And even though he won all these red states, the Democrats didn't win the House or the Senate?

Leonard Pierce is sure it was "Earf."

Leonard Pierce is sure it was "Earf."

Oh yeah, I noticed both "fortune-cookie wisdom" and "a nickel's worth of free advice" in Moneyball. I hadn't known he was involved in that movie until then.

Oh yeah, I noticed both "fortune-cookie wisdom" and "a nickel's worth of free advice" in Moneyball. I hadn't known he was involved in that movie until then.

I remember a few years ago Boston Globe Magazine did an article on the Boston Symphony Orchestra and/or the Pops, and the cover was a lone violinist standing on a stage, and the next week one of the letters to the editor asked why, out of all the musicians they'd talked to, they couldn't get someone to pose for the…

I remember a few years ago Boston Globe Magazine did an article on the Boston Symphony Orchestra and/or the Pops, and the cover was a lone violinist standing on a stage, and the next week one of the letters to the editor asked why, out of all the musicians they'd talked to, they couldn't get someone to pose for the…

One thing I've been noticing a lot lately is when two characters are talking, usually having an argument, and the conversation follows no logical lines and is clearly just a vehicle for the writer to have each character say everything he wants them to say. I really like the scene in Quiz Show where Ralph Fiennes…

One thing I've been noticing a lot lately is when two characters are talking, usually having an argument, and the conversation follows no logical lines and is clearly just a vehicle for the writer to have each character say everything he wants them to say. I really like the scene in Quiz Show where Ralph Fiennes…

The cheekbone-enhancing red line is the only type of wound heroic characters are allowed to sustain.

The cheekbone-enhancing red line is the only type of wound heroic characters are allowed to sustain.

Oh man, I came across the same thing a while ago while rereading a YA fantasy book I used to like. "In our world, criminals always have a way to foil magical tracking." It wasn't in the narration, it was one character who could do magic talking to another character who could do magic, well into the series. Imagine the…

Oh man, I came across the same thing a while ago while rereading a YA fantasy book I used to like. "In our world, criminals always have a way to foil magical tracking." It wasn't in the narration, it was one character who could do magic talking to another character who could do magic, well into the series. Imagine the…

Rowling did go crazy with the dialogue tags and adverbs in the last couple books. I'm not one of those people who froths at the mouth when an author uses anything other than "said," but she was pulling shit like "yelled furiously" multiple times a page. I swear at one point she has Hermione say something snappishly,…

Rowling did go crazy with the dialogue tags and adverbs in the last couple books. I'm not one of those people who froths at the mouth when an author uses anything other than "said," but she was pulling shit like "yelled furiously" multiple times a page. I swear at one point she has Hermione say something snappishly,…

I think I've said this here before, but what sticks out like a sore thumb even within a universe where everyone apparently talks this way is when it's coming from some thickly-accented foreign character who doesn't really know how to inflect it and/or takes like a week to get the line out. Sorkin had lots of…

I think I've said this here before, but what sticks out like a sore thumb even within a universe where everyone apparently talks this way is when it's coming from some thickly-accented foreign character who doesn't really know how to inflect it and/or takes like a week to get the line out. Sorkin had lots of…

There's also what TVTropes calls Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer, when something terrible/miraculous/inexplicable happens, and someone gets on a phone or the sci-fi equivalent and says, "Sir, I think you'd better come look at this right away," without even attempting to describe what "this" is or him a clue…

There's also what TVTropes calls Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer, when something terrible/miraculous/inexplicable happens, and someone gets on a phone or the sci-fi equivalent and says, "Sir, I think you'd better come look at this right away," without even attempting to describe what "this" is or him a clue…

I liked that episode because one of the few concrete lessons I took away from health/sex-ed-type classes at that age was that any of the boys around me might get an erection at any time, probably while standing in front of the whole class giving the kind of book report we never actually did at my school, and that…