I had the same problem with Dune (and also Fellowship of the Ring, to be honest). Started reading them when I was in junior high and tried so very hard to maintain interest, but just couldn't do it. For each book, I revisited them at least 2 more times before it finally "took" and became an all-time favorite read.

Completely agree with your sentiments, but if anything I think it's closer to 300 pages in when the plot really starts to pick up. Anathem is a fantastic read, but convincing someone to slog through 300 pages of confusing terminology and pacing issues is a tough sell.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion mate, but it seems you're in the minority. Nothing wrong with that, needn't act so perplexed by it. Just keep telling yourself It's everyone else who's crazy.

At 3:57 on the video, dark blue jacket with no tie.

Sir Ian is an actor of exceptional talent and quality, he's simply stunning. I saw him appear on the Graham Norton Show (a goofy British talk show) the other day alongside the members of One Direction. The host asked him to do a dramatic reading of the lyrics from a One D song (under a spotlight in the darkened…

Here's a fun little diversion someone once suggested to me: take a pop song, any one will do that happens to have the word "love" in the title. Replace the word "love" with "drugs" and see how it works.

I completely agree with you, it is that "certain segment of the population" which fucking terrifies me.

I know it's a quality that is practically required to be a politician, but Bachmann really is the master of answering a question without actually providing anything close to an actual answer. Listen to an interview with her sometime, it's really amazing the verbal pretzels she needs to tie herself into to warp and…

Sarah Palin's political career ended five years ago, and it was far from the end of her. Batshit Bachmann will be around as a cable news talking-head for years to come, no worries.

Apparently Batshit Bachmann is more popular in other parts of the country than she is here at home. My Mom told me a story a few years ago that happened to her while she was travelling (I think it was in Arizona, but it may have been New England). She met a nice young couple somewhere and started chatting with them.…

My preferred term for these kinds of people is "Anti-Christians". Not worshippers of the Antichrist, obviously, those would be Satanists I suppose. I simply apply the term to people who claim to be Christians, but in their lives and their words actually get just about everything that Jesus preached backwards.

It seems that I'm not alone in having to memorize this poem when I was 12 (well, I wasn't required to, it was extra credit) and finding it still stuck in my brain some decades later. It's a nice little gem to pull out and polish off when you're in a crowd of drunk and/or stoned people whom you want to confuse and…

Actually, no. It's more of a "clinical reference" kind of a term. She's not much of a talker *during* unless she's suuuuuuuper drunk.

My wife sometimes refers to that whole area as her "ladybits".

I'm absolutely seconding your observation about the pacing. It nearly killed my interest several times, but I managed to keep coming back. I usually binge-watch entire seasons of a show at once, but by happenstance I watched AoT every week as it was released, which I think was the saving grace that allowed me to make…

I definitely squee'd a little!

A clear example of Muphry's Law.

Would Obama/Boehner/McConnell or whoever give over control to an unknown alien? Hell no. Clearly, they were referring to the Shadow Government that actually controls things behind the scenes. And since they are probably Silurians or something, they are fine with offering the Doctor hegemony.

There was a solar eclipse yesterday, which was an excellent opportunity for me to educate my kids (5 yrs old and younger) about celestial bodies and gravity and orbits and all that good shit. We made pinhole cameras and everything, they loved it. While we were driving to pick up my wife from work, I naturally…

Like the creepiest hermit crab ever.