Just to be clear: I don't think that Rey is a Mary Sue. I think that it came up because she has something in common with the trope, but she doesn't embody it. So my short answer to the question at the end is, basically, that those two things are pretty much what defines a Mary Sue.

You know, I don't think that the current generations of adults on the internet necessarily understand the impact of what they've done with their constant "ironic" use of slang. I work with a teenager who has younger siblings, and the ones who are 9 and 11 do things like say "LOL" out loud instead of laughing or refer…

There are many kinds of Mary Sue! It's a time-honoured tradition to have them be unfairly disliked and derided by everybody around them due to their ignorance and/or jealousy until they receive the call and get to prove that they were born to rule. It's a question of whether the fantasy is "everybody loves me" or…

I just alluded to this in another comment, but: if you haven't read Thomas Ligotti, give him a try. I've just started his first two collections and his philosophical take on cosmic horror is as mind-expanding as something that's arguably supposed to destroy your will to live can be.

I'm currently reading through Thomas Ligotti's first two short story collections. Cosmic horror, inasmuch as he taps into it in these stories, emphatically does not need to start from racism, and Ligotti proves this in every story without even needing to specifically try. Lovecraft was an amazing innovator, but I…

Another obscure Canadian song that I love: https://www.youtube.com/wat…

Two neighbours, I'd say. Greenland's close enough to count.

Well, if you're near Lucan, I suppose that you have the option of getting all worked up about the Black Donnellys and starting a fight with yourself.

I think there's a groundswell going on. I heard of it for the first time less than a year ago when a friend asked me if I knew anything about it. Now I'm steadily hearing more and more about it as time passes. CBT better watch its back!

The only thing of his that I actually know is The Pillowman, which is enough to get me interested in anything the guy decides to do. I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of his work.

Having not seen any of his movies yet, I only know McDonagh from The Pillowman. Based on that, I think that he can rock this. That one wasn't quirky (though it was frequently hilarious, it was intense as hell.

Good guess, but no. The cat got let out of the bag on another comment. It's Caleb, the name you give a child when you want to make sure that no one can ever give him a nickname.

Wasn't me! I meet none of those descriptors past the name. I get the impression that it's much more common in California than it is where I am.

And that's a movie I greatly enjoyed. Sandman would have an even better narrative reason to do it. I just don't see anybody involved with this project thinking like that.

Question: not a fan of green tea? That tends to benefit from something just slightly cooler than boiling water.

In all honesty, I've been thinking for a while about the logistics of talking some of my friends into trying out some informal rural commune life. We're all getting older, we're not all getting married, and it'd be nice to have some family-of-choice around when times get harder. I think there's a lot of logic to the…

I've always found it intriguing how left-brained, for lack of a better word, the rabbinical profession seems to be. There's so much discursive logic and careful attention to detail involved. Throw in the fact of how relatively non-interventionist the Jewish conception of God tends to be and you barely need actual…

That's a good point. Maybe it has more to do with the Platonic part of relationships than the romantic part. I don't hate many people, but when I do, I sometimes see pictures and think "everyone can see through your plastic smile, you fake bastard". Whatever your truth about someone may be, it's a powerful visual…

The group is key to the magic of the whole fantasy! It's all about imagining interaction without a bunch of the things that make modern life so stressful. Instead of bring stressed from having to commute to work and meet ever-increasing demands in a backstabbing corporate environment, you just wake up and go tend…

Realistically, it wouldn't work as an economic unit in modern society. It's the sort of thing that calls to people who can manage to live on room and board their whole lives. Now that debt is widespread, who can get by without a wage to keep the wolf from the door?