I understand, keeping up with all the blogs is a chore, that's why I begin every day with a visit to Hotline's Blogometer, to wit:

"What else is happening in the blogosphere?

Liberal bloggers reacted angrily yesterday when NBC's John Harwood quoted an anonymous Obama adviser who asserted that the liberal netroots "need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely-divided country is complicated and difficult." Now that the WH has disavowed the blind quote, most liberal bloggers (Moulitsas, Silver, Benen, digby, Serwer) think that the comment isn't worth obsessing over. However, other bloggers (Hamsher, Aravosis, Greenwald, Bink) are accusing the Obama admin. of repeatedly ignoring the online left."

Stop fighting!

Glenn, I admire you too much to get into a trivial pissing match with you, but please I read your posts daily and comment on them frequently. Do you really think I rely on secondhand summaries to form my opinions? As our friend Caroline will notice if she goes to Hotline, all their references are duly linked to the prime sources, so folks (like me!) who really want to get to the heart of the matter can get there with just a click.

And speaking of the heart of the matter:

"It's about what drives the Obama administration," you say.

True enough. And what drives you is to hold them accountable. I don't know about everyone else here, but I accept that as the new dynamic and am okay with it as long as you stay in business. I mean isn't this the point of your entire post today?

Sorry to have misspelled your name. I did provide the link at my sig...here it is again:

http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com/

And as you'll notice when you get there, all refs are duly linked to original sources so no one is trying to bamboozle anyone here.

Let's say I as a reader never heard of Edmund White until today.

Let's say I as a reader have judged only one of White's novels worthwhile.

Let's say I as a reader can't find any of Vidal's works readable and I've read them all.

Let's say I as a reader will die and turn to dust as the works of the writers' (both of them!) will live on and fuel future debates among the lowly readers who will come after me.

Gosh, I know it's a long way down from Andrew's adorable kids all dressed up in their mythic character duds to this, but this thread is perpetuating a myth of its own--that is that public schools are hot houses for socially adjusted citizens. When I home schooled my daughter, I would have insisted that she look at all the evidence before jumping to that conclusion. Seems like some of the posters here could have done with a little home schooling themselves...

1. Jeffrey Dahmer, Revere High School.

2. Timothy McVeigh, Starpoint Central High School.

3. Charles Starkweather Lincoln Northeast High School.

4. Ted Bundy, Woodrow Wilson High School

5. Eric Harris, Columbine High Schoo

6. Dylan Klebold, Columbine High School

7. Jim Jones, Richmond High School

8. Kenneth Bianchi, Gates-Chili High School in 1971

9. Richard Ramirez, Thomas Jefferson High School

10. OJ Simpson, Galileo High School

Filmmaker makes movie full of "shit," that he says he should have cut out.

Film critic prefaces review with more disclaimers than an insurance policy (Yes, it's pretentious. Yes, it's misogynistic. Yes, it's pornographic.), but then goes on to make Antichrist seem like must viewing for anyone interested in the nexus of madness and art.

Readers of review overwhelmingly refuse to go see film, thus meeting filmmaker’s aspirations and defying film critic's tortured ambivalence.

I'll throw myself into the mix. I loved Breaking the Waves, and would like to see this one. But I was beside myself when Scorsese threw the talking snake into the middle of Last Temptation of Christ...so no talking fox for me. And I walked out of Coma when Michael Crichton ran the beautiful young woman's brain through a saw...so no power drills to the leg for me. And then there was the Bergman film that featured a woman taking a broken piece of glass to her genitals (so traumatizing I can’t even recall the title), so I’ll have to pass on the scissors snip in this one. Too bad really, because I like art that provokes.

After reading the review I hurried over to add it to my Netflix queue, and (Mama Mia!) there it was ready to view in Instant Play. Andrew is dead-on in his review, but the disclaimer about not needing to know or care about Italy to get it may be a little misleading. As an avowed Italophile and somewhat of a student of its history (Midnight in Sicily is a great nonfiction account of the period covered in the film), the rat-a-tat-tat of names and killings had my head spinning. Though stylistically very different, it reminded me much of Altman's masterpiece on Nixon, Secret Honor, in its portrait of an utter narcissist at the moment when he realizes the world doesn't fully appreciate all the evil he's done on its behalf.

Long time fan of the show here who is just bewildered at how bad it's been this year. Each Sunday I come away grasping at another explanation for it. At first it was going to be Larry was actually having a dream of what life would be like if he was just who he was without being funny. Then I thought well maybe he's saving all this year's best stuff for the reunion episodes, so these recent ones have just been quick knock-offs. Then this Monday when I got a work and a fellow fan greeted me with guffaws over the pissing on Christ chubby middrift episode, I concluded the problem must be me. Maybe I've moved on, but I'm going to stick with it to the end just to be sure...Larry is the King after all.