Sam Elliot was one of the saving graces of the last couple of seasons of Parks & Rec. come to think of it, he even elevated that terrible Golden Compass movie.

Sir Alec Guinness
Kristen Bell
Bryan Cranston
Daniel Day-Lewis
Anton Lesser and Roger Allam
Humphrey Bogart (he made even a lackluster movie like Passage to Marseille compelling)

it's like he's trying to recreate LOST as a comedy, which could be good or bad.

I wonder if they're even really dead.

would you believe they don't serve McChickens where I live in Texas? Instead they serve a thing called the Spicy McChicken, which is *not* the same thing.

it made me hungry, so I think it achieved its purpose.

Tami Taylor is definitely the person you want to talk with about sex or questioning your faith or whatever. She'll be stern at first, but soon come around to being gentle and empathetic and understanding.

I can't get over how much Dev Patel looks and sounds like Henry Ian Cusick.

my sister recently tried to convince me that Kid Rock is Hank Williams Jr's illegitimate son. apparently so many people think this that they released a song together entitled "No, We're Not Related Stop Asking" or something.

the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
the My Teacher is an Alien! series, which is surprisingly profound
Friday Night Lights and Buffy - in their own way, two of the best shows about high school ever made. (I'd throw in Veronica Mars as well)
for those starting college - the first half of the first Magicians book

pop culture that evokes summer for me:

Dazed and Confused is a good movie, but Linklater's growth as an artist has far surpassed his youthful promise. I'd even argue that Boyhood captures the spirit of summer with an effortlessness that he never quite attained in the earlier film.

whatever happened to Powers Boothe? I didn't make it past the first season.

Captain Phillips was the moment when I began to reassess him as an artist. the grief and trauma he portrayed in the final moments of that film made it seem like Hanks had actually been tortured on set. it was stunningly real. not like a movie at all, but like a man who had just seen all the cruelty and horror in the…

honestly I'm so used to seeing Jimmy play the tormented hero or quasi-villain - in movies like Vertigo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Man from Laramie, even It's a Wonderful Life - that it's come to seem like the norm rather than the exception.

excellent.

We should compile a list of the creepiest children's films. This one, Coraline, Watership Down… what else?

also if you don't already, you should really be following him on twitter (@cox_tom, and his various cat accounts). his folklore-themed ramblings and sly wit are some of the best the site has to offer.

Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister. it's astonishing that two of the most perfect albums ever made (give or take an electronic renaissance) were recorded by the same band in the space of a few weeks.

I just saw that episode for the first time last night and the funeral scene gave me chills. It's legitimately one of the best episodes of the show, and Saracen nails it.