I definitely don't think the internet has made us meaner or less empathetic, because you're right, people have always been that way. But the internet does make it easier to inflict our meanness and lack of empathy on others—greater opportunity, greater capacity. So it's just people acting the same as we've ever done,…

I mean, to be fair, Whitman famously revised and republished Leaves of Grass every few years (more or less) so this isn't quite a pure example of telling someone off for a work they produced a decade earlier. But I totally agree that publishing harsh-bordering-on-dickish reviews is nothing new, even if the internet…

Pretty sure the term for a pre-toddler is "baby."

I totally get the criticism of Mindy not having any female friends, but I gotta say her friendships with guys are consistently my favorite parts of the show. I'm honestly more invested in the Peter/Mindy friendship than I am in the Mindy/Danny relationship, and even Jody, who I hated when he was first introduced, has…

I'd never heard of Victoria Day before! On the one hand, I am aghast at the idea of a day celebrating the imagined power of a monarchial and colonial system. On the other hand, I'm incredibly intrigued by any day which is acceptable to celebrate by getting drunk at a lake house.

Yeah, but unlike the filmmaking industry, which is increasingly aiming for the Chinese moviegoer audience, TV's target audience is still Americans. It's not our fault you unAmerican people keep tuning in. If I were you, I'd lobby your country's entertainment industry to increase both the quality and quantity of its…

Also true! I guess my hackles were up just because I recently reread HBP and was really annoyed by the way Mrs. Weasley/Ginny/Hermione all act towards Fleur. Just super rude, and with a weird mild undercurrent of slut-shaming? On the one hand you have Mrs. Weasley coming around at the end, which seems to indicate that…

I've always hated the way the films pretty much deified Hermione past the point of any flaws, which is probably where my annoyance of the "perfect Hermione" idea comes from, but you're right that JKR definitely gestured in that direction as well, if not quite as terribly.

Almost exclusively.

As a maybe-someday-historian, if I ever decide I'm definitely willing to dedicate a good decade of my life to get them credentials, I've been wondering more and more whether it's even realistic to expect the vast mass of people to learn from history. The "experience is the best teacher" cliche is very much rooted in…

I was thinking the same thing! (I just happened to see that Mindy episode recently; I had no idea about the Toronto thing. But this knowledge makes it that much better.)

I think she had other flaws beyond her academic intensity. There was the whole thing with the House-Elves, where she was basically that newly enlightened college student who thinks they can singlehandedly solve oppression without bothering to talk to the people elves actually being oppressed. She was always more…

But you just said a .9 would round up to .10, so wouldn't that $9.99 thing become $10.00?? (No, that would make too much sense. Probably the $9.99 thing will become $10.95 instead.)

Totally agree! Somebody recently pointed out the Ron/Hermione parallel to me and everything suddenly clicked into place. (Ron/Hermione was my ~first ship~ tbh. No wonder I like Jake/Amy so much!)

I get all the reasons why pennies are obsolete, but doesn't it also make sense to maintain the smallest whole unit of money? The half-penny was fractional, but if the nickel becomes our smallest money unit, then…I don't know. Everything would cost .00, .05, .10? The further I go with this the more I realize there's no…

I've said it before and I'll say it again: never count on letting something reach its (il)logical extreme in the hopes that people will be too horrified to do it again. Generally that "too horrified" period lasts a couple of decades, if you're lucky, and then it's back to the same old shit.

I saw that interaction too, and I am 99% sure it was jokey. I kinda doubt Melissa Fumero would tell all of Twitterverse before she'd tell her bosses.

I'd actually be really interested in how B99 handles a "pregnant cop" storyline…but definitely not until like season five or six.

That exchange reminded me of Jake and Amy complimenting themselves on how good they were at sex. Clearly everybody at the 99 has a good idea of their own strengths and is unafraid to acknowledge them.

Madam Mim from Disney's The Sword in the Stone. Terrified me on a very visceral level as a kid. I can't even remember too many specifics besides her general creepiness and cloyingness, because I'm honestly a little scared to go back and check it out as an adult. At least, I don't have any strong inclination to face…