This doesn't seem arguable to me: Jeff Mangum had to go to incredibly dark places to make amazing music, and he doesn't want to do that anymore. So he won't get back into being an artist like that, though he may pop up to play some of the songs he's already written without getting as invested in them. I'm glad that…

No, Jack's not dead. Main characters don't die incidentally like that. It takes the better part of an episode, even when you're not sure what's going on, as with Sayid. There's no way you can reveal "actually, he died a bit ago. No not then, this other time. Yeah, the explosion. He's been dead since then."…

Re: Lancelot
(Yeah, I'm posting two separate threads. Deal with it)

Dorks
I can't stand dorks who take themselves that seriously. I was an enormous dork in high school, but I didn't really think it was a big deal. Fuck, for that matter, when I go to bed tonight I'm going to be reading a fantasy novel written 13 years before I was born. And I'll be reading it on a jailbroken iPhone…

There was a Primer? I'm an idiot. Thanks.

Get In
How does one get started on Dr. Who? Should I just jump in now with the new doctor? Start at the beginning of the Tennant era? Go back to when the show returned? Please don't tell me I need to go all the way back before I was born.

Other People's Lord and Savior: what are you talking about, re: Whedon? Buffy PEAKED in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, and the 4th was absolutely abhorent (I don't speak for everyone on this, but nor do I stand alone.) And Angel just got better and better with each passing season.

I'm amazed how often I disagree with the world on whether a premise is any good. Invention of Lying? Terrible premise. Might work as a 20 minute cartoon.

The OC
What you were saying about everyone abandoning ship, but the few survivors hailing the last season as a creative resurgence reminds me strongly of the OC. That fourth season was somewhere between a reward and a salve if you had stuck through the loathsome second and third.

Aunt Step Mom
I got it right that after Raylan's mom died his dad married her sister, who had previously been Raylan's favorite aunt, right?

For the record, I was that friend.

Vicodin
Does Vicodin get you at all high without alcohol? I took it pretty heavily for a week after I got my wisdom teeth out (boy was it fun when I started to feel my canines rotate) and I remember getting really slow and diligent at doing my homework. Not exactly what I think of when I think of getting high.

Yeah, what? If the Klingons are a part of the Federation, as opposed to closely allied with it, why do they maintain their own military? Why is Worf the only Klingon in Spacefleet?

Well, I remember him reaching out his be-gloved hand, but I feel like having to argue over when the glove came off and if it was on screen or not kinda strengthens my point.

Shaking Hands
I didn't actually like the cut from shaking hands to a corpse. When he shook hands, he was wearing gloves, so as best as I can tell, that means the fatal touch occurred later, off screen. Seems kinda untidy and it confuses his intentions when he knocked on the door.

Thank you for filling the full title, that felt a little odd but I didn't realize why.

I have been reading a lot lately
And it all started with an old AVClub article by Mr. Heller called "Flight from Fantasy." From that article, I wonder if Lord Foul's Bane would be worth a book club, but it might be tough to slice that one out of the trilogy as a whole. The Illearth War is my particular favorite.

Yeah, sign me up as another fan of Stephenson's work who doesn't think he belongs anywhere near a book club.

Look, I'm railing against an established cliche. If you want to defend the cliche, fine, but let's not act like I found an isolated bit of language I didn't like and went to town on it.

Actually, that's not all: this should have been much, much earlier in the season. The master plot has been worthless until now, and the Sawyer, Ben, and Richard episodes could still have been done, just with the master plot further along.