Even if the person you’re with does something really awful, you might
find yourself fighting to get them back simply because having to
reimagine your future without them in it can be so terrifying. It
eventually becomes less about how much you love them and more about how
much your life makes sense with them in it,…

First reaction: "Excellent! A Rockford retrospective!"

So should the A.V. Club not have mentioned Gould's nice story in a complimentary way?  It's possible you're just looking for a problem.

Nick Lowe says, "Hey! I'M the hip musician who's supposed to be startling people with how old I look!"

If you strive for clarity, focus and economy in the writing, you won't have to make such big allowances for the readers who might misunderstand.

"Of course you realized your parents were people from the time you were sentient! They were the same species as you, right?"

I didn't mind the question so much as the subsequent "ain't I cute?" over-explanation of a concept that's already perfectly easy to grasp. Todd is one of those not-funny guys who's convinced he's hilarious — and telegraphs that confidence at least once a paragraph.

I think you might be viewing the ad concept from a 2012 perspective. It was probably a lot more novel in 1996. Don even had to use the term "mini-movies" to explain it in a way that Ray could understand.

Hmm. Overly long, unfocused, undisciplined sentences? Too many parenthetical comments? Potent self-absorption?

We were somewhere on the edge of a 100-word title when the drugs began to take hold …..

When you really want to write an effective lede for a TV review, compare the show in question to a movie 98-percent of your audience has had absolutely no opportunity to see.  Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret" would be an excellent place to start!

Greg Proops was "mildly surly" in his Austin Proopcast?

Oh, I'm not "scared off." Pssh!

(response retracted)

Any chance you might also hand off "Archer" reviewing duties to someone else?  : )

A comparison was made between Tim & Eric and The Velvet Underground, and Mira laughed and asked, "Who was your Nino?" And there was some confusion, "Nino? Nino?" Then it was established that he didn't realize the singer's name was actually NICO. He stopped talking for a long time after that.

I think they split up. It's cool they still get along well enough to be in biz together.

Y'know, I've often ragged on Todd for what I feel are weaknesses in his writing — clumsy structure, self-indulgence, overuse of parentheticals…. But after arguing so much with his defenders who accuse me of trolling, I stood back and said life's too short to gripe on the internet.

RE: Nerdist #179.

Sacrelicious, I used to think the same thing, back when I first started listening to him. I think if you listen to Monk playing standards — "Monk Plays Duke Ellington" is a good example — it's clear even to a newbie that he can play. While his technique might not be your cup of tea, his expansion of stride and bop…