The Toba eruption is the one that nearly made humankind extinct, wasn't it?

If this is true, it implies that any other life there may be in the universe that is as complex as we are would likely only now be evolving.

I'm in love,
I'm in love,
I'm in love with a strict machine

That's ma'am to you, thank you very much. The Fifth Element is a perfectly fun, entertaining movie. Better than it had any right being. I liked it quite a lot, TBH. But you have to admit it is total fluff.

There are some fairly grouchy drones and Minds in the Culture novels, though I think of that lot Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints from Surface Detail takes the cake.

The Fifth Element is a lot of fun; I liked it quite a lot. It's also entirely fluff.

The Fifth Element.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that this book was based on an idea that George Lucas was considering developing into a low-budget sequel to "Star Wars" if it wasn't successful.

This is just plain old-fashioned ageism.

Yeah, my reaction is pretty much the same. The original was a genuinely creepy movie that also had more charm than any other horror movie (except maybe for "Scream"). What made it work wasn't necessarily the terror or gore; it "knew" it was just a cheesy thrill ride and didn't pretend to be more. Unless the trailer…

A few parties over the decades have had mammoth meat on the menu, but from all accounts the meat tasted awful, so maybe we're all secretly glad we weren't there.

Much of what kills the sensitivity when using condoms for oral is loss of friction. But for oral you can use a large, loose condom with a drop of lube inside the tip; this allows for much more friction. You may have to hold the base in place (I'll just say upfront I am not a "no-hands" purist). Using this method…

I recall reading that squids now make up more of the biomass on earth than any other species, so maybe they deserve an honorable mention.

Carl and Ellie from "Up"? I suppose "Up" is borderline as science fiction, but I would argue that it qualifies.

I think we can add Sam Raimi's Warcraft movie to the list at this point. It's still theoretically in the works but, let's be honest, the moment for a WoW movie has passed. Legendary had signed on as the studio and the buzz was that there'd be a nine-figure budget.

Another famous example of Litotes: "He chose... poorly."

Huh. That last one sounds kind of remarkably similar to the plot of "Fallen."

Honorable mention for The Giving Tree?