Respectability politics! See also: Ebonics.

I was lucky enough to meet these guys along with Common and Talib Kweli when Blackalicious was touring for Blazing Arrow. They did an in-store at the record store I was working for at the time. Of all the in-store appearances I worked, this was easily the best. Super nice, genuine guys. I still have a great big…

TEACH THEM THE LESSON OF METCALF

That's a shame, Bassett would have been a solid choice. Her fight scenes in Strange Days are one of the best parts of that movie. Plus (and I realize that this was fully twenty years ago) she had Michelle Obama arms before they were cool.

Or eleven miles long. Christ.

Exactly, since it went in nose first and was what, a mile long?

Ok, so the derelict engines the Falcon flies into look an awful lot like Vader's Super Star Destroyer. What if the desert planet is the wasteland that the forest moon of Endor became due to the ecological devastation caused by the destruction of the 2nd Death Star?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FAAAAAACE

Why, then ALL IS FORGIVEN!

Say, I don't know if you fellas have noticed, but this whole Disqus thing doesn't work very well.

The distillery at New Holland Brewing has been up to some amazing things. Their gin, Knickerbocker, is amazing. They do decent rye as well.

I just finished The Country of Ice Cream Star after picking it up based upon the AV Club's review. What started out as an enjoyable exercise in fictional degraded English and mutating social structure ground to its finish as yet another derivative post-apocalyptic-YA-with-romantic-elements slog. It was like Mockingja…

I got to your 'warsh' line and physically shuddered. That one bothers me so goddamned much.

Coldplay is Radiohead for people whose favorite color is beige.

I don't know if you're including the A.V. Club when you say scene journalists, but I seem to remember them loving both Celebration Rock and Post Nothing.

I don't know that dog whistle language on the right is as free of follow through as you say, though. For example, I'd say that they want to do things like cut welfare to appease the corporate funders of their campaigns, but if they use a bunch of racial dog whistle language to get it done, the outcome isn't any…

I've been turning Patton Oswalt's twitter run on this topic over in my mind since I read about it, and though I really like Patton generally, I think the thing that really bothered me about it is that he mocks the language that people use to pick apart real things like white privilege. I worry that his hammering on…

I will absolutely check it out the next time I'm in the neighborhood. Thanks!

Not currently, but I go there every two or three years or so.

Where in Iwate? My exchange program is in Yahaba, just outside of Morioka. Iwate-san is one of my favorite places on earth!