There's a bit of a vicious cycle w/r/t Christianity and capital-A art. As this article observes, most of the serious-minded Art being made today comes from creators who tend to regard religion with disinterest, if not outright antagonism. Therefore, many Christians grow to fear and distrust Art, which leads to them…

"Detachable Penis" is responsible for me never getting to watch MTV, ever. At my grandparents' house, 10-year-old me flipped on the television with my parents in the room, and that video was just starting to play, with the song title on-screen and everything.

Dang it, if he's going to be taking breaks all the time, I want my Friday Buzzkills back.

Wow. I mean … wow. I'm seriously impressed by how terrible of an idea this is. It's not just a miscalculation, like "oh sure people will be willing to pay double for a service as good as Netflix." This must have taken some considerable creativity on their part, as if they sat down to brainstorm ideas for just how…

After the dry spell of August, it feels like a ton of must-sees are suddenly flooding theaters. I can't wait to see this and Contagion. Maybe I'll do a double feature.

I haven't seen Attack the Block, but I refuse to believe that it is anywhere close to as awesome as 13 Assassins.

"As a result, the people I was with in the theatre—who had never read the comic—had no idea that they didn't have actual superpowers. They were superheroes, plain and simple.

Yeah, "The Sound of Silence" playing during the Comedian's funeral was the moment when I realized that, oh shit, Snyder is totally going to mess this movie up.

Yeah, and that reason is "Zack Snyder doesn't know what 'subtlety' is."

I really have nothing to add other than to agree that Snyder's "Watchmen" betrayed an almost hilarious lack of understanding of the source material. If I ever teach a film class, it will be Exhibit A in "how not to adapt a book for the screen."

Oh, come on, it may be kinda brainless, but one thing that movie isn't is boring.

I've never lost at either Pandemic or Arkham Horror (though personally I find AH the more challenging of the two). The reason I like AH and Defenders of the Realm more is that the presentation is so much more flavorful and engaging, with cool art, mechanics, and components. After a game of AH or DotR I feel like I…

D minus. APPLY YOURSELF

Not with the density and inventiveness of Hot Fuzz, though. In SOTD, the reincorporation, while funny, wasn't really all that surprising. IMHO, the callbacks in Hot Fuzz were absolutely inspired. Everything from the missing goose to Nick Frost's obsession with Point Break are reintroduced in ways that completely catch…

I would never describe Soderbergh as "cold and detached." "Slick and immaculately constructed" fits a little better.

Screw Pandemic, Defenders of the Realm is where it's at. Fighting giant dragons and demons is a lot more fun than fiddling with cubes that represent germs.

I like Hot Fuzz more as well. I always thought that Shaun of the Dead, while great, veered a bit too far into playing it straight toward the end. (The part where he has to shoot his zombified mum is quite effective and actually heartbreaking, but it doesn't really belong in a comedy.) Hot Fuzz was much more tonally…

Haven't you people ever heard of Interlibrary Loan? I lived in a small town in New Mexico growing up and even my library could get me pretty much anything I wanted if I was willing to wait a week.

To be fair to Barnes and Noble, Borders employees didn't seem to be all that into books either. One time I asked a clerk where I might find an essay collection by David Foster Wallace. She looked at me blankly, as if she'd never heard of the concept of an essay collection. Maybe DFW isn't as famous as I think he is, I…

Spent the weekend with my girlfriend's family, which was great but not terribly conducive to movie- and TV-watching. There was brief discussion of going to see a movie, but after seeing what was playing we all decided to spend the afternoon in the pool instead. (I actually proposed seeing Apollo 18 if we went to the…