Really? Cuz, I've driven through central NE a number of times, to visit my sister in Omaha. It's mind-numbingly dull. Seriously, the only good thing to come out of central NE is I-80. (Heyoooo!)

@Joe: Bob Newhart, right?

I'm with you on that one.

I appreciate the shout-out against pine beetles. I live in Colorado and they are destroying the forests! I was in Steamboat over the weekend and was saddened to see all the dead trees on the drive up.

"Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula is the last great Universal monster film we can remember enjoying"

They did that in the 40s. It was called House of Dracula. Actually not too bad: Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolfman, John Carradine as Dracula, with Frankenstein's monster and a hunchback for good measure. And there was House of Frankenstein, with Boris Karloff, as well as Chaney and Carradine.

Great stuff. I was able to follow it all except the Cantor's Diagonals section. Had to read that a few times and I'm still not sure I've got it. Thanks for continuing to use small words!

The sound effects are the best part of those clips. Hilarious. And the maniacal laughter of the torturer and his boss in the YouTube one.

I think you're on to something. This post is both fascinating and creepy.

No, no, no, no, NO!

Fun!

I was up betimes, and the full moon was just setting in the sky. My phone rang, and it was a girlfriend of mine. "Do you see that amazing moon?" she asked. "That's no moon..." I replied. Honestly, I couldn't've asked for a better setup.

Is this film supposed to be a prequel to the Tim Burton PotA, or the Chuck Heston one? Because in the original series, Caesar was the child of Zira and Cornelius, born at the end of Escape... after they flew back in Brent's shuttle to avoid the destruction of the world at the end of Beneath... . What I always loved…

I've been a huge fan of Crichton's work for years. But State of Fear and Next left me feeling very cold. They were both oddly preachy in a way that his other books really weren't.

I don't know if it's that I'm getting old and my eyes are getting bad, or that I'm watching this in a brightly lit office, or the CRAPPY ASS CINEMATOGRAPHY (guess which one I'm leaning towards), but I couldn't see a frickin' thing in that video once they got into the woods.

"Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

The common woman, then. I lost count of the number of older women swooning over the misadventures of Edward and Bella.

"Welcoming you to altitude sickness." Ha! Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing near you. I do so enjoy travelling to other (lower) states and being able to run farther than anyone because there's so much more air. Not to mention, being able to drink more for the same reason.

Yeah, but it goes back to the whole Joe Sixpack craze that was a big part of last year's election, and why you saw Clinton and Obama shotgunning brews. They want to show that they connect/have something in common with "the common man." Personally, I don't need to see the leader of my country acting like a frat boy. …

Stargate Assholes? New spinoff?