How about the president at the end of Elektra: Assassin? (Name withheld because SPOILERS.) That's a badass!

Not sure where to mention this, but… anyone have fond memories of a series called Homefront? For some reason it popped into my head today. I barely remember it, but I recall I enjoyed it at the time. Kyle Chandler was in it.

Thanks for the list! I am fond of P.D. James and so I suppose I would like the other authors you've mentioned? Worth a try, at least. Though I tend to prefer American authors: Lawrence Block, Sue Grafton, James Ellroy, Macdonald, Westlake, Hammett, Chandler.

I wonder if you've read The Flood? I tried reading it and it was intriguing at first, but I dropped it somewhere in the middle. It just didn't hold my interest. I guess it is meant to be a coming of age story of sorts?

I used to be into media studies (not my major, but I was writing culture pieces for my vaguely Marxist college paper)… I think media studies should be a lot of help. It focuses on popular culture, after all. Though if I were you, I'd concentrate on the popular music studies. It's a lot easier to look up a song…

I hate that I'm in agreement with Pepsi Jr, but this movie doesn't deserve a WATCH THIS. Surely AV Club can find a better way to pay tribute to Gandolfini than bringing up one of the weaker bits in his oeuvre!

A lot of writers are not very good with endings. King has written some particularly disappointing ones. But some of his endings have worked. Carrie, Salem's Lot, Misery, and The Dead Zone come to mind. It, possibly (though very troubling). The short stories are probably the best.

Carrie is pretty damn effective to this day. I know that coz I watched it for the first time a couple of years ago. That ending…

Just read the interview. Nothing was cut. Here's the relevant quote:

Advertising doesn't work that way. Deep down, it doesn't really work at all. People don't truly believe slogans like "The Currency of Affection." Those people who do seem to internalize a slogan are comparable to fans of sports teams — only they're fans of products. But most people can see the fakeness of such…

Advertising is hardly brainwashing. To be honest, ad guys don't actually think they can change people's minds. Like Don, what they really try to do is "change the conversation."

@avclub-04d524031f29c89d78cae864bd6f0de7:disqus SC&P Hershey's ad: http://i.imgur.com/BRNo3DN.jpg

@avclub-23de85a2fdcee0bffe9a3256081b9db9:disqus He's been spending too much time in the desert.

It's a sentence that says so much while saying so little. It doesn't even require a semicolon!

What's funny is that when things actually happen on Mad Men, people will complain that the show's being ridiculous and unsubtle. (This is happening right now.)

No Girls' Boarding School Playset with Scumbag Rolo, Surprisingly Tolerable Glen Bishop, cigarettes and alcohol?

Oh, and speaking of random, how 'bout that nutty insurance guy, huh?

I'm just glad we got as much Ginsberg as we did. I would like to see him more, too, but that may not be such a good idea. Ginsberg is the kind of attention-grabbing, abrasive (in a good way) character who could break a show if he got too big. In his case, it may be better to leave the viewers wanting more.

I also found the Sylvia storyline a drag, but it served a number of purposes. It heightened Don's vulnerability — literally, in being so close to home, as well as reverting Don to a needy crybaby (WAAH WAAH). It gave Don, a man who has everything he wants, something to lose. And lose it he did, and more. He lost…

Game of Thrones and LOST do have dogs (or wolves) in them. And Mad Men has treated a dog pretty badly. Though not as badly as Game of Thrones, I suppose. Where's Hershey's Red Wedding reaction video?