...... PATION!:  Tim Curry, as the Criminologist.

Shout-out to Eric J for calling it!

DEMAND SATISFACTION:  Longtime ALOTT5MA Fave Jay Rayner (remember when that was A Thing?) lists his 12 Dining Commandments, "atrocities" he hopes to see gone from restaurants in 2016. This one has come up regularly in Philadelphia:

All restaurants must install big enough tables to accommodate their small-plate-sharing menus. The small plates menu was your idea, not mine. Most tables can’t manage more than four dishes, and you want us to order seven.

YOU'RE NO KELLY BISHOP:  That's my response to today's announcement that Debra Messing will play Marjorie Houseman in ABC's upcoming Dirty Dancing remake.  Still no Johnny Castle casting.

HOW CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT FAMILY WHEN FAMILY'S ALL THAT WE'VE GOT?  Time to complain about (see title, absence of black acting/directing nominees) and hail (Stallone, the Inside Out v. Straight Outta Compton battle in Original Screenplay) this year's Oscar noms.

I AM AN EXCEPTIONAL THIEF, MRS. MCCLANE:  You don't want to reduce a great actor's career to one role, but it's hard to make a debut as memorable and compelling as Alan Rickman's in Die Hard. From there to Sherwood Forest to the halls of Hogwarts to the deck of the NSEA Protector to a delicious slow burn at a department store counter across Rowan Atkinson, Alan Rickman brought charm and true talent to all his roles.  Fuck cancer; he, too, was 69.

BUT THEY DON'T HAVE A PLAN, THEY JUST HATE MINE!  Should you listen to the Hamilton soundtrack before seeing the musical? Margaret Lyons investigates.

REVENANTING/RECKONING:  Oscar nominations tomorrow. What do you hope to see? I'm pulling for the unlikely Michael B. Jordan nod for Best Actor, and anything for Trainwreck. (Screenplay?)