Vince Gilligan in no hurry to make a third show in the Breaking Bad universe

“Tolkien had a limited imagination” is not a fair critique!

LOTR was written in the style of a medieval romantic epic. That means it is primarily focused on men’s heroic journeys and the platonic love between men, and where women are involved at all it is primarily as objects of chaste love for said heroic men. That’s the context.

The “named” requirement is because lots of movies would squeak by based on the murmurs of background extras, 3-second scenes with a waitress, or those opening scenes of Law and Order where two unnamed people banter for 6 seconds before finding a body.

Dwarves were meant to be an proud ancient people akin to the Jews

it often is

Since that’s not how it was intended to be used, I’m curious as to why you think that was how it was supposed to be used.

No one is saying that. It’s more “how dare we pretend like it’s fine today because he was born in the 1800s.”

Bludgeoning your neighbor to death because they didn’t mow their lawn last week would bring joy to some people.

I would argue it doesn’t make it a misogynistic movie, just not a greatly feminist film

I’m pretty sure Silence of the Lambs or Alien barely pass

It’s still very useful to see it presented so starkly. There’s a lot of “oh, well” about this stuff, as if just knowing about it is all the reckoning you think we have to do.

I like the show, but I’m really waiting for the big reveal because the slow burn of this thing has not been a virtue, and I’m very concerned that they payoff will not be worth it. It somehow has been spinning its wheels for weeks yet it moved some plots along too fast, and it keeps introducing new wacky non-sequiturs…

Well, first, allowing porn invites regulation. Does Amazon really want to be on the hook to moderate a “Teen (18+, we promise)“ category on Twitch?

They’re not conveyor belts. It’s okay to step back a few paces. In general, “one-way aisles” are how most people shop when they’re on a true grocery run anyway, and grocery stores are already organized to funnel you from one area to the next.

There seems to be a required level of ideological extremism to participate in this debate. Either you are part of the word police or you delight at the fluid nature of language in all forms.

Yes, you do.

So why do some dumb reveal that the captain (who is also clearly played by Elba) is the alien bad guy

I think you’re giving season 1 of the Mandalorian a lot of credit for venturing beyond the “toy box” that it doesn’t deserve. I mean, the breakout star of the show was literally Baby Yoda.

People take way less than their labor is actually worth all the time, it’s one of the big issues of our time and part of the whole minimum wage conversation.