A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A DAMN? Some thoughts that have been percolating for a few days but on which I haven't had time to post individually:

• Gilmore Girls: While this non-AS-P season has brought the clunk more often than one would like (Number of times we heard "I love you" under the Sherman-Palladino regime: zero. Number of times we've heard "I love you" under the Klum-stalker regime: decidedly more than zero.), I'd like to offer up a little shout-out to the new Louise-and-whatsername: Lucy-and-whatsername. I'm enjoying the addition of a couple of quirky Yalies to the quirky Stars Hollowites we've known all these years. Lucy, in particular, never fails to amuse me -- I laugh every time she calls out to "Boyfriend!" I fear that the return of Marty may doom the Lucy/Rory friendship, particularly given the all-too-realistic way in which Marty returned to Rory's life. (To wit: Boy likes girl. Girl isn't interested. Boy vanishes off face of planet. Boy and girl reencounter each other some time later. Boy deliberately ignores girl. Girl makes friendly overture to relieve tension. Boy lets bottled-up feelings loose in one overwhelming flood. Things end badly.)
• Casino Royale: It is a testament to the fantasticness of this 007 franchise reboot that I am now the third ALOTT5MA contributor to post on the subject. I am a dedicated lifelong Bond fan, and as such was highly skeptical of Daniel Craig's prospects. Color me a convert -- loved him, loved the film. I was particularly impressed by the number of winks to earlier Bond flicks without a single note of camp: the various martini bits, Bond's reaction to his new dinner jacket, the film's last line, the swift fiery exit of the requisite agency vehicle after starting out the film with a Ford, and the repeated shout-out to Ursula Andress's egress from the water in Dr. No (which plainly showed why Craig -- or at least his torso -- was cast). It did take me a little while to get used to Craig's face in the role -- he has a tendency toward a perpetual determined lip curl that reminded me a bit of Tom Cruise's "I am now intensely running toward/away from something" look -- and then there were those couple clunky speeches on (a) the importance of stamping out terrorism for the bargain price of an additional $5 million buy-in and -- especially -- (b) the whole "you've stripped me bare" thing, the exact wording of which I have blocked out. But on the whole, I'm sold -- bring on Bond 22, and make sure that Daniel Craig is signed on for a good long while.
• Hmph: Why oh why is CBS giving the post-Super Bowl slot to Criminal Minds? I mean, I get it and all -- this is a real chance for CBS to unseat Lost -- but how great would a one-hour HIMYM in all its unfettered goofy legen-Swarley-suit-upped-high-fived-pause-unpause-Sparkles-dary glory have been? And I bet they won't even let Mandy sing, the beasts.