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Actually, MikeTheGirl, not only do I know and love "Absolutely True Diary..." but I taught Alexie's "Flight" this year to 10th graders and "Reservation Blues" in previous years to 11th graders.

I'm an English teacher, and I'm really torn about the WSJ article.

That GRRM wrote this episode says a lot about him as a writer— particularly as an old TV pro. All through the ep, I kept noting how well the events of the novel had been trimmed to keep things brisk, without losing anything essential. It takes a special kind of artistry— and an amazing lack of ego— to apply such a…

Ohhhh Gonzo Badger. So perfect.

The first Starship Troopers is overrated and, I think, kind of incoherent. Yes, it makes a few points against authoritarianism and militarism, but the story itself overwhelmingly affirms hierarchy and subordination of the individual to the national interest (yay military victories! yay naked coed showers!) It's…

"Being Alive' is also the song in the Sondheim musical Company that asserts that, though it can get to you, marriage is preferable to solitude because "alone is alone— not alive." It's an understanding that the Doctor keeps discovering— and a particularly gorgeous way to close out an episode that was, among other…

The Dispossessed would make a great high-tone PBS/BBC miniseries. How about a new series: Masterpiece Future?

"Dear Mother Dinklage,

Fun Psychic-Parasite Literary Connections!

YES! SAY IT!

I suppose that if you wanted to program a replicant to have real emotions but no desire to have a child, the spider babies, though cruel, would make a lasting impression while not crossing the line into actually fiddling with the mechanics of personality.

Stipulating that Deckard is a replicant, I like to imagine that he was "turned on" only a few minutes before the movie starts, and that he never was a Blade Runner, or had been to his apartment before, or nuthin'— it's all implanted memories. Tyrell, in collaboration with the LAPD, puts him into the field to hunt…

What was up with the weirdly passive shopkeeper in the Chinese tchotchke store? I get that you'd want to be at the counter if a customer comes in, but she stood in the background, sublimely indifferent to the LIVE BIRTH THAT WAS HAPPENING IN FRONT OF HER. Was she part of the conspiracy? Practicing mindfulness? Is…

To be clear, and let us answer this very clearly— the movie is going to be either a prequel or a sequel, but not a remake, though we cannot rule out something contemporaneous in time but with airport robots instead of Ridley Scott, who we may or may not have contacted, but whose blessing is very important to Alcon. …

can't post the pic— but I got all happy when we saw young Olivia reading Mark Helprin's novel Winter's Tale (in the same hardcover version that I first read [ah, to have that moment of discovery again!]) Pondering connections— a character named Peter linked to an immanent apocalypse is clear but unsatisfyingly…

I always assumed that she was so slow in building her world because she would ultimately subvert it. When everyone made fun of Hermione for respecting the house elves' natural rights, I kept waiting for her peers to get that she was doing the right thing. Nope— Rowling got bored with that thread, and Hermione was…

POWERS! I'm excited to hear about a possible Alias show, but where, oh where, is the adaptation of the Bendis/Oeming masterwork I've been hearing about for oh so long?