The Generals.

This stuff is really on the nose, and it’s not even that funny. (Is the joke here just that there are stereotypes associated with Native American culture and football players are acting them out?)

Requisite plug borne of insecurity over ongoing lack of renewal announcement:

Nobody ever remembers Ken Burns' Duke Ellington
Ken Burns' Fear of the Flat Nine
Ken Burns' Seriously You Couldn't Find Anyone Better than Stanley Fucking Crouch
Ken Burns' Confusion Concerning This "Mingus" Guy the Kids Keep Talking About
Ken Burns' Jazz.

"Conflict," as a word from the Latin-derived higher register of English, may alienate our core demographic of young children with negligent parents and seventeen-year-old budding sociopaths. Let's just stick with "war."

The rational, book-learnin' part of me knows those bioluminescent antennae are to attract prey in the total darkness of the deep ocean, but I like to imagine they evolved as a means of motivating their bearers to try to get out of bed and move around a little, maybe take care of the bills and eat something that…

Ha-ha! You got fleeced! I would have settled for a hard roll with hummus inside!

Normally I would italicize it, but I would argue that it's become part of the English lexicon and no longer requires it. Most other religious terms or concepts in relatively common use don't get capitalization (bar mitzvah, salat, baptism, karma, whatever). I mean, I guess Mass, Communion and Eucharist do, but that…

(This style note brought to you by Crazy Azulai's Cohen Boxes: keeping the tum'ah off our priests since 5752!)

You say "David Bowie Day." Eu ouço "Dia de Seu Jorge."

Is that cover a stealth tribute to Mingus Ah Um? If so, I approve.

Dear Mr. West:

I bought Songs in the Key of Life in high school. I found it on vinyl at the used bookstore (and even found A Something's Extra, which had been misfiled in the voluminous boxes of miscellaneous, uncategorized 45s. So much Seals & Crofts and Carly Simon). The best part, other than the music, was that it had a little…

To be fair, Sarah Vaughan sings everything like she's Sarah Vaughan. And that's why we love her.

I expect whoever was responsible for the great shame of a deserved grade slipping through will fall on his sword together with whoever thought "Right-On and Dumbass' Guide to I Stopped Caring Midway through This Sentence" was a fun, fancy-free way to introduce people to the fall movie season. Some dishonor cannot be…

I also had a childhood love of Dances with Wolves! And I also remember very little of it! I do remember its, in retrospect, very ahead of its time decision to record huge chunks of the dialog in Lakota, which is the sort of thing that enthralled me as a kid and continues to enthrall me now. I even saw The Passion, and…

I thought the elusive A+ was officially verboten in these hallowed halls! Although seeing an "A" always reminds me of what my mother used to say to me as a child whenever I brought one home (add thick accent for full effect): "And why not A-plus?"

Some American English speakers realize that double t as a voiced alveolar stop. Also, in my experience at least, sometimes it's easier for people to notice "exotic" consonants and vowels in accents they don't have rather than accents they do. Weird, but true.

Yes indeed. For anyone wanting to decipher the International Phonetic Alphabet or just hear exotic phonemes spoken, Wikipedia is right over there.

Anyway, the point is, if Nyssa is pronouncing "Ra's" as "RAYSH," she's either got a speech impediment, a heavy drinker, or taking a brave stand against phonetic drift.