Important Pop Culture Thing #1: According to Dan Aykroyd, Ghostbusters 3 cannot possibly be made without Rick Moranis’ involvement, but Bill Murray can be recast if he chooses not to participate. I have a few problems with this, one being that Rick Moranis, while an irreplaceable Louis Tully, quit acting to nurse his terminally ill wife and should probably not be goaded into another sequel. Another problem is that REALLY, AYKROYD? RECAST BILL FUCKING MURRAY? You dumb Canadian bastard. How about you stick to overpriced vodka and the sex hexing of pretty waitresses and leave the movie making to people who haven’t been in a Britney Spears film.

Recast Bill Murray. Come on. I’d rather Ghostbusters 3 just not be made than a Murray-less version be released, no matter what Dan Aykroyd or this insane woman I met in a public restroom last week think.

I was reviewing a show last week and, because I am an habitual note taker who doesn’t want to miss anything, waited until between sets to use the restroom. As such, there was a line. It was a small, oddly-shaped restroom, so the woman behind me in line was standing across from me, facing me, looking at my shirt. Which looked like this:

Awesome, right? I know. There was another one with Bill Murray’s head on Batman’s body, but it was sold out (although NOW it’s on sale for $11, hurry up and get it!). Anyway, this woman was staring at my shirt and finally said, “Um, so, I’m sorry for saying this, but why Bill Murray?”

“Why Bill Murray?” I repeated, because who the fuck ever asks why Bill Murray?

“Yeah, why Bill Murray?”

“Um. Well. Because it’s Bill Fucking Murray, and also his head is on Han Solo’s body.”

(Again, I mean, what the fuck?)

“Haven’t you heard that he’s supposedly an asshole?”

“What?” I continued to sputter.

“Yeah, he’s an asshole. And he’s rude to his wife.”

And I just stared at her. I don’t speak to enough people in public restrooms to be very skilled at it, and I certainly don’t get harangued about my Bill Murray-meets-Han Solo-in-a-genetic-splicing-experiment-gone-amazing shirt to know how to respond. Thankfully, some other strange women exited her stall, looked at my shirt, and said to my critic, “It’s Bill Murray. Get the fuck over it.”

Important Pop Culture Thing #2: While I have not consciously avoided listening to Adele like I have consciously avoided listening to Nicki Minaj or “Moves Like Jagger,” I didn’t hear “Someone Like You” until earlier this evening. It’s not the kind of song that normally interests me, but I did read something about why the song apparently makes everyone cry, and because it was about science, I became interested.

“Someone Like You” contains a musical device called an appoggiatura, defined as “a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound.” An appoggiatura creates a buildup of tension in the listener and, consequently, a release when it breaks, and this is what causes people to cry. I can’t read, write, or play music but I love musical terms and scientific experimentation, so I downloaded “Someone Like You” to see what would happen.

Now, I don’t know where the appoggiatura is or if I’m just a broken individual, but “Someone Like You” did not make me cry. It was pretty and sad and nice to listen to while it got dark and snowy outside, but no tears on this end of the appoggiatura. Although I will definitely campaign for someone I know to name their child after it.

Important Pop Culture Thing #3: One of the cable networks is advertising a countdown to Valentine’s Day and showing a shitload of Disney movies. I guess the romantic themes get people in the mood, which is really disturbing because what kind of adult human who is attracted to other adult humans gets turned on watching Disney movies? More than half of them are about kids or animals, and personally, I feel more comfortable getting hot and bothered by pornography than by Beauty and the Beast.

This countdown to Valentine’s Day made me think of something Abbi wrote a few days ago about how she doesn’t want her daughter to be overtaken by the Disney princess culture. Fans of this culture can crow about the strength of some princesses and the way they teach girls that it’s okay to be girls, but really, people? Do you buy that? Or deep down, do you realize that every single one of those princesses relies upon a man, and most of them have Caucasian features, and being princesses – a career bestowed upon them by virtue of birth rather than by work – sort of unfairly stacks the deck in their favor? And who says that girls have to like the Disney princesses? Or wear pink? Or turn away from sports, or math, or science? Why are the princesses from the movies so aggressively marketed while the princesses in the books go unnoticed without their cartoon doe eyes?

Why aren’t more little girls as enlightened as this one? I don’t even care if she’s parroting back whatever her parents taught her; she’s saying it with conviction, and she’s fucking right.

(It’s a little old, I know, but I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to post it without presenting it with the single comment “RAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR!”)