I’d like the opportunity to use creative muscles that … haven’t been asked of me for the first nine years that I’ve worked there … It could be some sort of title change. The least of the concerns is anything financial. I’m not buying a boat because of writing skits. It’s more having a desire to give more to a place I really believe in. To stay just for the juice of being in the public eye — of being Mitt Romney — is not enough.

We go to the movies to celebrate and escape, to share our ineffable love for something with hundreds of strangers in close quarters. We feel safe there and exhilarated at the same time. James Holmes can’t take that away from us, and neither can crass reporters or opportunistic politicians. This is what we do. We buy our tickets months in advance and we stand in line for hours without growing tired or cranky because we’re propelled by the shared elation of everyone standing in line with us. We have our preferred seats and our favorite snacks and we make sure we go to the bathroom early so we don’t miss the trailers. We stay until the end of the credits and then we stand in the lobby for half an hour and talk about what we just saw with our friends. And then we get on Facebook and Twitter and blogs and share our impressions with the world. We save our ticket stubs and we remember for the rest of our lives the first time we saw our favorite movies on the big screen. This is what we do, and it means something to us. So we should keep doing it.

After some long … hard … thoughts … I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress ‘American Idol’ before she boils my rabbit,” Tyler said in a statement. “I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith, and I’m back — but instead of begging on my hands and knees, I’ve got two fists in the air and I’m kicking the door open with my band. The next few years are going to be dedicated to kicking some serious ass — the ultimate in auditory takeover … On Nov. 6, we are unleashing our new album, Music from Another Dimension on the Earth, Moon, Mars, and way beyond the stars … “Idol” was over-the-top fun, and I loved every minute of it … Now it’s time to bring Rock Back. ERMAHGERD.

I’ll tell you a quick story: My daughter was on the set—my youngest was 4, she’s now 7. I brought my own personal glasses, 18-karat gold-framed. Those are my Giancarlo glasses. I’ve had them for 10 years. I knew that they were the right look for Gus. Ruby was on the set with me, we’re shooting in a parking lot, and I had never, ever dropped these glasses. The make-up gal came up to powder my face, and I took them off and I dropped them, and I chipped the little corner of the glasses. It was in that moment I was complete. I thought, “Oh, these aren’t Giancarlo’s glasses.” I was carrying them back and forth between episodes, wearing them at home and back in Albuquerque, afraid to lose them. Once I released them and said, “Send these back to Toronto where I got them made and they’ll make the exact same glass lens, the frames are fine and you keep them after that,” that’s when I knew Gus had taken over and claimed them. He claims a piece of me.

Mistakes are a drag, because you get in the area of regret and self-pity. I don’t like to linger in this zone. Obviously, drug use is a huge mistake. So I’ve made some bad choices. That’s reflected in the Princess Leia thing. I do not take it on. Me having a tantrum in the corner for my cut of Star Wars toothpaste? I don’t want to get into it. Every so often, I wonder if Natalie Portman is getting more money than the none I’m getting. If she’s holding a check for Princess Amidala’s likeness in one hand and her Oscar in the other, that would piss me off.

I don’t think anybody’s ever talked about it as articulately and clearly. I understood it better having heard [rappers] talk about it…I mean, they really get it and they understand it, and that’s a great thing. They’ve been very supportive all these years. I think they’ve helped us tremendously.

Tonight’s episode of Louie (according to the druid who writes the capsules for the Time Warner on-screen programming guide) is as follows: ‘Louie explores a lifelong habit.’ I have no idea what this means, and perhaps the episode will suck. Maybe that scene with Dane Cook was the apex, and — even though the rest of season will be totally watchable — nothing on Louie will blow my mind again. But I don’t think so. I really don’t. I’ve never had this much confidence in a TV show, ever. This is really happening.