Agree about the exploitation element of Honey Boo Boo…though this is a show that I'm "willfully ignorant" of, and have never watched, so my opinion here is totally uninformed.  See also Cops, which is just cops pushing poor people around for our entertainment.  Amazing that such a despicable show has been around for…

For me, the problem is that I love video games, but kinda hate myself when I play them (wasting time, etc.).  I'll get a new PC game a couple of times per year, and play the shit out of it…but I try not to make gaming a part of my routine.  I am also a super highbrow motherfucker.

Most Olympic events are not sports, according to this definition.

Maybe I'm reading it in a weird way, but I don't understand how this not an incredibly broad and not very interesting question…as the question seems to be, basically: what are some things that you really don't care about?  Don't know about but you, but there's an infinite number of things that I'm not interested in,…

I read somewhere that Yes Minister's creators had precisely that "conservative" agenda in mind…but the case is a tautology (everyone believes that bad government is bad, and that good government is good…duh).  "Conservatives" love government just as much as "liberals"…they just disagree about what government…

Yes Minister might give ammunition to the inane politics of "all government is bad"…but obviously, that's a straw man argument (endlessly repeated by Republicans/Tea Party folks), since no one loves government for its own sake.  Except bureaucrats like Humphrey.  If the show was supposed to teach us that the…

I was about to say, what the fuck? where's Benson?  Then I discovered that I couldn't remember a damn thing about that show, except for Benson and the German lady bickering in the kitchen all the time.

For me, it was Lawrence of Arabia.  Which (like Das Boot) is mega-long and doesn't have a single woman in it…perfect choice for a fun date movie!

The Das Boot bit is perfect.  More than once, I've shared something that I expected would blow the other person's mind (she's gonna think this movie/album/TV show is cool, and therefore, that I am cool for recommending it).  And of course, it totally backfires.  Ouch.

Magisches Schwein!

Was just reading Obama's tribute to Thatcher, how noble and wonderful she was, blah blah blah.  Maybe in Britain, youngsters have a nasty attitude toward Thatcher without knowing much about her, but that's better than treating her as some sort of saint of the Cold War, like Reagan.  Gag.

hello frank zappa….

Not sure if it's my favorite episode, but I'll mention "Thing in the Pit" as the episode that got me hooked on the show.  I thought the first few episodes were off-puttingly trashy and tasteless (is that a dwarf with a dildo on his head?), and I was about to give up on Spartacus…and then this episode arrived, with the…

And Crazy Queen, and her son, Prince Thirsty.

Have you heard his recent solo jamming with a theremin stuff?  Jesus.

Defenestrator: If the Iggy example doesn't convince you, think of the crowds of out-of-control screaming, fainting girls during the heyday of Beatlemania.  I imagine that the intensity of that experience, for those girls, was just as powerful as the experiences you report.  I guess this is a dumb thing to argue about,…

Everyone knows the best bands are affiliated with Satan.

Defenestrator, I don't doubt that for you, that's true, but I'd be careful about universalizing your experience.  It might be impossible for you to feel the same ecstasy at an Iggy Pop concert that you felt at your church, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible for the rest of us to feel that.  Unless you want to…

Asuka: I agree, it's more complicated than Dawkins makes it (though his remark works for Christians, who are indeed atheists in relation to all gods except their own).  And I further agree that it's ridiculous for Dawkins to speak as an authority on religion when he's plainly not.  I was just stealing his point to…

Col. Alphonse: maybe innovation is not necessary a good thing, if it means throwing standards out the window (for example, standards about how to make a coherent argument, or use evidence to support a position).  English people are the worst: I know, I used to be one! I'm a leftist, but I know I sound pretty…