IQ (or intelligence, general cognitive ability) is predictive of many, many positive outcomes. It's not a guarantee, but it's nowhere close to worthless. The single best individual difference measurement for predicting success on most jobs is cognitive ability.

I'm Brian, B-R-I-V-O-L-B-N, the #7, the letter Q!

Yup. I used to do research into military recruitment and the middle class (to even upper middle class) segments of the population were most "fruitful." You'd get some differences based on service (the Coast Guard pulled a lot of well-off kids), but overall the lower SES folks weren't the ones joining.

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It's so bad, though. The newspaper plot was just such a letdown, really devoid of the nuance that characterized the rest of the show. So, yeah, some of that is based on the expectations from prior seasons. Still, I think I've re-watched Season 5 once or twice, compared to probably 5 times for the others.

His name is Robert Paulson.

If they were going to cut something, cut Craig. I'll never understand the producers' insistence on keeping him around, much less devoting a flash forward to him. I'd have rather learned more about Kyle.

Oh, man I disagree. I skip Pawnee Zoo when I re-watch Season 2. The rest of the season is great, though.

Blanchett's ticking performance reminded me (poorly) of Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream. I normally really like Blanchett, but found her Blue Jasmine performance to be rather silly. I think I'm the only person who holds that opinion, though, as she won pretty much every award in existence.

I'd upvote you for your Kidman take, but downvote you for anything related to Far from Heaven, which I thought was horrible. I don't know what arrow to click!

To say nothing of Haley Joel Osment, Michael Clarke Duncan or Jude Law all of whom were better than Caine. That was a great year for movies, but a bad year at the Oscars.

Clooney is really good looking, but in Syriana he was fat. Ergo, Oscar. Agreed about Sidding; he was the best part of that movie.

Really? I thought it faded away pretty quickly after award season. It had very good reviews, but won zero Oscars and no major awards. The only thing I remember is the scene toward the end with Bridges riding on the horse at night. The original stands out far more in my mind and I've seen them the same number of times.

At the time I saw it, I remember thinking that Denzel's best performance that year was actually John Q (bad move, but he was very good). I only saw it one time (again, bad movie) so I'm not sure I'd still hold that opinion. Either way, I don't think he deserved the award for Training Day.

Who remembers True Grit, the remake? Eisenberg gets my vote for that year anyway.

I thought he should've won for The Departed (he was nominated for Blood Diamond, which I found completely unmemorable). Forrest Whitaker won and was fine, but it wasn't a lead role.

Yup. Ellen Burstyn lost to Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich that year. Ugh.

I think Tom Wilkinson was the real victim in 2001.

Agreed on the Supporting Actor comment. I thought Norton, in particular, gave the best performance. Part of it for me is that I think Norton's role was more difficult to play than Simmons'. It reminds me of the year Ledger won. They're big showy roles as a "villains" who are more than just supporting parts. Still, I…

I didn't think the first episode was very good;. One and a half plots revolved around finding April a job. There's just not enough there, particularly given that the plot with the guys was unlikely to lead to anything. Furthermore, the reason Leslie and April went to Washington really wasn't clear (funding of some…