Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog challenges the very essence of Little Round Mirrors.

For one, this isn't technically a movie, but a series of video blog short film thingies that, when assembled, equal about a 45-minute program, which Joss Whedon and friends made during the Great Writers' Strike of a few years ago (2008?). But that's not important right now.

Secondly, but most importantly, Dr. Horrible challenges my ability to alphabetize my movies. I'd originally put all films starting with "Dr." after films starting with "Do-" because "Do-" comes before "Dr-" right?

But upon further review, and by review I mean, my father-in-law came over and he is in MENSA, we agreed (I acquiesced) that when pronouncing movies starting with "Dr.", we do not say, for example, "DURR No," or "DURR Zhivago." We say, "Doctor."

Leaving aside the notion that no one in MENSA ever says "DURR" for any reason unless using the sound to indicate someone of lesser intelligence has just said or done something stupid (or if one is German), the truth is that English speakers always pronounce the word "doctor" rather than the abbreviation "Dr."

Of course we pronounce the abbreviation. Why shouldn't we alphabetize accordingly?

I also should note that my father-in-law holds a doctorate AND hails from England, where English was invented, so like, he should know. Yes, I happen to hold a master's degree in English, but he's actually English, and his Ph.D. in chemistry, membership in MENSA, and position as a regional Romulan ambassador in the Star Trek role-playing game far outweigh my state school education, which stalled at the master's level. Ergo, I defer to him here because he might be reading.

But before we fully defer, I've also turned to supplemental research, as I believe fairness and accuracy are the pillars by which Little Round Mirrors exists. You might not get journalistic integrity from the mainstream media, and you might not get academic integrity from our public school system, but by God, when you come to Little Round Mirrors, you can rest assured we're (I'm) doing everything we (I) can to provide accurately (quickly, haphazardly) researched (Googled) information with a modicum of attention to the traditions of academia (spelling).

According to Wikipedia, "As for the titles Mr., Dr., etc., they are generally not spelled out in alphabetizing, though this question is obscure enough that the rule might vary from one organization to another."

In that case, my organization varies. Wikipedia continues:

"You can't go wrong alphabetizing strictly letter by letter, listing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington after Moonstruck (though other people might do it differently)."

I am other people, and I do it differently.

"Leonard Maltin's annual movie guidebook does sort 'strictly letter by letter, listing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington after Moonstruck.' As a user of the book, I find this quite inconvenient."

Me too.

"Bearing in mind that other sources like TV listings may feel at liberty to use abbreviations that were not already in a title, so the form I'm looking up may not be the one that Maltin lists. I would rather have to look in just one place to find all titles that start with Dr. or Doctor."

Me too!

What this means is that films starting with "Dr." (ostensibly standing for "Doctor") come before all of the other films in my collection starting with "Do-." This also solves the conundrum of where to put Doctor Zhivago, the box of which features the word "Doctor" spelled out rather than abbreviated. Thus, Doctor Zhivago comes after Dr. Strangelove, assuming I own those movies on DVD.

There are rules, people. This is not Vietnam, Donnie, and yes, "Donnie" comes after "Doctor" and "Dr." as well. So if you can think of a movie that starts with "Donnie," then you might guess a few titles to come later, but that's not important right now.

What is important is that Joss Whedon, writers' strike be damned, went ahead creatively with some fine actors (Nathan Fillion and the immortal NPH, among others) to make this series of video blog entries that my brother-in-law, also born in England (though not doctorated), called "strange."

Dr. Horrible is rather indescribable, but I'm not required to do so, as this is my blog and I make the rules. If you take nothing else away from this entry, at least know that Dr. Horrible should be viewed at the computer or on your television set, if for no other reason than Dr. Horrible holds a Ph.D. in horribleness, which trumps a Ph.D. in chemistry (according to Wikipedia).