I am going to quote Abed: "The story doesn't work because the characters make choices the audience wouldn't." I re-watched this movie last night after reading the article trying to see how a movie that I found fundamentally annoying could seem so magical to someone else. Post the lunch scene with his brother, there is…

That'll sound real good at your trial, Chico. Real good.

I've read her up to and including the Power Book, and would strongly recommend the Passion and Written on the Body. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is also pretty good. The rest is not nearly as good.

Clandestine prohibition-style speakeasys are doing gangbusters business in New York City, with entry through phonebooths, code words, no signs on the street, and so forth.

Didn't read that one.  Might check it out.  It seems Lethem, like David Foster Wallace, has a very up and down body of work that doesn't seem tied to when it was written, like you can't say, as you often can, "Just read the early stuff" or "start with X and read everything after."

He has written a great book, Fortress of Solitude, and a couple of pretty good ones, Motherless Brooklyn and Gun with Occasional Music.  Chronic City was pretty bad.

I would listen to that song.

Madness Returns I think you mean.  Great visuals, great environments, pretty good story (although the ending was a little anticlimactic) but repetitive as hell - a lot of the platform challenges were both dull and annoying.

The voice acting in Dragon Age 2 was solid and a lot of the character development (henchmen and sidemen) was pretty solid.  Though my PC did not have nearly enough sex.

We'll miss you too Sean (until 2012). You've had a great year at Newswire.

Takei makes an excellent point - why didn't a Buffy v. Twilight meme ever come around?

Hey Community! I love you!

I once shook hands with JT Leroy (the fake one). Also talked to Maggie Gyllenhaal for two minutes - this was before Secretary came out and she wasn't famous at all and it was totally fine.

What's up with a "pantsuit-favoring yakuza boss"? Don't men only wear suits with pants? Hence, a "suit-favoring yakuza boss" which is probably redundant, so probably just "yakuza boss" would be fine. A "skirt suit-favoring yakuza boss," however,  may have made for a more compelling movie.

Agree with both Black Orpheus & the review.  Just finished this a day or so ago. Thoroughly enjoyable. Even the weakest essay, the one about the Tea Party and the death of a census worker is a little snarky and more than a little condescending, packs a hell of an ending. The comparison with Klosterman seems about…

Pretty, definitely.  Young? 47 is probably past the young stage.

That Obscure Object of Desire is probably what you're thinking of.

Very disappointing.  I gave up after a couple of hundred pages.  It has a lot of very good reviews, including the one here and by Michiko Kakutani in the Times. But it is, in a word, dull. The premise of a phenom shortstop afflicted with Mackey Sasser syndrome is a great one, but the appeal is much reduced by the fact…

WTF is wrong with you people? Firefly, goddamit. Firefly Firefly Firefly.  All right? It's been said.  Sheesh.

Hmm? Where's the hate?