I have neglected to check out any of Thao's music for myself - but I remember her Undercover appearance, which was a rare bright shining moment of greatness in a sea of awfulness at the time.

Yeah…no. I'm tired of being told I'm "pretentious" just because I'm not a fan of the mainstream pop acts being favored by the new AVC writing staff (and a lot of music writing in general). I have a strong pop sensibility in a lot of my musical taste, but it doesn't extend to the majority of mainstream pop I hear…

*standing ovation*

You know, I wouldn't even mind (well, wouldn't mind as much) the endless fawning articles about the high artistry of Taylor Swift, et al as much if it was just *in addition to* the kind of music coverage the AVC used to do. That's not what it feels like happened, though.

I see it's got the "large block lettering" ad style that is apparently required for all CGI films (and comedies) these days. (Weird thing to notice, I admit, but that style is so ubiquitous that it feels kind of obnoxious.)

Same here. I discovered a lot of stuff I might not have heard about if not for the AV Club music department of old. Now, though, I just keep noticing really good things they don't even bother to review - including follow-ups to albums they reviewed very positively back in the old days.

It's a way for the young people to get around in a hip, cool fashion without actually having to do the hard work of fighting for/supporting better public transit that would benefit everybody instead of well-off artisanal coffee drinkers.

I can totally believe it. It's the relative of the "you reviewed One Direction/Taylor Swift/etc. but not (insert something from list of interesting indie/less well-known releases)?" comments one can make with increasing regularity around here these days. 'Tis the modern AVC music section, sadly.

oh god I don't care about any of these people

I still get a laugh from his Vanilla Ice. https://www.youtube.com/wat…

"…you guys watch *Joe Don Baker* movies?"

I've always longed for a drive-in with all the authenticity and totally-not-cheesy-and-stupid-at-all-ness of Johnny Rockets.

Yeah, "Cars" does not deserve anywhere near the scorn that "Cars 2" does. The original is not a bad movie at all, even if it's lower-level Pixar.

Starring Tracy Jordan.

Please make sure to let us know every time somebody does some random editing to a Taylor Swift song.

The music section, at least, feels like it's getting less and less about lesser-known acts than in years past and more and more about stuff everyone else covers all the time. I've noticed more and more albums I've been listening to coming out that don't get reviewed here (when this used to be a place I could count on…

"works shockingly well."

"works shockingly well."

You didn't get the memo? Assembly-line pop music is to be treated as High Art Worthy Of Serious Coverage, while we make sure to cover only 0.2% of anything independent, interesting, and featuring guitars.

Yes, because that's exactly what I said. I said I didn't care about anything but the visuals. Exactly that.