Truly frightening
There are moments when I feel frighteningly disconnected from most of America. And it's not watching the Tea Partiers and it's not when I see a double-down commercial, because I can at least understand what legitimate desires/fears/etc. that those are meant to sate.

I can see what you're saying, but when there's writing this good, it seems like a waste to just have a throwaway character like that. I guess it also rubs me the wrong way because there are only two women regulars in the show only one of whom is three dimensional.

I'm With Todd
Maybe it's because I'm one of the few people I know willing to identify myself as a practicing Catholic who is also extremely liberal (actually more common than you'd think in America), but I love shows that are able to actually address religion (or religious issues) as a subject with two equally valid…

I was rollerskating with my new haircut…
…which everyone thought was a Dorothy Hammil, but was really a Pete Rose.

I brought up this same dilemma last week. Clearly the DVD extras will be bountiful.

Women of the League
Interesting comment about Sofia, because a friend and I were complaining during the show about how bad Sofia (although not on the eyes, clearly).

I agree with astro and smauis. I think that AWITH's is clearly a missive by a non-hiker, for non-hikers. Although I would hope that avid hikers would enjoy reading it, it's clearly an outsider's perspective.

@ Malcolm Excellent

Best Chicago Show Since Andy Richter Controls The Universe
I stumbled onto the League this year due to its post-Sunny slot and it now a tossup as to whether that or Community is the better show on any given Thursday.

Interesting, Fah Fah. While those are both good books, I think that he's best when there's personal narrative along with his investigations which neither A Brief History or Mother Tongue Really have.

Know what I'd recommend in Amsterdam? Getting baked and going the children's museum. We only did this at the end of our trip when we were delayed by a train strike, but it was perhaps the most fun thing we did. You have to walk across the harbor on a footbridge to get there, it's full of amusing stimuli and when…

Did anyone else see this?
On a teaser for this show they showed an extended version of the Taco retirement scene which was great.

Yeah, Bryson is one of those few people who I will actually laugh out loud while reading.

Bryson
Bill Bryson would be a great intro to any number of countries. I think he's got a knack for really giving a sense of the overall attitude or feel of place, as illustrated by wacky historical or personal anecdotes.

I agree Bustin. There are a few albums where from the second you press play you're just taken (for me, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea was the best such example) but most truly great albums don't start to reveal the majority of their genius until you've run them through the ol' mental processors a few times.

I'm Surprised No One Mentioned Music
Bands/Albums are the biggest things that I'll appreciate more on later viewings. In high school I would read those canonical "greatest albums" list and then get as many as I could from my local library (ah the days before I knew what a .zip file was). Half the time I'd love them,…

Obviously the Maryland/heroin thing is a musical dispute which would be pointless wasting further breath on.

I'm not talking about baseless (hehe, "base") theories. I'm saying, let's assume that Regan, the GOP, corporate establishment had absolutely nothing to do with the development of crack. At that point, did not Regan allow this new epidemic to fester in inner cities, boosted by Apache-style policing and federal laws…

still your bijan lingers on and on and on

Look, "conspiracy theory" or not, it's taken over a quarter century for the US government to recognize that chemically identical coke and crack are equally illegal. You're gonna tell me that Ronald "I Launched My National Political Career Where They Lynched Civil Rights Workers" Regan's administration didn't have a…