It's outside the scope of this discussion, but it's worth noting that the first book doesn't end the development of their friendship. It's tested sorely in the second book, and doesn't really become a solid and accepted thing until the fourth book. By then, they have enough shared experiences that it's a perfectly…

Good point, Jed, which brings up another thing he does with his prose - he makes you experience the passage of time the way his characters do. He'll describe boring events like days spent on a becalmed ship in long, drawn out passages that deliberately test your patience as a reader, while quick but dramatic events…

Same here on 21 - I could only make it a few pages in. The pall of loss made it too hard to enjoy it. Maybe it's time to give it another shot…

Excellent point on the dialogue, La Pipe (if you really are a pipe), especially on the importance of things not said. Once you really get to know the characters over several books, this becomes more and more effective - as you fill unconsciously fill in those details yourself, it heightens the feeling that these…

I agree that the development of the characters is one of the most compelling things about the series, but I found that Master and Commander worked better once I knew the characters - it provided a great back story once I was invested in Jack and Stephen, but didn't really draw me in when I didn't know who they were…

Master and Commander
Great to see a Patrick O'Brian on here, but I'll be interested to see the reaction to Master and Commander. I found it difficult to crack the first time I read it - until you're comfortable with the difference between a snow and a xebec, it's hard to follow some of the action scenes. I revisited…

Seconded.

So was Jesus, and he shows up in all sorts of Christmas albums.

Additional condolences from someone you've never met. I'm genuinely sorry for your loss.

Glad to see the love for Sendak and Mercer Mayer. I'm getting to re-visit the Mercer Mayer monster books through my 2 year-old son - he loves 'Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo', and I'm realizing how much of my sense of design was shaped by those books. How insane is it that that one and 'One Monster After Another' are…

On Fridays I'll be there, but on Wednesdays not at all.

Complaining that 'Never Let Me Go' is about clones is like complaining that the 'Myth of Sisyphus' is about a guy and a rock. The fact that they were clones was never really a twist - Ishiguro clearly expected you to figure it out right away, and the way hints were dropped was not about setting up a big reveal, but a…

'have even' - clearly my editor has been laid off, as well.

We're talking about a newspaper in late 2009. The real editors probably got laid off in 2008, and the only 'editor' left is, at best, a 20-year-old journalism-school drop-out making $5.50 an hour to do a job once done by 5 professionals, and doesn't have even bother to read the stupid sports columns before they go to…

I think it's pretty well understood that Souljah Boy speaks to all of us. His music can be the soundtrack to a hot club scene, or to adorable dancing penguins. It's universal.

Was that an attempt at an American accent? I couldn't really decide what he was going for there. Maybe some sort of Canadian-of-Scottish-descent kind of thing?

Yes, there is an Oscar for best trailer. They call it 'Best Picture'

He HAD no hair - but this year, they are changing everything!

Dead-On Review
I love this movie unreasonably, but Phipps has it just right - the moments are fanastic, even if it doesn't add up to as much as it could. That makes it a keeper on video, though - it's rewarding to drop in and visit individual scenes. The world it recreates is so perfectly realized that it really seems…

Good god. I thought he'd caught it and had made a fairly graceful recovery when he said 'There's one letter missing', and then he went and added the Y. We really shouldn't laugh, though - the man has apparently had a severe head injury. Or ought to have.