If you're going to "argue" a point (rather than just assert it), it is customary to introduce some sort of evidence or chain of reasoning.

If you're going to "argue" a point (rather than just assert it), it is customary to introduce some sort of evidence or chain of reasoning.

I saw "Swimming With Sharks" back when I was high school and loved it and saw it (and showed it to people) many times in the years that followed. But I think it's been nearly a decade now since I last watched it, and I kind of wonder if the profound catharsis I thought Spacey's big speech at the end gave me (it used…

I saw "Swimming With Sharks" back when I was high school and loved it and saw it (and showed it to people) many times in the years that followed. But I think it's been nearly a decade now since I last watched it, and I kind of wonder if the profound catharsis I thought Spacey's big speech at the end gave me (it used…

There's a difference between saying that it's an accurate and realistic depiction of the condition and that it's "more accurate than most films." The main point of the article you link to is that amnesia in films is essentially a mythical, magical condition. "Memento" gets points for showing some respect to real-world…

There's a difference between saying that it's an accurate and realistic depiction of the condition and that it's "more accurate than most films." The main point of the article you link to is that amnesia in films is essentially a mythical, magical condition. "Memento" gets points for showing some respect to real-world…

And Ann Romney was born Ann Uumellmahaye.

And Ann Romney was born Ann Uumellmahaye.

I went videoless for this election, and read the Economist's liveblog (and checking CNN's electoral map). It seems to me that you're almost obligated to look to non-Americans to get any kind of rational, non-hysterical analysis of American politics these days.

I went videoless for this election, and read the Economist's liveblog (and checking CNN's electoral map). It seems to me that you're almost obligated to look to non-Americans to get any kind of rational, non-hysterical analysis of American politics these days.

"Four more episodes! Four more episodes!"

"Four more episodes! Four more episodes!"

I haven't seen the Baltimore episode recently enough to be able to decide if your interpretation that Bourdain "hates Baltimore" is really fair, but let's say it is. There's no hypocrisy in feeling that and liking the artistry of The Wire. A person can love "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and still feel nothing but…

I haven't seen the Baltimore episode recently enough to be able to decide if your interpretation that Bourdain "hates Baltimore" is really fair, but let's say it is. There's no hypocrisy in feeling that and liking the artistry of The Wire. A person can love "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and still feel nothing but…

They secured the patronage of powerful aristocrats that they had to shamelessly flatter and kowtow to (and whose children they often had to teach and whose social gatherings they often had to be caricatures of themselves at).

They secured the patronage of powerful aristocrats that they had to shamelessly flatter and kowtow to (and whose children they often had to teach and whose social gatherings they often had to be caricatures of themselves at).

In my opinion, the famous Rake Joke is not a very good example of the phenomenon that it's now used to describe. It's only 20 seconds long. It really only goes a little past the basic rule of threes. And the central conceit of the "Rake Joke" theory is that something cycles through being funny, not being funny anymore…

In my opinion, the famous Rake Joke is not a very good example of the phenomenon that it's now used to describe. It's only 20 seconds long. It really only goes a little past the basic rule of threes. And the central conceit of the "Rake Joke" theory is that something cycles through being funny, not being funny anymore…

I like the first, breathless, A.D.D. twenty minutes or so quite a lot, though once the love story proper kicks in my interest flags (except for the Roxanne sequence). When I first saw that rollercoaster 20-minutes, I thought that Luhrmann would be a great choice if anyone tried to make a movie from a Thomas Pynchon…

I like the first, breathless, A.D.D. twenty minutes or so quite a lot, though once the love story proper kicks in my interest flags (except for the Roxanne sequence). When I first saw that rollercoaster 20-minutes, I thought that Luhrmann would be a great choice if anyone tried to make a movie from a Thomas Pynchon…