Now, I'm older—I always know tons of Cathys, Kates and Lisas. Also Sukey—no one's ever named Sukey these days. I wonder if it's due for a comeback. I mean, "Hannah" came back and was top name for one year, so anything's possible.

There are Sophias in my generation—Sophia Loren put the name in the spotlight—so…

Sherman was a man of his time, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that Sherman supported slavery—more that he tolerated it and sympathized with some of the justifications for it. I'd say he was agnostic about it, more or less. Certainly didn't think keeping slavery was worth splitting the union. His views toward…

I don't see how Sherman's tactics constitute war crimes, per se. His orders were to harm property, not the civilians. War crimes happened during the march, but I think, even today, you'd have a hard time convicting Sherman of war crimes. Destroying the enemy's property to weaken the enemy is not a war crime.

In the…

How can you violate something that didn't exist? You really think the Confederacy would come up smelling like roses under modern scrutiny? I mean, not only was the intention to continue slavery, but the idea was to colonize to the South and continue the peculiar institution in the Caribbean and South America.

Sherma…

Oldie, but goody— the end of The Fury. The gory stuff starts around minute four—saw it in the theater and was not explecting that use of the Z-axis (coming straight at you.)

I've been watching the old Star Trek in sequence and it's interesting how Yeoman Rand just disappears. Reading up on it, the actress was fired after a sexual assault by a television executive. It's interesting to watch the episodes after this and see where Rand was suppose to be—various random girl-of-the-week parts…

Flamingos are weirdly cool. Bare-assed Santa though—no, no, no, no. Just no. Never thought I'd need eye bleach for a Christmas ornament.

(muttering "cute kittens, cute kittens, cute kittens, cuttteeekitties, cutekitties . . .)

Yep, the weird thing is that toys have become more gendered, not less. The 70s, in particular, were a period where there was an attempt to make less-sexist toys. By the 80s, Toys R Us had taken over and it was pink aisles and blue aisles. But before that, there were some toys that were girl-toys or boy-toys, but a…

Nope. Wispy little voice then really pushed belt with a lot of help from the studio. I respect Meryl Streep, but next to Bernadette Peters—who sang this live night after night—there's just no comparison. Peters had the acting chops and the voice—she brought exquisite nuances to this song.

Production looks gorgeous…

Looking forward to this—better idea, in many ways, than a movie.

So wasn't there supposed to be a sequel? Any word on that?

Yes, but start it in a patient mood—think Jane Austen. Good for a rainy day with a cup of tea for the first couple of hundred pages, but then it becomes so much more and so much stranger.

They're quite different, but if you liked John Crowley's *Little, Big* you'll probably like Jonathan Strange.

Yeah, Sephora handled it terribly, but I actually get what the concern is. Different tactics guys—limiting bulk sales would have done most of the work.

No, Cubans are automatically granted asylum. Not citizenship. And, yes, it's political—Florida's a swing state, so both parties cater to its whims.

That's really oversimplifying the situation and putting more blame on the U.S. than is merited. Yes, we're the big customer for illegal drugs grown in South and Central America. However, the unstable, exploitive and corrupt series of governments in these countries well predates the boon in illegal drugs. It really…

Actually, there are a sizeable number of illegal Asian immigrants. Some fly to Mexico and then come over the border, many overstay their visas.

I know this, but nonetheless, the result is a what-the?

I have to go with this—you know when they have to remake the ending multiple times that you've got whacked-out plotting.

Wow. Oh Japan just when I think your pop culture can't surprise me you come out with a video featuring a cutsey girl singer, random eyeballs and chubby ladies with dark blanked-out faces. Why Japan, why? How did you get from the Tale of Genji to this marvel?

Well, he's Japanese, so he's 63 in American years. I actually think he intends to retire every single time and he was hurt by the criticism of The Wind Rises in Japan. But it really is a case where he's driven by his genius. He has to create. Isao Takahata's older than he is and has a film that just opened in the…

Yes, why doesn't he take vacations like the rest of us instead of torturing us with all those retirements?