I really want to be scared by some of the stories on these various subreddits, but most of them just don’t do it for me. It doesn’t help that the majority of them are mindless retreads of the same ghost story tropes, including a statement that the narrator is a staunch skeptic and that they totally don’t believe in…

This man has disappeared so far up his own ass that he’s at risk of becoming a literal black hole.

Great stuff. Quite literally, John, you could write about *anything* for 5,000 words and I would read it.

The problem I have with this idea of “I’ll just always be fat” is that it’s not backed up by basic science or physics.

I love Refn and I am very excited for this show.

I have long learned not to trust any reviews of Refn’s work. He’s my favorite director currently working, and I say that as someone who basically hated Valhalla Rising.

I was hoping to see a review or impression of the Too Old to Die Young episodes that Refn premiered.

I didn’t make the connection to the landscaping, but that shot stood out for sure.  It definitely has a purpose.

Nah.  I think it would’ve held up in a blind taste test vs. any of the major light beers.  It certainly wasn’t worse than Coors Light.

Vic is a mess

Counterpoint: it’s actually a very silly movie. Especially the ending.

Someone who appears to have come to the game with the now-slept fan comes at the punch-thrower, but found herself unable to land anything before stadium security shut things down.

It sounds like the book just didn’t work for you, but it’s odd to read through all of the reasons in your review. Because I feel like all of the things you’re listing could be said about lots of other Murakami works. He’s always been a “tell, don’t show” type of writer, but he makes it work (or at least it works for…

Numbered lists in descending order usually tend to represent rankings, yes.

Well... Disney’s Hunchback already made some fairly significant changes from its source material.  

The gender politics in Mulan are indeed far from perfect, but you’ve chosen to focus on some really strange things to make your argument.

I do agree that the *appeal* of the show was always the characters, but it’s disingenuous to say that it was only ever about the characters. I’d accept that logic a lot easier if the show was written in such a way that it embraced mystery.

They both work for the production company, at this point.

It fills me with dread to see him involved at all, but I keep telling myself that if Villeneuve can’t do it, I’m not sure anyone can.

I’m just hoping that Villeneuve is throwing him a bone every once and a while to make him feel included, with no intention of heeding his advice whatsoever.