Upon finishing this excellent article, I realized I had read the entire thing in my head in the voice of an old newsreel. Which was fun.

Let's not forget that in the US and Canada, government routinely withdraws funding from climate research that does not serve the economy, and that throughout the western world, big pharma and other corporate interests put large amounts of muscle to skew science in just the way they want. Good science goes on in those…

I've got you down for June. I only picked such a late date because that's a couple of months before the next movie gets released. You're totally right that it would be hard to sustain this longer. However, the re-assertion of Parker might be as much as a six-month event.

Sounds about right. Seems like after Miller everyone wanted to have those two throw down every couple of years. But you can only get your first kiss once...

I know. That's the story they were referencing, though. That particular panel — I don't know. The art looks familiar. Almost Jim Lee from maybe ten years ago.

Dear Mr. Mega,

1: Uncanny X-Men #163, from, I don't know, 1982, maybe?

Let's start a pool on when he comes back. I've got March 2014. As in the comic will come out in that month. I can never keep track of actual cover dates.

This is a good point. Hard to tell if it's deliberate or not, however. Clearly enough people commenting on this thread don't get the historical context of the pink triangle. I wonder if someone might make a clever suggestion to the artist? What else could symbolize hedonism? Could you do a Pac-Man munching a dot? …

I understand the sickness just fine. And lots of good art has been made out of deep understanding of this sickness. I didn't think this movie deserves to stand with, say The Bell Jar or Detachment. Some people clearly share my opinion, and some don't. I went to see that movie at Toronto's Carlton Cinema (or…

I was expecting a good movie. From Von Trier I expect a good movie. Sad certainly, but good. I didn't get that. Others did. This is the way of the world.

That's ... disturbing. So, you know, thanks. I'll pass it along.

Fair enough. My argument was intended as a kind of simulation-world version of the Carter catastrophe (also called the Doomsday Argument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument).

May I have mine with some post-scarcity on top?

I'm glad it worked for you. It didn't for me. If that means that you must make assumptions about me (as I've been saying over and over again here) then you might want to look inside yourself and ask why you must make such assumptions. I, on the other hand, am not making any ridiculous and unfounded assumptions…

I love that machine. What happens if you try to fake it out by flicking a switch back and forth?

This is a fair point, and I don't disagree with it. As a representation of depression in the character played by Dunst, it's got much to recommend it. However, it's a movie, not a textbook or a case study. And as a story, the film supports and privileges the point of view of the depressive far too much. The way…

I would actually be willing to forgive the anti-science as being of the character of a fable if at least the story and pace and characters had been good. They weren't — to me, anyway. And in the end, as I've said elsewhere, I thought the glorification of a selfish depressive as being more insightful than some of the…

Word.

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