LAURA ROBERTS: Not to give away the ending, but I’m pretty sure Machete will, in fact, be followed by Machete Kills! and Machete Kills Again! Not necessarily because Machete is such a brilliant movie, but because the world loves revenge films and the superheroic bad-asses who helm them.
THOMAS DELAPA: Of Machete, director Robert Rodriguez recently told Entertainment Weekly, “If this thing makes five bucks, we’ll make another one.”
Whatever way you slice it, that pretty much sums up Rodriguez’s career as one of postmodern Hollywood’s schlock jocks.

ZOE RICE: Is it just me, or do all caps in emails always look like SHOUTING? Has the italic just lost its verve? What’s wrong with a nice italic? Or on text, I’ll use the star key for emphasis rather than SHOUT. Like, say, “I *told* him he was going the wrong way.” Can people please stop appearing to shout? Down with the email all caps!

However, emoticons can stay forever. They enable email sarcasm. Heart the emoticon.

AKIE BERMISS: I couldn’t live with out my all caps. I’m just so sorry that people have used it for shouting. I’ve always like using for emphasis that I feel italics don’t work for. Indeed, I’ve see the stars. I’m not a big fan because it doesn’t seem to get my emotion right.

HOWARD MEGDAL: While Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric may live on in the national consciousness for longer, due to it being a national campaign combined with an SNL immortalizing, I believe Jan Brewer’s freeze-up last week in the Arizona gubernatorial debate is a far worse overall gaffe.

ALLISON REILLY: Brewer explained her mishap the following day telling the FOX affiliate in Phoenix: I’m human, and I just blanked out. Brewer went silent for nine seconds as she searched for words, but, did manage to wrap up her opening statement quite nicely without letting her mistake bring her down. Palin, however, did not demonstrate such recovery in her eight minute interview with Katie Couric.

ALLISON REILLY: A Gallup poll from Sept. 3rd said that 38 percent of Americans would vote for a Republican who has not served in Congress over a Republican or Democrat who has. Along party lines, 63 percent of Republicans would vote for a candidate with no congressional experience, while 59 percent of Democrats would vote for a candidate who does has previously represented in Congress. I think that this phenomenon results from anti-establishment and anti-status quo sentiment from the right.

AKIE BERMISS: From the very same poll I draw a somewhat more dire opinion of the direction of American politics. Not only is the impetus one of change, it is one of somewhat radical change. And that change is not meant to be progressive — rather, it is deliberately meant to be REgressive. Yes, in every era there will be people who want things to go back to the simpler ways they were a couple of decades ago (whatever that may mean to that particular group in that particular time), but this recent ground-swell of anti-establishment movements is somehow different than what we’ve seen in the past. There is something more desperate in its call to arms. The people it has brought to the fore are not firebrands or revolutionaries or malcontents. There are a parade of wide-eyed patsies — few of whom have any business in 21st century American politics.

SHARON CHAPMAN: First of all, what is fair?
Toddlers are constantly complaining that things are unfair. It’s unfair that they can’t have ice cream for dinner. It’s unfair that they can’t stay up all night. It’s unfair that they have to take baths. It’s just not right. Toddlers don’t understand that ice cream for dinner will make them flabby and not fit. Staying up all night won’t allow a child to grow properly. And without baths, nobody would want to have the child over for a playdate.

Oliver Perez is a flabby, under-rested, smelly toddler.

ZOË RICE: When Oliver Perez says the Mets are being unfair, he’s actually partially right. Not to him mind you. Perez can complain about unfair treament like Linday Lohan can complain about cameras in her face. Bed, lie in it. Contrary to Ollie’s whining, the Mets are being unfair to the other 24 men on that pre-September roster, to the fans, and even to their own chances of getting something in return for that bloated, ill-conceived contract he carries.

STEPHON JOHNSON: Sorry to play that card, but Oliver Perez, to some Mets fans, is Omar Minaya in uniform. And rememeber the criticism over Minaya’s alleged racial preference? That plays a role as well.

SONIA BRAND-FISHER: There is a slow, familiar build up as Peggy Olson approaches the mirror before which she bit her lip and held back tears at the dawning of the first season of “Mad Men.” This time, tears well in her eyes and she breaks down, the creases of her face deepening in ultimate frustration. Olson emerges as the caretaker in this episode for two very powerful men who should know better than to start a drunken brawl in a deserted office building. However, her selflessness is called out by Don Draper as opportunistic as apposed to self-sacrificing. Who is this enigmatic Peggy Olson? Where did this chemistry with Draper come from? One can’t help but watch Episode 7 of Season 4′s “Mad Men” and be stunned by its emotional rawness, specifically between the characters of Peggy Olson and Don Draper.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Well, it would appear we know what rock-bottom is in the world of Mad Men: getting beaten in a fight by Duck Phillips.

This was the most emotionally powerful of the Mad Men episodes this season, with further context that isn’t provided as exposition, but in subtle, effective moments between characters. And the singular theme that has threaded the season so far- that Don must adapt to a changing decade- is brought out, in this case, by the fight between Cassius Clay (in this rematch, Muhammad Ali) and Sonny Liston.

HOWARD MEGDAL: The disastrous impact of illegal immigrants on this country- managing to birth anchor babies on day trips into the country, terror babies who will wreak havoc on the country’s security around, say, 2035, and keep on putting money into Social Security they have no hope of ever collecting- without remorse- has claimed another victim.

DANI ALEXIS RYSKAMP: Accusing illegal immigrants of sabotaging Jan Brewer’s reelection bid is just going too far. They’re obviously too busy doing other things. Think about it: your average illegal immigrant picks lettuce all day, gives birth to one anchor baby while training another in the nuances of terrorist activity, sneaks a few cartons of Camels into Guadalajara, AND gets beheaded in the desert, yet still finds time to bus your table and drive a cab while refusing to speak America’s Official Language(TM).

KAREN PATEL: a recent article in Goal.com claimed that Tottenham Hotspur were the big losers of this transfer window, but I couldn’t disagree more. Harry Redknapp now has a wealth of striking talent at his disposal – potentially more potent attacking options than most of the teams around him, and that includes the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United. Rafael Van Der Vaart is the latest addition to Spurs’ healthy-looking attack and it will be interesting to see how the manager copes.

MIKE CUMMINGS: I’m glad you brought up Arsenal, because I’m convinced they’ll end up being one of the biggest losers of this transfer market — once the season plays out. Arsene Wenger strengthened his squad in a few important spots — defense, forwards — but, once again, completely ignored the 800-pound gorilla in North London. Arsenal are still without a top-class goalkeeper, and as long as that’s true, it’s going to be almost impossible for them to win the title.

MOLLY SCHOEMANN: I would like to think that I am at the age where I can appreciate Paul Reubens in a semi-ironic way, despite the fact that in the early 1980s his show, Pee Wee’s Play House, was the stuff of nightmares for me.

KIP MOONEY: Pee-Wee Herman was always my host of choice as a kid. Barney was too silly and Mr. Rogers was too straight-laced, but Pee-Wee was the perfect TV icon for me: mischievous but never out-of-control.