Maybe I'm just being cranky, but I'd also like to see it be just a little better researched. "Femme fatale" dates from at least the 19th century, and "film noir" from the 1950's, hardly "decades after" Gilda was released. And although Gilda's hair flip is undoubtedly iconic, I think it's a little over the top to call…

I make no judgement; my own last words will likely be something similar. ("Dammit, if I'd known it was going to be my last drink, it sure as hell wouldn't have been Jack Daniels'!") But I do find it ironic that the "Do not go gentle into that good night" guy has a reputation for having drunk himself to death (even if,…

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light" — written by a man whose last words were reportedly, "27 whiskeys, I believe that's a record". A very talented man, though.

That article is pretty amazing. Thank you.

Actually, in the 1949 movie (Neptune's Daughter) that introduced the song, the first version is done by Ricardo Montalban (!) and Esther Williams, but then it's reprised by Betty Garrett and Red Skelton, with the roles reversed, so there's precedent for this. (Also see: Miss Piggy and Rudolf Nureyev …)

This, to the Nth degree. Almost every of the (not always female) first singer's objections have to do with what their neighbours or sister or someone else will think or say. And then at the end of each verse, she (okay, it's usually a female singer) comes up with an excuse why she can stay a bit longer. She's not…

I've heard there's a Boring, Maryland, too.

Never underestimate the power of cleavage.

Technically, that's not even a flow chart. Family tree, maybe?

Thanks for the link. I've been a fan since the 60's, and dude's still got pipes.

Well that clears that up. I'm glad it wasn't something silly.

Okay, dumb question time. Does anybody know what the deal was with that whole "Troubled Waters" routine? Was it an in-joke, just a bizarre riff, or was there some reason they couldn't identify Simon as Paul Simon? I hate to be the guy who asks "Why do the horses whinny every time someone says Blucher?" but this has…

I should add that I didn't mean that as a knock against McDowell — it just struck me as funny that he kind of looks like an older version of Grint.

Ia! Ia! Fhtagn … I mean, thanks! I just wish I could get Disqus to make my avatar look like this: (;,;) — don't know why it keeps cutting it off. Par for the course, I guess.

What he should have done was get the cut-rate photo with McDowell, and told his kids, "Sorry, this is what Ron looks like without makeup." — he'd save a few bucks and teach his daughters several valuable life lessons.

My vague childhood memories tell me that's true. In fact I'm pretty sure most movies released (or re-released) in the late 60's - early 70's, if they started pushing the 2 hour mark, got an intermission. I have memories of intermissions (complete with individual graphics and music) in Thoroughly Modern Millie, 2001,…

That's a very good point. I'll openly admit that I'm biased towards Colbert because he usually expresses (much more articulately) the stuff that I'm thinking.

I do, too. For an atheist, I'm actually a pretty good Christian. I deeply believe in a lot of his teachings (turn the other cheek, judge not, don't be casting that first stone, etc.), although I think he could've been a little sterner on the whole slaveholding thing ("treat them well" — right …).

Oh, I do, both leap and consider. I acknowledge that much of what I believe (atomic theory, quantum mechanics, evolution by natural selection) is not something I have personally experienced. But it does all make sense, in a way that religious dogma does not, to me

No apology needed; I was a little passive-aggressive, I guess. But I did get a conversation going!