Yeah, I think the relatively high grades were partly based on the expectation that more was going to happen — you watch an episode and think "That was a bunch of waffle, but I bet it's going to lead to some big payoff later." Once the season finale lands and very little gets paid off, what originally were interpreted…

Privacy vs. Image Commodification
"What's changing… is that everyone is more sensitive over control of their own image and the price paid for exposure in this over-sharing, yet privacy-obsessed, age."

It's not bad because it's weird. It's bad because it mistakes weirdness for profundity. The key line is: "Any film that denies its innate absurdity as violently as Passion Play can only prompt unintentional laughter."

So, I've only seen two McCoy stories, "Curse of Fenric" and "Remembrance of the Daleks," and in both cases, there seemed to me to be something off about the writing — especially "Fenric." It almost seemed like someone was told "If you see any scenes with exposition, just tear those pages out and keep filming!" There's…

That's what I thought, too, but it definitely wasn't a pitch-perfect parody of "Soap." More a sort of loose, vague homage (and as such fell kind of flat).

Well, that's why I said "ongoing" TV shows. A series that's complete, that's in the can, is a whole different beast. Of course, a series that was cancelled before it wrote it's own intentional finale can be complete in a practical sense while still leaving you with that fundamentally unfulfilled feeling.

I hear people say things about Amelie like the OP, and I can't understand it. Amelie is not a light, fluffy, everything is unicorns and butterflies movie (which a lot of people seem to use as a criticism of it — that it's a vapid, twee, feel-good exercise). The central theme of Amelie is loneliness and isolation. Yes,…

TV vs. Film
I think ongoing TV series have a very different dynamic with regard to this question. With a film, you get some kind of closure. It may not have a "happy ending," but it will frequently bring emotional resolution if not full-fledged catharsis. There's an essay by (I believe) Angela Carter where she argues…

"That Amazon gives away whole Mp3 albums for $1 or free video streaming with its Amazon Prime account reveals how most digital pricing is a scam. "

You know, I don't really even blame the students that much for having that attitude. The business-speak that's taken over college administrations really does emphasize the students-as-customers. And college admissions takes that tone, too — not to mention some of them use what's practically a guarantee of job…

@endall: I think entitlement among college students actually has a slightly different twist to it. Many college students feel entitled because they see themselves as consumers — they're paying for service, and so they must be entitled to what they're paying for. You as a professor become the sherpa they've hired to…

Well, that's why I put it in scare quotes. But I think there are degrees of richness, depth, and texture to emotional experience. And adolescent emotions are different from mature emotions in those respects.

Your point about quality is a good one. And I'd add another twist to it, which is that not only does the quality of the cultural artifact matter, but so does the quality of the engagement with that cultural thing. That's a better way of getting at what I was calling 'regressive" in my way too longwinded post. Are the…

Blurry categories
I think Gk is blurring some categories here. First, we might distinguish "nerdy" and "mainstream" cultural activities. Screaming and crying at a teen idol concert is utterly mainstream (for a given age group, anyway). It is not the equivalent of reading comic books or being passionate about a…

And whatever happened to wearing a watch? Is it such an unbearable encumbrance? If you can't be bothered to wear a simple watch, maybe you don't deserve to know what time it is in the middle of the movie.

And about the first sentence of the article: verisimilitude is not a synonym for candidness or honesty. Unless Sean means to suggest that Sheen is merely trying to produce the illusion of truth, when in fact he's actually cranking out autobiographical fictions.

@Julie Delpy's Lipstick: I think there is an issue, though, that one's individual choices CAN harm the whole group of class to which one belongs. Think of someone who really, individually wants to work for less than the minimum wage. Should that choice be respected, or should it be criticized as actively damaging to…

I don't think Star Trek is about uniformity so much as it is about community. Or even family. You could argue that the Doctor is a kind of eternal broken home, perpetually bringing companions in and then shedding them off. Star Trek crews (with the possible exception of DS9) don't tend to work if you don't have the…

I believe I have the same 1.5-foot tall Godzilla, whose tail I also used to detach (though never to re-enact "The Ark in Space"), also sitting on the top shelf of my bookcase!

I guess my take would be that I sense that the Homicide creators are being playful in their execution — the themes may be dark, but I get the feeling that the writers and directors are just having a lot of fun with the style and the conventions of the show (things like the staccato repeated takes). Whereas Phil seems…