Agree that Cloud Nothings' is better after a first listen to each, but I don't think Japandroids regressed. They took some steps forward that didn't entirely land.

Celebration Rock is one of my favorite albums of all time - hardly fair to expect them to top or even equal it. At first listen NttWHoL is a worthy successor, though. I'm beyond excited to see them live next month since their songs always sound better that way.

Disagree with their strategy if you want, but this is just completely false. Some nominees have been accepted but most are still going through the process. Warren has publicly said she will fight against Sessions, DeVos, Pruitt, and others.

That's what they're doing now, though. One of the sessions in the Democratic retreat today is "how to talk to Trump voters." That's what happens when their base consistently refuses to show up - they have to look for votes elsewhere.

I can respect that - the live show is certainly an exclusive experience to say the least. However, it's still the case that the soundtrack brings the show to life much more than most cast albums. For one thing, Miranda initially conceived the project as audio-only ("The Hamilton Mixtape"), so there's a complete sense…

Nick mentioned that Reagan was "out of town" before begging to be invited to the dinner party.

Nah - Nick is a grumpy old man in his 30s, and old men love raisins. I hope that they reveal that Nick has no idea that raisins are dried grapes, though.

Hamilton is one of the most accessible Broadway shows ever, though: you can stream the entire thing for free and get essentially the same experience as the live audience (at least in terms of audio). Other than one very minor scene, every single lyric and line of dialogue is on the soundtrack. That's rare even for…

That love triangle would be straight out of No Exit, which is perhaps no coincidence. Eleanor loves Tahani, Tahani loves Chidi, and Chidi loves Eleanor, and they torture each other for eternity.

My original theory was that Chidi and Tahani were "mistakes" as well, but I'm glad the show went above and beyond that.

I still think they made Tahani's background a little too "good" to have her realistically ending up in Hell, essentially. Like, if all she did was host garden parties to benefit ridiculous or even counterproductive "causes", that would be one thing, but if she actually raised 60 billion dollars for charity… It would…

My way-too-early prediction: Michael's gambit keeps failing, and as punishment he is turned into a human. The series then turns into a Paradise Lost-style story of "fallen angel" Michael leading a rebellion against God… er, whoever's in charge of all these Places.

I loved it, but I don't know if it's "most nominations ever" worthy. It worked out that way because it does a really good job at a more diverse array of award categories than your typical Best Picture nominee — stuff like best score, song, and sound mixing.

I'll throw in "Frank's Back in Business" since Dennis in pure power-trip mode is always great. Plus he keeps talking about "getting off."

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised at the positive reaction here. To me the concept took too long to establish and never really landed. I would have preferred they go full Mr. Robot and just do an entire episode in the multi-cam format with minimal setup or explanation if that's what they want to send up. It's not like…

I agree that it would have been better if they were working up to a big score of some kind, but I think the way the gang split up didn't leave them enough time.

My take is that small-stakes shoplifting, etc. was the kind of stuff Dennis did as a kid and he was enjoying taking part in some low-stakes schemes again, through the eyes of a protegee no less. It's definitely in character for Dennis to get caught up in thinking he's some legend for younger people to worship.

Yeah, I enjoyed how the book series was kind of generically retro, perfect for a young reader who just blends together everything from Jazz Age stuff to Catcher in the Rye.

Yes, absolutely. I feel the same way about the TV version of The Magicians. The book series had so much wry prep school humor, and while the actual adaptation is pretty good, they really play up the Supernatural-esque setpiece kind of stuff.

Yeah, after reading his hackneyed, lazy book, I lost any illusion that he's doing or saying things ironically. (Or at least not using irony with any success.) Still a great comedy writer and actor.