I wonder if it's possible to truly avoid the Elliot phenomenon — of strong, interesting secondary characters (meaning, not The Lead but very close) being reduced to goofy stereotypes by the end of a long-running comedy series. HIMYM did the same thing to Robyn, and for all my love of Parks and Rec, I'd argue the same…

Best economy meal I ever had was an Emirates flight from Sydney to Christchurch. Yellow curry, shrimp, rice, a kickass pastry…I'd never realized airline food could be so good. Second best was probably a beef and veggie stir fry on a Swiss Air flight from NYC to Zurich. Worst was the "chicken curry" on a United flight…

Lester Holt! *raises fists*

This "Behind the scenes" info gave me more respect for HRC for doing this. It sounds like she was a really good sport: https://thinkprogress.org/b…

Side note: I only made it halfway through Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail. I get that he was doing something new and boundary-pushing, and that any attempt at "edginess" will inevitably seem lame in the future norms that said attempt helps to create…but goddamn does HST sound like he's trying too hard.

What a fun interview. I can't wait for B99 to be back. I have nothing clever to say.

I've been diving into Joe Swanberg's earlier Mumblecore stuff: Uncle Kent, Nights and Weekends, Hannah Takes The Stairs.

This article gets at exactly your point though, only with actual, specific insight into the problem. Rather than saying "Good grief, talk about hypocrisy" it actually looks at why one might be more angry about Trump than your typical roster of political talk show appearances, and critiques whether or not that argument…

You do realize they spent most of this conversation discussing A) whether Trump is a special case for his explicitly xenophobic, bigotted, racist tendencies which trancend politics, B) whether talk shows treating Clinton with kid gloves is any better, and C) whether, indeed, the outrage is warranted at all. I can't…

I listened to that, then immediately found this article. They pair very nicely together.

I really enjoyed this discussion.

2cci 2 Devilish

As a former Berkeley student, I had the same thought. (And yes, UCB is used all the time to refer to us, and no there is no University of California Bakersfield. There is a Cal State Bakersfield, which is indeed not good.)

Scott Baio will never invite him to another pool party

Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom in: Oceans Elven

Please don't make Mindy be the IT person, please don't make Mindy be the IT person…

Grade A O'Neal. It's good to have you back.

Did anyone else watch the live Q&A with Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, Taylor Sheridan et al for Hell or High Water last week at Alamo Drafthouse?

Before Sunset, though the precise Before movie I would put at #1 seems to alternate every 6 months or so.

I'd like to nominate David Bazan's Blanco. I've grown up being a shameless fan of his, and I'm sure it doesn't hurt that my life trajectory perfectly mimicked that of his music (optimistic and religious in his early years as Pedro the Lion, doubting as his music got more challenging, slowly accepting agnosticism as he…