Funny can be ruthless. In the end, it doesn’t really care who can afford what.

That holds for both directions.

Correction: Punching down is mean and funny.

NARRATOR: “It turned out not to be ‘a persuasive argument.’”

Okay, I might have lost track of the character thread. But has Caitlin just decided to take a vacation from existing for a while?

The animators, absolutely. Netflix did the right thing.

Learning the likely reason makes it absolutely wonderful, in retrospect. Sometimes cancellation is the best revenge.

Some versions of the myth are even worse: they say he caught Artemis in a pretty, frilly dress.

At the risk of seeming like that guy who has to have the last word ... the lead-in “as a rule” pretty much acknowledges the existence of exceptions in large flashing neon. (Oh, blast—I just played into your hands.)

I never said it was required—just that it’s very handy, and lacking it can pose some obstacles of imagination. But regardless, folks like Shelley were the very prototypes of the kid of comfortable origins playing at being outré, but who can’t hide his to-the-bone conventionality. I don’t even mean that as an insult;…

Say what you will about BoJack, but on some level he understands, and the show understands, just what an awful person he is. Something about that makes him more tolerable a character than Diane (or Mr. Peanutbutter).

Social class and income have always been orthogonal ... especially in parts of America. But even if one grants your point, it’s as Chesterton put it—the rich are the ones who can afford to be Bohemian. The respectability that a rich man can afford to put on & take off like a party mask is something a poor man.can…

I’ll give you Lovecraft, but most of those others were deeply bourgeois under all the affectations.

As a rule, creating good horror requires a healthy dose of personal normalcy. This sounds contradictory ... but unless you’re intimately attuned to the norms that a horror yarn spends its time breaking, it’s tough to break them to maximum effect.

A babysitter called the parents of the kids. Says “Everything’s fine, but can I move the clown statue? It’s creeping me out.”

Seeing as how I ate a leftover chicken taco for lunch today, I’m in need of an appropriate Friday penance. Gratias vobis for the heads-up!

I’m not really capable of making music without using the word ... which might be why the band director failed me.

The glimpse this gives of the cast of characters is enough to tempt me into volunteering for Zuckerberg’s campaign.

Nothing’s too petty for them.

You know who has an even longer one?  Jim Belushi.