Same here, on both counts.  It pains me a little to say this, but I'll take his books (and his speaking engagements) over any of the movies he's made in the last fifteen years or so…

That's pretty awesome.  I just love it when you stumble across cool-person namechecks in the unlikeliest places.  I remember an episode of "Divorce Court" in the eighties where the defendant and two of the witnesses were named after the original Replacements (one of the witnesses was "Tommy Bob Stinson").  And on "24"…

That's pretty awesome.  I just love it when you stumble across cool-person namechecks in the unlikeliest places.  I remember an episode of "Divorce Court" in the eighties where the defendant and two of the witnesses were named after the original Replacements (one of the witnesses was "Tommy Bob Stinson").  And on "24"…

That's such a weird episode.  There's only about thirty seconds of videotaped material in the whole half-hour, and most of the filmed stuff meanders without a whole lot of snap.  I imagine the studio audience for that taping mustn't have been pleased.

That's such a weird episode.  There's only about thirty seconds of videotaped material in the whole half-hour, and most of the filmed stuff meanders without a whole lot of snap.  I imagine the studio audience for that taping mustn't have been pleased.

And he followed that up with another blog post consisting of the entire screenplay he wrote for it.  One of the great lost opportunities in modern cinema, in my opinion:

And he followed that up with another blog post consisting of the entire screenplay he wrote for it.  One of the great lost opportunities in modern cinema, in my opinion:

And it needs to be called RACK FOCUS.

And it needs to be called RACK FOCUS.

I have not!  Thank my lack of god for YouTube.  Thanks for that…

I have not!  Thank my lack of god for YouTube.  Thanks for that…

That has to be one of the dozen best episodes of that show ever.  "Gidget's Disease" (with a particular laugh line that sold me on Jane Curtin's brilliance forever), her as Amy Carter opposite Garrett Morris doing one of his best performances as her ex-con nanny, and that incredible Marilyn Miller piece where she…

That has to be one of the dozen best episodes of that show ever.  "Gidget's Disease" (with a particular laugh line that sold me on Jane Curtin's brilliance forever), her as Amy Carter opposite Garrett Morris doing one of his best performances as her ex-con nanny, and that incredible Marilyn Miller piece where she…

Oh, I've got both of those.  And "Sir Henry at Ndidi's Kraal" as well.  (Not as good as "…Rawlinson's End," but you can spend a great deal of time puzzling over which Stanshallian [Vivianian?] demonstration of ironic racism is more troubling, that 'un or this'n: 
http://www.youtube.com/watc…

Oh, I've got both of those.  And "Sir Henry at Ndidi's Kraal" as well.  (Not as good as "…Rawlinson's End," but you can spend a great deal of time puzzling over which Stanshallian [Vivianian?] demonstration of ironic racism is more troubling, that 'un or this'n: 
http://www.youtube.com/watc…

And if we want to grouse about the second live show and the "Queen of Jordan" followup being sequels, the fact remains that both improve on the originals.  Which almost never happens, unless you're talking about "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Godfather Part III" (the good one).

And if we want to grouse about the second live show and the "Queen of Jordan" followup being sequels, the fact remains that both improve on the originals.  Which almost never happens, unless you're talking about "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Godfather Part III" (the good one).

There's a fairly easy-to-find bootleg of the two of them recording the demos for those songs (and several more that never got officially released).  Pretty neat.  Certainly "So Like Candy" almost redeems the cluttered mess that was EC's MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE.

There's a fairly easy-to-find bootleg of the two of them recording the demos for those songs (and several more that never got officially released).  Pretty neat.  Certainly "So Like Candy" almost redeems the cluttered mess that was EC's MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE.

Whatever, man.  I can completely understand not liking her as an artist (it took me a long time to come around to her, and there's still large chunks of her output that are basically unlistenable), but Lennon's first solo album, "Imagine" itself, and many of his best late-era Beatles songs ("Julia," "I Want You (She's…