As a teenager pretty well prepped by John Barth's metafiction, not to mention lots of old-fashioned adventure stories, I loved the book. As a snooty college kid, I found the movie a letdown.

Wow. The staircase in limbo sounds sort of interesting, in a Steve Ditko-Dr. Strange way. The voice in the ear is just scary. is there anything you can do for it?

Of course, "God Particle" is censor-speak for "Goddamned particle," so called by Leon Ledermann, and many people say that without any particular belief at all. (Not that I recommend it.) So we could start calling it the Goddamned Particle, or for more sensitive ears, the Blasphemy Particle or Second Commandment…

I'm guessing you're a bit younger than I am.

I dunno. it seems to me that the more obscure the source material is, the less risk there is in pissing off its fans. Take a few liberties with, say, "Looking Backward," and nobody cares; get Spock's hand salute wrong, and the Internet descends like an avalanche.

Barnabas Collins: International Man of Mystery.

What, you don't like it? Then brace yourselves, because once he wraps this up, the guy's moving on to "Tarnsman of Gor."

Great summary, and thanks.

The Montauk Monster sure gets around ....

Actually, I'm hoping for MORE hamfisted political humor. I'm past the point in life where I can really enjoy a movie that asks me to take ideas like this at face value, and worse yet to distract me with special effects. But I'm well into the phase where I can enjoy a picture that mocks bad political ideas, even if…

How can Louisiana come out ahead of Minnesota? It defies all my precious prejudices and preconceptions.

Harlan Ellison? Or am I just forgetting something?

"... if thee do, thou wilt be smited"? Whoever translated that from Hebraeo-Japonese might want to brush up on their Shakespeare.

I sat next to Spike at a Friends of Lulu dinner at ComiCon, maybe five years back. She struck me as really, really smart, and one of those people who — if there were any justice in this cold cruel universe — would be headed for comics greatness. So score one for justice.

I chalked it up to happy coincidence that the star's name is Kitsch. Now they tell me about this fellow Kutsche, which I choose to assume is a regional dialect for the same thing, and ... well, not coincidence any more.

Actually, I liked that scene from "Batman Forever." If only they could have cut the rest of the movie, and left that.

Start like the old-time pros: read some Will Eisner books, and watch "Citizen Kane" a dozen times, then steal what you think you can get away with.

First, this picture sounds as much like Logan's Run as Repent, Harlequin. Which, in both cases, is sorta-kinda-maybe.

Buffing up is common in Hollywood, but it still takes time, energy, commitment and maybe some 'roids. Growing four inches only takes a little wooden box and some camera angles.

In Virgil's Aeneid (c. 20 BC), the already-old line about fortune favoring the bold is used as a battle cry by Turnus, the noblest if the Italic princes defending their peninsula from the Trojan invaders. The problem is that those invaders have the gods on their side. Turnus shouts it as he rides into battle against…