Because it's dull, you twit! It'll hurt more!

Rickman doesn't so much gnaw the scenery as poke it repeatedly with a spoon.

Really, is there anyone out there better-equipped to handle a genital-grabbing man-child suddenly handed a vast nation than you?

That's a function of Jeff Fisher having found the perfect media sweet spot for keeping his job. Ideally, coaches keep their jobs by winning games, but that requires talent that Fisher doesn't have. But if you play a few good teams really, really hard and treat those as your Superbowl, you can hit this wonderful, cozy…

It's not about "the Weasleys", and it's not about the "worthiness" of Harry and Hermione. It's the fact that movie-Ron, is outclassed by Hermione, and both he and she know it. The consequence is that we get a generation seeing these two paired together, while at the same time in their own life they're seeing in their…

I submit that John Madden and Pat Summerall were actually instrumental in teaching an entire generation of young fans the foundations of football, to the point that they can be credited for the lion's share of the basic knowledge of the game that just about every fan between the ages of 25-40 possess today. Which is…

That is a great parallel. I still remembering reading the Iliad and thinking "Wait . . . so is everyone here just a temperamental jackass?" I thought Diomedes came off as a decent dude, even though no one whose seen the movie even knows his name because he outshines the "hero" at every turn and is therefore…

It's even more fascinating than that. Confused Matthew had a great review of BatB where he argued that ultimately, it wasn't Gaston that was the villain. It was the town. Belle proved that Gaston was a fraud not five seconds prior to him whipping the townspeople into a mob. They knew he didn't know any more about the…

Sorry dude. I've read the internet, and I know that train left the station with Robin Hood. That fox broke the furry barriers for approximately three generations of women now.

Yeah, one of the best things about this film is just how deftly the writers make what are actually some fairly nuanced characters. Gaston isn't exactly evil to start, but he's true to his name (French for "braggart") and just smart enough to know that he doesn't actually want any competition, as that might dent his…

This may ding my lifetime score, but as a person who studied philosophy in college and specialized in ethics, I'm just super stoked that we have a protagonist in a show whose superpower is effectively "has read every philosophy text on ethics." Sure, he may be a bit stronger on the episteme part rather than the practik…

Oh yes, Trevor took the phrase "banality of evil", hosed it in Axe body spray, and let it run free to do its very best Jeff Winger impersonation, but without any writing staff. Or intelligence. Or redeemability.

It was actually a good bit of acting and attention to character. I'm not sure who said it, but I have heard it said that people are liked for their strengths, and loved for their flaws and imperfections. Chidi's moral exactitude was clearly not appreciated by his girlfriend, no matter what their relationship status.

As someone who actually does have advanced degrees in moral philosophy, that hit home. Brutally. I actually said "What?", at the exact same time as Chidi, in the exact same way. It was kind of sad, had the rest of the episode not made up for that realization.

That occurred to me as well: in one way or another, you could essentially say that everyone in one way or another gamed their score. Eleanor either subbed in for another person, or Michael screwed up her scoring. Jianyu/Jason was a pure case of mistaken identity. Tahani is grating, and apparently only got to The Good…

. . . Really? I thought that Eleanor's death was a marvelously-constructed joke. The entirety of the second part of the pilot is intercut with flashbacks about how Eleanor's jerkishness eventually got her kicked out of her business' group drink night. On first glance, it only plays forward to show that she feels…

. . .You're in the ballpark, but I believe my objection related to access to vaginas rather than synonymy with them.

See, this is why we millenials can't have nice things. Everyone knows that if a woman has sex with you on the hood of your car, you are obligated to all other men who would like to do the same to allow her to retrieve her undergarments and drive her back to civilization.

. . .Yeah, I'm not really wondering how I die after watching that trailer, so much as how to properly file an OSHA complaint. Strategically-placed, properly-employed railings would have saved two or three people in the trailer alone.

I am but a white man with a brown beard, but I for one look forward to a day when douchebags with brown, ginger and blonde beards can get at least three-roses deep into the competitive douche-canoeing that is the Bachelorette. Only when all white men can slide by on their vapid good looks and ambition unbounded by…