Awesome. Here's a few of my favorites: "Heart of Ice", "I Am the Night", "Beware of the Gray Ghost", "The Man Who Killed Batman", "Perchance to Dream", "Feat of Clay" parts 1 & 2, "Joker's Favor", "Dreams in the Darkness", "The Laughing Fish", "Mudslide", "The Demon's Quest" parts 1 & 2, "Read My Lips",…

But yeah, almost everything in B:TAS is pretty standalone. It gets great use out of that format, and there dozens of masterpieces throughout its run, but you're not really talking about serious ongoing plotlines until you reach Justice League, although Superman:TAS has a bit with the Darkseid stuff.

"Two-Face" parts one and two followed by "Second Chance" would probably work pretty well; maybe throw "Almost Got 'im" or "Trial" in the middle. EDIT: Also, "Judgement Day" from "The New Batman Adventures", which is the same show with a slight style change.

Hey, now, let's not lose our heads. I said it was the end of days a few months back when they made a smart casting choice with J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, and everything turned out just f—
Oh. Oh, right. Never mind, carry on.

Ben Folds Five were amazing musicians with fantastic chemistry, and Ben Folds never found a rhythm section that complimented him half as well, but he didn't really come into his own as a songwriter until after they split up. That's why The Sound of the Life of the Mind, the Ben Folds Five reunion record from 2012, is…

Do we think the soundtrack for that film will contain that rock cover of "Baby Driver" by Simon & Garfunkel that I've always wanted? Because I'm already somewhat intrigued by it, and that would certainly seal the deal.

I just started John Darnielle's new novel, Universal Harvester. It's exceedingly good so far; it's deeply, deeply unsettling, which is not at all what I expected going in. The empathy and depth of character displayed in Darnielle's songwriting is certainly there, but it's mostly under the surface, like Paris, Texas or…

See, this is what I'm talking about!
In all seriousness, yeah, you totally should. Try and forget about all the faux shit-talk I just gave it; I vehemently disagree with all of those statements. It's a beautiful, inspiring, visionary record. It's like a stranger, looser, less romantic and distinctly American Born To Run…

I WAS NOT AWARE OF THIS.

Who's Next is one of the untouchable rock n' roll classics, something you can't retain record collector credit without owning, and is one of my favorite albums.

Oh hell, I forgot about Waking Life.. I might love that more than Royal Tenenbaums too. Shit, 2001 was a good year. For movies, I mean. For movies.

Nice. I really, really wish he would do more drama; those are very close to the only ones he's ever done, and he's absolutely brilliant in both.

Wait, you're the same age as me? Holy shit, now I feel even more outclassed.

Hey, we match up by four! Soulmates!

Your list has a whole lot of my second choices; we have very similar taste, but you wouldn't know it to look at our lists. Fascinating.

I actually haven't seen Mononoke yet. For Miyazaki, I've only seen My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away (Which, come to think of it, I might like more than Royal Tenenbaums; editing may be in order); I've been meaning to dedicate a week or so to binging the rest of his filmography.

Alright, I'll rejoin the board with that Life of Movies thing.
1997: Gattacca
1998: The Truman Show
1999: Magnolia
2000: High Fidelity
2001: The Royal Tenenbaums
2002: Signs
2003: Lost In Translation
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Good Night, and Good Luck
2006: Wristcutters: A Love Story
2007: Ratatouille
2008:…

Yep. Out of the rather extensive list of characteristics he ascribes to budding fascist movements—only one or two of which, he states, is necessary for a regime to take hold—literally the only item which doesn't apply to Trump supporters is the cult of heroic death. I guess Americans are too self-centered to consider…

"Ur-Facisim", that wonderful and distressingly prescient piece by Umberto Ecco from the nineties, lays it out thusly: the Ur-Fascists believe they're being marginalized, and that their place in the world is shrinking, due to what those sniveling liberals call "Social progress". So, their enemy becomes modernity…

None of the main three on Black Books are stupid, per say. They all do dumb things, and they all tend to take rather limited views of their own situations, but they're all closer to completely insane than functionally retarded. That's what gives them one of he best comedic dynamics ever: each one of them can play the…