2011 April | favorite thing EVER

Apr 29, 2011 Posted by penni

Weeds: One Bad Mother

And I don’t mean in that Shaft “shut your mouth” kind of way. Nancy Botwin is a horrible mother, and I am putty in the palm of her pot-slinging hands. In the first season of Weeds, we meet the grieving Botwin family who recently lost their patriarch Judah (Jeffrey Dean Morgan — how come he always plays dead guys?) to a heart attack. ... read more

Apr 28, 2011 Posted by matt

Archer: So wrong (and yet so right)

My girlfriend’s best friend in the world (other than me?) is also named Matt. He’s a good guy — we stayed with him when we visited Florida last year, and I found him to be absolutely delightful. His track record on entertainment, though, isn’t great. Seriously, he sent us this Miyazaki anime about shape-shifting raccoons that would,... read more

Apr 27, 2011 Posted by kormantic

The best novels you’ve never read

It so happens that I know two women who should honestly and for real be as rich as Oprah and renowned as Jane Austen. They are both elusive and reclusive, and they are both... read more

Apr 26, 2011 Posted by rose

The only wizard in the Chicago Yellow Pages

About six years ago, I heard about a series of noir detective novels starring a wizard private eye: the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Here was the kicker: the audiobooks were narrated by James Marsters, a.k.a. Spike from Buffy. I thought he was the sexiest thing ever to wear a leather duster. I would have listened to him read the phonebook. I was sold. ... read more

Apr 25, 2011 Posted by melodie

The Information: Envy is a funny thing

There's a scene in The Information in which the protagonist is thrilled when his friend's wife says that her husband "Can't write for toffee." (This is a British idiom which loosely translated means "He sucks on toast.") read more

Apr 22, 2011 Posted by Nate

Don’t forget your towel

You know that feeling where you’re really sick, but you’re doped up on medicine and lack of sleep and don’t actually feel all that bad; but on the other hand, you can’t feel your toes either, so the part of your brain that’s still functioning suggests you should probably hold still and take it easy? That’s how I was... read more

Apr 21, 2011 Posted by alyx

We used to be friends…

Veronica Mars isn’t that old: many of you probably watched it when it was first airing, and still more probably picked it up on DVD afterward. I wasn’t sold on my first attempt to watch it–I got as far as Duncan going cold-turkey off his anti-depressants early in season one (a silly-butt move that had many fans howling with derision) and... read more

Apr 20, 2011 Posted by penni

Bill Maher and chicken entrails

I attended Baptist church three times a week growing up. By the time I was 17, I had attended church approximately 2,652 times. My ultra-churchy upbringing left me with both an... read more