It seems there's something about a bad movie review (anyone's bad movie review) that inspires deliciously crafty analogies like these. I love it.

Regardless of how the writing has been over the years, the lack of shading and detail from the new comics lately makes for a stark contrast.

'Twould be a fine thing to even have that much, says I.

The local online classifieds are starting to get so overwhelmed with smut, spam, and general creepiness I can hardly stand to look at them anymore.

For a second there, I thought that for the first time in years, Madame Asgar had returned anew! But this rerun was okay too.

Didn't they actually try something like that for a while?

And for Hardball ?

Scandalous.

I'd just like to say that if you've never read Bob the Angry Flower before, it is most entertaining (even though the archives are arguably superior to the current strips). Link in my sig.

and then special cream and talking crows were mentioned.

In seriousness, with all the crazy things they're doing with plastic surgery these days (and there have been some pretty crazy things), I would be surprised if someone out there hasn't already gotten webbed feet. Whether or not the webbing could be attached sufficiently well to withstand the rigors of swimming is another matter.

I seem to recall that champion swimmers do better with longer, floppier feet rather than webbing anyway.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably better off that way.

I am impressed by how the media does not seem to be swamped by discussion of Obama's proficiency at swatting.

Then again, it's only a matter of time. We still have Mr. Bolling on Thursday, after all.

Disney has "video rights to all of Ghibli's output that did not have previous international distribution". To say Studio Ghibli is a branch of Disney is rather thoroughly wrong.

Now go see Pom Poko, readers.

Good gravy, Cary, you're only figuring that out now ?!

You know, take the fight to the source? Bomb the Savannas? Smoke 'em out?

Too crude? Too predictable? Too passé?

I hardly pay attention to Google ads anymore. So many of them reek of scams and evil.

It must be said that it is a wonderful thing that their simple, unobtrusive, text-only ads have supplanted obnoxious flashing animations in some cases, though.

Makes the Bildeberg Group (remember them?) seem like a friendly weekday business lunch.

Yes, I admit that I can see some of the appeal now that I am much, much older, but as a kid Hariet the Spy stood out as one of the dullest books I had encountered. The sequel was worse.

Wasn't there a big ol' story here on Salon a while back where someone stated rather unequivocally that the whole Shia-Sunni issue was indeed pretty irrelevant prior to the invasion? Seems to me Mr. Kristol wasn't so wrong on that point, however dreadful he may be otherwise.

I spent ten minutes trying to find out the real meaning of "henway".

And to think the Wikipedians evidently think it doesn't need its own article.

The work of Don Rosa and Carl Barks is in some ways much superior to the tangled continuities of Marvel. So there.

Religion is a lot of things - indeed, I agree with much of your post - but contrary to human nature? That's a real stretch.

I've read some interesting arguments about how the notion of God grows out of an infant's perception of its parents, for instance.

the sort of fun we'd be having if the President was Jewish.

whether a style piece in the New York Times is actually reflective of some greater reality rather than fluff to entice people to read the paper.

Not Ms. Lay at her best, but still the classic Story Minute of old. I can't recall this one from the books or from recent Salon publication, though.

Whatever section of the archives this got pulled from, go back there again, please!

I'd be most pleasantly surprised if Carol Lay was returning to the Story Minute format of old, but I find that most unlikely. Strips from the archives have been outnumbering brand-new strips here for a while now, you know. Not that I mind; I'm just pleasantly surprised to see something that is from the archives but that is also relatively fresh.

If I had the time I would try to locate this one at waylay.com or in the deepest depths of Salon's own archives, but that is a very time-consuming process.

That was easier than I thought. Click my sig.

I mean, Louis is often easy to relate to; we were all young once. But Bob? Is there something fundamentally right or wrong with his way of life?

The link in my sig says a dollar in 1960 is worth more than $7 today.

$2 billion to wipe out smallpox is not quite the miracle of economic planning that $300 million is.

And look on the bright side! In 1960s dollars, that $3 trillion bailout only comes out to $42 billion!

Is this where we might kibbitz about the tragic loss of Friday comics?

We still don't have practical methods for performing genetic redesign on human beings, and when they are finally exhaustively hammered out it's probably not going to be as simple as pressing a button to make all the problems go away.

Also, Nancy Kress, Beggars in Spain.

Surely his name would be all over a project like this. Or would there have to be more violence involved first?

Clip art montages? Is that what we're getting now?!