Bingo.  China and the USSR showed that centralized planning can industrialize an economy far faster than markets, but that it’s not so good at continuing to improve once the industry base is set up.

“Felina” and “Ozymandius” were cliffhangers. Walter was dying of cancer and hunted by the authorities, stopping the narrative without addressing those loose ends would have felt like they either forgot something or were leaving it open for more story. This required them to have two episodes of falling action to…

“It may well be dumb nonsense, but if things work out, it’ll be fun dumb nonsense.”

Nope.  The books won’t end that way.  The books won’t end *any* way.

I loved Breaking Bad. I feel like the finale was...good. It got the job done, didn’t really leave anything hanging, but it definitely felt like an afterthought in the massive shadow of penultimate episode “Ozymandias”.

I loved that in a movie with a flying tank, physical gods, and an unstoppable rage monster, The Avengers takes time to show that leadership (Cap) and interrogation (Black Widow) can be equally important superpowers.

The only reason we know Captain America (and not a slew of other hyper-patriotic WWII comic heroes) is *because* he’s a man out of his own time.

Yeah, Millar is a piece of work. I always feel it necessary to point out it was an Irishman who stuck those words in Cap’s mouth.

Totally valid...but the hammer and sickle are pretty specific icons.  Swastikas and the Rising Sun are fairly basic geometric shapes, which could show up unintentionally (though designers should make sure they don’t).  No way a hammer and sickle slip in somewhere unintentionally.

“Passion about good food is not pretentious bullshit...”

Bingo. My wife used to somewhat drink wine and I never did, we had several bottles left over from parties that we just ended up handing out later.

...you do realize you’re posting on a website called “The Takeout”, right?

And hey, since GRRM isn’t writing, the Hound might actually win!

Ugh, do *not* wave the stars and bars Treason Rag anywhere near nonwhite Americans if you don’t want to get spat on.

Ask Europeans how they feel about swastikas.  It’s a pretty even comparison.

“I literally could not do any worse than he has over the same period.”

Can I add that I love he let the slam be subtext?  

Pretty sure if he gets tossed for steroid use they don’t have to pay him.

Yeah, I can’t see how this works on any level. I can’t imagine Chinese gamers are any likelier to buy this if they recognize the (stolen) likeness, nor that Chinese non-gamers are drawn to an image of “generic schlubby white guy”.

“That’s the main point I want to get at here. As someone who played difficult games, I’m fine with a scenario where the amount of access broadens.”