Another thing I’m late on due to recent travelling is Entertainment Weekly‘s 6.1 cover story — “The Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.” The fact that EW has essentially become an Eloi under-25 girlie magazine explains why some of the most intriguing characters are near the bottom of the list and some of the blandest are near the top — naturally!

HE reader Kurt Bainer explains it as follows: “Wow, talk about upside-down rankings! There are a ton of characters at the bottom who should be at the top, and some that don’t even belong on the list in the first place.

“I have no problem with Homer J. Simpson as # 1 — still going strong after 21 years — but consider the placement of the following:

“#99 — Kill Bill‘s The Bride (i.e., Uma Thurman). #95 — Jim Carrey‘s Truman from The Truman Show. #90 — Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) in Fargo — should be in the top 20. #85 — Daniel Day Lewis‘s Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood — should be among the top 15 or 20. #64 — Russell Crowe‘s Maximus in Gladiator — deserves placement among the top 30 or 40. #52 — Kathy Bates‘ Annie Wilkes in Misery — should reside among the top 10-20.

“Not to mention Kevin Spacey‘s Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects at #37 — clearly a top-20 character. Or Vincent Vega/Jules Winnfield of Pulp Fiction at #29 — they should be among the top 15. #14 — Jeff Bridges‘ Jeff Lebowski in The Big Lebowski — should be among the top 5-10. #4 — James Gandolfini‘s Tony Soprano in The Sopranos — should definitely be #1.

“Now think about these names having been placed higher than those listed above…

“#48 — the Harold and Kumar guys; #40 — Will Ferrell‘s Ron Burgundy. #28 — Tyler Perry‘s Madea. #24 — Felicity (please). #20 — Ally McBeal (should she even be on this list?). #9 — Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and The City — deserves to be somewhere between 50th and 75th place. #6 — Jennifer Aniston‘s Rachel Green on Friends. #3 — Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Buffy over Tony Soprano?).”