Ok, Now you try it.

-Scarlett, handing me her new Slinky

Daddy, you wearing glasses!

-Scarlett when she first saw me yesterday as she starts using sentences

A substantial percentage of outrage is bullshit. So is a substantial percentage of outrage about outrage, and so on. Outrage is often about consolidating political power and promoting the view that your political opponents are horrible people. Much of the dialogue about Mr. Robertson being suspended from A&E consists of partisans eager to use the opportunity to argue that (1) people like Mr. Robertson are horrible people or (2) people who criticize Mr. Robertson are horrible people. Outrage is often an occasion for “THIS JUST PROVES WHAT I AM ALWAYS SAYING ABOUT THEM,” with the particular case a thin disguise.

Yet, despite his non-existent range, Schwarzenegger has continually taken on projects that either cast him as a character with multiple identities ( Raw Deal, Total Recall, True Lies, Escape Plan) or require him to play multiple characters ( The 6th Day, the Terminator franchise). This results in a Hollywood hall of mirrors: Schwarzeneggers interacting with other Schwarzeneggers; Schwarzenegger pretending to be Schwarzenegger; Schwarzenegger discovering that he’s not the Schwarzenegger he believed himself to be, but a different, identical Schwarzenegger.

“Torture porn works in exactly the opposite way: It shows the audience absolutely everything, and bears the same relationship to actual horror as porn does to romantic comedy.” - Scott Kaufman of the AV Club

If ever there was a period in modern American history that deserved to be described in Dickensian terms, it was November 2008. If you voted for Barack Obama (or just appreciated the historical significance of our country electing a black president) it was the best of times, the age of wisdom, the epoch of belief, the season of light, and the spring of hope. But if you paid any attention to the financial news pages (or simply owned a house that was now worth a year’s pay less than what you paid for it) it also seemed like the worst of times, the age of foolishness, the epoch of incredulity, the season of darkness, and the winter of despair.

Someday I want to say “Hey everybody! Listen up!” and have everyone in a 50-foot radius gather around me, just like Dudley does while handing out the bike-shop fliers. It’s one of the ways I wish life were more like television.

-Donna Bowman of The AV Club at TV Roundtable

Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

-Mark Twain (allegedly - a lot of stuff gets falsely attributed to him)