Also loved how he picked Machiavelli's The Prince as one of his "desert island" books. That will be handy for manipulating all of the volleyballs he befriends there.

off the topic
Not referring to the film (which from what I've heard had other problems), but for me Memoirs of a Geisha was the novel poster child for third-act failure. So much seemed to be set up in the first 2/3 in regard to Eastern and Western cultural viewpoints and literary style, only to end in a sappy love…

Yeah, this finale reminded of me when I got to the last page of The Road and I was like "Fine, so this guy loved his son in a way that was both insanely incomprehensible and yet unspeakably true. But what caused all the ash, and what was with the road warriors, I never got an explanation for them. What a cop-out for…

in the end, not so complicated
"For what?"

Not to get all geeky about BNL, but if you want the best BNL deep cuts, you have to go pre-Stunt. Glad to see Box Set mentioned above, but if you have been even just a guiltily casual BNL fan and want the best deep cuts, check out Jane, Life in a Nutshell, The Wrong Man Was Convicted, I Live With It Everyday, Just a…

Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than that. If a retailer can return the book to the publisher, AVC only gets the royalty if the book isn't returned to the publisher.

why
I work in book publishing, and think I can can decipher what's going on here, and it doesn't have anything to do with the price wars or independents. Amazon buys nonreturnable from bigger publishers, which means that (unlike bookstores), whatever they buy from the publisher and don't sell, they're stuck with.…

Excellent point. I count myself as one of the ones confused as to why the special effects were so cheap in that scene, but Emerson sold it so well I was able to set that aside and invest in the scene. There better be some Emmy love for Lost this year.

So true. I had so little invested in that character, but was still shocked when Ben shot him. Which speaks a lot to the ability of the writers to still hint at possible angles, then surprise, this late in the game.

Let's Go to the Mall
Did anyone else get a Robin Sparkles vibe from the scene with Liz's commercial? Not complaining, just found it an interesting similarity.

@LondonDave

Hey all, apologies for the whiny post. I was up late and thus a bit cranky (read: sloshed). I definitely understand that the criticisms are good-natured and come from loving the show in the first place. Anyway, can't wait for the last episodes; I think/hope they have a killer ending planned that will either wrap it…

from the perspective
of someone who loves quality TV but for reasons random and unrelated to this forum didn't catch up to real-time episodes of BSG until season 4.5, I have to say..what the frak? Obsessively paranoid of spoilers, I don't read forums until after I've seen the episodes, thus I'm just now catching up…

laugh track
Was it just me, or was the laugh track more obnoxious and robotic tonight?

pretzel sandwich
The Sandwich Day/Pretzel Day parallel seemed a little too deliberate to me this week to be a rip-off or lazy writing, especially for writers of 30 Rock's caliber. I wondered about lazy writing when Pete did the Simpsons "caught in the vending machine" bit on MILF, but the characters were portraying…

Games
I thought your comment in Flashbackin' about the focus on games was interesting. I've always found curious the comments made by the creators early in the show's life, that the idea for Lost came from trying to envision a dramatic version of Survivor. At the time it seemed like they meant that the relation was to…

Another Take
I'll admit I've only scanned these comments, so forgive me if I'm repeating. But I wanted to put out there something I feel has been missed in the reviews of Juno I've read so far, and the comments on this site.
I went into this movie (after hearing third-hand info and reading endless praise for Ms.…