Yeah, I tend to agree with you, particularly regarding Logan, who I think doesn't get a fair shake from a lot of GG fans. I think he gets critiqued a lot for the obvious signifiers of the character, but in reality he's written quite a bit more complexly than "smug upper-class jerk." I mean, I get it, there are parts…

Hey, yeah, totally. I'm realizing now that my post had an unfortunately restrictive definition of "normal" and, as a result, was pretty lacking in empathy for anyone who makes choices outside of a traditionally prescribed way—which is not necessarily the best way! Thank you for making me think harder.

Also, didn't Dean got engaged when he was 18 after dating someone for a few months, then cheat on his wife with Rory? That's not normal "bad boyfriend" behavior!

There are few things that exemplify the folly of season 7 than "Marty pretends he doesn't know Rory" being a multi-episode arc.

I think the writers showed the contempt they feel for Dean by making his last appearance a one-off in season 5 where, out of the blue, he dispenses bitter relationship advice to Luke. It's such a weird scene and it moved him from mildly pathetic high school boyfriend to weirdo obsessive who blames Rory for his entire…

Yeah, they kind of killed the character for dramatic purposes, he's not so bad at first, a totally suitable HS boyfriend. Then, he becomes a boring jerk, and it's nice to keep him around for occasional arcs and conflicts.

this is on the mark, they're talking about young actors with notable buzz, for whom it's actually better to be on a "cool" show with lower ratings, even in a supporting role, than a CBS procedural.

i don't know, except for the new spiderman, marvel generally hires directors who have proven themselves to be competent but fairly indistinct filmmakers of medium budget films. jon watts is the only cheap newcomer they've hired.

I don't know. I guess for the average person most everything of "real value" made it from VHS to DVD/streaming, but there's tons of classic foreign and Hollywood stuff that never did, including less famous works by pretty canonical directors. Hell, a ton of the stuff that screens on TCM never made it to DVD. My guess…

Eh, there are tons of things that were available on VHS but never made it to DVD and aren't available as streaming media. This probably has more than a little to do with Tarantino buying out an entire video store's collection.

1996 was an alt-rock bloodbath. Here's a thread from a music-critic message board that details all the albums that underperformed sales-wise that year:

I caught that Bends thing too. I'll take the Blind Melon dude at his word and assume that they got their hands an advance copy of The Bends at some point during the recording process. Both bands were on Capitol records, so it seems plausible.

I totally agree with this. It's a really good album that people interested in 90s alt-rock should revisit. It sucks that it got unfairly maligned and ignored due to critical groupthink.

The Bends definitely didn't sell well at first, in the U.S. at least. It peaked at #88 on the charts! But I remember seeing single after single became low-key successful on MTV and alt-radio. It seemed a classic one-hit wonder sophomore flop at first, but it ended up going gold a year to the date after its release.…

Gordon Willis claimed that, in addition to lighting and lensing Manhattan and Annie Hall, he did large chunks of the staging, determining both camera placement and shot duration. Willis asserts that he was in charge of all visual components, and all but says that he directed those movies. I'm skeptical, but maybe…

My favorite part, watching them one after the other, is the blank, neutral look on Rudd's face each time the clip is finished.

Obviously his performance was bad, but Russell Crowe was probably cast in the movie because he continues to be an international box office draw, even as his status in the US has fallen.

My ex and I did enjoy replacing the "Talking Laughing Living" part of the song with random gerunds—"SLEEPING SWIMMING TYPING GROPING EATING SLIPPING TRIPPING FALLING" and so on

Yeah I buy that. To be honest I think I made it one episode past Dana's death, to the episode where Alice has a weird road rage experience that that felt amateurly acted staged, and filmed.

I havent seen the show in years, so I can't really back up my claim about Shane with anything specific. I do remember feeling like the writers' perspective on her shifted from "Shane is a player and can be really destructive" to "Isn't Shane soooo awesome!" at some point midway through season 2, but, again, I can't…