Scrawler - I was thinking about just that (universe consistency) as I was writing my comment, which is why I skewed it away from talking about "realism" - note that I never said that. My issue is that the characters themselves do not act like people. Without that, where is the humor? I had no basis for what to…

Kinopio - i wish someone could explain the appeal of Easy A to me as well, since you and I apparently do not share Drunk on Life's sense of humor.

I'm curious how this will play out. Seems like this could easily go the way of other reality stunt casting (Hello Jimmy Johnson!), so I assumed they would do something like not allow Russel and Rob to be voted for until the merge. I guess that isn't the case, so I'll agree and say Russell's position seems mighty…

I can relate to this all too well as I was 17 at the time and saw Phantom Menace multiple times in the theater. I would frequently notice something new, though I realized that this was because I kept spacing out during the movie. Still that summer, I think I still got a bit of a thrill each time that second blade…

Miller - I am interested in your point about the narrative elisions that remove the Iris/Alex romance from the "primary" narrative. I like to imagine that Iris was mentally substituting in the relevant portions of "The Blind Assassin" much as we were (or perhaps as someone mentions above, we are reading a final…

Not to pile on, but the first indication to me that the lovers' story is "The Blind Assassin" were the chapters entitled "The Blind Assassin". Rowan, your point about the lack of literary respect accorded to science fiction reinforces this idea rather strongly.

I agree with all the comments above that Richard felt a bit overly villainous (though moreso by virtue of his being a pederast, than his believable for the time Nazi-sympathizing), but felt this was mitigated somewhat by Iris's acknowledgment. In TV shows, it sometimes annoys me when writers will joke about their…

Right there with you Ellie and Arsenio on Slate's pop culture content. I tend to be intrigued by Jonah Weiner's contributions, but the rest frequently leave me baffled. I recall a nonsensical Battlestar Galactica essay claiming that the show was chauvinist:

Oh - and how about some music podcasts? Seems like the other bases are covered. I listen to NPR's All Songs Considered, but would love some other recommendations.

Podcasts! Also - people think Hardwick is funny?
So glad to see the AV Club joining my obsession and listening to basically everything that I do. I think that WTFpod may be my favorite - Maron's rants are classic and the comedians seemingly view him as some sort of therapist. Was Paul Scheer's childhood that…

On second thought, I would probably watch that show. But I'm guessing it would not catch on with the general public.

Yes, S. Jerusalem. Who wouldn't want to watch a live-action version of Blues Clues from the writers of Ocean's Eleven and The Shield.

I'll join the chorus of disappointment and mourning and finger pointing. Damn you FX marketing department! I can just imagine the great minds that came up with that ad campaign: "We've got a terrific show in the classic PI mold. I know! We'll market it by showing a dog and almost nothing else!"

Todd, I think you would be well advised to ignore any future Arundel postings (though I am enjoying your numbers). Somehow thinking that you are talking about the top ten shows on a Saturday night seems like willful ignorance as this is a metric that no one would be interested in for such a discussion. Also, the…

Thank you Mandaliet! After hearing Steve's dismissal of Arcade's lyrics with his only support being that line, I realize how crucial an If can be. While Arcade Fire is typically very sincere, in this instance the line is meant to be humorous - I certainly found it to be so. The whole point is that it's over the top.

Leonard, the reason why the scene was so affecting to me is because I feel I can relate on some level. I always feel incredibly awkward whenever someone I know has someone close to them die. Anya knew Joyce, but you never get the sense in the series that they are close. She feels sad, but at the same time she feels…

I've mentioned this before as well, to no avail. What exactly is the point of the AV Talk's supposed to be? Is it just an audio version of the review except one other person gets to chime in? Why not just make it a spoiler version of the review or AT LEAST have a portion that allows spoilers? I can conceive of no…

I'm with you there sarCCastro. I enjoyed the way they irreverently tweaked the mythology of Dracula, as they have been doing with other horror tropes throughout the series. The idea of Buffy v. Drac is an interesting one and does a reasonably good job of setting up some of the themes of this season.

Thanks Noel! This was always my first stop after Lost ended and I appreciated your insight greatly. I can't completely agree with you on this - I kind of loved the idea of them moving on together in the afterlife (even though some of the exclusions were perplexing - will the Freightees move on together in some other…

I would like to have heard more of the jury's reasoning in the reunion show. I suspect that all the Heroes voted for Sandra because the Parvati/Russell alliance booted them and they knew that Sandra was an outsider to it. Which is really bullshit coming from people who have played the game two or three times.