The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood once said, when asked about the portrayal of violence against women (and I'm paraphrasing, and I'm also hoping I get the context right), that the thing men are most afraid of is humiliation, while the thing women are most afraid of is being murdered (presumably, by a man). It's not…

This is really great analysis! I would add that this episode really reminded me of Pi, Darren Aronofsky's first film. It had a similar kind of manic paranoia to it (and is also set in a similar NYC), and the narration is similar. The sequence after the cold open (of Darlene in the luxury apartment) had some wonderful…

I also like that the review points out not just the disparity of control, but the difference in the ways men and women use representations of gender. Tyrell's wife, for example, knows exactly what kind of women those detectives expect, while Tyrell seems broken by the same kinds of expectations of the performance of…

I tend to ignore those threads every week, but they do seem to persist so I thought I'd ask before this week's debate got going.

Absolutely! Grief can be a bunch of things-I suppose I was mostly thinking in terms of the oft-quoted stages of grief.

Can we also throw some respect/props/awards to the casting directors of this show? The cast is incredible.

Ah ok-I wasn't trying to snark. :) I'm honestly curious about this debate because it seems to point to an inherent mistrust of narration, and I'm curious about why it seems that audiences are much quicker to wonder about this kind of authority than they used to be. I'm also curious about how writers can use this…

I don't really get the fixation on whether Mr. Robot is real or not. I'm not saying 'ugh, shut up already about it'-folks can debate it if they want. In terms of plot, the scenes work regardless, don't they? I guess I'm not looking for those scenes to add to the characters in the way other scenes do, unless it's…

Interesting. I thought Elliot's confrontation with Krista was almost entirely about anger. He feels responsible for what happened and can't retaliate, he's not ready (and he may never be) to sort out his feelings about her death, and the result was this lashing out, using familiar methods.

But no one is claiming that Ali is 'the best' because he's old. And no one should claim that either Citizen Kane or The Beatles are great because they're old, but your examples are actually rather fascinating because both of these cultural artifacts have been lionized in no small part because of their influence, not…

That little fist pump he did was adorable.

I really don't understand why they're not teaching the kids stuff like this (how to kill abbies), or how to farm, or sew, or repair helicopters, or something?

Just to chime in (even though the ship has likely sailed on the discussion, and is lost in the over 1k comments), I really enjoyed the way that the books showed what a failure Cersei's leadership is-she makes a crazy deal with the Iron Bank, her appointed master of ships runs off with all the damn ships, etc. This…

I successfully made little pavlovas with yummy mixed-fruit whipped cream as a thank you to the Dean's office for all their help this school year! They are delicious-I've always wanted to try to make a pavlova and I'm thrilled they turned out so well.

I'm moving back to Chicago in August, yay!

Stereotypes are a real time saver, I guess?

Agreed-this was my only objection to the film (I haven't read the book). I was just talking to someone about this film over the weekend and I pointed out that one thing that I realized watching it was how few Hollywood films acknowledge the inner lives of women. This was really the thing I enjoyed most about it. My…

I saw Beck right around the time Odelay came out and he had an entire mariachi band out there. And yes, his dancing was epic. It was a fun concert!. It's awesome that he's still putting on a great show.

I was reminded of a recent show (won't say which so as not to give spoilers) where someone was advised to cauterize rather than removing the bullet. It was no less pleasant.

I probably disagree with you on quite a few things, but I do always like the respectful tone of your posts, for what it's worth. :)