Oh- haven't gotten all the way through Engels, I see.

I think the show handles it well, in that most of the "gay/straight" stereotypes in the show are being propagated by gay men who are trying to act straight and aren't very good at it. So the stereotypes are a function of character ignorance.

This is late, but one of my favorite anecdotes about Socrates's marriage (probably apocryphal; I've only encountered it in The Canterbury Tales) involves Xanthippe shouting at him and getting angry because he's not responding, and finally overturning a pot of urine on his head (existence of chamber pots=possible proof…

The answer to your question was drowned out by diegetic sound that was placed much higher in the mix than what you actually wanted to be able to hear.

*wrong comment to reply to, nothing to see here*

This motherfucker puts out a new doorstop in less time than it takes me to read one. I need to get faster at reading.

On the other hand, it's not like NOT running is going to stop Republicans from shitting all over her, so she might as well go for a chance at living in the White House again, with the added bonus that she would now have actual power. Every president should expect to be regularly excoriated by the opposition when they…

Technically most of the movie takes place in San Marcos, which is at least a third Hispanic. That said, there aren't too many characters outside the main family, so I agree it doesn't make too much sense for there to be a big Hispanic presence among the supporting cast. I don't remember what the classrooms/public…

Juliette Lewis is in a TV show that gets advertised all the time but whose title still hasn't penetrated my brain.

Still waiting on Jean Dujardin to drop his gangsta rap album already…

He faked the levitating, too!

I always thought he just broke the guy's jaw. Still disgusting, though. I screened that movie for my English 101 students every year, and that moment always got at least one scream.

You see, there was a plant above us, and that one time we thought it was raining, it was actually dropping dew on us! That conclusively debunks the existence of rain!

I'd agree it's to keep it ambiguous. If we see Riggan fly to the theatre and never see any other explanation, then the movie's stance is clear: Riggan has powers. If we see the cabbie demand his money, then an alternative, reality-based explanation becomes clear, but is not overwhelming because we didn't see it…

Powers = this gift that actors feel they have to share with the world, this idea that I HAVE THIS SPECIAL THING INSIDE OF ME AND IF EVERYONE COULD SEE IT THEIR LIVES WOULD BE TRANSFORMED. Psychopaths also have this opinion of themselves, and yes, the movie's aware of the ambiguity in Riggan's case (though it doesn't…

Also good was his bit on the Chik-Fil-A Day thing, where he starts with "but you know who's REALLY the big winner here? Jesus." I don't remember the rest word for word, but he briefly talks about how, in a fallen, materialist world whose members can't seem to stop killing each other, the central message of…

Eh, I've heard from a number of evolutionary biologists who are skeptical of his "selfish gene" theory. But I'll admit it's a brilliant theory that's capable of briefly making you look at the world through a radically different lens, so bully to him.

Aquinas can be more accurately described as a philosopher addressing an audience who was convinced of the existence of God, and trying to convince them of his particular theories of the nature of existence. He draws on Aristotle as much as the Bible, possibly more so.

Since he released his album cover art and title, obviously. Every 13-year-old I've ever known has shown me the cover art and title of their latest album before they let me listen to the music. It's why everyone hates them.

Of all the many excruciating, generally Pelecanos-scripted Wire episodes, "Cleaning Up" (S1E12) still probably ranks as the hardest to watch. Watching a young kid beg for his life while his two friends slowly (so fucking slowly) work up the nerve to shoot him sounds almost comically grotesque in its bleakness, but…