My single least favorite episode in the entire series run. Not an exaggeration.

!!!!

I was just watching Kin Dza Dza earlier this week, too. Go figure.

“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” — Directed by David
Zellner, written by David and Nathan Zellner. A lonely Japanese woman
abandons her structured life in Tokyo to seek a satchel of money
rumoredly hidden in the Minnesota wilderness. Cast: Rinko Kikuchi.

Which was astounding. (I thought she was miscast in SLP, though.)

I loved loved Sally Hawkins in it, too.

American swearsies?

On my ideal ballot, the award would go to the probably-won't-be-nominated Julie Delpy. I didn't dislike Blanchett, but I did dislike the film, so I give her props for doing a lot with a little. Still, Delpy has my vote.

Short stories, yes. Novels… less so. I'll never understand his thing for insufferably precocious children (Esmé excepted.)

Heh, well… I suppose not having cojones is one way of looking at it, but there's a mighty leap between that and "massacring people, including young children", no?

I cracked up at that line. At least they've got bluntness going for them now, instead of taking six episodes to circle around that line of dialogue.

I dunno, I kinda liked the character beat of Rick finally living up to Hershel's high expectations (the smile before his decapitation, which we knew was coming, was a great emotional beat.) For a show that doesn't usually earn its character moments, that's one of the rare ones that worked for me, and spoke to…

Neither: I mean each of those books is episodic, so you could safely skip an episode or two if they're not working for you.

Jose Rizal gets a bad rap. It wasn't his fault he got picked up, posthumously, as a propaganda flag. I like his writing quite a bit (especially El filibusterismo, which is disjointed, but great.)

Nice try, Narc!

Heh. Although I think Hugo considers Les Mis all of a piece, even the, what?, 80-page description of Waterloo that has nothing to do with nothing, except that one character turns up briefly in the last page. With Cervantes, I don't think he gives two shits whether you read from beginning to end, or just pick up and…

Have you read Pierre Menard's article about this? It's outstanding:

Yes I would, but with one piece of advice: feel free to skip around. I know we live in an age where that's considered heresy, but Cervantes throws a lot of stuff into DQ, and since it's a loosely-strung-together picaresque, you don't lose much by skipping, say, the 100-page pastoral novella inserted randomly into the…

Which did you watch first?

I'd also recommend not reading too much about them before you see them. A lot of the scenes are carefully prepared jokes, and part of the fun is re-orienting yourself in each new tableau until he finds a way to dis-orient you again.