Yeah, I remember reading an interview with Lydon in Q Magazine back in the day, and he basically took every question as an opportunity to spew venom, for reasons that were generally pretty inscrutable. It was a glorious thing. This was pretty mellow by comparison.

Thanks for the kind words.

I'm certainly not trying to criticize anyone for their tastes. I like Calvin and Hobbes as much as anyone. But let me put it this way: it would be FAR more surprising if someone said "yeah, I liked C&H as a kid, but now I hate it." So what's the point?

Will do! I can't help feeling vaguely leery of Gaddis, however. I liked The Recognitions a lot, but at the same time, I was vaguely put off by the vaguely smug misanthropy that permeates the text. I hear that only gets worse in his later works.

This topic is lame.
Why? Because things like Calvin and Hobbes and Back to the Future and Peanuts were never MEANT to be exclusively kid-things. Therefore, there's nothing surprising or even slightly interesting about the fact that you still like them now. A more interesting topic would focus only on entertainment…

Probably true, but then again, it depends on exactly how specific we want to be with our categorizations.

Disney comics.
I don't think I've ever done this before (I KNOW I haven't, actually), but it seems relevant, so time to blog-whore:

How is this "creepy" or humorless or a buzzkill or ANYTHING? Are people REALLY so willfully unreflective that expending any kind of critical thought on something they love causes that something to lose its luster? 'Cause that's pretty fucked up.

Well, Gravity's Rainbow is the obvious one. V. also. I'd put Barth's Giles Goat-Boy there (FAR better than The Sot-Weed Factor, imo), although some people would disagree with me rather, um, vehemently. Robert Coover's Public Burning is an under-appreciated masterpiece. And, what the hell, let's stick The…

Sex. Lots and lots and LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF ENDLESS, ENDLESS FUCKING. Gay and straight. So much so that it's more exhausting than anything else. I know that in part, Delaney's positing a kind of utopianism, but mainly it makes you want to never, ever have sex again. That was my experience,…

Please just stop.
The novelty wore off about three seconds after the first one came out. Now you're just beating a dead horse with all the other necrophilic bestiality fans.

I initially read that headline as "Michael Berube."
Has David Horowitz finally gone completely 'round the bend, wondered I?

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, BUT I HAVE VERY STRONG FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

You've-Changed-It-Used-To-Be-All-About-The-Music-Not-This-Other-Bullshit Man

This is meaningless, but what the hell. Don't that I haven't played any FF after X (except Crystal Chronicles). Also, no spin-offs. If there were, Tactics would surely take third place at any rate.

I thought DQ VIII was pretty darn swell, although I enjoyed VII more. Not sure if I could go back to VII, though.

I beat both the original version of FFII and the remake. I harbor a sort of affection for the game, but it's really pretty bad on any objective level. The remake tried to solve the broken game balance of the original by making the whole thing numbingly, brain-dead easy. Great job, guys!

I have no idea who this person is.
That's all, really.

IX isn't great, but coming right after VII and VIII, it couldn't help but seem pretty darned good in comparison.

I too love the shit out of FFIV. I might ultimately give the nod to VI…or then again, I might not. It's very close.