Given the fact that I like darkly comedic twentieth century novels about messed up people, I should have liked Portnoy's Complaint. It was given to me by an older friend who found it endlessly hilarious, but I just found it sad. Rabin describes it as "compelling, funny, and true," but I simply couldn't relate to the…

I need to believe that, as some point during the filming, Clive Owen threw a mix of cabbage, dung and straw in the face of an extra playing a prostitute.

I need to believe that, as some point during the filming, Clive Owen threw a mix of cabbage, dung and straw in the face of an extra playing a prostitute.

Hello.

You might also like Thomas Frank's first book, The Conquest of Cool. It's an interesting argument that, rather than coopting the revolution in the 1960s, advertisers considered themselves part of it.

Didn't he say that mandatory cable subscriptions were "the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized"?

Rather than type it, you should have it done in sky-writing.

I think you are correct about her father's influence. I would also contend that he is correct, that shifting product and consumerism are not very satisfying. I'm reminded of Abe and Peggy's early relationship when he was surprised that she found fulfillment as a writer in advertising. It is about artful illusions…

Since being bitten by a cockbug, I have had the gift of second-sight.

I suspect it was more that Bush Sr. was vice-president to Reagan, who was the spear-tip of the religious right and actively destroying the middle class at that time. Not the sort of thing a Detroit labor liberal would be a fan of.

I'd like to think it's been a collaborative effort.

I was wrong to say you were offended by the character. You wrote, "I hate how the writers try to pass the character off as "pansexual."" If not the character itself, then you find the writer's "dishonesty" and failure to "just admit it" offensive.

I'm curious why you find this upsetting. Is it because you believe it is offensive to portray a gay man as being a furry transsexual who frequents truck stops for hookups, and Community won't own up to what they are doing? Because you approve of the portrayal of a kinky gay guy on network TV and wish they weren't…

Is "Whore House" one word or two? My Canadian girlfriend wants to know.

Exactly. I thought the episode was terrible, with the exceptions of Stefon and the violated ape, but there is no disputing taste and if Sims liked it more, swell. What is bizarre is repeatedly saying "meh" and then giving it a borderline "A" grade. Apparently, meh merely has to be infectious to approximate excellence.

I agree. You have to admire his commitment to whatever role he has been handed, and I have liked Portlandia when I have watched it, but on SNL he seems to have two bits: (1) ugly, shrieking woman, and (2) meta-comedy about various types of failed comedians. I can't think of a single hilarious sketch where he was the…

Immortality was the other half of the deal with Satan that rendered him Donglover.

I apologize for attributing "outrage" to you. Clearly, it was only because you disagreed with me and I cannot handle reasoned debate. And now, some measured and non-at-all quoted words of my own.

Not hostile, my friend. Just thought it needed pointing out, since so many people assume that it is the responsibility of the grader to explain why the gradee is not perfect. The default is a C/C+. The positive comments explain why the episode was lifted up. There is no need to explain why it came down from an A.

And what does it mean when the Mother Superior says, "Twenty bucks, same as in town"?