I'm not sure that you could change Nell to a boy and it would be the same.  I think that character hinges on her initial vulnerability, and that is heightened by her gender.  Diamond Age is one of my favorite books of all time.  I can't wait to read this, but it's going to have to wait awhile - I'm waist deep in the…

It's not even like Boehner and Obama's politics are really that different in the grand scheme of political possibilities.  If the spectrum goes from 0 to 10 (anarchist to communist), they're like 5.5 and 5.7 or something. 

Agreed.  He did a good a great job with a pretty one-dimensional story.

Roland & Susan from Stephen King's Wizard and Glass (Book 4 of the Dark Tower).

I agree with your Ween comparison regarding Evil Urges, but I LOVE Circuital.  I thought it was a 90% return to form. 

I'm with Cone of Shame.  I own a few Wilco albums and have tried to get into them, but they just don't do anything for me.  I even really like a bunch of other bands in the same genre (rootsy american folk-rock).  Not sure why they've never clicked with me, but they haven't.

I really liked the scene and like that Adam's character did that, but I personally found it ridiculous that some kid would have called the cops in that situation in the first place.  No drunk teenager with a house full of booze & drugs would have ever called the cops if he had been punched in the face like that.  Not…

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my dislike for Intimacy.  I really enjoyed their first two albums, but couldn't find a single song I ever wanted to hear again on Intimacy.  I assumed it was somehow drug-related (as in, they all decided to get sober or something).

I don't think Louis came off as a dick at all.  I think he had an idea for what he wanted to explore with the episode.  The guy's an artist, not a PR firm.  He didn't write the episode to give Dane a chance to clear his image, he wrote it because he thought there was something interesting to explore in their…

I've known a few guys like this and he portrayed that guy perfectly.  It's a fine line to walk because we have sympathies for people who don't compromise, but at the same time it's such an immature position to hold.  It doesn't leave room for growth or change.  But yeah, a great episode of an amazing show.  In the top…

The Bogmen.  Their first album (Life Begins at 40 Million) was so ridiculously fun, catchy and original that I don't understand how they didn't blow up back in the mid-90s.  I've yet to play it for someone who didn't end up loving it.  Their follow-up was great, as well, but not as immediately accessible.

I tried to like them, but gave up.  The one song they do is pretty good, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to listen to it 12 times on each album.

I think they're just aging.  

Agreed on all counts.

I think she's dead.  I'd love to see the character come back, but I'm pretty sure she's done.

I think the same can be said of most shows.  Cheers, Seinfeld, and Friends (to name the biggest three sitcoms of the past 30 years) all did the same thing.  Characters get less realistic and broader as the shows age, and the situations get more ridiculous.  These changes don't tend to make them any less funny, though.

Absolutely what I thought as well.

I've had it sitting on my shelf from Netflix for the past two weeks. 
I, too, loved the book but I keep hearing so many bad things about the
movie that I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it yet. 

He may be a nazi dick-hole, but that papal bastard sure knows his board games.

Are you noted american novelist Tom Wolfe?