Michael Hopcroft

It's an unpleasant day when you realize you just paid a bill twice when you had just enough money to pay it once. The stupid it burns...

Because even when something is obvious -- or, more appropriately, seems obvious -- we don't always know the why, which down the road is likely to be very useful. After all, for thousands of years, it seemed obvious to most humans that the Universe was centered around the Earth, and people were willing to do all kinds of absurd-looking handwaving when evidence came along to show that maybe it wasn't.

But it would be truly terrifying if it did. "The Pig Brain that Ate Up Birmingham Alabama" sounds like a horror movie.

Don't some people still insist on playing it at wedding receptions? That shows a distinct lack of clue. I'm trying to think if there is anything that dark in his extensive solo catalog. Perhaps "Mad about You" might qualify. So would "I Burn For You", from the soundtrack to Brimstone and Treacle in which he starred. And don't forget he ended up giving up acting after a disastrous Broadway run in The Threepenny Opera playing the thoroughly loathsome Macheath.

Q: So you want to tell all these young Democrats to shut up? How can you possibly convince them? A: Learning politics and joining a party may not be the best idea, Daffy.

Remind me not to go where you are...

Q: This is NASA, Mr. Kramden. We're taking your wife to Cape Canaveral as you requested. Can you sign here, please? (See above for Answer).

Q: How's your life as a professional Madden player? A: No, I'm not a couch potato. I think I'm more like an onion.

Q: Thank you for lending me your pirated Game of Thrones episodes, but now my computer can't find the hard drives. What happened? A: Yo Ho Ho and three cans of Monster!

Q: What makes you think these Trolls are always low on supplies? A: Today is a bad day to be a billy-goat, mister!

"Oh, yes. Squirrels are most fearsome opponents." "Forget it, Jack. What happens in Pandatown stays in Pandatown." "So, we need to stop Omi from freezing himself into the future, so he won't go into the past, where he did what he did which resulted in what happened. Simple!"

It would not surprise me if that was part of the idea -- use it outside as a backup power source to keep you warm inside.

Manga creator Kazuhiko Katō, known by his pen name Monkey Punch, has died at the age of 81. You may not know the name, or even the pseudonym, but I'm pretty sure you know about his most significant creation -- globetrotting master thief Lupin III in the series of the same name. For almost half a century Lupin has confounded adversaries (like Zenigata, the Interpol agent obsessed with his capture), tried to bed nubile women (and usually failed), made enormous scores only to see them slip away, and slip in and out of the clutches of the lovely, lethal Fujiko (who may or may not have returned his affections depending on her mood and the needs of whatever scheme she was hatching). Lupin has starred in several television series and several movies. This number included The Castle of Cagliostro, the spectacular adventure that was the first feature directed by Hayao Miyazaki (and which still holds up amazingly well today after nearly forty years). The heady blend of high adventure and lowbrow comedy has been enjoyed by generations, both in Japan and around the world.

Verdi's opera Otello is, obviously, an adaption of Shakespeare's play Othello. This play brought into the world perhaps the blackest-hearted villain in all of theater -- Iago, master deceiver and twister of truths and relationships, a man who will worm himself into your confidence, pretend to be your best and only friend, and lead you on a primrose path to the destruction of everything you care about or hold dear -- all over an imagined slight. In the opera, Iago gets a chance to explain to the audience just what his view of the world is like, in this aria "Credo in un Dio crudel!" In English -- "I believe in a cruel God!" A great translation of the lyrics can be found here . Verdi had a great love of Shakespeare. He also wrote operatic adaptations of Hamlet. Macbeth, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (renamed simply as Falstaff).

Q: Name the only real legacy of two years of Donald Trump in the White House. A: You've never heard "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" until you've heard it in the original Cyberman!

President Macron has come as close as a secular politician can to swearing a blood oath on the flag of his ancestors that Notre Dame will rise again. That the best architectural minds in the world, the best construction technicians and workers, and the will of a nation -- if not a continent -- will come together to restore the cathedral to its beauty, glory, and raw emotional power. It will be an epic labor. I doubt it will be completed in my lifetime. But it is a far better use of the world's time than making more bombs, more battles, and more orphans. God bless Paris. God bless Notre Dame.

...blueberries are -- yellow? Dang! I'm going to need to get the color on this set realigned! Next, I'll be seeing pink elephants! No, wait. That's from the Scotch.

I did not kill this thread! I swear! It was Colnolen Mustard in the Conservatory with a Lead Pipe!

Heaven help us all if this turns out to be arson. I just watched the end of the Special Report from ABC, which ended with shots of the interior of the cathedral while it was still standing. It was so beautiful and so serene, and now it is gone. Heartbreaking. Simply heartbreaking. There is no other way to describe it.

Anyone?

“Impressive. Every word in that sentence was wrong.” “I wish I could put my fist through this whole lousy, beautiful town.”

It's the difference between a teenage fantasy and an awful reality. Did Sting know someone who experienced that? Did he experience it himself? (He was a schoolteacher before his music career took off, after all.)

'Who are you?" "The new Number Two." "Who is Number One?" "You are Number Six!" "I AM NOT A NUMBER! I AM A FREE MAN!" "HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Although nothing will match the inspired lunacy of the Raul Julia/Angelica Huston films (where what plot there was seemed to solely exist to get in the way of the inspired set-pieces), the look of this new movie is far closer to what Addams drew than anything I have ever seen on film. I think this has landed on my must-see list.

What, too cute?