Yeah, there are some folks that don’t really get it until they experience it in person. Like, one of my friends didn’t really get it until she was with me when I spotted a medium sized wolf spider and become obsessed with making sure it was killed and can we kill it and where did it go are you going to kill it please…

I’ve moved to Arizona and I’ve seen rattlesnakes, no biggie. I get scorpions in the house, meh, whatever I’ll squish them. But I KNOW that if/when I encounter a tarantula on a hike I’m gonna fall off of the damn mountain.

Hell no! No one should force you into exposure therapy. Not cool.

Thank god none of my friends and family play pranks because they could totally do it with a fake spider anywhere. I suppose its because when I was a kid I would wake up screaming from a spider dream and scaring the shit out of everyone and they thought it was best not to poke the bear. That Brady Bunch Hawaii…

That is not cool.

RIGHT?! Ask me, “I have a molted tarantula skin with me. I thought it would help you to look at one. Would you like to do that?” Not sneak up behind me and put it in my effing face.

People really do suck. Every year I have to tell my students about my phobia (because sometimes there will be a random spider in the classroom and I will scream and run, though somehow I miraculously have never screamed “Fuuuuck!”), and this revelation is always immediately followed by a lecture on how no, this is…

Ugh, Ellen, NO. When someone tells you they are afraid of something, it is cruel to subject them to it because YOU think it would be funny.

I feel so sorry for her. Look at her eyes.

The should go down in flames solely for the dogshit they call food.

Subway should go down in flames.

At a certain point, Subway chose to keep children at risk and sacrifice this woman to the coverup, and they should pay dearly for that decision.

A very casual acquaintance knows her (went to college together) and she’s only said a little bit about Ms. McLauglin...but this has devastated her entire life and family. I hope she wins.

I’m glad you love it. I suffered through 30-plus years of sub-freezing winter hell before realizing I didn’t have to. So enjoy your blizzards and wind chill and I’ll keep loving my mid-60's with a bit of rain. 😉

Ugh. Twenty years on and “Lead singer from Smashmouth” is STILL the aspirational appearance for these guys . . .

I disagree — I think the books are pretty funny satire, that are a lot more consistent than the show and have a lot more tidbits about New York and various literary and film references from Dan and Vanessa. Vanessa is also not a tremendous twat in the books, and Serena is a lot more vacuous, such that she’s not really…

It’s a freaking hilarious snark fest. Do you enjoy soap operas about horrible people, but wish the production values were higher? Do you laugh your head off at ridiculous teenage angst? Do you get some joy out of chuckling over how vapid and out of touch rich people are? If yes, WATCH IT NOW. (And read The Vulture…

I’m guessing it will more like a Treyvon Martin thing — “oh, I was so afraid of the nasty homeless guy that I followed him as he was walking away and shot him twice! So afraid!”