Ah, but Memorial Day can work for us because its focus (notionally) is on servicemembers who died in the line of duty. The special role that people in the military play is to share the stories of those who perished—not only how they died, but how they lived—so that others who feel awkward about honoring an…

The tendency to portray characters in period films with thoroughly modern values is often irritating to me. I get it—movies are often as much moral fantasies as they are historically and scientifically fantastical—but it betrays a certain lack of humility to project your own values on characters without considering…

Eh, it felt like it went on forever.

When I took philosophy in college, they told us about how there was a documented case from World War I where a sniper was looking for Germans to shoot, but when he found one completely exposed, he couldn't do it. The German was taking a bath, and that act made it impossible to see him as just another target. The…

After years of feeling nothing but scorn for Bieber, I'm surprised to find that I might actually be coming around on him a bit. He recently made some comments on awards shows that I thought were kind of thoughtful (to the effect that they seem hollow, and how they leave him empty and craving authenticity).

When I saw Deadpool, the entire theater was quiet for a bit of dialogue until Ryan Reynolds hopped out of bed to reveal his bare butt, at which point a single young child burst into laughter. The theater collectively winced, I think, because that kid didn't sound old enough to be in elementary school.

So Spectre's evil plan is to . . . get more countries to share intelligence with one another? And then not actually do anything in particular with the information they collect? Genius!

Great wealth has been made in this world by people who realized that many middle-aged men never abandoned their teenage fantasies.

Hey, I think he's saying that watching Chelsea Handler's new show is even more pathetic. If there's anything we lowly website commenters like to do, it's to look down on those lower than us in the Great Chain of Being.

Oh, there was lots of information about what was currently happening as the situation unfolded. It was figuring out what to do about it that was so vexing.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

Or pantser, as we like to call it on the oncology ward.

Hey, these are fake plastic leaves!

The Dole/Kemp ticket is actually looking pretty good right now, despite the fact that Jack Kemp has been dead since 2009.

In the US Navy it's customary to call large surface vessels "ships" and submarines "boats."

He could be suggesting that it's a stolen dick.

#NeverCats

No, I really didn't mind—most of us are at least mildly pedantic around these parts, so neither harm or insult inferred.

You might think that the Power Rangers are discriminating against women, but the real problem is further down the pipeline, because not enough women are volunteering for Zord training or entering the Monster Studies program in college, which means there is a smaller pool of qualified applicants to choose from.

If the original was 100% Japanese and they change some of the characters to be white people, it's increased diversity and whitewashing at the same time.