The main point of The History of Middle-earth (and Unfinished Tales) is that it is filled with worthy literature.  You say you liked The Children of Hurin.  Well, long before that was published as a stand-alone book, versions of all the texts that it is composed of were published in UT and HoMe.  There are many great…

I have never understood why people hate those songs.

I'd have to say Metropolis is my favorite as well - in fact, probably my favorite silent film.  Another rather expressionist Lang film that I'm awfully fond of is Der Mude Tod - not sure whether I would rate it or Caligari as my second favorite.

Of course you can.  If you make someone who hasn't seen the film aware of a twist, then you've spoiled it for them, whether the movie was released in 1920 or yesterday.  Don't be a diabolique.

Well, my favourite Nazi is Rudolf Klein-Rogge.

Another film that gets the middle ages right (in this case mediaeval Iceland) is an Icelandic film from the '80s called Utlaggin, of which I am rather fond.

The fourth season was certainly not up to the standards of the previous three, but it had its moments.  I think 'Michael Ellis' was pretty great, for instance.

So-called Cardinal, I put it to you that you died in December 1642.

'One of the cross beams has gone out askew on the treadle.'

I would say seasons 1 and 2 of The Office, rather than 2 and 3, though I know I'm in the minority.  Season 3 certainly had some very funny stuff, but by that point it was already turning into a soap opera.

I love how, in the following scene, he assumes that Jan would have said it too, except she didn't think of it.

You know, her character in that Square One episode (well, week of episodes) was basically Lisa Simpson too.  I mean, I could see Lisa being friends with a gorilla and using math to solve a crime.

Voyager's reputation is a victim of a tendency in this sort of forum for a sort of 'common wisdom' to evolve that views things in extremes.  The common wisdom generally says either that a show was great or that it was terrible, and once the consensus has pushed it into one of those categories, people who were…

Although, ironically, those roles are reversed in this particular exchange.

I completely agree - he was never just a jerk, and he was never mean for the sake of being mean.  He was extremely self-absorbed, of course, and desperately wanted everyone to like him; and the moments where he seems mean are mostly the result of trying too hard to be liked, and not really understanding the people…

Hey, the Lewis theme isn't bad either - if I didn't know better, I'd swear it was the slow movement of some Mozart concerto.

@avclub-b3fe4f5a8793b5499e143cdf1253caff:disqus  What was weird was that prior to actually killing him off, they used his presence as a 'this is the past' indicator in the time travel-ish episode 'Shattered'.

And what happens if the team working on lower priority items finds a higher priority one?  Do they say 'Nope, that one's not on our list', or do they get it anyway?  Because if they get it anyway, then they're no different from the higher priority team.

I really, really, wish I could find ways to use the word 'Cardassiocentric' in my daily life.

@avclub-0c3e626d1a287cdc48c77515c8dcc243:disqus  The thing is, there could have been long term benefit to Voyager if they hadn't wimped out and made the Maquis and Starfleet crews blend into a homogeneous mass within the first few episodes.