I'm not saying a TV show *can't* have supernatural elements; I was a fan of Buffy after all; I'm just saying shows need to be consistent with what is plausible within their type of fictional universe. In a science fiction show people claiming that they are divine servants doesn't imply real angels.

Munchkin

There is a difference between having *characters* who are religious and actually having a fantasy universe where angels exist, though. It's completely plausible that people who have lost everything would turn to their religion for solace. But like in our world, that doesn't have to mean that there are any higher…

The thing is both shows had things going for them *besides* the stupid mysticism. A lot of us *tolerated* the mysticism but wished the focus would be on the interesting things. LOST had the numbers and the Dharma Initiative besides the nonsense about Jacob and the brothers. BSG was really powerful in the way that it…

I'm American, but lived and worked in Ontario and Quebec for about 5 years in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Obviously Quebec is a world to itself, but in terms of culture shock when I was in Ontario they were 1) bagged milk and 2) everyone talking about "hydro bills" (what? water bills are an issue here? I thought…

Yeah. It gets overshadowed by the one in 1939 in that Other City That Shall Not Be Named, and certainly didn't have the cultural impact of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, but it did have some neat things like the zeppelin Graf Zeppelin flying in from Germany (okay, given that it was propaganda for the then new regime,…

Along with the General's Daughter.

How can anyone dislike Bowfinger? I was going to say that it was the best comedy of 1999, but then I realized that Office Space and Galaxy Quest came out that year too.

I could bring up examples from the Ultima games from the 1980s, but that would just date me, I fear.

Yeah, it had a great atmosphere of dread, and so I have some fondness for it for that. But there just wasn't any payback, you know?

Does nobody care about Emma Thompson these days?

In that case, the soundtrack is definitely the highlight of the production.

Yeah. I really don't get why Jem has such a problem with them.

(Though that’s not half as clumsy, exposition-wise, as Zola asking “Is Paul here?” at Cézanne’s house and being asked “Paul Cézanne?”)

Garton Ash is a fascinating person. He also was an active participant in the downfall of the Communist government in Czechoslovakia in 1989. His book The Magic Lantern gives an inside view of Havel's inner circle and is amazing.

Ironically the support for Die Linke is not unlike Trump's appeal in the US. Basically they promise to bring back the "good old days" even though it is obvious they can't. While East Germany is remembered outside it mostly for things like the Stasi, you have to remember that a lot of people are nostalgic for a time of…

And technically in an ideal free market, there's no barrier to entry. Which isn't the case in any real market. You might have the greatest idea in history for a new electronic gizmo, but unless you can convince venture capitalists (or just be independently wealthy) there's no way you can compete with Apple.

And you have to remember that the point of the New Deal was to defuse Communist and Fascist agitation in the US. Extremists on both ends of the political spectrum were claiming that the Depression showed that America had failed and only a revolution would fix things. Actually providing benefits like unemployment…

While the line between "the Soviets" and the East German government was a bit blurry, some of their buildings actually had kind of an interesting Modernist appeal. I think it was sad that the East German parliament building "The Palace of the Republic" was torn down and a reproduction of a castle that once stood on…

But that was kind of the point. The 1893 Columbian Exposition was supposed to demonstrate all that was good and advanced about America but Holmes' murder castle demonstrated that not all was so ideal.