Going Clear, Lawrence Wright's definitive, exhaustively researched book on Scientology, was pretty spectacular. I'm sure anyone paying at attention by this point views the Church of Scientology as vaguely sinister at worst, harmless at best, but the documented and verified accounts of the organization's many human…

THANKS OBAMA

. . . because hysterical alarmists predicting doomsday, even specific ones, are rarely on point.

I was just thinking that. I know we're in the heat of the summer movie crapheap, but the AV Club doesn't really seem to care much for movies as a whole these days.

I'm not going to the actual convention, but I drive down most years to people watch, and this year my sister's flying there to do the Zombie Walk so I'm pretty sure I'll make it.

SPOILER ALERT, jeez, thanks for ruining the reveal that Ben Affleck is not Hispanic!

Hey there! Yeah, a bunch of travel lately has mostly kept me out of the AV commenting game (though not the beer drinking game, obviously). Fathom is pretty great. I don't know if it's too early to call India Pale Lager a style of its own yet, but I'm a fan (I do like Bruery's Humulus Pale Lager a bit more though).

Piece is phenomenal if you're looking for thin crust Connecticut style, but not so much if you're after the quintessential Chicago deep dish.

I say skip Lou Malnatti's and Giordano's (both great, but always PACKED to the gills with tourists) for pizza and hit up Pequad's in Lincoln Park. Quiet, neighborhood spot but I prefer both the vibe and their caramelized crust stuffed deep dish to all the other places.

Beer Thread!

The Mad Poopah!

Hey beardo, vote Quimby!

The long awaited Lena Dunham/EB White collaboration.

Eels - Things the Grandchildren Should Know

Seriously, reading this a few weeks after finally seeing this, seeing how many people say they want a relationship like Celine and Jesse is flat out depressing after watching the movie.

They made us square dance too but I think it's more regional than I realized. This was in suburban Kansas for me - did anybody outside of the midwest/bible belt/south have to learn square dancing?

The "all a dream thing" was a really dumb idea and I'm glad Harmon didn't even entertain the notion.  And the fact that about half the fan comments after Harmon announced his return were some variation of suggesting/joking about an "all a dream" start to the season shows what an obvious, hack-y joke it would have been.

@avclub-9acf7344ec50993b012999f76196c4c6:disqus Scott to Dave from one of the KITH reunion shows: "Gee, it's tragic when the boyish go gray."

Wow, that sounds like a really cool display.  I've saved a few of the more interesting bottles I've tried, but they're just sitting on a shelf without much fanfare.  Definitely post a picture when you're finished!

@Dikachu:disqus Sometimes I'm tempted to just work for a year in LA and go and live off that for about three years in PDX, given how absurdly cheap rent and cost of living is.