Where does Rolly fall into all this?

Didn't SCTV have a skit with movie reviewers repeating, "His head blowed up real good." Am I right about that?

"Miscellany: Beyond the gunslinger…"

Yeah! What's the other one?? I am in suspenders over here.

I want to know who did that killer guitar solo at the end! AVClub is home to many music aficionados. Surely SOMEBODY knows the answer to this??

Let me tell you about my mother.

Are you making an accusation of payola? Dem's fightin' words!

When he heard rap music my dad would always exclaim, "Hell, I could write that crap." At the time I would always retort, "It's harder than it looks."
However watching this clip, all I can say is, "Hell, I could write that crap."

" it only takes one unstable "misfit" to decide it's a crapsack world and there's nothing left to do but go on a shooting spree."

"it doesn't seem to be a mystery to me why our society is generally more violent"

I like the aesthetic distance that music/poetry can provide with metaphor and subtext but that song 180 degrees in the opposite direction. It's more like a recorded therapy session; a little *too* real for enjoyment.

I sought that song out to enjoy the absurdity of Shatner's "performance" and found myself completely dumbstruck by how fricken SAD that song is. Bravo Mr. Shatner. Bravo.

"She doesn’t explain why they pillage all the southern towns, but I’m not sure they have a specific agenda beyond fighting back, anyway. Meanwhile the crows valiantly defend the Wall for another night, which is the kind of qualified victory Sam recognizes as great. "

Indira Varma gave an amazing performance. That scream! Her shaking hands covering a truly sincere expression of horror. That is some top notch acting. The visual violence was extreme but *her* reaction shot made it feel even worse!

There is a logical implication following your phrasing but I am not going to say it.
:-)

There is some of Camus' Myth of Sisyphus in what you are saying. It's a good read.

I agree with what's already been said below.

"And when it depicts these methods, the show can still get them right from time to time. "

Television (movies, music, etc.) is a medium for storytelling. Stories have weight when they delve into the darker parts of human existence. Drama has employed crime, tragedy, and death for what? 4000 years? And you want to sanitize it all for those viewers who are "sensitive" to it? I think you have things backwards.…

This is an entertaining digression and analysis but does anyone seriously think a deep level of social commentary is necessary to explain those story changes?