For what it's worth: Pynchon agrees with you that Lot 49 is not very good.  He's had some pretty withering words about it in retrospect…. and weirdly enough, despite its slim size it was the hardest of his books for me to get through.

I'd say Gravity's Rainbow is more difficult in the front end: Wallace at least kinda-sorta eases you in with the introductory chapter, and even though it takes a while for the narrative threads to start coming together, he never really leaves you afloat.  Pynchon throws you in the deep end and doesn't offer many life…

I'd say Gravity's Rainbow is more difficult in the front end: Wallace at least kinda-sorta eases you in with the introductory chapter, and even though it takes a while for the narrative threads to start coming together, he never really leaves you afloat.  Pynchon throws you in the deep end and doesn't offer many life…

People will generally tell you to start with The Crying of Lot 49, but Pynchon is right that it's not very good (and if I'd started there, I'd never have moved onto his better work.)  For the best combination of true Pynchonia and accessibility you might as well start with V, although if you're inoculated against…

People will generally tell you to start with The Crying of Lot 49, but Pynchon is right that it's not very good (and if I'd started there, I'd never have moved onto his better work.)  For the best combination of true Pynchonia and accessibility you might as well start with V, although if you're inoculated against…

Also that year: Day for Night, which was up in the Foreign Language category.

Also that year: Day for Night, which was up in the Foreign Language category.

Maybe, but if the entire movie were narrated by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his The Talented Mr. Ripley role, it'd be a lot more interesting than whatever Katniss is thinking about.

Maybe, but if the entire movie were narrated by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his The Talented Mr. Ripley role, it'd be a lot more interesting than whatever Katniss is thinking about.

@avclub-f121d09285898f1c66d66f1e6f0455a6:disqus : I think your history of sci-fi film might be a little rusty.  The non-shiny, lived-in future was de rigueur for most of the 70s (it's not like Lucas was operating with an unusually small budget… quite the contrary, given most sci-fi cinema before him).  Lucas' real…

@avclub-f121d09285898f1c66d66f1e6f0455a6:disqus : I think your history of sci-fi film might be a little rusty.  The non-shiny, lived-in future was de rigueur for most of the 70s (it's not like Lucas was operating with an unusually small budget… quite the contrary, given most sci-fi cinema before him).  Lucas' real…

The one thing I've been missing in the show, since they've been so quick to run through major plot points and reversals the last few weeks, is what kind of impact this war is having on the people of Republic City.  The whole impetus behind Tenzin trying to soften Tarrlok's ideas is that pushing too hard against the…

The one thing I've been missing in the show, since they've been so quick to run through major plot points and reversals the last few weeks, is what kind of impact this war is having on the people of Republic City.  The whole impetus behind Tenzin trying to soften Tarrlok's ideas is that pushing too hard against the…

I missed last week's discussion, but I wanted to go back and comment on this:

I missed last week's discussion, but I wanted to go back and comment on this:

Yeah, I had to rewatch their routine and pause, because there are some great moments of layering in their choreography that you can just make out in the margins of the screen while the camera is off swooping somewhere.

Yeah, I had to rewatch their routine and pause, because there are some great moments of layering in their choreography that you can just make out in the margins of the screen while the camera is off swooping somewhere.

I dunno… I could have gone either way in the routine - Elektrolytes had higher highs and lower lows than the other two teams - but I think JC was right that Elektrolytes had a much more commanding, unified presence in the battle than MWC, whose battle really didn't catch my attention much.

I dunno… I could have gone either way in the routine - Elektrolytes had higher highs and lower lows than the other two teams - but I think JC was right that Elektrolytes had a much more commanding, unified presence in the battle than MWC, whose battle really didn't catch my attention much.

I think that's the default assumption for reality shows now, right?  That most of the stuff caught on camera is staged, or re-staged rather than caught live?