It's kind of fun if everyone brings truly "white elephant" gifts that are not really worth anything. Then it's more of a fun competition to try to get rid of the crappiest one rather than trying to get the "good" one. You've got to have a group that's all on the same page with it though.

Do you have an album out? Because our local brewery was playing a "bluegrass covers of rock music" CD every time I went there this fall. I enjoyed it!

I generally enjoyed the movie, but yeah, that scene where Jyn is suddenly trying to rally the troops even though there's no real reason anyone would listen to her was odd.

I also thought "Sol". Symbolically, that or "Saul" I think works better than Saw.

Thank you. I was going to respond in the same way. If all we listened to was music (or watched movies, or read books) that was critically acclaimed and universally accepted as highly influential, life would be pretty boring.

But still they ride, towards the new frontier of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, waiting for the lights to come up on the stage to lay it down for the audience again, then go their separate ways.

I did my graduate research on ants, so yes.

I use an article from The DM in my biology class as an example of bad science journalism. The headline is, "Coffee may raise child cancer risk: New evidence that caffeine could damage babies' DNA"
It takes a few paragraphs before you realize that the "new evidence" is from research that hadn't even been done yet. So,…

And in smaller cities, they are either architects or own a bakery.

Me too! Are we not supposed to like it?

I bought an Avett Brothers tee at a concert recently, and I have to say it's now a favorite for it's great fabric and fit. Crappy merchandise sits at the bottom of the drawer, so you'd think bands would put at least a little effort into offering decent quality stuff; ultimately it's in their best interest!

“I think if I had to put something on my income tax, it would be ‘Writer,’” he said.
If he had to? So apparently John Waters does not pay taxes.

I was also in need of a drink at the end of the day and only had gin in the house, but was feeling like more of a winter drink. The internet told me to try gin with sweet vermouth and some sort of cherry liquor (I used a bit of maraschino juice) and it was quite good.
Sorry to hear about Mr. Thicke. I enjoyed his role…

Has anyone else seen Herzog's Lo and Behold? It shows and early diagram like this. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that movie; part somewhat straightforward doc about internet history and such, and part Herzog fucking with the audience. I guess I was less enamored with it that with most of his past work I've…

I actually know someone who got himself a Slovenian bride. They seem happy enough.

Trust me. As a college science instructor, there has been no overemphasis on science (or at least scientific thinking) in the classroom.

Somehow I think that if Megan Mullally was a lesbian she'd be very open about it.

…and check. I wondered when the Nick Offerman backlash would begin.

I heard that interview, well, at least the beginning of it, and it was so bad I turned the radio off. The guy sounded like a bad parody of a prototypical hair metal rocker. I usually enjoy when NPR does a "non-NPRish" interview or story, but this one really sucked.

You get agreement and an upvote from me! My mom used to play guitar and sing me this song when I was a kid, so it will always have a place in my heart, despite how sad it is. And PP&M will always be great.