As a queer duck (who isn't Queer Duck, who can speak for himself), this is a nothingburger slathered in nothingsauce and served with a bottomless basket of nonexistent fries.

the "cute houseplant" stage of baby-dom

Is Ethiopian vegan-friendly? I know they have tons of vegetarian dishes (which I love), but I was never sure of whether the fat was oil or butter.

Basically, you have to really love to cook. I'm pretty impressed by the people who can pull it off.

I thought I had to be misreading this, but no…the owner is positively incensed that there are customers who aren't enchanted by her 5-year-old child coming up to their table and staring/talking/singing at them while they eat. I'm going to be trying to wrap my head around that one for the rest of the day.

When the Republican field of POTUS candidates for 2016 first started to form, I seriously thought that Walker was the biggest threat, because nothing could beat a proven track record of pissing on those mooching, bloodsucking civil servants and public school teachers. Turns out I'm just really, really shitty at…

The 2017 version would include a lawsuit and several hundred hours of discussion about The Intolerant Left on Fox & Friends.

Yeah, I don't know what the hell happened there. That was like finding out that Mo Tucker was a birther. (I still want to see X this fall, though.)

"She needs to rethink her life choices," especially in response to Woz' comment above, sounds pretty unmistakably like "She had no business being there in the first place." (Apparently men over 18 at Warped Tour are another story entirely.) Maybe I misread you?

Seriously?

Yeah — she was asking for it.

Was it about his love of Friday night, of his pickup truck, or of cold beer? Wait, don't tell me it was about ALL THREE?? This is HUGE!

Damn good point. I was 18 and not yet out to myself when I saw the Decline of Western Civilization (about a year after it came out). There was nothing remotely "satirical" about the fag-baiting in Fear's schtick.

Ever since punk's inception, an awful lot of people have glommed onto it because they think it magically turns behaving like an asshole into some kind of meaningful statement. It's just another twist on "'Politically incorrect' sophomore is actually just an asshole."

Yeah… I remember thinking how cool John and Exene came across in that movie, just by virtue of being down to earth and not full of faux-badass "attitude."

I've seen the Taymor Magic Flute in the house; it really is fantastic (although we only had so-so singers that night, alas).

I love her voice so very much.

Thaïs was my first "Live in HD" screening from the Met Opera, with Fleming and Thomas Hampson. I'd been to a couple of operas before, but that was the moment when I really caught the bug and decided I was ready to dive in.

Agree about their latest album — it's up there with their best, to my ears.

I've been on a Belle and Sebastian bender for the last several days, working my way chronologically through the entire back catalog in dribs and drabs. Stuart Murdoch's songwriting chops will never cease to astonish me.