He wasn’t wrong...

rogueindy’s cite is on-point with regard to the cat generally. With regard to people asking about why he can talk, though, I think it’s more a matter of the cat’s being used to engaging with others on the basis of his “mystery”. Without that, there’s really no reason for anyone to particularly care what a cat has to…

Of course, Jesus was tempted and had his faith tested in the Bible. You could argue over whether it would have been possible for him to fail, but for the tests to be meaningful, he has to have been able to entertain the possibility of failure. It’d be pretty amusing if the power bar and other indicators in the game…

Not so much paying to see it, as paying to be able to say they paid to see it.

While comradery across no-man’s-land never quite reached the same heights as the Christmas truce, there was often a measure of benign coexistence along the front in WWI. I recall hearing that after a prolonged lull in the fighting, a British unit facing a force from Saxony received a signal from across the lines.…

Or more like their cave paintings. I dunno, I wouldn’t mind blowing some powdered ochre over my hand through a bone tube with them. Social bonding and all...

It might even have trees by now.

Those were so cool! To me... as a 10 year-old... in 1974...

I think that goes without saying, regardless of whether I’ve seen the movie or not. ;)

And also as “Ventriloquiver”?

I agree. There’s something that seems sort of arbitrary about a hatred of heist films, kind of like a love of Szechuan sauce. At most, it seems like a genre that Rick would dislike because it relies on “putting one over” on the audience, and Rick is pretty allergic to having anything put over on him.

She and Tina tie for most relatable subplot. The thankful trees my siblings made in Sunday school still adorn our Thanksgiving table over a decade later.

And, of course, for all that nastiness, the Romans still found it easy to feel superior to their human-sacrificing neighbors like the Carthaginians. I get that such things are relative, and I’m not the most judgmental sort, but I treat myself to a little judging where child sacrifice is concerned.

Given the region we’re talking about, I suppose the sorts of mummies featured in those mountaintop sacrifices are a possibility, though I don’t know how extensive a supply of those there would be. My impression was that those mountaintops were sacred areas, and the sacrifices weren’t disturbed after death.

And I, for one, have reassessed my “modern biases” against child sacrifice, and can report that my attitude remains unchanged.

They did mention that the helmet skulls were “still fleshed” at the time they were put on and buried. That really doesn’t sound like they were exhumed. It sounds very much like they were sacrificed on the occasion of the burial.

I think that sequestration problem is aggravated by financial laws and mechanisms. A portfolio of rights to music or movies or whatever has a certain appraised value, which allows it to be used as collateral for loans or similar financing mechanisms. Those appraised values can be fudged, of course, by cherry picking…

The cast was an important part of making Star Wars great, but I’d add that editing, and the unacknowledged contributions of Lucas’ buddies like Coppola and DePalma, helped as well.

Perhaps he’s a Tulpa, projected by Shaggy’s affection for the original, real, non-talking Scooby-Doo.

I’d have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids and... Harlan Ellison!