My beloved Intergalactic Medicine Show has released an anthology of some of the best stories from their years of blessed storydom. Included is Eric James Stone's "Tabloid Reporter to the Stars," which has the BEST surprise ending ever.

I recently rewatched and reread the Lord of the Rings. (It's funny how the books are so connected to the movies now.) It's funny--I don't have any of the problems with the movies that some of the other fans do, like Faramir's side trip to Osgiliath or Gimli's silliness, but I just can't make my peace with the third movie. It's overlong and repetitive and I'm shocked when I see the Extended Version, knowing what they left in the theatrical version. 1) There is a rehash Gollum schizophrenia scene that is totally unneccessary and slows down the story. 2) They took out most of the scenes from Frodo and Sam's journey across Mordor, and 3) of course, they left in the infamous "Sam-eats-all-the-bread-and-Frodo-tells-him-to-go-home" scene. I have never seen anything more asisinine than that damn scene. I wish I could edit it out of the movie, but there would be no way to do that and make dramatic sense.

Also, why is it that Peter Jackson, who has to overdramatize Sam's silly attempt to swim to Frodo in the first film, made Frodo's sickness so subtle at the overlong denoument of the third film? In the books, Frodo awakes shaking and is constantly grabbing for something around his neck. It's the only time the movie actually downplays something.

Grrr... oh well, someday someone will remake it, and then I'll have a new host of complaints.