Many happy returns and a wonderful new year, thing for which I often have a craving.

Yeah, a study of modernism. If any novel is going to deserve the title, it might be this one. I always think it takes some moxie to write a novel about another country's big tragedy.

Okay, putting McKeon's book on my list, altho the title has irrationally bugged me since it came out. It's already taken!

Have you read The Gates of Ivory by Margaret Drabble? She's perhaps the complete opposite of McCarthy in terms of writing style but has a very strong voice, one of my favorites, and Gates is more of an adventure than her others. The Peppered Moth is quite suspenseful, too, in its scientific, woman-in-a-hotel, way.

Hey, I've been reading Point Counter Point, too! I agree with you on the writing and character studies, although it hasn't been as compelling for me. I love it when I'm reading it but then forget about it for a while. All right, I'll finish it at the laundromat this week.

I continue to get cheer from people enjoying Hobbit 3. I'll be watching it at New Year's and have a bit of dread mixed with the anticipation.

I'm with you on Inherent Vice. I assumed "this Christmas" meant Christmas everywhere and it was part of my big movie plan that fell apart as reviews came in and time to do other things felt more precious. My big secret: I go to the movies by myself.

Comparing the BH6 ending to a video game didn't occur to me because I don't play them enough but now that you mention it…I've actually already forgotten the ending. I guess it was all about Marshmallow Robot and Chemistry Girl for me.

Sorry. I know how much that hurts. If you have it in you, a short letter describing your past feelings of friendship and wishes for a happy future (even if they are being a total jerkface right now) might be cathartic.

Well…firstly, after leaving the theater, I made my 2015 resolution to get caught up on his movies. The most recent one I've seen is Happy-Go-Lucky, which is on my list of fave movies I can watch again and again. Mr. Turner is more abstract, more of a collage, but has the same take-it-or-leave-it attitude towards the…

Watching people being watched looking at art…After much calculation, figured out the perfect double feature: Mr. Turner and National Gallery (both so long that I couldn't actually watch them on the same day). Leigh and Wiseman both make the viewer work for a sense of narrative and context. Both touch on art and…

I might argue that Wiseman captures the "collision of regular folks" and Art as an Institution, although, yes, without the same urgency as some of his other works. There's the museum director who seems to think that if the ordinary person can understand a piece of art, it isn't very good. There's a room full of blind…

Fact rock!

They definitely look like they live in a time of infrequent bathing and inadequate medicine. No rosy-cheeked Keira Knightleys here.

You can make it! I have the feeling some of the commenters could reenact The Jerk for you right here.

Good one. I miss the puzzles now that I never see a physical newspaper.

Thanks for that. I was talking to others but realize I probably should just shut this off til I see it. You, too.

ssshhh…it's not on yet here…timey-wimey and all that…glad you liked it.

Did you watch the Bo Burnham one yet? I thought it was really funny.

Good luck with that! It worked with my old cats for a while, even when they had knocked it down the stairs and it didn't work anymore. They treated it like a totem of doom and steered clear. We later got a Scat Mat (gives slight electric shock) and that kept them away from the door. Happy holidays to Zorro from Tico…