Dolby is still a consummate performer; most of his shows are accompanied by storytelling of some sort, him describing the process of recording or the history of the song, or the story of the Essex estuary lighthouses…

I would totally do that.

So, like, this album is…just OK. It's really odd, but not in a "good odd" way but more in a "I have no clue why anyone would think this is a good idea" way.

Ellis unfortunately has the tendency to keep returning to the same sort of themes over and over.  I loved his run on early Planetary but it got a little weak towards the end (hey, everyone, just to underscore this is a fantastic four pastiche, the bad guy stretches….HIS MIND!) and I started really disliking some of…

Yeah and their flag is pretty ridiculous.

Yeah but he did kind of a shit job of it.  The new recordings are very bland.

I do.  But it's totally worth it.

In the background of the supply closet when Amy and Fry are making out are two boxes: one marked "P" and one marked "NP."

I am always amazed at her stage-name-within-a-stage-name thing.  It's a postmodern mindfuck.

I swear, he was basically every LARPer I knew in college, writ large.

Ever notice how white guys have names like "Lenny" and black guys have names like "Carl?"

You're not misremembering.  He did, at one point, comment about his "icelandic boyhood."

I am legitimately surprised that mid-sized (or even large) record labels haven't already seized upon this and replaced their old A&R and monetary advance structures with mandatory crowdfunding.

WORZEL GUMMIDGE!

This is really bothering me.  The point of the companions has always been to provide a human perspective, a link for the viewer.   Now we keep getting these companions that have some universal-importance - Rose (although, that was by her own actions), Martha (on the Doctor's orders), and then Donna, who was FATED!…

Didn't help that ABC aired some episodes out of order, so that bomb episode got pushed out later in the season (because of Boston, unsurprisingly).  So we got the "Beckett questions the relationship's direction" episode before the "Castle is heroic in saving her from a bomb" episode, which throws off a lot.

He fixed it before it happened.

What's been interesting to me about their post-Alan Wilder output is that they've basically inverted the Depeche Mode "formula."  The old way of doing it was a very rigid, almost monotone vocal line, with the hooks carried by layers of synth parts (courtesy of Wilder).  Now, Martin's a big fan of minimal techno,…

"heaven" is a lousy choice for a single.  It's not a bad song, but it's more of an "album track" than a single.  The album is better than "Heaven" would lead you to believe.

It'll never happen.  The band has been without him longer than it was with him at this point.  It'd be about as useful as trying to get Vince Clarke back in.  At least he did VCMG.