Not just that, but long arms are a great asset for a d-lineman. Maybe the bench press is not the best tool to evaluate strength at that position...

That's a really good point. But it is tricky though to draw the line though between art and sport, and I'm not sure where exactly that boundary lies. For that reason I understand the perspective of ballet not being a sport; at its highest level ballet is not done competitively. The world's best dancers (in most…

Half of a Yellow Sun is a great book, but depressing as hell. Go read it, but be warned...

They say sitcoms get by on the chemistry of the ensemble. In this case it was the chemistry and charisma of 3/5 of the ensemble, and SERIOUSLY JUST GO AWAY TED AND ROBIN. Let NPH and Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan have fun times without you.

The Penguin:

THIRD BASE!

I really don't see DMZ making it to the screen (even on Syfy instead of a network) in any form remotely similar to the comic. It's way too damn cynical, and not in the Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones "the characters are assholes" kind of way, but literally taking the worst parts of modern politics and current affairs and…

Because in our culture homosexual relationships are not treated the same way as heterosexual relationships. Peter dating an attractive girl has altogether different implications for how he is treated by other characters than Peter dating an attractive guy.

For me the important things are "with great power comes great responsibility" and his relationships with Uncle Ben and Mary-Jane. The former inspires him to be a better person and work through his guilt, while the latter is representative of all the balance and compromise in his life (hero vs ordinary guy, trusting vs…

Interesting. I've made the argument before that most longstanding franchise characters can be distilled to 2-3 inviolable personality traits and/or key relationships that constrain gender/race/sexuality shifting (in response to the discussion about Spiderman being gay, my take was that Peter Parker is inherently a…

So, here's my crazy theory. Sarah is destined to be the Oracle of the Arrow-verse. That lets Laurel become Black Canary, gives an Oracle with a proper narrative and back story without intruding on comic arcs best left forgotten or using characters DC won't allow, and can bring back Huntress to make a proper Birds of…

Downhill skating?

I think she (they?) overstate the certainty surrounding and/or oversimplifies the science of some of these, especially with regards to hangovers. A hangover isn't just dehydration, but it does play a large part in it so drinking lots of water during drinking, before bed, and as soon as waking up can help. As for…

Yep, plenty of blame to go around (although I have some sympathy for public works/street operations who in cases like this clearly take orders from decision-makers higher up the ladder). That was the first problem, and it was compounded by a series of mistakes down the chain, all the way to the awful drivers who don't…

There's a lot of people down-thread making various version of the comment "I live/grew up in the NE/Mid-west and don't get why this can't be dealt with" and its counter "I'm from the South and we don't have driving experience and ploughs/salt trucks/snow tires to deal with any snow". I'd like to offer a middle ground:…

We have lots of massive spectacle and brain-melting plots, but no real human beings in the middle of it.

Many national Olympic programs operate on exactly this principle to fill out the rosters of less-popular sports. Bobsleigh is the big example, with sprinters or running backs being the perfect body type for a brakeman. (Lolo Jones obviously, but my first thought was Jesse Lumsden, former CFL running back that won a…

Another example along those lines: the response the media had to how the Canadian Women's Hockey Team celebrated winning Gold at the 2010 Olympics. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/otherspo…

Yep. The look of shock on her face is the look of a professional that's so used to get the canned "we played hard out there... so proud of my teammates... it's all about work ethic" kind of responses they get 98% of the time that she couldn't believe the goldmine she stumbled upon. She was smart enough to get out of…

I think you've touched on one of the problems with the Hermione/Ron romance, at least as portrayed in the film: Rupert Grint had circles acted around him by the other two leads, as well as by a good number of supporting characters. Watson and Radcliffe had way more "zip" to their interactions on screen with each other…