Wasn’t Sandra Bullock’s character in “Miss Congeniality” a field agent, and more of a tom-boy than frumpy? I think they’re different in the details, although both use the “fish out of water” trope.

These cannibalistic Mormon crickets are also native to the Donner Pass area in Northern California.

The newest character introduce to Star Wars canon - he will be playable on the Imperial side only:

Colonel Joe Wittinger, a high-altitude pilot, parachute-jumps 102,800 feet out of Excelsior III in 1979. Wittinger was accused of suffering from the break-off phenomenon during an earlier jump attempt, after he replied to a request to descend with “COME AND GET ME.”

I don’t know what the overall marketing plan for “Inside Out” is, but here in the San Francisco area they have posters for it on the BART (subway / train). They have been specifically made for the BART - i.e. they referencing commuting and the line, so their putting in some effort. However, I’m not sure I’ve seen any…

Is that a trope? If not, it should be because “killing big boss causes massive fortress / castle / spaceship to explode” seems fairly common.

If you enjoyed that, I can highly recommend “Musashi”, by Eiji Yoshikawa for an epic Samurai tale of one of Japanese most famous swordsmen. It was originally written in serialized form for early 20th Century Japanese newspaper, so it is lots of straightforward and relatively small chapters that make reading what is a…

I haven’t read the book, but on the weekend I listed to the latest “You are not so smart” podcast which Jon Ronson appeared in and it was a very interesting discussion of the modern mob mentality has arisen from the internet: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2015/04/08/yan….

Yes, but there were the tantalizing suggestions that there was something bigger and more complicated going on underneath, and some of us like the "slow-burn" type stories.

Oh, god...Now you made me remember that travesty of a plot line. It was like terrible fanfic, with the only piece missing being them making out.

• "Hills Hoist" clothesline? Check!

What did I just watch?

I'm currently reading "A General History of Pyrates" which talks - albeit briefly - about Anne Bonny and Mary Read. It's available on Gutenberg for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40580.

Having just returned from a two day business trip to LA where I foolishly (?) accepted the rental car agent's suggestion of upgrading to a Mustang, I wholeheartedly agree with your statement.

So that's what that is from. I was thinking that's a really weird and disturbing thing to be showing to people in a mental hospital.

So that's what that is! I was walking to work in downtown San Francisco and someone glided by on one of those - I did a doubletake because he went by so fast I didn't see clearly what he was on.

Nothing to see here. We're just transporting your standard huge dart shaped object. Move along.

Jesus H. Christ. If they were that swollen, what did you wear? A kilt?

"Gravity Falls" is definitely a show for a mature audience disguised as children's programming. Last week's episode had a couple of jokes obviously aimed for a more mature crowd - Sous' mom telling him that his father didn't get in to heaven, Sous' date complaining about itchy legs while waiting for Sous' to arrive…

Really? He's on a spaceship on the way to rendezvous with a mysterious alien object, all by himself because a murderous computer just killed all of his crew-mates, and THIS is what he listens to?