Upvoted for the Muppet Christmas Carol love. I haven't seen Frozen or heard any of its songs, so I have no opinion on its merits, but your comment is certainly a thoughtful critique, which is always refreshing.

I agree with you pretty much across the board, but I did want to reply re your friend who couldn't put her finger on what was abusive about putting the little kids in a crate as opposed to sending them to their room. I think that's damaging behavior, but I agree that if they are otherwise caring parents, calling in…

That is pretty questionable parenting, though. Their parents might mean them no harm, but children shouldn't grow up with the impression that it's acceptable for adults to lock them in dog crates. The adults are responsible for providing a reasonably accurate picture of what constitutes normal social relations to…

I don't know, I have a sense that she has been almost universally loved for a long time. Sure, people thought she was kooky - she thought she was kooky - but not exactly a square, and Dan Aykroyd's parody was obviously a very affectionate one. People saw her as an oddity, perhaps, but completely sui generis and too…

They are making great strides, but Alzheimer's research is a bitch; there is a ridiculous amount still unknown. A meaningful cure is probably a long way off, sadly. </killjoy>

I think his singing has gotten much worse over the years. Age has wreaked serious havoc on that man's voice.

Yeah, I used to listen to it with my family as a kid in the eighties. On long car trips my parents had some tapes that were just the Lake Wobegone portions of PHC, and I remember them as pretty delightful and funny (especially a particular one about rhubarb pie, which, when properly prepared, is about as spiritually…

I'm not sure I agree with the sentiment, but that's fucking funny enough for an upvote.

I think Night Call is quite a good, effective episode, but you're right - it is awfully misogynistic. A woman insisting on driving when there's a man present inevitably crashes the car and kills the guy, then many years later her completely rational fear at getting the creepiest fucking phone calls ever is portrayed…

The unsettling thing is that most modern-day romantic comedies would go with the "throw over the boring rich dude and chase passion" route. Nowadays we might have more awareness that controlling and creepy is bad, not good, but it's still seen as "romantic" by a disturbing percentage of the population.

Maybe a modern version would have her decide to wait until she was more than eighteen fucking years old to get married.

There's a lot more to Mac than the t-shirts. The creators of the show have always been very open in the past about the fact that their characters are terrible, awful people who deserve nothing but suffering, and their depictions of the subculture ("Dee, this is what men DO!") have always been so cartoonish that I…

I regret that I have only one like to give you, good sir, for drawing my attention to the existence of The X-Ray Fiend. I do think that, although it is a very close call, Miss Asami's care and feeding of her "pets" is the more distressing sequence of the two, although of course one shudders to think what sort of…

Audition is actually an interesting movie in a lot of ways. I'm not a fan of so-called torture porn, but I thought it was fascinating and I might even watch it again someday. The violence is quite intense, but it's confined to the latter half of the movie and it doesn't have that quality of endless cruelty for…

Upvoted for Iris Murdoch. She was such a weird, wonderful writer.

I loved that no one put any thought whatsoever into the fact that Jack would stand up with Liz at her wedding - no crap about having Jenna as a maid of honor or anything, Jack was the obvious, only choice. The sight gag of him turning from the window wearing a tux as soon as she told him to get to city hall was…

I loved that no one put any thought whatsoever into the fact that Jack would stand up with Liz at her wedding - no crap about having Jenna as a maid of honor or anything, Jack was the obvious, only choice. The sight gag of him turning from the window wearing a tux as soon as she told him to get to city hall was…

It'd be less irritating and more believable if they just had it be an actual miracle.

I think he's referring to portraits of the Habsburg family, which chronicle a truly impressive heritage of deformity, and, given how long-lived the dynasty was, there is indeed a shit-ton of painted evidence. Charles II of Spain was arguably the most remarkable specimen:

You also find things to like about them beyond their looks.