@avclub-32a2e71c97df5281f1324db72c73a59a:disqus Perfect parallel—not only are the monsters less threatening than the humans, but they provide a way to understand human motivations, e.g., Dracula helps us understand the seductiveness of evil or the Pale Man helps Ofelia understand the rapacity of Vidal. It's a really…

Yeah, exactly—kids are still dealing with new experiences, and fear can help us contextualize what should actually be scary. I remember playing with monster toys exclusively when I was a kid (Monsters in My Pocket, Mighty Max, etc.), reading Bruce Coville and Roald Dahl, and watching X-Files. It provided a…

Forcible sterilization. #ThingsLiberalsBelieve

Stupid fucking film critics.

I do! As a young, strange child, I mixed it with water and Elmer's Glue to create weird goops. This was in the '90's, so it may yet be around.

Damn right you should like The Ladykillers, and it's a good analogue for the humor of Breaking Bad—it's that same kind of doomed comedy.

Recollect, recollect, the first of Aug-ust
And the Dauphin who came from the North,
Fleeing the chill,
His swagger so trill,
He'll self-destruct by the eve of the fourth.

This is more like a Dishonore de Balzac, really.

Yeah, I saw Jeff Mangum in January as well (Charleston, SC) as well as in Athens a couple of years back. Seeing how quickly these tickets go? Probably going to be forced to sit this one out.

He looks like railcar Hodor.

Check out Kafka on the Shore or Wind-Up Bird Chronicle if you want to give Murakami another shot—they're a little more straightforward in terms of narrative, although still super-loopy with regards to actual events. I read Wind-Up Bird first, but I enjoyed Kafka on the Shore more.

I'm halfway through We, the Drowned, an incredibly stark and gorgeous novel about war in a small Danish seaside village. I took a chance on it due to buzz and it being $2.51 on Kindle, and it's lovely with a kind of elegiac simplicity (possibly due to the translation). Between that and the psuedo-magical realist…

That's encouraging—I got Goon Squad last week, and was similarly unimpressed with Telegraph Avenue. It was so overtly self-reflexive, to the extent that I never got a handle on its characters, only on the style. Whatever, I mean, Chabon's got a hell of a pass, but I really didn't enjoy that book. Looking forward to…

Nice! I'm starting Oryx and Crake this week, once I wrap up current books. Yiddish Policemen's Union is fantastic, I thought—really neat work of speculative mystery in a really well-realized world. It took me a while to get a handle on it (which is good in-and-of-itself, that Chabon trusts the reader), but once I did,…