Plus one super-popular romcom, to cap it off.

My first name doesn’t get used in fiction much, which is weird because it’s relatively common. My last name on the other hand is weirdly popular for fiction, but super rare in real life. I have all sorts of interesting stories about that, but there’s not really any way to talk about it without doxxing myself...

Well, that’s why fans often recommend starting with the 3rd or 4th one! They’re very episodic, it’s not one continual story line. It’s no different than a TV series with a shaky first season (eg Parks and Rec) - sometimes it takes a while for the writer(s) to figure out what’s working and get rid of what isn’t. 

It’s generally accepted among Dresden Files fans that the series starts getting good around the finale of book 3. Many folks recommend starting with the 3rd or 4th for that reason, though the first two are perfectly fine. If you’re still not a fan after the 4th one, it’s probably not the series for you. 

Viva La Vida was their Kid A moment, in terms of being a stylistic left turn that confused their original fanbase. But it’s silly to compare Coldplay with Radiohead, they’ve never taken themselves that seriously. Coldplay wants to be a big, crowdpleasing band that everyone can sing along to.

I went through a breakup recently, so the lines that have been haunting me are from Stars’ Your Ex-Lover is Dead:

“I care what you think” is also a pretty ballsy lyric for a pop song. As an anxious person, that line hits me.

I actually think a Nutcracker movie could have done well, if they’d understood that the target market is 6 year old girls. Trying to turn it into an adventure story was a big mistake, it needs to be 90% pretty dresses and dancing snowflakes and a handsome prince. Everyone likes to talk about “respecting the source…

They’re not even giving it a holiday release - even if it did well, at this date it will be gone from theaters long before Christmas. Who in the world would go watch Nutcracker in early November? Disney clearly knew they had a dud and dumped it here to be forgotten.

Getting the look would be hard - somehow CGI feels wrong to me, too slick and plastic-y. Ideally I’d love to see something like what they did in Where the Wild Things Are - physical costumes / puppets with CG animated facial expressions. 

On the other hand, I’m happy when these reviews spoil the film - my favorite thing on AVClub is reading all about obscure films I’ll never watch. It’s so dissatisfying when the review is handicapped by not being able to talk about the film in full.

For me, carpool karaoke can be pretty fun, but it needs to be somewhat believable as just folks hanging out in a car singing songs. If it seems staged, or if the guest isn’t relaxed, it reeeaaally doesn’t work. 

. “Oh, to be a white man who doesn’t even know he’s full of crap,”

I think the narrator is God. “I am the Kanye West Kanye West thinks he is”. It fits!

Whenever I hear about extreme sport daredevils getting killed, there’s always a note at the bottom about how they’re leaving behind a girlfriend and young kids. I think there’s something in their “live in the moment” mentality that makes them want kids despite it obviously being a bad idea.

I like to put cooked Kabocha or Butternut squash in it, and let it dissolve into the sauce. Makes it taste a bit sweeter, and I can tell myself that it’s healthy for me. 

I’m not sure it’s fair to call this a flop yet. This is exactly the kind of film that people will prefer to stream at home rather than watch in theaters. I’m sure netflix and other streaming platforms will give them a nice payout for the rights, and how it does there will be the true measure of how successful it is.…

I’m sympathetic to the argument that Katee Sackhoff lacks the chops for it. But I wanted someone *like* Katee Sackhoff. Brie Larson is still coming across more “girl next door” than “hotshot pilot” to me. 

It’s also why Dr Strange didn’t take place in Tibet!

I feel like any book that has fans enough to get on the list is probably doing *something* right, even if it’s not good quality overall.