Helen has to be seen to be believed. There’s actually a law that says everything within the town has to conform to the same Bavarian facade, so you’ll drive a few miles outside downtown and see liquor stores that look like cute little village shops.

Philip K. Dick’s Exegesis. I don’t think most people even knew what it was, but I can’t imagine what I would say if someone had asked me what I was reading.

I googled it because I’ve never heard of it before and I found this NYT article that talks about the origins in Middle Eastern culture that ends with younger restauranteurs saying “maybe let’s not call it this anymore.”
But also, now I want to eat one.

If I have to teach early classes I do basically this except it’s baked Scotch eggs. I’ll make a bunch and then just stick them in the fridge for the week.

I have a job that involves a lot of driving and, if I forget to bring meals with me, I end up eating out, and I pretty much always have a book with me. I prefer to sit at the bar, because it’s usually off-peak hours and I’m just one person. Most of the time what happens is the bartender ends up striking up a…

I am interested in this idea of a subscription service for depression.

“Fewer and fewer filmmakers are going to struggle to raise money,”

Calm down, Beyonce.

Cthulu.

I don’t understand why you feel the need to be so belligerent about store bought barbecue sauce, but I’m extremely curious what you feel it adds to your life.

It’s the AV Club, so, as usual, the answer is the Simpsons.

Why’d they make that one muppet out of leather?

Ah yes, noted white person Kevin Pang.

Dad, what’s a muppet?

You shut your mouth about cartoon Sally Draper.

Hard SF frequently suffers from that problem. I remember reading Tbe Mote In God’s Eye and repeatedly going, “oh god, not another page long description of spaceship banking maneuvers.”

Or the ultra-libertarian “People who want to ban certain things only do it because they can’t control themselves” rant from The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Dude was a great storyteller, but every time his opinions leak in it’s like “oh god, not this again.”

John W. Campbell in a letter to Isaac Asimov on the subject of Heinlein.

Yup. I did a series of online sessions with an Argentinian student and he was whiter than I was.

I gave my copy of American Psycho away to the ex of mine. After we broke up I came by her house to collect some stuff I had let her borrow. She had American Psycho in the stack and I was like “no, I gave you that, I really don’t want it back.”