Happy Birthday!

Damn, do you have access LinkTV online programming in Ireland?

Apart from Coulson (who was by far the best thing about the pilot), I felt like most of the characters on SHIELD were kind of bland.  I'm sure that will change, but so far a lot of people are kind of boring, especially no-people-skills-guy-whose-name-I-can't-remember.

Things I watched:

@avclub-0ae7484a9f3bbd2a21df420050c032ae:disqus Yeah, that actually probably articulates my own quibbles with the comment better than my own comment.

@avclub-3428e19567b810565b7647eaa8040e59:disqus I'm absolutely not knocking the idea of considering SoS to be one of someone's top five favorite books.  But to appear to imply that it is objectively one the five greatest books of all time is in my opinion pretty hyperbolic, and I was semi-snarkily responding to that…

On the contrary, I'd say that if one didn't enjoy the first two books, one is unlikely to suddenly think SoS is the greatest thing ever.  Also, I love me some SoS, but if you can count the number of books that are more worthwhile to read on one hand, you probably have some pretty profoundly debilitating polydactyly.

Plus, I feel like you really wrap up all the remaining pre-Winds Dany stuff in the next three seasons if you get started on the Meereen political intrigue stuff as soon as possible.

You mean to say you don't appreciate GRRM's ability to come up with names that are inorganic jumbles of arbitrary syllables whenever he's writing some of his more exotic (read: non-white) fictional cultures?

Although you'd be committing yourself to a longer read than with most of his other best-known works, I'd personally start with Light In August because it's a lot more accessible than, say, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury or Absalom, Absalom!.  I think LiA a good gateway to other Faulkner in that it's arguably…

Child of God is so shockingly horrific.  It says a lot that a book by the guy who wrote Blood Meridian could surprise you in how upsetting it is.  But yeah, it's still amazing.

Wait, "'spelling" has "spell" in it, which means it is, again, controlling your mind."  Assuming your roommate isn't in fact experiencing a serious break with reality, then that is literally the dumbest thing I've read in a long time.

Nice to read an update on your progress on your List.  When you say "update," do you simply mean an update on what you've read, or have you made any significant additions to it as well?

I feel like Animorphs, despite getting bogged down by pointless shit once Applegate started getting ghostwriters to do everything for her, actually has way more redeeming values than not for a 54-book long children's sci-fi series.  Shit gets seriously dark and morally ambiguous by the end for some kids' books.

I think that a while back they did two monthly reading columns (July and August, maybe?) like two weeks apart from each other, and it was weird.  Maybe they're saving it for the end of the month for September?

Awesome, good luck!

Almost completely unrelated to your comment, but Tonks Addams is easily the best username-ized nickname I've read for someone's SO on this site.

I'm over six feet tall, and I always feel kinda self conscious about the fact that, unless I'm really goddamn tired, my walking pace is probably a good 15-20% faster than the average fellow pedestrian.  Except for when I'm walking up stairs, where I'm not slowing my stride at all, but I'm all of a sudden marginally…

Even Coda?

The Necromancer is easily the best thing about Caress of Steel, even with all the cheesy deep-voiced exposition stuff at the beginning.