I always think of these books when I hear the term "red herring," because I learned it from them.

I'm so psyched for Carmelita Spats and the Squalors. I can't wait.

My problem with the child actors (minus the baby, obviously) is the same problem I have with most actors that age. They all have the same, specific method of line delivery—that sort of monotone-with-a-bit-of-a-laugh no matter what the context of the scene is. I think that's a large part of why the scenes where they…

See: adjacent comment from Dave O'Connell.

And it is, it is a glorious thing to be a bourbon king.

I know people are complaining about the troupe being given too much screentime already, but damn it, I love them all and I want more of them. Especially Hooks and Androgyny.

You have to stop the Q-tip when there's resistance!

The Vague Fiduciary Details of the Baudelaire parents' will were always a sticking point in the books for me (full disclosure, I only read about halfway through the series and don't remember it terribly well), but that flashback really did not seem like an ideal way to clarify things.

The one throwaway line that gave me more chills than anything was when Hook has Violet captive in the tower, radios Olaf about it, and the first thing we hear on his end of the conversation is "Yes, boss, of course, I know she's yours."

Family love Baudelaires.

Yeah, but his city is horrible and crime-infested, so we can safely dismiss whatever he has to say. Sad!

I went through a phase where it was my Netflix binge material of choice, because it requires basically zero intellectual investment and has eight million episodes so you don't run out of them when you're trying to procrastinate. But I didn't really keep up with it on TV. I did look forward to one episode and watch it…

America, sometimes I hate everything about the way you choose to be.

I presume they will all be set in some wistful alternate universe where the president is worth saving.

Eh. It depends.

Watersportsgate.

Oh man, any kind of cheesy pasta filling is the worst. I can tolerate meat ravioli, but stuffed shells and lasagna and ravioli with cheese will make me yak.

Mummy, what's a slattern?
*points at band* That's a slattern.

Does it come in its own little basket?

I had a professor once who was from Turkey, and her husband was from Maryland. They took some students out for dinner once, and I remember talking to her husband about our favorite crab cake recipes while she stared at us in abject disgust. "I just don't understand how you can eat crabs. They're giant ocean bugs."