a couple of years ago, a friend of mine was a DJ (excuse me, "on-air personality") for one of our local public radio stations (WFPK in Louisville, which is an incredibly good station). She spun "Radio Free Europe," and back-announced it afterwards, "that was REM, back in the day when we couldn't understand what Michael Stipe was singing - and we liked it that way."

Funny, but it was true - I remember listening to Chronic Town and being able to pick out individual words here and there, yet not being able to put them together into any kind of an intelligible narrative. And we DIDN'T care, because the band sounded so cool and when we heard Stipe sing "... wolves at the door" it was mysterious and compelling. ("Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself..." - WTF is that?!)

Have you ever actually READ the lyrics to "Radio Free Europe"? If anybody can tell me what that song's about, you win the gold star.

I was about 20 and had been playing in punk bands for three years or so when REM first hit. And strangely, we who had been playing loud-hard-fast (we would have been in heaven if we had amps that "went to eleven") were completely won over. REM taught me that it was possible to rock with melody and subtlety, and that jangly guitars rule.

there actually was a live-action movie of "Fireball XL-5" a few years ago, and I think Ben Kingsley played "The Hood." Only caught a few minutes of it, it looked pretty bad.

I'm a dope - I meant "Thunderbirds," not "Fireball XL-5".

yeah, the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer is cute. But, while extolling the dog's connections to the Aztecs, there is a brief flyover shot of Machu Picchu... which is an ancient Incan city. Different ancient culture, different continent altogether.

Much ado about piffle, I suppose, but still - it's not really that hard to maintain some semblance of historical accuracy, is it Disney?

first, tomreedtoon: I watch "Weeds" because it's really funny, the cast is terrific (and if you can make an Olsen Twin - I don't remember which one it was - look good as an actress, you know the back-of-camera people are doing a great job), it's a spot-on satire of upper-middle class McSuburbs (as far as I know, anyway), and it's funny. (Yes, I know I mentioned that twice. Because it's a funny show.)

I also love to see who's going to end up singing the theme song each week, and what they end up doing to it.

You sound a little like people I know who say, "Oh, no, not familiar with that show. I don't really watch TV." Not sure why you'd be a regular reader of Heather's column, but to each his own. You also sound like you need to lighten up a bit.

And to silenced: for the life of me, I have no idea what you're talking about?! Wildfires? Drug-related killings? Iraq? What? Your comment doesn't seem to relate either to Heather's column OR a previous letter (unless the letter was pulled for some reason). WTF?!

I'm not sure if this is the way the author meant it, but "wet" is a studio term describing the use of reverb (or other effects, for that matter); adding more reverb/effect makes the track "wetter," lessening it makes it "drier." (Example: "My Morning Jacket's first albums were drenched with reverb, about as wet as you could get and still have discernible music.")

And acoustic doesn't necessarily refer to acoustic guitars; non-electronic keyboards like piano (or non-digital electronic keyboards, like organ or electric piano) can be referred to as "acoustic" in a sense. Basically, stuff that has to be mic'd as opposed to digitally processed. That could be what the author means, I'm not sure of course.

And to the letter writer who revels in blasting gangsta rap while driving through the "countryside" (whatever he means by "countryside" - the rural "heartland," or just Westchester Co.?): believe it or not, kids in rural America are listening to rap more than anything else these days. So, your too-cool-for-school attempts at being subversive aren't as successful as you'd probably like to believe.

But don't worry, we'll still keep producing food for you and the other city folk.

I swear, every time I see Elizabeth Banks with dark hair, I think it's Parker Posey.

As to the movie, I just don't know if I can handle seeing it right now.

"My position is insupportable. It springs from self-hatred, emotional longing and an inability to play nicely with others or to derive my identity from being part of a warm, openhearted community. I have big problems. I am fundamentally unwell. I am unlovable."

Marry me. I love you. I'll share with your husband if necessary.

Not to sound all metaphysical, but I think humans and dogs entered into a sacred bond from the moment they started hanging out at the campfires looking for cheap eats. We take care of them, they love us. It's a more honest relationship than any that humans can have with each other.

What's the expression? "The more people I meet, the more I love my dog" or something like that? It's true. I have a better relationship with my 14-year-old blind street mutt than I do with pretty much ANY human.