I gather from your and other responses that there is at least some contact between the Minister of Magic and at least the PM. The remaining question, which I gather the books never address, is whether the Minister of Magic is appointed by the sovereign (as in an autocratic monarchy), by a political party, (as in a…

So, to the extent that there's an actual Ministry of Magic, does that mean that the Queen knows about it, even if she's a "muggle"? Or does she have magical powers of her own?

It'd be that much cooler if it turned out Redd Foxx was in on the scam with him, and had been in hiding all these years.

I'll throw in that the composition (which is described in terms of the
arrangement, which are not synonymous,) may be out of popular fashion,
but if a classicist singer songwriter like Rufus Wainwright, Fiona Apple
or Beck in sad mode, created the track today the whole sound would be
praised (deservedly,) as boldly…

And, of course, Tannen uses his power to force himself into politics and
turn Marty’s home into a gun-addled (but immigrant-free) wasteland.

by presenting two questions that unintentionally read as laughable caricatures of ’60s liberal intellectualism

It's conceivable to me that they would have lied about her age to let her marry at 15, but that gets extra skeevy in that it would have made her his "protegée" (and possible paramour) at 13 — maybe he could only contain himself for two years?

In retrospect, it was a crystal clear foreshadowing of the Star Wars prequels — Beautiful looking, with earnest, if underdirected, performances, and (unlike the prequels) a basically sound, if simplistic and cliched, story. I remember more-or-less enjoying it, but feeling like it had been "phoned in" by Lucas, and…

I suppose Alasdair was just trying to work with recent episodes, but I didn't get the impression that Louise was ever particularly scared in "Housetrap". "Christmas In The Car" definitely, and "Fortnight" probably (though perhaps tempered by anger), but I'd have backed those up with "World Warf II" and "The Belchies".

Its "indictment" is pretty much a "straw man" situation, and overly generalizes the horror audience. Contrary to what it seems to be saying, there definitely are horror fans who want the catharsis of some of the more likable characters — at least a "Final Girl" figure — surviving their ordeal. And with most of the…

Perhaps Solondz' provocation is more at the subject matter level, but I think the provocations of Haneke, and especially Noe, are more at the directorial and presentational level.

Drawing the katana and striking in one motion is apparently enough of a specialty to be a specifically-named martial art, known as "Iaijutsu".

On the "everything wrong with modern horror films" list, I often feel compelled to make the case that "xenophobia" isn't a bug, it's a feature — Horror as a genre is substantially about fear of the unknown, and the "other". That can readily overlap with, and be seen as a justification of racism, as seen in, say,…

I do think the definition has unfortunately migrated to simple provocation. I personally tend to think of "Trolling" as being a more specific sort of provocation that is potentially insincere ("I'm going to take an absurdly, even indefensibly, extreme stance to mock your assumptions about the people who disagree with…

There's definitely a certain "Nietzschean" film audience out there — "That film which does not kill me makes me stronger" — Diverse directorial examples being found in Gaspar Noe, Michael Haneke, Harmony Korine, and Todd Solondz. All have their fans. One might argue that Roth is just a more ham-handed practitioner of…

My wife and I experienced a different manifestation of this: We went to see Lincoln at a weekday matinee a week or so after it opened. Apparently the employee authorized to run the ticket booth didn't show up for work, so the rest of the staff ultimately just let the couple dozen people there in for free.

Since the Chernobyl accident was in 1986, but the "woodpecker" continued broadcasting until 1989, it would seem like there's a pretty basic flaw to his theory. There's not even a post hoc to support a fallacy, just a geographic association. Did the Chernobyl accident motivate the Nazi Baba Yar massacres as well?

You're just not pecking hard enough.

If it could ever be possible, presumably the Internet would already have contacted you..

there’s a stench of misogyny to the scenario, which equates the advances of beautiful women to grave danger.