Monte Smith wrote:I read THE CASTLE and THE TRIAL when I was 19 or so. Defining works for me? I'm not at liberty to say. I worry it wouldn't be right. Plus there's my case to consider.

I love The Trial, but I've never been able to finish The Castle for some reason. I should give it another try.

How about some 70s Tom Waits like Heart of Saturday Night?

I also remember really liking the Love Boat/Fantasy Island Saturday night block. Being allowed to stay up to watch Fantasy Island was a big thrill for me.

Scott Dolan wrote:Mary Ann FTW, BTW..

Indeed

The earliest actual grown up books I remember reading and enjoying were Hugo's 'Notre Dame De Paris' and Tolstoy's 'Resurrection'.

There are probably a bunch of technically 'adult' books that border the line before then, but those two were clearly grown-up books.

Scott Dolan wrote:Happy Days still stands up, IMO. The early seasons, anyway.

That's true. The early seasons are a mixed bag, but they could be really good. Garry Marshall is no genius, but he hires some talented people. It's too bad low ratings forced them to change the format in the second season.

I am not, but not for one reason. A lot of new technology. seems like hype until I've had a chance to actually use it and see its benefits. The other reason is I'm not is because I prefer to let other people pay money for the privilege of beta-testing. The third reason is because new stuff is usuall...

Them super-extra-large burgers from Fatburger with extra cheese, two fried eggs, and a bunch of fries. And a large shake.

The world wide web became an actual common thing while I was in college, but I didn't really get into online discussions until after I started working ca late '95 or '96. There was usenet before that, but I didn't access it much for leisure purposes. The first place where I had an online presence wa...

Adult show as in live-action with adult characters and in prime-time? I'm sure there were re-runs I liked as a kid, but as far as (at the time) first-run shows, probably Happy Days first. Then (original) Battlestar Galactica. Then a few years later Knight Rider. I don't think any of them really hold...

Wow. I must have missed a lot of goings-on and kerfuffles here. Sorry you're down, dude, but it's your time and money, so you do what you think is right. The way I see it having JT available for any period of time has been a net benefit over not having it, so you should feel proud you gave it a soli...

I remember that and only lurked cause that guy seemed crazy. Was that on JCS or JC? The guy was a regular poster at JCS - I think mostly he stuck to the Smooth board. It wasn't until JCS was in its Zombie Apocalypse days that he came up with an alter ego. The Lone Ranger or something. As bad as Dee...

Also, since the last time I talked about Parenthood, I've watched a few more episodes and I'm really liking it. Yeah, it is what it is, but I'm enjoying it and I haven't enjoyed a network drama in ages.

Eastbound and Down season 4 on HBO. Holy shit! I thought S3 was good, but the writing is on a whole other level of good this season.

It's definitely not for everyone, it's certainly lowbrow humor, but I advise folks to not automatically dismiss it without giving it a chance.

Scott Dolan wrote:Damn, Omar. I keep forgetting you're younger than me.

A whole years seems like more of a big deal when you're in your 20s and 30s than when you're in your 40s. I honestly had to do math for a minute to remember how old I was.

I finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep--thanks, sozamora--and have decided that I like Dick's ideas better than his writing style. This is a common enough opinion. His writing skill does vary, but I thought Electric Sheep was pretty representative, so I'm not sure how you'd feel about other...

moldyfigg wrote:Who was that guy who LDB had a running battle with? I mean much more than the rest of his targets.

Are you talking about the guy named Krosen or something like that?

I'm 42, but I didn't used to be when I got sucked into these damn jazz board things. If only there had been government warnings in the 1990s about what this stuff could do to you. But no, it was all 1000 free hours of AOL this and You've Got Mail that. Now look at me. I blame JCS. Ditto on everythi...

I saw Ender's Game and happily I never read the book, so the twist in the story worked for me. I enjoyed it. I've found that the book made a big impression on people who read it when they were young. I read it as an adult, and it comes across to me as a simplistic but passably entertaining Mary Sue...

Working my way through Infinite Jest. I'm about a third in. No opinion on the whole yet, but some of the individual sections are quite beautifully written.

Pete Cherches happened to mention in FB that Time Warner Cable in NY is having DNS problems. That might be it.

LennyH wrote:

sozamora wrote:I'm a big fan Lauren Graham, so...

"Fuck me, Santa! Fuck me, Santa!"

I've actually never seen that movie, but now I kinda want to.

I couldn't get through the pilot of "Parenthood" today. I recently saw a bit of this show for the first time. It reminded me of Thirtysomething (and by extension The Big Chill, I suppose) in its chattiness. These folks love to talk. I wasn't crazy about it, but I'm a big fan Lauren Gr...

Caitlin R Kiernan - The Drowning Girl Wow. Either an intricately layered and very creepy ghost story or an excruciating descent into madness by an unreliable narrator. Or both. Excellent. Often depressing, often exasperating, but brilliant. https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348120961l/115...

Andrzej Sapkowski - The Last Wish. This is Sapkowski's first collection of stories featuring the anti-hero Geralt of Rivia, best known to western audiences from the Witcher video games. The stories are fast-moving sword and sorcery fantasy that borrow heavily from fairy tale twisted inside out and s...