I watched every stupid episode, and I think the song choice in the last episode was what put T-Pain over the top. He did a fun version of “This is How We Do It,” which is the kind of song people who want to be in a reality TV audience really love. Osmond did “Shake a Tail Feather,” which is a dated choice, and didn’t…

They weren’t judging as in “that was a little pitchy for me, dawg.” It was more offering commentary and guessing who the singers were. I think the worst criticism any of the panel lobbed all season was along the lines of, “that wasn’t your best performance” or “I’m not sure that song fit your voice.” And with Gladys…

I think lots of people, especially white people, still have the internal narrative that slavery wasn’t “that bad,” that most slaves were happy and treated well. If handling cotton and feeling that it’s weird and spiky and probably not pleasant to pick helps them to question that belief, I think it’s not a bad learning…

This is just so freaking embarrassing to me as a Virginian. She could have offered the cotton to the white children, or let the pages raise their hands and volunteer, or any number of things that wouldn’t have looked so racist. Instead she did ... that.

I went to a million dollar wedding once — they were on some reality show about super-expensive weddings. Basically it was a normal wedding, but the hotel venue was fancier, there was more food and liquor, and they had two live bands. It was nice but I didn’t come out of it wishing I had a million dollars to throw away…

There’s a lot here, but ... why are you equating having sex with a bisexual (or even gay) man with being raped? 

Yeah, he touched a lot on why I’m not really out. I’m married to a man and hope to be for the rest of our lives, and my crushes on women never went much beyond flirting I was too shy to follow up on. I can’t imagine coming out to real-life people would lead to anything but a bunch of gross and overly personal…

Why would it be bad for Noah and Lily to be dating? She seems fine, he seems fine, there’s no huge age gap or trail of poisoned fiances or whatever. Is it just that Noah is the internet’s boyfriend and shouldn’t cheat on us?

I dunno, they seem like the same thing to me when we’re talking about advertising campaigns that use “real women.” (I agree that ads using women who fit typical beauty standards are a different thing.) A photo of a woman in underwear is a photo of a woman in underwear, whether she’s trying to get me to buy Dove body…

I agree that the ideal would be a world where appearance was irrelevant and bodies were valued only for housing humans who can do all kinds of extraordinary things, from climbing mountains to writing masterpieces to giving birth to other humans. But we don’t live in that world, and it seems to be a long way off. So in…

I think the Tristan/Jordyn/Khloe thing is at least semi-fake. Like, I can believe he cheated and the relationship is over, but cheating with his girlfriend’s sister’s best friend? That’s just so incredibly stupid and hurtful on both their parts that it boggles the mind. My theory is that he and Khloe did really break…

I suppose we’re lucky she didn’t figure out a way to model her family life after the way Jobs treated his daughter Lisa.

Not the person you were talking to but ISN’T IT THE BEST.

Yeah, it’s fake. If you google “Elizabeth Holmes voice” there are some clips on YouTube where she forgets herself and uses her natural, higher voice for a sentence or so before she gets it under control again.

Yeah -- I’m sure they’re an annoyance in a lot of ways, but they’re so adorable I’d be tempted to leave them in place.

He really isn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, is he?

Could be. I also don’t know if there’s one in that area. 

It’s not like gay people glow purple. If they knew he was gay, either a)he hit on them (at 2 am in winter on the street?) or b)they set up the meeting on a hookup app specifically to assault him, and he’s lying for all the reasons anybody would lie about using a hookup app. I think b) is more likely but who knows.

It was night and he would have been wearing winter clothes. They might have known it was somebody who fit Jussie’s rough description and was coming out of the building where he was staying without being 100% sure they had the right guy.

Eh. They’re adults, they’ve been dating on and off for several years, and they’ve both been through the whole marriage thing before. I don’t see any reason to think they’re any less serious than any other couple, even if her ring’s not necessarily my taste for an engagement ring.