Interesting. There is a certainly a clearer connection there than between, say, Herge's alleged pro-Rexist views and Tintin.

Hasn't 'the Smurfs are communists' argument been a standard pseudo-intellectual trope of dorm room and coffeehouse conversations for a long time? It even appears in Linklater's 1990 Slacker.

Yes, it's evolved from an online appendage of the failed Cracked Magazine revival to filling the niche of The Book of Lists for the internet era.

I read X-Men (and later, New Mutants) from the Dark Phoenix arc to 1985-86. A lot of this later stuff seems interesting; I kind of like the idea of gross Morlock-like mutants like Skin, Marrow, and Maggott. (Why are there no Maggott action figures?) But as an old timer I have two big complaints: 1) The proliferation…

The CGI looks a bit cheesy, but the movie does have one great thing going for it: Ryan Reynolds. Although he's still identified with the Van Wilder persona, Reynolds is actually a versatile actor, as shown by The Nines (excellent genre film), Paper Man (bad movie with three good lead performances - Stone, Daniels,…

Regarding "freakishly tall": ever heard of sarcasm?

A fair and practical solution: reclining seats in which the bucket slides forward when the backrest reclines, so no other passenger's space is impinged. In order to recline an equal amount of the recliner's forward space is sacrificed.

"Do I really need to tell them they could put her in an emergency room from an asthma attack?"

"I like how you are kneeing the seat in front of your AND complaining that the other person is the asshole."

Despite being a mere 6' 2" - barely tall at all - many women and a surprising number of men seem to regard me as a basketball-playing giant. I share most of the tall guy drawbacks you mentioned, with a couple of others: instant hostility from short guys with Napoleon syndrome (some short guys are cool though),…

I am 6' 2". I do not have adequate leg room in coach even if the seats are up. One time on a flight a guy tried to recline as far back as he could and was angry when my knees blocked his seat from going back any farther. I was not intentionally bracing against the back of his seat or actively doing anything to try…

The main function of comic books is to serve as project pitches and storyboards for movies, TV shows, and DVDs. In turn, these adaptations drive the sales for the TPBs. And the toys. And videogames. That's synergy, folks.

Spider-Man 3 is an aborted atrocity. Emo Parker, shoehorned Venom, one weepy confrontation/resolution after another.

Why X3 isn't that bad (and is actually pretty good):

In grad school I read a lot of papers in evolutionary psychology and related fields. Evolutionary Psychology arose as sociobiology (especially inclusive fitness) combined with Chomsky-influenced mental modules. Whatever its conceptual faults (and to be sure it had several) at least in its early formulation it…

Now that's just sad. 'Real life superheroes' are embarrassing and risible enough, but at least they typically choose their own name, costume, and gimmick.

You have a good point. That's one of the (unintentional) functions of the rich and their trend-driven tastes: to pioneer and establish markets for new technologies, services, and products while they are expensive, until production can be scaled up to make them more affordable for the masses. Refrigeration, personal…

It's another bourgeois/affluent foodie fad, like veganism, raw foodism, dining in the dark, and especially localism (locavore, whatever). It's all about distinguishing oneself from the flotsam and their mass-produced, mass-marketed products.

Anyone else familiar with this blog?

For all of the crap it has gotten for being soft, the mythos of Twilight is actually pretty harsh. Slow and agonizing transformation, executions at the hands of a corrupt leadership (Volturi), newborn vampires as cannon fodder for warlords who are murdered when no longer needed, gang rape-murder followed by revenge…