Watching Paradise Lost, I kept having to scrape my jaw off the floor that these guys were actually convicted. Seriously, the prosecution had nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. The complete and total absence of any remotely compelling evidence whatsoever. I don't want to make generalizations about the South, but man, only some…

Just got back from hanging out at an old school friend's place. He has an interest in gardening, and has turned much of his parents' place into a garden of sorts for tomatoes, oranges, and, um, smokable herbs. (We live in California. He can sell this shit to medical dispensaries or whatever you call them.) Kind of a…

I found the whole 5th Doctor era to be a bit too serious and grim for its own good. Maybe it's just my own personal biases, but I like my Who to be fun and campy, not cynical and depressing. So while I like "The Caves of Androzani", I strongly disagree with the fans who voted it the best Classic Who storyline ever.…

The Doctor's relationship with his companions is fundamentally a bit paternalistic and condescending. Part of the reason why I'm resistant to the argument that the next Doctor should be a woman or a person of color is that the show, for all its dealings with time and space travel, is fundamentally nationalistic. It…

I love the Lovecraftian names that Douglas Adams used, like Skagra and Jagaroth. They're just fun to say.

I've shown this one more than once at the social gatherings I occasionally hold, and it's always a hit. The thing that jumps out at me is what a dick the Doctor is to Sarah for so much of it. I'm not sure I do see their relationship as Holmes/Watson, frankly. Watson was Sherlock's partner, not his companion.

There's also the one Travolta crashes in Blow Out. Just sayin'.

Honorable mention: Vasily Livanov.

I think it's also a term for a short Catholic prayer, but I'm too afraid to Google it.

Maybe you could set it in a hospital and make Holmes a doctor with a bum leg and Watson his oncologist friend. But you'd have to change their names slightly so that nobody catches on. I'll get back to you as soon as I figure the rest out.

I thought Synecdoche lost its way in the last third, becoming too dark and self-pitying for its own good. Of course, maybe it's easier to watch when you imagine that it's all happening in his head. I'm gearing myself up to watch A Most Wanted Man pretty soon. It could be pretty hard to stomach, just because it was his…

What I love is watching the American bigots flip-flop over why gay marriage should be illegal. When Prop 8 passed, my conservative friends (I have about one) all said, "The people have spoken. Let it go." As if you can ever just "let go" of inequality. But now that gay marriage is winning at the ballot box, Huckabee…

I saw Fury Road at a matinee and it was the most crowded I've seen an afternoon showing in a long time. I typically go at that time to avoid the crowds, but I'm glad to see the movie doing so well. I think it's at least as good as The Road Warrior, if not better. Yeah, I said it.

I kind of wish the show had ended after season five, as the finale would have made for a great series finale. (Whedon seems to like to do the season-finale-that-could-double-as-series finale thing.) But of course, with no sixth season, we'd get no musical episode, and without a seventh season, we'd get less James…

It's probably Miyazaki's most morally ambiguous movie, because for once he allows one of the antagonist to be kind of a shithead rather than just misunderstood. Jigo has some sympathetic moments (mostly in his first scene with Ashitaka), but he's still a greedy, self-serving asshole. Lady Eboshi, on the other hand, is…

City of Lost Children, from a narrative standpoint, is a bit of a mess, but it's one of those films where you could take any frame at random and hang it up in a gallery. Gorgeous imagery, like something out of a storybook.

Russell Crowe should have won the Oscar for The Insider and not Gladiator. He's good in the latter, but his performance in the former is some of the best screen acting of the 90s. Shame that his career hasn't reached those heights again since Master and Commander. I know he's supposed to be an A-hole, but he's a…

When I worked for a coffee chain, they had me fill in for somebody else at another location once or twice. The management at the other place hated me. I was having a mothefucker of a shitty day, so when they sent me out to sweep the floors, I sat in the bathroom for about ten minutes, just pulling my shit together.…

Adventures in Cooking: I made tagine this week. It's a Moroccan dish. The particular recipe I used had eggs, peppers, garlic, onions, and various spices. It's a good thing for me to make on my vegetarian days (I'm a flexitarian) and has both vegetables and protein. Hooray! It took the edge off of what has been a…

Yeah, I stopped watching the last season at "Mummy on the Orient Express". Not a bad episode, but I've gotten sick of the way that Moffat's heroes manipulate everyone around them but get away with it because they're just. So. Brilliant. Capaldi's doing fine, but I'm not returning until Moffat leaves.