"Results like these do not belong on the resume of a Supreme Being."

And now George Carlin is gone? Damn. This is a rough month for us all.

He was not a movie star, but as someone who relishes star quality wherever she finds it, the Siren has always been awed by Carlin, one of the two greatest standup comedians of all time (the other, of course, being Richard Pryor). His delivery alone was a marvel--check out the shift in stance and expression with which he emphasizes "But he loves you," taking the joke from amusing to paralyzingly funny. Like Voltaire, Bunuel and Groucho Marx, Carlin combined irreverence and a dark outlook with a still, small hope that there was somebody out there intelligent enough to get it. Too many didn't and still don't, alas, but the Siren is grateful that for so many years, Carlin still thought it was worth trying.