Most things in this category are now case-by-case for me, based on a sort of Pareto/80-20 rule of opposable digits. If you're still trying to get the picture right and Marty's already being chased out of the mall parking lot by the Libyans, just put the remote down and watch.

Holy Christ, I feel your pain. I've been trying to get ID to help, but they keep sending me boilerplate asking me if I have the plugin enabled.

IP address wildcards, CIDR notation... either of these would be fine.

WTF?

At the risk of overusing the phrase "at the risk of": That's one of the nicest things anybody has said to me in a long time.

That wouldn't be very Christopherlike.

Christopher Hitchens was (and will forever be), beyond a great hero of mine, a very convenient crutch in a world of intelligent, well-meaning, and otherwise pleasant cow-orkers who, upon learning of my atheism, seek to "debate" with me over how untenable such a worldview is. After it becomes apparent that neither side is more open to re-evaluating a truth than the other, I often drop a copy of a Hitch book, essay, or article on their desk (or in their inbox) with a quick note along the lines of "Hey, it was fun, but this should explain why I'm really not interested in continuing this conversation." Most of the time, they will send me a rebuttal such as "I see. I understand how someone such as yourself would be attracted to such a poorly-reasoned argument as Hitchens's, but the evidence clearly indicates that he bases his conclusions more on emotion than fact."

I get a good chuckle at that, refrain from taking the bait, and go on caring a lot less about who approves of my "worldview" than these fine folks do. Hitch just makes it very easy to find an eloquent way to end a discussion, which is much different than trying to win one. I know I didn't change the other guy's mind, and I most likely didn't even make him think twice about his position, but I do feel better having not fallen into the trap of getting upset over it beyond my capacity to hold my own intellectual ground.

And most of them do exactly the same thing for themselves with the writings of William Lane Craig. At the risk of sounding snotty (and feel free to chastise me if I indeed do): (A) Which of those two men is more entertaining to read or listen to? And (B) which name is better known?

My favorite quip so far, from Chuck Klosterman: "If the Red Hot Chili Peppers acoustically covered the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, it would still be (slightly) better than this."

Yep... Especially odd in my dad's case, since he was always VERY fond of the sham/real gag.

***A FEW SPOILERS BELOW***

I'll admit, the Whitmire's Kermit has finally become Kermit in *character*. The voice is still not there, but it can't ever be. I think a lot of people are saying that he finally "sounds like Kermit" because they've heard him doing it for over 2 decades now. If there had been just a touch of Bean Bunny in this flick, I could be persuaded to jump across that thin line and call his Kermit perfect.

I'm also not too quick to discount the negative opinions of Oz and a few other Henson alumni as you have with the "Jim would have loved this, you crotchety old douchenut!" I kinda think that those guys would know better what Jim would have liked and disliked. For what it's worth, the curmudgeons (my father included) are sort of right when they say that BLATANT flatulence jokes would never have really flown while Jim was at the reigns. It was, predictably, the one thing my dad did not love about the movie. What I think is important, and what I think you realized as well, is that this was not just a fart-joke-for-fart-joke's-sake fart joke.

There was no actual flatulence presented onscreen. It was whoopee cushions, duh. Secondly, each time the Fozz presented the joke, it was dismissed by his superiors as "not our thing" or with a "not now, Fozzie".

That last one is important: Who said "not now, Fozzie"? Rowlf, arguably the character most Hensonesque in the bunch. So all the nostalgic old farts who refuse to see the flick because of the "fart jokes" are not only cheating themselves out of a great Muppet movie, they're missing out on an on-screen nod to the very mindset that leads them to think farts and Muppets don't mix.

And the rest of us, who love fart jokes, get fart jokes ON TOP OF ALL THAT MORAL METANOSTALGIA.

I also miss Jerry Nelson quite a bit, but seeing Uncle Deadly put to very good (and hilarious) use is a good salve. I'm sure Googling would turn up some Oz-like disdain of Nelson's for the new flick, so I'll refrain. This was as perfect a Muppet movie as could be made in 2011.

Just don't get me started on the "Kermit never married Piggy" issue...

Film Noir Deckard narration added to Blade Runner so we know how he is feeling... wait...

"BW & DG" in a heart shape or maybe a bear paw?