No, this is Spinal Tap

While I was out in L.A. this past week, doing legwork for a magazine article and reviewing Captivity for Variety, the long-suffering Mrs. L. was left home to tend to our son when he started complaining about headaches and neck and back pains. Fearing the worst -- i.e., meningitis -- she brought George to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a viral infection. (Thank God that, unlike some folks in Sicko and a lot of folks who review movies, Mrs. L. has a real job with real medical insurance coverage.) Naturally, I was more than a little upset when I heard about this, especially since I was thousands of miles away and unable to do much but worry. But I have to admit that when I heard George was given a spinal tap, the first thing that sprang to my mind was...