Growing up in the 1970s, hardly a week went by without encountering an episode of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ on one of the eleven channels that my elderly Quasar could drag out of the Cable TV ether.  As an adult, I recognize the archetypical power of Sherwood Schwartz’ vision, even finding parallels between the castaways of the SS Minnow and the classic stock characters of Commedia Dell’Arte.  But all that high-falutin’ falderal (Doo dah!  Doo dah!) is thrown by the wayside at the appearance of young Mary Ann Summers, the fresh-faced farm girl who stole my heart.  The quintessential Girl Next Door, she was one of my earliest crushes, alongside Samantha’s evil double Serena (who is an entirely different kettle of fish.)  Able to catch a fish, sing a torch song, and put even the overly-educated Professor in his place as necessary, Mary Ann raises today’s pointed query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) always had a slight crush on Silver Age Lightning Lass, if it helps, asking: Who’s your favorite example of the “Girl/Boy Next” door archetype in pop culture?

Last evening, my daughter insisted that we had to watch ‘Despicable Me 2′, regardless of whether or not Daddy had any patience left after double-shifting holidays, flagrantly ignoring the stack of recorded television already on the DVR.  Still, when it comes to the Widget, I seldom argue too hard, as her instincts are pretty spot-on about stuff we’ll both like.  Still, given the choice, I’d join the legions of whiny know-it-alls who want to know why we don’t have a sequel to ‘The Incredibles’ yet, or perhaps start my own legion of people who think we should revisit Swan and the Warriors after their harrowing journey across New York City.  Sure, ‘A Christmas Story 2′ was a bad idea, but ‘Rambo’ is arguably a more enjoyable movie than ‘First Blood’, and the Friday the 13th Franchise doesn’t really get rolling until the third installment, which begs our sequelicious query for today…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is still waiting to see what happened on the other side of ‘The Black Hole,’ asking: What movie/book/comic/modern-art-performance-piece-with-robots-finding-love/what-have you do you find most deserving of a sequel?

Given the post-holiday scheduling (sorry for those outside of the US and/or not celebrating Thanksgivvukah), I am having issues getting back into regular gear.  Switching from nights to days has only exacerbated the issue, which left me wide awake at 1 am, knowing I had to work again at 8.  Luckily, my old friend Stevie King came through with a couple of short stories to downshift my brain into sleep gear.  Ever since I found a copy of ‘Night Shift’ in my grandmother’s library as a child, a little King always helps me decompress, which in turn begs a query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) reminds you of Frankie’s prophetic advice (and not the one about tribes in conflict), asking: What’s the most relaxing bit of pop culture goodness in your world?

You know the drill, yadda yadda, holiday in the States, blahbidiblooblah hippity hooplah!  (Quoting Eminem is one of my guilty pleasures.)  Nearly 20 years ago, I had just met the woman who would become my wife and impulsively went to her family’s Thanksgiving dinner celebration, at which my future-mother-in-law asked each of us to speak about what we were most thankful for.  Being a twenty-something ironic goofball (there weren’t hipsters yet, and I wasn’t ever alternative enough to be a grunge guy) I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that question.  These days, it’s still a toughie.  Seems like there’s always something that needs to be immediately addressed, be it scheduling three different jobs, making sure the lights stay on, or just monitoring short people’s blood glucose levels, to where such self-analysis doesn’t make itself a priority.  Still, since this is American Thanksgiving (celebrating the time that two mice made a cat surrender half of his turkey and giblets through the clever use of physics and tiny paper hats) it seems like a day to consider that very query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) figures that, every once in a while, it’s perfectly acceptable to embrace a cliché here and there, asking: What are you most thankful for (pop culture or otherwise) in 2013?

As a child, I was always puzzled by the Legion of Super-Heroes’ references to future sports like Moopsball, or Commander Riker’s tantalizing references to the gentleman’s sport known as Parrises Squares.  The references to strange sports seemed to deepen the world-building, giving us bits and pieces of a greater culture that wouldn’t have been the same had they referenced just plain old football (or worse, “Space-Football.”)  Though I’ve never been particularly interested in watching or playing sports myself, the basic rules and scoring strategies have always been fascinating to me, and it’s easy to understand those people who wanted to see an entire movie of just Harry Potter playing Quidditch, even though the rules make that game inherently flawed from both a dramatic and a competitive standpoint.  Making things even more entertaining is the ability to imagine Cotton and Pepper calling a game of Brockian Ultra-Cricket on ESPN 8 (“THE OCHO!”), which in turn begs a query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) would have made a great athlete, if not for all that pesky exercise, asking: What’s the best made-up sport of all time?

As this week is a Holiday in America (indeed, for some of us, it’s two of ‘em), our regularly scheduled podcasts are on a temporary holiday hiatus.  Fortunately, I keep my MS-QOTDs numbered, for just such an emergency, which means we’re ready to talk turkey, in the vernacular.  The last few weeks, I’ve been focused on television and movies, which makes me feel like I’ve been giving comic books a little bit of a short shrift.  That’s kind of a shame, as there are literally thousands of amazing stories out there to enjoy, from Action to Adventure all the way through Zoot Sputnik.  (Yes.  I just said that.  You’re welcome.)  In the 80+ years of comic history, there have been many powerful moments, such as Peter Parker’s shocking moment on the George Washington bridge, or that one cover where Shi had 11 fingers, which in turn begs a query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has a lot of great candidates in mind for this one, and could probably go of for days, asking: What single comics page or panel is the most memorable to you?