Had this been the "H.P. Lovecraft ward for excellence in fantasy writing", I would agree with you that Lovecraft should stay on the award (lots of authors were assholes). But it is the World Fantasy Award, and Lovecraft is on it mostly because the first time it was awarded was in Providence. He is not really…

Classic Marvel cosmic continuity? Juvenile and derivative fiction with no depth, shallow characters and asburd plots. I guess it could be called classic, since it is old, but not as an indicator of quality.

Dick is not known for being…..coherent in his writing. MITHC is one of his better ones, but it is somewhat of an acquired taste. It is also not really about "a ragtag resistance struggles to restore America to its former glory", so that would be a disappointment.

Not to defend Life of Pi (which is horrible), but I think the confirmation bias in reading Augustine or most "deep cuts" in Christian tradition as a way to wrestle with faith is pretty huge. That is a lot material, which means you really must be invested in the religion already to really bother with it, which leads to…

Well, I am not sure the Gems actually understands human mortality or frailty in any real way, not to mention that Steven might be functionally invurnerable because of his heritage. It is still unclear.

Dr.West. Dr. Herbert West, reanimator, of course. The Lovecraft lore is weak in this review. The episode was a B+, though, so not far of.

This sounds much better. The "mash all the cultural stereotypes of 3 billion people into one culture" thing is a problem for Iron Fist, making him Chinese-American that finds the whole thing as absurd and preposterous as it is on the surface would introduce the required outsider perspective while dodging the…

How does he escape the "White Saviror Cultural Exploitation" trope? I mean, I know the comic claims he does but I don't see it. But, since I found the concept such a hacky trope, I never bothered reading more than a few issues plus assorted wiki-pages and cross-overs.
Can you recommend some examples of subversion of…

Orientalism is alive and well in western literature and cinema. The whole concept of Iron Fist is based on that kind of condescending exoticism. I would have preferred that they not make a series with him at all, but if they have to they should at least attempt to approach the subject with a a little humility, even if…

It is also very funny. Not haha-funny, but kind of "people really believe this" funny. Jesus curses a fig tree at one point, cause he wanted a fig, which was pretty hilarious. And the bears that eat the guys that make fun of a prophet is also a high point.

Having worked in a few Universities, I am not sure I could trust professors to do anything. They are in general pretty arrogant, as well as blind to their own position of power and privilige. Many of them have very little respect for perspectives outside their own bubble, while at the same time thinking that they are…

I know, right! People with traumatic experience in life should just Deal With It (Tm), just like how people with depression should just Get Over It, and people who are for some reason poor should just Work Harder…..

The US college system has always seemed absurd to me. Why take one of the best ways of preventing the cycle of poverty (college education) and then gating it through ridiculous tuition fees? It kind of defeats the purpose, as well as wasting the potential of millions. If what you want is the best and the brightest,…

You should rewatch every Whedon pilot: Welcome to the Hellmouth is terrible, most of the characters are so stock and lifeless it is amazing it got aired. If someone told me the guy that played Angel would star in his own spin-off and a major TV serial, I would have laughed them out of the room. City of… is also…