Convoy, incidentally, is absolutely essential if you're a Peckinpah fanatic, since booze and coke permeate every frame, and you can feel his talent just kind of slipping away. How it plays as actual entertainment is harder to say.

Peckinpah's first film was The Deadly Companions, and the coke-fueled nightmare Convoy has Kristofferson and McGraw.

Weekends, of course, are spent apologizing for Chuck Grassley.

And the other half, unfortunately, is related to me somehow.

"For it is easier for a camel to go through a needles' eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God"—not a lot of ambiguity there.

Yeah, but if Martin Sheen is around, Charlie is bound to insert himself somehow.

As an Iowan, I would just like to apologize—not for the first time, not for the last—for Steve King.

It was one of my purchases at the last Barnes & Noble sale. There were others. So many others…

Magnificent Obsession and McCabe & Mrs. Miller—not puzzling at all.

"Universal, except for you, Ron."

If you're in Iowa City and you want a burger, why would you go anyplace other than Hamburg Inn?

But then he could enjoy Shoji Tabuchi and The Baldknobbers.

Yes, sadly my dad actually wore bib overalls and watched Hee-Haw.

Well, that's not exactly what I was saying, but…*sighs heavily*…point taken, I guess.

But the whole notion of George Jones or Chet Atkins being forced to perform while sittin' on a hay bale and wearin' bib overalls conjures visions of The Nicholas Brothers being allowed to perform in mainstream white movies, but surrounded by watermelon and fried chicken. As a farm kid, I always thought, "Do people…

I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and even as a little kid, I always thought Hee-Haw was basically a white minstrel show.

Which would mean Mel Brooks is a major Cheap Trick fan.

For your column title, may I suggest This Land Is Your Land? I mean, it's not original, but it's something we need to remember.

I read "Michael Blume" as "Michael Buble" and was surprised (and gratified) by his low billing.

Honestly, I've never seen it. I bought it for 50 cents at a garage sale because Raimi was in it, but you know, life is short and so far I've found other things to do.