“Did I just see you give me a look? Was that… did you just judge me? No. You are not about to come up into this book and judge me.”

What I know of this book is from William Goldman's excellent book Adventures In The Screen Trade. He takes this book as a cue to talk about the ridiculousness of the then-fresh 'auteur' theory of directors. He basically concludes that Truffaut's hero worship made Hitchcock believe his own hype and lead to the decline…

I love all those bands to pieces and I have all their albums, but I can't see how Pearl Jam are 'bland' compared to Alice In Chains or Soundgarden, who basically had two gears: heavy and really heavy.
When people think of Pearl Jam, they tend to think of classic rock style like 'Alive' or 'Black', and not weird funk…

There appeal for me was, well, that there weren't many other better bands at the time. Certainly few bands who's albums were so diverse and yet had such a high proportion of memorable songs to filler, and had five musicians each with their own distinctive qualities.

That's weird because when I read the book I totally thought she planned to take out Coin as soon as she voted for the revenge games.

From what I've seen, after Pearl Jam, only U2 is more likely to provoke a knee-jerk dismissive response from commentators on the internet.
The common element of both bands is their unabashed sincerely and drive to connect with their fans on a personal level.
Personally, I can't image what kind of person wouldn't like…

I still remember hearing 'Who You Are' on the radio when I was 16 and being enthralled. It sounded so otherworldly and moving and so different from everything else on the radio. Litle did I know that the band would be remembered (often derisively) as a band that defined the sound of that time!

I assume that's when they start sending your twitter feed straight into a brain implant.

Yeah, that's exactly right. It's the new ecology of Web 2.0. Now that online discourse via social media has been commodified, and the profit margins for sites are so slim, the only money to be made is from stoking the talk about a dozen or so really popular topics that are guaranteed to get clicks.

I think that's very true. I like the comparison to political candidates. Just as people don't see a candidate as credible unless they're from the major parties, a lot of casual music fans don't bother with music that isn't supported by the mass marketing machine. And I think you're correct, that it depends how…

Indeed!!

I thought a big (and brave) part of that deconstruction was having most of the climactic action happen outside of Katniss' POV, and having most of her major decisions be taken away from her. It's the opposite of the standard heroic tale, where it all boils down to a one-on-one match between the hero and villain.

I think there's something to be said for wanting to feel part of the larger culture and sharing what you enjoy with lots of people.

Well, yeah. That's actually a bad example. Heavy metal has to be one of the genres that is MOST held to standards. There is good heavy metal and crap heavy metal. There is metal that is inventive, original, challenging, fun. And there is metal that is simple, derivative, pandering and boring. Metal nerds debate this…

Yeah, that's what I thought. That was one of the major themes of the series: how the trauma of war can ruin people.

What did you find so anticlimactic about it?
I'll admit there was stuff I was looking forward to that it didn't deliver, but in retrospect I think the story was stronger because it denied the readers these things.

I loved the ending of Mockingly the book, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it on screen. And especially to seeing whether there'll be as big a backlash from casual fans as with the book.
Reviews of the book were generally mixed, but there were a lot of people that wanted a triumphant, uplifting, girl-power…

I've often herd this argument when it's explained to me (rather forcefully) why I should like Taylor Swift or Beyonce.
While I agree that there's an element of sexism with the way people often dismiss 'girly' media, it frustrates me that music explicitly made for girls isn't of a higher standard. I'm all for girls…

You know what I find weird? That in the internet age we have less need to pay attention to manufactured pop stars, and yet they're more ubiquitous than ever.

I've never seen Mr Show (as far as I know, it never aired in Australia and I haven't seen it on dvd) but this show was gold! I hope their old stuff comes to Netflix soon.