In defense of Chris Hadrdwick - an improbable phrase, I realize - his earnestness about this show is quite authentic and not simply an affect. It's up to each of us to decide whether that actually makes him more or less of a douche.

Emasculated, I guess. I do think this'll go on Carl's list of times his father showed weakness, sure. But it just didn't work for me. I think there's a way this could have been handled that would have really convinced me, but this simply wasn't it. (That isn't to say it didn't work for anyone else. I try not to make…

That's not what I meant. I don't mean he's faking it. I just mean I don't buy that it would break him. Also, I kind of hate that phrase just on principle.

During Talking Dead, Kirkman and Gimple talked about how they wanted to make the audience believe that this would "break" Rick. So I guess it's a problem that I wasn't convinced of that at all? I mean, I understand that that's what we're supposed to get out of it, but I guess I just don't really buy it.

I definitely agree that this episode is the weakest of the batch, but several of the complaints laid out her seem to ignore that this show (and the other Netflix series) takes place in the same world in which a hole opened up in the sky over their city and an army of aliens with giant flying robo-worm things laid…

Me too, me too.

Yes, I know. But most still try to maintain the aesthetics of film despite no actual film being involved.

I do get what you mean about the dolly and crane shots, though only to a degree. It felt perhaps a bit jarring in early sequences (especially on the first movie), but I quickly got used to the differences and stopped really thinking about it. As for the costumes and wigs, they never struck me as any more inauthentic…

The high-frame rate version of The Hobbit received the same criticisms. I think people need to, as Lee said, think of this as another art form. It's not going to look like a film, because it simply isn't a film. It's a different type of motion picture.

As with all discussions of this film, I must mention The Beast, the alternate reality game that ran online in the months leading up to the film's release. Having never taken part in anything quite like that before, it was pretty extraordinary. It explored what the world was like in the decades following David's…

Have you ever watched Munich?

Except it isn't tacked on, as it was an integral part of what Kubrick wanted the film to be. It's also not really a feel-good ending. It's actually pretty darn sad. Bittersweet at best.

The "character arc" of Jubilee makes me sigh.

Ohh. I don't think I ever knew that. It had been on my "to get" list from the time it came out, but I never got around to it until a couple of years later.

What's that about an "oversize novelty CD case"? My copy is pretty normal. Were the first printings fancy in some way?

Yeah, I had the same thought about Hector. Madison and company are the main reason Hector and Elena are still alive. Team Oscar wanted them either exiled or dead. When'd he get so attached to those guys?

I saw them on tour for Around the Sun. It was a phenomenal show, and I got the lyrics to "Walk Unafraid" (appropriately enough) when Stipey threw his lyric sheets into the crowd at the end of the show. So great.

I met Matthew Lillard once, back when he was promoting the film SLC Punk. He was nice. He's also super tall.

Lifes Rich Pageant is my personal favorite of the I.R.S. era - not that I dislike any of them at all - but I'm going to submit my highly unpopular choice for favorite R.E.M. album and favorite album ever: 1998's Up. Man, I love every moment of that album. It's perfect headphone listening or, if one has the 5.1…

I was thinking of the song "Soup." I used the Woodstock '94 recording of that song in a short film I made in tenth grade. Incidentally, their Woodstock set was really good. They were one of the standouts from that weekend. Unfortunately, Shannon Hoon only lasted a little more than a year after that.