MINION SOUP

Happy Fourth everybody!

As usual, I suggest a ceremonial viewing of the Star Trek episode “The Omega Glory,” which offers what should be an elementary cautionary moral against fetishizing objects of patriotic regard like the Constitution or the flag, but which all too many in our country need to be reminded of.

Speaking of nerdishness, the other evening The Wife, The Kid and I were cruising down 19th Avenue, when suddenly I began singing the theme song from the sitcom The Big Bang Theory: “Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state…”

“What made you think of that?” The Wife asked.

I gave her a glance.

“Do you have a guess?” I asked, but by then I knew she had traced my thoughts. We were passing a bar called La Pachanga, which had made me think of Sheldon’s catchphrase “Bazenga!” which had made me think of the show.

In other words, The Wife is capable of “ratiocination” on the level of Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin.

RIP to the great and influential Richard Matheson, passed on at 87, and to Jim “Black Belt Jones” Kelly, passed on at 67.

With Despicable Me 2 in theatres…

Monster-of-the-Week: …let’s give the honor to this specimen of the voracious purple “evil minions” from the film, seen here in the new policy trailer for AMC Theaters…