Okay, that's more subjective then, a matter of taste. I've learned that whether something is good and whether you like it are two different questions, that can have contradictory answers. But I try to base the second on the first, so that if a movie achieves its aims, and is rendered well enough to do that, I like it.

Ideally, critics are living, thinking organisms like the rest of us who see movies and also want them to be good. Replace critics with viewers. If most people in a small population hated the movie, there has to be something inherently within it that made them so. Though critics have a tendency to carp about the movie…

Wait until you get to the episode with the whale and the pussycat. I don't want to say the greatest love story I've ever seen on TV, but pretty damn close.

So this is his apology in movie form? Okay, let's move on then. People ought not be judged for the rest of their lives by one action or comment (or a few); society not giving them a chance to repent and grow. If Gibson has done these things, bring him back; he's certainly talented enough in front of and behind the…

Right, fantasy at this point. There was a PBS Newshour segment I can't find from a few months back interviewing two authors who had written a book about treating government like a measurable science. Wish I could find it.

Right, this is sort of utopian, incredibly because all I'm asking for is the government to be a bit more rational.

I know that about Neoliberalism. I'm speaking more generally about how to check up on laws once they're out in the world—otherwise what's the point of creating them in the first place if we don't know how well they're doing.

How would it be undemocratic? I'm proposing a government department in both the legislative and executive that tracks laws so see if they've had the desired outcome or not. I'm not suggesting that laws be taken out of the hands of the voters through their voting through elections for officials. We don't vote for laws,…

I did see W. but haven't seen the others. I should get on Nixon before Hopkins leaves us. (Phrasing!)

I Am Legend. I haven't seen the other versions except the Will Smith one, but it's a simple story that is more interesting left the way it is, instead of completely changing what it's about and what makes it unique and good.

Heh. I'm teasing, but of course the conspiracy guy would pick that. Which is a damn good, unsettling, world building masterpiece.

I didn't mind and understood the reason for that ending.

Is he still facing sexual assault charges and extradition requests? That could be it. Trump seems more lenient on stuff like that.

There is an article in this month's Atlantic I've been meaning to link to about why government is so broken. The writer's thesis is that it's because the political middlemen, the hacks, the establishment were removed by democratic reforms and "sunshine laws." They acted as the government's immune system against…

No, I just don't really read more than a couple of his political posts. I read his helpful reminders of when shows we both like are on.

I propose a government department that objectively, rationally measures how effective or not laws are over time, so that if they have unforeseen negative consequences, don't solve the problem, or create newer ones, they can be revised or abandoned for laws that do work.

Vimeo has TV shows now? (I go on the site sporadically.) Sure it may be free now, but just you wait. I'm not paying for another bloody streaming service. Enough I say.

She's working for The Atlantic now.

I hadn't heard of the latest conspiracy, propagated by Julian Assange, that Clinton killed a DNC staffer. I now want Edward Snowden to beat the shit out of that guy. Edit: I take that back. That would be like Trump encouraging violence. Instead, Snowden should send him a strongly worded letter.

I saw that at 7. I've started watching his show the past few days because of all the things Trump says. Even though I think he exaggerates a bit—I don't believe Trump is mentally ill or crazy, just your usual bigoted idiot you'd find in any bar—I like the show. The other day, in response to Trump's economic speech,…