It embarrasses me to admit that I've never seen any of Araki's other films, although I'm familiar with the reputations of most of them. However, the underlying seriousness and melancholy of "Mysterious Skin" are things I valued when I watched it, even without the relative context of his other work. Movies like "The…

I admired "Mysterious Skin" for Araki's craftsmanship and Gordon-Levitt's performance, but it's definitely one of the most repellent movies I've ever seen (along the lines of, say, "Visitor Q"). Sorry, but I thought its level of shock value was very contrived, and it left me feeling empty and disgusted. I agree that…

Zack: That reduction of book-review structure was in no way directed at this review or any review in particular. (In fact, I think this review is terrific.) I was just trying to point out that the challenges a reviewer faces in conforming to a format are evident to readers as well. Due to their limited length,…

Apart from the obvious factors that distinguish book reviews from reviews of other media (and lexicondevil's excellent insights), I agree that the format of the AVC book reviews plays a part in how readers comment on them.

Inspired by your comment, I'm going to start making direct-to-DVD quickie rip-offs of popular movies, a la The Asylum company, except I will limit my production to using whatever household items I already have sitting around — sort of a "sweding" type of thing, only with less integrity. I've got celery, peanut…

Those carrots and celery sticks are actually laced with PCP. I think in a later episode he has an ants-on-a-log-related near-fatal overdose.

You know, recently I've been unable to watch people weave, then breathe their storylines. Wearing sunglasses at night might just do the trick!

Pete
I'm curious about others' opinions of Jack Nance as Pete Martell. Watching the show, I often find myself feeling an unexpected affection for his canned-ham, oddball line readings and Popeye facial expressions. Maybe because his character is so uncomplicated and unaffected amidst the best and worst plot…

Coreys
I'm going to take advantage of this clandestine comment section to confess a private shame: my real name is Corey. As a child, as soon as I started talking, I asked to have my name changed to "a grownup's name." I'm still Corey, though; maybe it'll keep me humble if I ever do anything worthwhile with my life.

Along those same lines (only gayer), there's a mess of excellent memoirs by Dirk Bogarde. Likewise, he was maybe too good a writer, and the current interest in him too slight, for this feature.

Yeah, I've read that. Salinger, as he's depicted by Maynard, makes Roth look like Alan Alda. It's always best just to assume from the start that your heroes are total assholes.

I remember that! It introduced me to the evocative term "splash pregnancy."

Suggestions?
Man, I'm not familiar with enough shitty celebrity books to make a good suggestion. I think the trashiest celebrity tell-all I've read is "Leaving a Doll's House" by Claire Bloom (surprise: Philip Roth is a dick).

Mazes and Monsters
I've never had any interest in "Dungeons & Dragons," and this was way before my time, but was anybody cautioned about the delusive dangers of D&D in the late '70s or in the '80s, when there was controversy about fatal "steam-tunnel incidents" supposedly related to real-life reenactments of D&D games?

The Mirror of Love
Certainly no magnum opus, a one-off story in an uneven one-off anthology, I'm still surprised that "The Mirror of Love" didn't at least get a mention, considering its impact as a pointed, purposeful political statement. Of all the contributing artists' efforts against the British government's…

I humbly admit that I've never read any of Peary's work, and I've been trying to abide by the film-fanatic commandments without a bible all this time (well, not Peary's, anyhow). After reading about him in Scott's NCC introduction a couple of weeks ago, I've been interested in his writing and plan on buying his books…

Yeah, I meant "all the girls" in a self-deprecating, not boastful, sense. Unless someday my wife lets me hire strippers for Thanksgiving, like I've been asking (that's what the Pilgrims did — "stuffing" originally meant wads of singles).

And turn down the volume on the game, dude — I have to say everything twice.

Well, from now on, I'm not watching the game with you on Thanksgiving. I'll be in the kitchen with all the girls.

Well, from now on, I'm not watching the game with you on Thanksgiving. I'll be in the kitchen with all the girls.