we're working with two definitions of the word. He's adjective-happy but nothing feels wasteful. Everything contributes to the atmosphere and the forward momentum. To give you an example of what he doesn't do, here's a quote from next week's book describing a Martian monster (and I reserve the right…

I think we had very similar experiences with this show.