OK, so tell me about __________ (character's name redacted because non-disclosure agreements,etc.)

Lezards?

Yep. In a perfect world, Brody would have played Sherlock Holmes and Robert Downey, Jr. would have played Houdini.

I'm sure they lived long and happy lives.

I was probably the first escape artist since Houdini's day to perform an inverted straitjacket escape on live radio.

I've self-published 8 extremely niche-interest non-fiction books via Lulu and they've brought in about $30,000 over the past 11 years, a modest success due mostly to the fact that one of my pet topics suddenly developed a bit of a pop-culture following.

I was once driving through a small country town, late at night, in a car full of male professional wrestlers. We passed two young women walking down the street and, seemingly of one mind, the wrestlers rolled down their windows and began yelling comments (this was a long time back and I can't recall exactly what they…

I'm an expat Kiwi, been living in the US for seven years. There are pluses and minuses on both sides, obviously, but NZ clearly wins in virtually all social services.

"Bad rep" is short for "bad reputation"; "bad rap" (or, more usually, "bum rap" still (sort of ) works in the slang sense that "rap = talking", implying that "when people talk about this subject, it's usually in negative terms". I think it's actually related to police "rap sheets", i.e. record sheets.

Addressing this at the purely physical/technical level, she clearly is physically resisting putting her left hand behind her back and the cop is trying to persuade her to do that without just overpowering her, which could lead to her being injured.

Seems incredible, but apparently this tragedy has happened an average of 15-20 times a year in the US over the past two decades, since baby seats began to be installed facing the rear of the vehicle re. an extra margin of safety in accidents. The parent is stressed out and operating on auto-pilot; something distracts…

IMO the "issue" is that too many game companies, having finally realized that it pays to get experienced, professional actors to do their voice work, still treat writing and directing as "something fun that anyone can do". It's symptomatic of an industry that's largely run by young techs making creative decisions in…

I'm a professional martial arts instructor and fight choreographer for theater and film; top results were "choreographer" and "athletic trainer".

Exactly right. I taught women's self defense professionally for years and one of the first thing I advised my students against was "testing" their skills against loved ones role-playing as attackers. Even assuming pure good will on behalf of both parties, the extremes of effective self defense are far too dangerous…

Assuming that the girls really did, at some level, "believe" in Slender Man, this case has strong parallels with the 1954 Parker/Hulme murder in Christchurch, New Zealand, which was dramatized in Peter Jackson's movie, Heavenly Creatures:

I used to stage fight scenes for a living and I'm certain this is choreographed They did a good job, especially re. catching the perfect camera angle to hide the air (actual distance between foot and face). A professional would have shot it from the exact opposite angle, though, which would both hide the air and…

Watch the "bully's" hands very closely the instant before he gets "hit" - in stage combat they call that a knap.

I haven't read a Dredd story since the late 1970s, but wasn't the character always supposed to be a parody of square-jawed American action heroes? In the same way that MegaCity One was a satire of the excesses of American culture, as seen by a bunch of UK-based comics writers ...

Sounds familiar - was this your project?

That's both a pity and entirely unjustified.