I don’t remember how 2008's Rambo ended, but considering the shit he’s been through, just when the fuck did he acquire the means to buy a fucking ranch?

His show was from an era where this shit was ultimately benign

But liberals won’t join the NRA even if they buy guns

Great piece, A.A. Dowd.

Motorcycles, man. Those things are deathtraps, you cannot change my mind.

But — this advice didn’t come from Marvel itself, right? or anyone associated with them? It’s not clear from the quote.  If it was some random executive telling her that’s what she had to do to be in a superhero movie, that’s just to be expected.  This is the woman who was given unsolicited dating advice from our…

Hm. I really liked the first movie, but didn’t think it was that scary... which I appreciated. The kids’ acting was great, and the setting update worked. So I might just like this second part fine. I might be in the minority but I don’t think the book It was all that scary.  Good, and gripping and all, but... didn’t…

but I really hope that we hear nothing direct about Offred.

Oh, yeah, Overdrive is great! My wife has an Audible account and with that she’s sure to be able to buy whatever she wants, and Overdrive is, like you say, a bit limited. But I can always find something, and its search program can limit to audio (Overdrive libraries also loan out ebooks), and you can look for subject…

I zoomed right through The Talisman when it came out, then again a year later - liked it fine although the other-world world-building was a little wonky. Have not even opened my copy of Black House for some reason.  Anyone here read it?  Listened to it?

Thanks for acknowledging Frank Muller’s work, but let me go a bit further: the man was one of the best audio book readers I’ve ever heard, hands down. He died tragically young from a motorcycle accident - King and some other authors did a benefit of some kind for Muller, who was looking at a long and painful recovery i…

zoos are doing important work in preserving and restoring endangered animals

I understand the voice actor/”real” actor thing. The voice acting community is pretty small and most of them can do multiple voices. When a name actor gets a voice gig because they’re a name actor, it’s kind of a diss. But ... close your eyes and listen to Morena Baccarin speak. She really does have a great voice.

I rarely get past the first sentence of posts on NextDoor (we belong because..oh, I don’t actually even know). But I see several, not all from the same person, about mountain lion sightings. We live in California, so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility, but ...Um. I’ve seen them too, but they’re…

The other is a novel by Shirley Jackson which was adapted into a Robert Wise film simply titled “The Haunting”

Nah, I’ve read Le Carre (and Graham Greene and Robert Littell and Eric Ambler, etc), so no, my impression of spycraft doesn’t come from Bond. Because I’ve also read Fleming, and his Bond was pretty much just an assassin. It just seems to me that there’s a better, less lazy, way to describe Eli Cohen’s position in the…

I expect a very strong “’Joker’ film unfair to the mentally ill” contingent to rise up soon

Do they also point out that dressing up like a bat and warring on criminals doesn’t make any sense?

Can Racism declare bankruptcy?

I will probably watch this - Cohen is a really good actor. Check out his small role in Hugo, where he gives his potentially throwaway cartoon villain character some unexpected humanity and pathos.