Are TV writers now incapable of doing exposition any way other than a voice-over?  Or, in the case of this show, voice-over + text/arrows.  It is seriously dismaying to think they couldn't find a better way to tell the audience that a character is Polly's boss than having her say "That's My Boss!" in a VO, then having…

All snark aside, I just watched this on netflix and it was really good.  Thanks for the recommendation!

One of the signature visual elements in the film is the repeated depiction of a desecrated American flag.  The image of the flag is put through an endless series of indignities in the movie, and in retrospect, I'm sort of astonished Gilliam got away with this in a film that distributed by a major studio.

Keep in mind:  this show is on the same network that killed "Don't Trust the B".  Just sayin.

Another very cool Gateways to Geekery.  This is my favorite feature on AV Club, please keep them coming!

Zinger 1:  I'd have preferred to see members of Vampire Weekend set on fire in a Saab commercial.

Also notable:  Robert Taylor playing the lead on A&E's "Longmire".  Had no idea he was Australian until I looked him up.

Congrats on a well-conceived tribute to one of my favorite albums of the 90s… probably one of my favorite albums ever.  The album had a surplus of style and attitude without veering into pretension or self-indulgence, it had the rawness of punk while retaining irresistible pop hooks.

Is this some kinda alt-comedy pilot?

Once you go Barbara, you never go back, brah.

That's what the pills are for.  If you take enough of them, MC Skat Kat appears and makes everything all right.

Ah, OK.  That makes sense.  I knew I had seen him before, but I don't really know what McCollum looks like these days.

I'm watching video of the (excellent) Afghan Whigs performance on Youtube.  If that's not Rick McCollum on lead guitar, who is it?

Geez, it was a long time ago.  I seem to recall playing a lot of Dwight Yoakum, Hal Ketchum, the Texas Tornados, early Alison Krauss, the Mavericks (who are back with a great new album!).  If you like Mary C. Carpenter, you might want to check out Lucinda Williams (who actually wrote Carpenter's biggest hit,…

My first job in high school was DJing for a Christian Country AM radio station.  We had a very limited playlist, but I tried to play the most subversive tracks the station would allow.  And this track was certainly one of those.  And Mr. VanDerWerff is right in praising the fact that the song takes a more pessimistic…

I think you're right.  It's not that there aren't great obscure acts toiling away who deserve to get discovered (Saint Saviour, for example).  It's just a lot of critics seem to be too lazy to seek them out.  It's just easier for critics to take the "I'm going to appreciate mainstream acts in a new, clever way that…

I think that what we're seeing now is the hipster snake devouring its own tail.  It used to be enough for the would-be tastemakers to seek out the obscure and marginal and proudly display its carcass, as if they had personally excavated it from some remote pop-culure ruins only they could access.  But these days,…

It's like Scientology, without the glitz or the helpful career connections.

If the internet had existed in 1983, we'd be reading an article entitled "What we talk about when we talk about Manimal".

I, for one, applaud Ms. Coppola's efforts to keep Alexis Neiers in the public eye.  It's hard out there for wealthy, good looking people.  Especially hard for wealthy, good looking people who (unlike their poor, ugly counterparts) are permitted to commit an endless series of felonies without…