• I don’t know if I buy the “Internet is killing serendipity” argument, but this essay makes the case as well as any I’ve read.
• The history of the reeeeemiiiiiix.
• Just FYI: “Everyone else is just as bad” isn’t really a good defense, Internet commentariat.
• Obviously, the answer to “Why do we need SOPA?” is, “We don’t.”
• Pitchfork’s impact and history. For you lazy-ass TL;DR types: “A Pitchfork review may ignore history, aesthetics, or the basic technical aspects of tonal music, but it will almost never fail to include a detailed taxonomy of the current hype cycle and media environment. This is a small, petty way of thinking about a large art.”

More potentially-related posts:

1. Linkwad.
2. Linkwad.
3. Linkwad.

• Lots of interviews with Vince Gilligan. Here’s the start of the AV Club’s four-parter, and here’s Sepinwall’s.
• Interviews with leading man Bryan Cranston! Here’s the AVC’s, and here’s a link to his appearance on WTF, which is absolutely required listening.
• Still more AVC interviews! Here’s Dean Norris (Hank) and Giancarlo Esposito (Gus).
• Here’s a Fresh Air interview with Aaron Paul (Jesse). Gotta love Terry Gross suggesting Jesse might have “watched a lot of Beastie Boy interviews,” even if it’s no “Thoughts for Your Thoughts.”

More potentially-related posts:

1. Linkwad.
2. (Late) Five for Friday, May 22 2010.
3. Linkwad.

Since I seem to be one of the few people who has seen Bellflower and energetically disliked it¹, I figured I should explain. But first, the good:

• The movie does a good job showing the fear, rage, and misogyny of the nerdy, emasculated and powerless man-child (the last few years’ favorite new stock character), which most recent TV shows and movies have swept under the rug.
• Although the reliance on super-short depth of field (seriously, it’s tilt-shift city) for the early relationship scenes initially bothered me, I think it works as a visual representation of head-over-heels, only-think-about-each-other new love.
• The film is visually striking, and is surprisingly stylish, as long as your idea of style is “Instagram shaky-cam.”

Now, the bad:

• Turns out, we already have a bunch of movies about powerless, undersexed man-children! And a lot of them are better.
• The characters are paper-thin, one-dimensional and flat, and aren’t helped by the actors, who are nearly all stunningly awful. Director/lead actor Evan Glodell, who delivers his “happy” lines with the frozen smile and rising inflection of a Miss USA contestant, is particularly intolerable.
• The movie’s cockeyed plotting, pacing, tone and continuity issues² make the thing an absolute mess.
• By the end, I would argue the movie has gone past portraying two damaged, possibly-misogynistic young men, and at least tacitly supports their worldview, if not outright celebrating it.

I’ll save spoiler-related criticism for a later post, but have to admit that I’m utterly baffled by the adoring critical consensus³. And critics acknowledge it–every positive review has some form of the phrase “Sure, it’s a mess, but it’s alive!” My response: Yes, it’s an inventive vision of an almost-post-apocalyptic world and the movie burns⁴ with passion, but it’s still horrendously onanistic, disjointed and, ultimately, a waste of time⁵.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Spoiler-free thoughts on The Dark Knight.
2. Tweevee.
3. Five for Friday, April 23, 2010.

Via @Andy_Keatts.

Update update: Just realized that the post title kind of makes my belated attempt at decency moot. Oh well.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Throw your soul through every open door.
2. 19. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
3. Lost-ball-tall-grass motherfucker.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Introducing…
2. Too bad it’s not real.
3. Linkwad.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Linkwad.
2. Grumbling about Community.
3. Turns out happiness is contagious.

What goes along with Armand de Brignac is Jay-Z. The rap­per put the flashy bottle on the map when he featured it in his 2006 music video for “Show Me What You Got.” The video is typical of mainstream hip-hop, with one pos­sible exception: toward the end, a waiter presents Jay-Z with a bottle of Cristal champagne, and Jay-Z declines with a sweep of his hand. In its place, he accepts a gold bottle of then-unknown Armand de Brignac. Coming from some­one who’d been rapping Cristal’s praises for years–and once bragged that he was “popping that Cristal when all y’all thought it was beer”–this marked a major departure.

The rest of the piece investigates whether “Armand de Brignac was Jay-Z’s latest business venture… worth about $50 million.”

More potentially-related posts:

1. Tear it up.
2. All my friends.
3. Boys will be boys.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Linkwad.
2. Linkwad.
3. Linkwad and an update.

[Dan Harmon] admitted that he’s lately been compensating for the constant threat of cancellation by packing every gimmick he can possibly think of into the current season.
[...]
“As sure as I was we were only gonna get one season, when we got a second season I was positive we only were gonna get two seasons”, he said frankly. “So I made sure – this is for better or for worse – that I did everything I could ever possibly do second season. So if we do a third season, it’s gonna be “bo-ring”! But the good news is, I’m really proud of this season. We did everything I could possibly think to do.”

Obviously, doing  “everything I could possibly think to do” isn’t the best plan–editing is a good thing. Community‘s up-and-down episode quality has turned me off this season, although I’m not willing to write the show off yet.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Oh, I’m still living at the old address.
2. A man got to have a code.
3. 2009 Week 11 NFL picks.

1. Make a micro-motorcycle from cigarette lighters. So, so cool.
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop and Thierry Guetta/Mr. Brainwash were real, according to a guy who worked with Shepard Fairey. The linked interview is definitely worth reading, too.
3. Dark gun-control humor, via @Nancethepants.
4. Killer guitar riffs prime your brain with dopamine.

More potentially-related posts:

1. Linkwad.
2. “The King stay the King.”
3. C.R.E.A.M.