God, Brienne's wanderings bore the shit out of me. I like show Brienne way better than book Brienne, possibly because 95% of her screen time isn't taken up by GRRM describing how fucking ugly she is. I only like book Brienne when she's killing people or hanging out with Jaime. Her chapters in AFFC suuuucked. The part…

Yeah, just seeing her corpse was plenty disturbing.

Shae's accent is also way too strong. Nobody would be dumb enough to use her as an Arya stand-in.

Um, I don't think that people actually describe themselves as being from a broken home these days. But for the purposes of this story, "broken" is sort of the point. I used the term "broken home" hyperbolically because it's histrionic - what was an uncommon situation that damaged a child in a very specific way is now…

@avclub-792b765aa995daf26cf6f17f519c949d:disqus Dany's really not the victim type. My interpretation was that, being the total badass that she is, after being sold to Drogo she decided to make herself a part of the Dothraki culture, instead of going the creepy Viserys route of contemptuous whining. It's a big part of…

What, calling them "broken homes?" I don't think so, not in this context. What Maisie Knew is all about family damage, so I don't think pointing out that the literal breaking up of families is now common is melodramatic. That was kind of my point for why the modern setting is less effective.

It's a fantastic book, but holy shit is it painful to read.

@avclub-5934f8d8c7553f3a03d2f898e03d721c:disqus calling @avclub-b12ed894105b79c6ae4494fcbe06bddb:disqus "misinformed" is a little rich, don't you think? How in god's name can anyone here be expected to know your favorite directors? Also, entertainment is a dying breed??? I don't know where the fuck you got that one…

Don't even joke about that!

You're on fire this week, @avclub-55e3810d28d3d3b098f2405b29602eea:disqus .

Don't apologize; I think a lot of us are right there with you. I'm always amazed by just how much I hate this fucker who is so entirely unrelated to anything in my life. Just looking at his stupid boxing-stance picture raises my blood pressure. And I can't name even one of the bastard's songs.

Or Dexter, which stuck to the books for the first season and then went off completely on its own.

Yeah, I haven't actually seen Hannibal, but hers is the only negative comment I've heard/read about it.

@avclub-f121d09285898f1c66d66f1e6f0455a6:disqus I said the Scientology story is more about weird spectacle and less related to any everyday emotional dynamic than the Judeo-Christian mythos, not that it was entirely divorced from anything human. Although any tradition requiring the faith of its adherents is going to…

I think the notion of the Abrahamic god is marginally less stupid than Scientology. "God and his favorite angel used to be BFFs until they had a big fight and now everyone has to suffer for it" is at least the kind of dynamic you see all the time among actual, living people, whereas nuclear bombs and volcanoes and…

"Is that so terrible? To imply a 14-year-old might’ve been a fan of a cute pop star?"

"If you knew anything about Justin, you'd be able to understand that his comment wasnt self conceited in any way. From what he wrote, I personally believe that all Justin meant was that he really respects and admires Anne Frank and who she was as a person, and only hopes that if she were alive today, she would admire…

Is anyone else already really, really missing Scott Tobias? It's like I see his byline everywhere I look. And it seems like his articles have gotten even more insightful in the past couple of weeks, and this review is no exception.

A faithful adaptation of Malamud's novel would not have drawn in the crowds. It's an excellent book, but it's like a photo negative of every  other baseball story in existence. Americans are used to sports stories where the protagonists discover what is best in themselves and thus overcome the odds, so a story where…

He might be a dick, but he does not deserve that.