@Supernatural_Canary: Interesting analogy, though it reminds me a bit too much of Hubbard's dianetics. True dianetic adherents would take this line of reasoning even further, to the pain endured during the moment of conception, but few reasonable people really wish to imagine their parents copulating, and I am…

@sibelian: An exception doesn't necessarily disprove the rule. I actually agree with you.

@Ghost in the Machine: That would be so awesome! Especially if his eyes shoot laser beams! Vampires hate laser beams!

@sibelian: Jack and the Beanstalk.

Wait... I thought Abe Lincoln was a vampire hunter, not a cyborg?

@Vundal: I agree. I should also give a head nod to Wild Cards, the super-powered shared universe short story collections edited by George R. R. Martin. Like most short story collections, some are definitely better than others.

@RandomThought: Portal fantasies can easily fall into either camp, though I admit exceptions are possible where the lines become blurred.

@corpore-metal: Absolutely. Science is just like magic, but without all the blood sacrifice and guilt.

@99TelepodProblems: But in the dog's mind, it doesn't matter which side of t he door he is on... it's the WRONG side.

@99TelepodProblems: ...and a dog is defined as a creature perpetually on the wrong side of a door.

Somewhat similar plot, and I can't recommend this book enough.

I think it was Tolstoy that once quipped that there are only two types of stories: someone goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town.

I'm having a bit of trouble finding redeeming qualities in any of these charactres. The nervous-failed writer who lacks, among other things, any semblance of personality; the evil fat guy who, while miles more interesting than our protagonist, manages at best a semblance to a rather uninspired violator plaguing a…

@icelight: I wouldn't call it a theory, not just yet. A well-reasoned postulate?

I love how physicists are always dreaming up new particles. We won't be able to measure it, or even discover it, for 100 or more years. It could be true, and it could be something entirely different. And the science fiction fanboy in me couldn't be happier! So I'll play along...

@99TelepodProblems: What was the question again?

Apparently, I'm too dumb to take this test.

@antonchigurh: Then we mostly agree. I have never been much of a Darabont fanboy, and feel that Green Mile is/was over-rated. Admittedly, I have given most of his work a pass, so I viewed the opening scene of the child's death as an isolated plot device rather than common theme throughout his proper body of work.

@antonchigurh: Disagree. I thought the opening scene was genius, from a story-telling perspective. What he accomplished was an act calibrating the audience to the level of violence to be expected, by leading with a scene which is arguably the most disturbing of the episode. With that out of the way, the audience…

@Trystero: Same. I haven't read the original, so "one bad dudebro" hits me as a bit of a spoiler.