Mountain of Judgment

Don't make me send Clifford here to break your pelvis.

Item! I bought a lot of comics at the San Diego ComicCon this past summer, but none were as rewarding as Little Lulu: My Dinner With Lulu. This particular volume, part of a reprint series from Dark Horse Comics, collects John Stanley and Irving Tripp's first Dell Comics adaptations of Marge Buell's character from 1945. How did I never know about this? I mean, I had seen the strip listed on the Comics Journal's Top 100 English-language Comics of the 20th Century (Lulu was #59), and I vaguely knew who the character was, but these comics are a revelation. The minimalist art is a delight (especially in the early comics, where Stanley provided much of the art), but the real strength of the strip is the absurd kid logic of the plots. Stanley's wit is fairly subversive, he's wonderfully unsentimental, and the stories never fail to surprise even as they unspool to their illogically logical conclusions. For a prime example of what I mean, check out one of the best Lulu stories here.

Item! Rod Stewart is awesome. No, really. I know he's mired in those insipid songbook albums, and he spends more time in the news for legal problems than rocking, but after recently listening to Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment and especially the brilliant new Faces box set, I don't care what show tune he murders now or how far he's fallen. "Lost Paraguayos" alone absolves him of the entire 1980s. And to be honest, I can't decide whether I hate "Infatuation" or actually kinda love it. "Love Touch", however, does unquestionably suck.

Item! Whenever I see a picture of Bill Frist, my first impulse is to gather up the other villagers, raid his castle, torch the tapestries and run a pitchfork through both him and his unholy creation (in Frist's case, his hair). Yet here we are, in a world where he's considered a contender for the Republican primaries in '08. Good god in heaven I hope these insider trading stories kneecap him. Of course, we know how effective the similar Harken scandals were in derailing Bush's political career.

Item! Now that the DVD is out, and I can judge for myself, I have to say the gratuitous shower scenes in season 4 of Smallville don't really bother me. Look, nubile teenagers get dirty.