I guess this is a milestone of sorts for me. Carlin is the first celebrity I've cared about to die. And today I am genuinely sad that his mocking comedy will now forever be in reruns.

I saw Carlin perform in Seattle when I first moved here, with my best friends Sean and Kristen. It was a brilliant show, and will always remain in my head as the moment when I first realized that I wasn't in Salt Lake City anymore - that I had finally escaped, and Seattle was such a great place to be living instead.

And I was in the audience for MadTV when they recorded the laugh track for his Touched By An Atheist. If you hear a really loud, high-pitched squeal of delight all through the bit - yup, that's me.

There is a great tribute page for him on The Onion AV Club. Many fans have left their (appropriate) condolences and I recommend the long, but fascinating, 2005 interview.

And let me add the memoriam my wonderful (and sarcastic) Significant Other contributed this morning: "He's with the angels now." LOL.

I just finished reading The Portrait. It was... disturbing. It was written very like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a meandering journal of observations with plot thrown in on the side. And the plot was good, but I think the novel stood on its own without it - maybe even stood *better* without the finality of the story - just because the musings were so frighteningly perceptive.

Excerpt 1:

To impose yourself, to take the public by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shaking; to scream in its provincial little ear that I am a genius. And if you scream loud enough and long enough, it believes you.

Excerpt 2:

"It's like an addiction," she said. "I go mad if I can't use my hands. It's all I have, the only thing that makes it worthwhile getting out of bed in the morning."

I saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this weekend, and I know everyone is gonna mock me, but I really liked it. Of course, I liked Stargate and The Mummy too, and I know those are both hated by all you jaded post-modernist cynics. But I hated the Star Wars fiasco, so it's not just that I have low standards and am easily entertained (although that is probably true...).

I watch the trilogy fairly often (I saw Last Crusade a week ago), and it really felt to me that this sequel was pretty much just like the other three (well, better than Temple of Icky Things, which was kinda stupid): it was B-movie fun, fast-paced silliness, no real surprises, and a lot of over-the-top action/acting. Sure, it was missing Tom Stoppard's dialogue in #3 and the small-budget hilarity of #1, but it had its own wacky hijinks.

Personally, I only wished it could have been longer. I felt like the comedy had to take a backseat to the plot, while I would have loved some more pointless bickering and silly car chase scenes.

It does puzzle me that people are so vitriolic in their loathing of this movie. Is this a peer-driven attempt at being cool by pretending nothing is good enough for you? Are American audiences turning into hyper-critical self-important back-seat directors? Can't you just settle in and have a little fun? Or are you one of those miserable bastards that go to Disneyland and spend the whole time bitching about the omnipresent branding and overpriced kitsch?

From the Onion commenters:

God literally popped out of a box to melt nazi faces in raiders. if you can suspend your belief for that, interdimesional, poorly rendered, non-aliens shouldn't be an issue.