A fun way to play a religious civ: pick Spain, send your starting warrior and settler in different directions to find a natural wonder asap, and pray that your settler doesn't die. It's a crapshoot, but if you do luck out, you will have an amazing empire! (The wonder bonus more than makes up for the loss in lead when…

Been going to a bunch of exhibit openings… two included my girlfriend's abstract paintings and one featured amazing new work from two old friends. And we're getting ready to go to an art conference later this month.

Young Frankenstein's. Unfortunately I haven't seen a lot of Frankenstein movies or comics.

The Handmaid's Tale should be all right, I guess… been years since I've read it.

Started reading Papillon by Henri Charriere. I wonder if the film version is any good, anyone know? The book is fascinating.

My girlfriend swears she's not gonna touch a drink again. She is not an alcoholic, indeed, she rarely indulges. But at a recent group exhibit opening (where she was one of the artists), she did indulge… really not that heavily, but she got somewhat messed up afterward.

Civ V is the game for you. It certainly has some depth… however, you can win every game by optimizing production better than the AI. In contrast, Civ VI looks like a return to the more complicated strategic machinations of Civ IV. I no longer have the patience for such intricate play myself, so the simpler but still…

Calling people stupid, you're a real treasure. Anyway, animal living conditions in the meat industry can be considered quite cruel.

I've been a vegetarian for less than a year, and I don't have the desire to eat bacon anymore. Though it still smells good. I do still eat meat at times, as a dedicated experiential traveler, but I love eating vegetarian, it's total cultural bias that meat eaters get all the yummiest dishes.

Well, I turned vegetarian after 30 years of eating meat, and I gotta say, I don't miss meat. Though my girlfriend is a wonderful cook, so that helps.

Then wouldn't you have to be a vegan? My grandmother wrung the neck of a chicken and chopped off its head. Is that better, or worse, or… something? Have you ever twisted off the head of a shrimp? It's all food. I don't really see the difference, except it's not your culture.

I mean, it's not like you're hurting it. As with a steak, all the killin' and hurtin' got done before you came onto the scene.

What you want to do is, get in the habit of complimenting all kinds of people. Then it becomes second nature to you, and it just comes out of you, no need to sort it all out in your head.

I'm pretty familiar with Miyazaki… and a lot of other anime, but thank you. Spirited Away is one of my favorite films. Howl's is not exactly what I had in mind here, looking for something closer to Whale Rider. But I appreciate your suggestions!

Yeah, that's a good point, but at least in superhero comics, you'll have frequent changes of creative teams. So while the title itself may be essentially neverending, the series can be divided into discrete arcs, usually defined by creative team, with variety in style, approach and sensibility.

Hope this is a good place to ask… what non-Western, non-white children's pop culture can I present to my 7-year-old daughter? No, it's not that I'm avoiding Western pop culture with her, it's just that I am already familiar with all that! But I'd like my kid (who is non-white and non-Western) to get exposed to more…

I'm a huge fan of Vonnegut and of traditional sci-fi, and his work simply does not feel like traditional sci-fi. It also doesn't feel like literary sci-fi, as you might get with Bester and Ellison. It's more of absurdist fiction, which is a small but rich branch of literary fiction.

Jade The Virgin? The CW turned into a porn channel so gradually….

Thanks! Gonna check out the new site! Gonna miss Cronin, though. And he doesn't seem to comment around here anymore, either.

But I hear she'll only appear in the movie's stinger.