I was too old for Goosebumps, but liked the humor he wrote (as "Jovial Bob Stein") for that Scholastic "Bananas" magazine, and particularly loved his book "The Absurdly Silly Encyclopedia and Fly-Swatter".

For me, it's my favorite band from high school, The Tubes. They're kind of ideal to see live because throughout the years they've been determined to put on a very theatrical show, adjusting their gimmicks and between-song skits to how much money they do (or don't) have to work with. Back when they had Capitol Records…

Called it: http://www.avclub.com/artic…

The scenario at the end of the series was really untenable, if you think about it: Homura couldn't go on fighting indefinitely on behalf of an abstract concept. The movie tugs a little bit on this string, and it all unravels. Even if it's not the ending I want, it's solid, fascinating, and ultimately scary as hell.

Aw, I give them credit for trying. Two anime references from this decade is a lot better than "Speed Racer fast-talking is funny and bad."

"I don’t read novels. I prefer good literary criticism. That way, you get both the novelist’s ideas as well as the critic’s thinking."

Sophomore films are tough. It's a miracle A Bug's Life is as good as it is.

I was amused by the adorkable first episode of Sakura Quest, about a down-on-her-luck recent college grad mistakenly recruited to become the PR "queen" of a dinky farming town that has seen much better days. It's on Crunchyroll.

Crunchyroll: link
Funimation: link
[Crunchyroll should be available in most regions; Funimation is usually North America only]

Took my daughter (12 yo) to see Your Name.; her first time seeing it, my second (I'd seen it in-flight on Delta last month). Really wonderful on the big screen.

Amy Landecker had a good interview with WNYC's "Death, Sex, and Money" podcast last year: http://www.wnyc.org/story/a…

With anime, one factor is that record companies are often part of the production committee for a show, and will use its title sequence (or "OP", for "opening") as a way of breaking a new act or at least selling some singles (which Japanese fans still buy, on CD, at world-wide high prices). Often, an anime will devote…

Right, I remember reading about this as a deliberate move to free up more time for commercials and network promos in the early 90s — think about how Friends has a full song as its title sequence, introducing each main character, while Frasier (which debuted just a few year later) only has its logo and a 5-second music…

Crunchyroll is almost all TV series. It seems like it's really hard to get streaming rights for anime movies (Funimation.com doesn't have many movies either).

I believe that's actually the original Japanese band, RADWIMPS. The original soundtrack has both English and Japanese versions of some of the songs.

I saw it in-flight on Delta a few weeks back. The twist in the middle about how and why the switch is happening recontextualizes the whole thing. The true meaning of the film is hinted at with like 2 or 3 of the shots in the trailer, but you'd never know until you've seen it.

I'm just happy to be momentarily validated in my love for Cloud Atlas.

I don't think so? Haven't managed to win anything there. Most of the ones with plushies have one toy lined up right by the hole, with a hint photo taped the machine suggesting you use the crane to *tip* the prize into the hole, rather than try to pick it up.

Took my kid to Chicago to play games at the "Round 1" entertainment place. This is like a Japanese Dave & Busters, except that they haven't fully sanded off the edges in reverse-importing it to America (FFS, they have private-room karaoke!). There are lots of games that have menus entirely in Japanese, because no…

I'm glad you brought up the computer coloring. That was a major selling point in the Marvel/Epic version back in the late 80s, even though today's manga fans would surely prefer Otomo's original black-and-white.