I find Joel McHale's acerbic brand of humor quite entertaining, and I find his reality-T.V.-based The Soup to be a worthy successor to Greg Kinnear's Talk Soup. That may not sound like much to you, but Talk Soup and Kinnear's humor were hugely important to me between the ages of twelve & fourteen—the darkest depths of adolescent awkwardness & alienation—and are fondly remembered even now. So, I elected to give McHale's new ensemble sitcom Community a try, and I rather enjoyed it.

Last week's episode, however, stated bluntly that the first three Indiana Jones movies were great, but that the fourth, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was terrible. My ire was roused, but I was going to let it go until the same "joke" was reprised at the end of the episode. And that was that. Let us hope Community is canceled sooner rather than later, and that misfortune drives the writer(s) of the offending episode to both a bad end and an early grave. I will not suffer insults to George Lucas, not from pissant, puerile sitcom writers.



Attention: Jerks at the Peacock Network, the Great Horned Owl is not amused.

Obamboozled
A follow-up to yesterday's item: Muscovylink. I've several questions for Secretary Clinton: if the Russians truly acknowledge the threat of Iran's atomic ambitions, why is it that they have publicly proclaimed their opposition to any sanctions against Tehran? Do those sound like the actions of a nation that has genuinely recognized the threat Iran poses to the whole of the civilized world, or the disingenuous machinations of a nation that is playing yourself and President Obama, in the Penguin's memorable phrase, "like a harp from Hell"? Since you know so little about the Russian Federation that you can't even pronounce the name of its president, what confidence can we have that those tricky devils aren't pulling the wool over your preposterously naïve eyes?

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Sufjan Stevens, "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" from Illinois (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Which will happen first, Sufjan Stevens completes the remaining forty-eight albums in his fifty-state initiative (anyone get that reference?) or John Linnell releases a second volume of State Songs? In neither case would holding your breath be advisable.