in the open space: God & culture

In “ The Haw-Hawed Couple ” episode of the Simpsons , Marge tells Bart he needs to go to Nelson's party. When Bart complains that no else is going, Marge replies: “If no one else jumped off the Empire State Building, would you not jump?” Heh. Is it just me, or have other moms out there found themselves uttering such versions of the classic one-liners our moms gave us? (Image: FOX) miscctgy

In last night’s episode of NBC's The Office , Jim is needling Dwight, who’s claimed he’s never wasted time at work. Jim’s been stalking him with a stopwatch, recording every second of personal time. In the spirit of that effort, Jim approaches co-worker Andy, who sits just behind Dwight, and begins a conversation he knows Dwight will have a hard time resisting. Jim: Hey, Andy. Andy: Yo. Jim: By any chance did you see Battlestar Galactica last night? Dwight looks up from his desk and begins to listen. Andy: No, I did not. Is that any good? Jim: Actually not. It is really so-so. Incensed, Dwight turns around to say something, but Jim holds out a stop watch to start timing his personal conversation, heh. Dwight roles his eyes and turns back around. Andy: Okay. Jim turns back to Andy. Jim: I mean, I like all the crazy monsters and stuff, you know, like Klingons and Wookies and all that, but— Dwight starts to turn around again, wanting to correct Jim, but Jim holds out the stopw...

At the end of the most recent episode of Boston Legal , Denny Crane and Alan Shore are sitting on the balcony off Crane’s office, reflecting on their recent victory against the tobacco industry (in the previous week's episode) and an upcoming case against a pharmaceutical company (which began in the current episode)—and also give us viewers a sly commentary on the fact that this is the last season for the Emmy-winning law drama: Denny Crane: Last week, big tobacco. This week big pharmaceutical. Alan Shore: Well, why not go out swinging, right? Crane: Who said we’re going out? Shore: I read somewhere you should live every year as if it’s your last. Crane: Really? I can’t imagine that this is our last year. Aren’t there still some time slots we haven’t tried? --from the " Guardians and Gatekeepers " episode (Image: screencapture of "Guardians and Gatekeepers", ABC, via TV Guide ) miscctgy

"It's funny -- a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that." --Director J.J. Abrams as quoted in SciFi Scanner as to why you won't see William Shatner in Abrams' Star Trek . Hat tip ComingSoon . I'm a huge fan of Shatner (I even geekly snapped a photo of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame), but this made me laugh out loud, heh.