I sort of like that element. Along with stuff like the Death Star and AT-ATs, the Galactic Empire has always struck me as the sort of despotism that would build no end of horribly inefficient, expensive, and/or needlessly dangerous stuff that no one ever has the guts to point out the obvious flaws in … because that's…

Thanks! Things going more/less approaching sorta okay, G?

No DVR, no TiVo; around here, only the tip-top, least affordable premium cable packages come with that stuff. And I foolishly parted with my VCR a while back. But PBS is sure to re-run it before long.

Good news: I finally bought a ticket for Rogue One tonight. Bad news: just found out above that I'm gonna miss Sherlock. Pooh.

Future generations will rightly ID the high-water moment of 21st-century comedy as the ostrich puppet.

But fewer by the day, one fears.

"Cynomorphism," no?

Ordinarily I wouldn't argue that any given TV show needs to be more of a sausage-fest … but there's something a little disconcerting about the rebooted Doctor's main companion always being a younger woman (give or take a one-shot Wilf). Nothing against Mackie, but I hope the show shakes up that dynamic next time…

Okay. He asked whether their songs evoked any emotions at all, and my answer was "yes, far as that goes." And whether or not they've got company in that regard, I don't happen to consider the question a highly useful one in the first place, or a fundamental criterion in judging all music.

He asked a narrowly specific question, and I took a shot at answering it. Let's not go moving the goalposts.

Now, looky here.

Well, how would you define "soul and authenticity"? Especially the latter word, whose usage often raises more questions than it seems to answer.

Interest in the musicianship? Curiosity in following a musical phrase, and satisfaction at its resolution (sometimes foreseen, sometimes not, sometimes subverted)? Pleasure at the genre pastiche in albums like Desperado? Uncomplicated enjoyment of a pleasing melody? Hope that doesn't make me soulless.

I don't know; maybe. I'm not sold on the popular notion that musicianship (even of the sort that gets called "slick") is at odds with "soul or authenticity," however one defines those slippery, maybe overconvenient terms. Moreover, I'm not sure that the latter traits are must-haves, or even count for much: how much…

Yes, Henley & Frey were often horrible people. But goddamnitall, I like the vast majority of the Eagles' music, and consider much of it downright brilliant. Come at me, and honi soit qui mal y pense.

It had HEALING POWERS! The hell, George?

Rob McElhenney is one lucky man.

Hold on / save the flight…

I'd include Wise Blood and The Rapture.

A movie like this could also work if it steered into the Pratt character's creepiness. Either a) shift protagonists halfway through to Lawrence's point of view, or b) fully, brutally explore the moral implications for both characters, and follow wherever they lead—satisfying ending or not.