Like a BP oil leak.

I love it when Teague reacts to something like he's trying to get poop off his hand.

I tried to buy this on iTunes (my first), but something went wrong and it didn't work. But before trying again, I looked at the reviews and checked elsewhere. Gareth Edwards says his budget was a lot more than the $15000 equipment costs being floated on the Tubes but "way less than $500,000." That's still a very impressive effects film.

Now, Edward Burns is saying he made Nice Guy Johnny for $25 grand, but it's not an effects film. However, a lot of reviews say the Monsters trailer is a major bait-and-switch regarding the eponymous effects.

So, meh. If I see it, it will be only on Down in Front's vaguely-implied recommendation. However, I've watched plenty of schlock made for less than half a million dollars in my time, and this has got to be better than most of that. Something Weird Video, anyone?

Close Encounters is a great, great movie. It focuses on character and has a strong but fairly subtle theme about communication.

Remember that, at the time it was made, Sagan was telling everybody that, with untold billions of stars, there must be millions of life-sustaining planets, and dozens of intelligent cultures. And with I Love Lucy beaming out in all directions for twenty years, we had to have caught their attention. We walked on the moon, man. All things seemed possible.

ET, on the other hand, is a load of wet bunk and drivel.

"Nothing"? That's sad but flattering. But this actually brings up a conflict. The "Trey.Stokes" tag is a commentator tag. Having commentaries for at least three works by the same director, not all in the same franchise, qualifies said director for a director tag.

This has never happened before. No one before has necessitated more than one tag. Somehow, I thought it would be Clint Eastwood.

Oh, and the seating at the induction ceremony is alphabetical, so you will be seated between Trey Parker and Uwe Boll. Enjoy that dinner conversation.

And it doesn't break my hundreds of links!

Spooky. I've been wondering why MJF hasn't done more voice work, since his timbre is so distinctive and he's limited now in what physical acting he can do. But this. This is amazing.

The story reminds me a bit of Nicholas Briggs, the guy who does the Daleks now for Doctor Who. He just loved the show and did fan stuff and got noticed. Now he does about all the voicework.

Seeing The Incredible Melting Man with grade school friends when in came out around 1977 and then going across the street in my small home town and eating an extra-cheese pizza.

Seeing The Spy Who Loved Me in that same theater the same year and going home and telling the whole story to my mom, standing in her bedroom doorway.

Seeing O Brother Where Art Thou in 2000, with friends from work and finding a new movie that made me feel like a kid again. The next day at work I uploaded a picture of George Clooney in the Soggy Bottom Boys beard to my account on the new corporate directory, where it stayed for a year.

Assuming "modern" is 1900 or after (which eliminates a lot of my favorite buildings....)

1. The Chrysler Building. Just brilliant.

2. The Empire State Building. Perfection. This is what a skyscraper is.

3. Grand Central Terminal, NYC. Lives up to the moniker "grand" inside and out.

4. Falling Water. I don't like FL Wright; I think he was overrated and a jerk and a lousy engineer. But this—and the Ennis House—are undeniable evidence of genius.

5. Patronus Towers. Not just big.

Next: top 5 weather conditions.

I've noticed that Brian easily has the highest quotability-to-speaking ratio. Trey's insider stories, while interesting, are hard to quote. Teague is the quirkiest. Michael is the analytical one. John is the rebel. George is the spiritual one. Paul is the cute one. And of course Ringo is retarded.

I remember coming across some show bibles on a script site in the way-back, like 1996. It was interesting to read the show bible for Tales from the Gold Monkey, a short-lived Indiana Jones-type show that I enjoyed in the '80s.

I also recall an Indy 4 script from the same period, set in the '50s, involving Russians and vampires that was pretty good but might have been non-pro work.

But I haven't read scripts for years now. I'm interested in your program and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

I going to miss this. I almost always travel on Sunday evenings. Maybe next time, if you switch to Saturdays or something.

I thought you were out and proud about your erectile dysfunction.

Exactly. Is Deckard a slow, weak human who must use experience and shoe leather to defeat the artificial supermen? Or is he the dupe tricked into hunting his own? That could be an effective story, but it has a different third act (revenge). The two themes can't coexist peacefully.