I can’t help but think that all the media coverage of the first girl’s suicide at least partially inspired this boy to kill himself. I wonder sometimes if there is any responsible way for the media to cover suicide. Even if getting help is emphasized strongly, reports of suicide just seem to result in more deaths. …

Does he write a good novel? If he does, then who cares if he lies about his background. I guess aspiring authors might be upset if he got a leg up in the business by his fakery, but I don’t buy fiction because of the author’s sob story.

I’m pretty sure age has a lot to do with it.  Older generations are often inclined to think that younger ones are weaker, especially since they were encouraged to just look tough in the face of troubles.  Heck, I’m in my early forties and am glad that advanced have been made in dealing with trauma and mental issues,…

Reading this story and another this week about how it is now not advisable to take a daily aspirin, I actually get why anti-vaxxers don’t trust modern medicine. To be clear, I am not against vaccines myself but modern medicine can really change course in abrupt and disturbing ways.

Another Stephen King cat hero is Clovis, the energy vampire-killing cat of Sleepwalkers.  Maybe King is a fan of cats?

Crookshanks does get a bad rap at the start and I grumbled a bit at potential anti-cat bias.  But I think that just makes his vindication at the end all the more satisfying.

Crookshanks is actually a pretty perceptive and heroic cat.  Mrs. Norris is just helping her owner track down the many misbehaving students of Hogwarts so I think she is just misunderstood.  

As a lower middle-class person, I like to go to rich people’s malls sometimes. Sure, I can’t buy the fancy dresses and purses, but it is fun to look at them and I always splurge on a fancy pastry and coffee.

I honestly think she just doesn’t have the charisma factor that most Presidents have, even if it is a weird and terrible charisma like the type Trump has. My parents are liberals and they tell that she comes off as shrill to them. And “shrillness” is something that women politicians are often accused of and, yeah,…

I won’t pretend to interpret for Foster here but getting into a lot of American colleges isn’t necessarily hard either. But if you are known to be the child of a rich/famous person, people might wonder why you are going to an “easy” school. If you were at all smart, why wouldn’t you get into one of the bet schools if…

It is kind of weird that Murphy is a pretty good-looking man who made it as a comic actor when most male comedians/comic actors are at best average in looks.  He was fortunate that he broke through when young black comics were still rare so audiences could “forgive” him for being handsome. 

I doubt that they can win this case, but they could hope that the damaging information helps the cause against guns. I recall the case against the movie theater chain where the Aurora shooting took place, which the victims’ families lost and were ordered to pay a sizable amount in legal fees. That particular case…

The sad thing is that the jobs presented in this movie (secretaries, executive assistants, clerical workers) are increasingly hard to find. They actually weren’t bad jobs for people without higher education, even without the reforms presented in 9 to 5, and are a lot better than the service jobs that are plentiful…

I’ve seen this argument at times. For instance, here’s a piece from Slate arguing that groping isn’t necessarily inappropriate in gay clubs/spaces: https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/12/discussing-consent-in-gay-spaces-requires-nuance-not-sex-panic.html.

Also, Anne had four stillborn children before giving birth to Louis XIV, including one seven years before Louis’ birth, so it wasn’t as if her husband couldn’t father kids. She also had a second healthy son two years after Louis XIV’s birth.

This has to be the first week where the tabloid headlines in Jennifer Aniston are totally plausible. She definitely did invite Pitt and did give him a small kiss. His sending a sympathy message and her offering to help his custody case are things friendly exes would conceivably do.

I usually read about Serena’s friendship with Markle from my perspective as a Serena fan.  In fact, I often lament that she is spending time with her friends when she should be training.  Indian Wells is coming up and she needs those ranking points!

Middle-aged actors, and people in general, usually look a good deal younger than they did decades ago. This is probably due to a combo of things: better fashion/styling for older people, cheaper and improved plastic surgery, more facial care options, less smoking/alcohol abuse,etc.

I like Prince of Darkness plenty as it is but I wouldn’t mind a Blumhouse remake, especially with some stronger actors in the lead roles.

I ain’t gonna fight you - Goldeneye is pretty terrific and by far the best of Brosnan’s Bond films.  But I will still hold The Spy Who Loved Me closer to my heart.