I listened to it for the first time recently too! (I don't know why, it was a weird hole, because I used to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins when I was a teenager) Since I got my own office I've been listening to it obsessively over and over again at work. It's one of my new favorite albums.

I don't think that that would be a racist assumption at all, just that you thought he would have been ethnically Irish. But I guess sometimes outsiders can have a better perspective on things like that.

Wow, I'm really, really surprised to hear this. What do you think is homophobic in his work and what would be smug points? I just can't even begin to think of anything.

@avclub-ae1846aa63a2c9a5b1d528b1a1d507f7:disqus I love any kind of naming-related facts and I didn't know that one. Thanks!

I had a no-over-30 rule for a little while when I realized that my worst/for the wrong reasons/regrettable experiences had all been with guys over 30, but then the hottest guy I've ever seen, who I used to hook up with sporadically, turned 30 and invalidated it.

No offense to the actress who probably looks a lot better in real life out of that makeup but I find her not at all appealing. She looks like a paint by numbers of what someone heard the average man finds attractive.

Maybe because it's in the fall? No idea. I really like this poster. I would put it up on my walls if I had a real copy of it.

This sadly reminds me of the "Elf holocaust" thing that I wish I didn't know about.

@avclub-2b4da655d7cee9a149406da930671ae9:disqus While I don't think these ads are designed to play off smug self-satisfaction and specifically targeted at the wealthy, there is one that I think does exactly that which I fucking hate (page 52: http://issuu.com/handelandh… - I don't know who thought that was a good…

@avclub-2b4da655d7cee9a149406da930671ae9:disqus Arthur, Charlie Rose, PBS Newshour, Rick Steve's Europe, Greater Boston, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Martha Speaks, Sesame Street, Thomas & Friends, Wild Kratts, Great Performances at the Met, etc. etc.

@avclub-2b4da655d7cee9a149406da930671ae9:disqus NPR's listener demographics are relatively comparable to the general population actually. There are a lot more conservatives, people in rural areas, etc. listening to it than we think. This is indicated here http://www.theamericanconse… (I just googled to find this…

I once won from the Chicago NPR station a coffee table book on Chicago crime, a duffel bag, and a mug for donating in the pledge drive. I also really liked 848.

I think Charlie Rose is great. Also PBS Newshour is fantastic. I'm not crazy about Tavis Smiley but I think the topics he covers are worth someone covering.

The schedule of my PBS channel:

Fun fact: It took me years (literally, years) to "get" that Diagon Alley was a pun and not just a cool wizardy-sounding name. I'm prone to fits of extreme literalmindedness.

I think landscaping is a profession that many sincerely appreciate the existence of, but I also think that reality shows based on professions in niche locales are stupid.

The message I've taken away from what I know of the book is that it's not something you can really enjoy ironically. When I heard Nabin on the radio the other day I found the point that these gatherings of fans (for Phish, ICP, etc.) are often appealing to people who don't have a good home life or a reinforcing…

Here's a great piece by one of my favorite writers on MFA programs: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n1…

I really liked this piece by Meg Wolitzer about women writers of literary fiction: http://www.nytimes.com/2012…

I think that's hard to say from this example. It took a decent amount of time for the Harry Potter books to generate fame and the mystery genre is pretty rote in terms of new authors forging into it regularly and people not making a huge deal about new releases (unlike children's fantasy literature which is subject to…