Yes. :(

They righted the ship the following season by focusing less on the relationship. Frasier is one of the great sitcoms of all time imo, so I'm glad they pulled it back. Shifting the focus back to Frasier gave the last season some real resonance, for me at least.

Mary Richards in Mary Tyler Moore. I suspect a lot of people would choose a member of her (great!) supporting cast, but she's such a great center of the show.

The only poor season, in my opinion, is the one right after Niles and Daphne get together. And I liked the finale.

That is an insane opinion and you should feel insane.

THEY TRIED

You're probably right. But it does trade in a lot of those tropes, sometimes to subvert and sometimes fairly straight. I guess it's not really a sitcom either though, to be fair.

Ctrl + F "Crazy"

Regarding the DFW tribute, I enjoyed reading it but as I recall, it does seem to misunderstand his work. Which seems weird for someone who was an actual friend.

Upvoted for the world's worst/best transition.

Yeah. When I first read it, I actually missed Quentin committing suicide. I'm not proud.

If you like magical Asians and heavy handed symbolism but also want to be really moved and challenged, it's the perfect book.

Fair. I feel the same.

I love Faulkner a lot but understand why he'd be offputting. The Benjy section of Sound and Fury is one of the most exhilarating pieces of prose I've ever read, even if I didn't all make sense to me at the time.

Would you think me tawdry if I took the full hour?

I meant your position on why he said it. My bad.

I want to say that I agree those elements are in there but Hemingway's work as a whole does not, in my opinion, affirm toxic masculinity, even if Hem's life did to a point. I think his novels are largely him interrogating his own beliefs, and, white male or not, that's a valid artistic pursuit.

I liked his essays on the prison system and the postal service (from his first essay collection—can't remember the title). And he wrote a nice eulogy for DFW. But The Corrections is the only thing I've read of his I really love.

Great post. You expressed what I was thinking without the defensiveness I would have inevitably brought to the table.

I like Solnit a lot and will probably read this book but that take on Hemingway is incredibly reductive. To each their own.