I’m going to get a lot of disap­pointed visitors for this one. Three citizens of the Greek island of Lesbos (also spelt Lesvos) are suing a Greek orga­ni­zation named “Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece” over the use of the word “Lesbian” in the organization’s name. The islanders claim that their geographical demonym (“Lesbian”) has been unjustly co-​​​​opted by the orga­ni­zation to their detriment. They want the Greek government to prohibit the orga­ni­zation from using the term “Lesbian” in its name. There is inter­na­tional precedent for the islanders’ claim. Terms like champagne, chianti, and Roquefort are restricted by laws in various countries to products [ . . . ]

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Some movies just aren’t available in any other format. I once had a roommate who had a large collection of movies on laserdisc that were either unavailable on DVD or were otherwise greatly superior to the DVD versions. Among them was The Cheap Detective, written by Neil Simon and starring Peter Falk, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, Stockard Channing, Sid Ceasar, Dom DeLuise, Abe Vigoda, and a half-​​​​score of others in a WWII detective spoof. It is one of those comedies, for which Simon had a penchant, that was able to pull off absurdity without devolving into farce. I actually like it better than its more-​​​​popular prede­cessor, Murder [ . . . ]

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. . . Fifth Circle to expect light flurries.