I’m really sorry Stephen King’s Entertainment Weekly column is done. I didn’t necessarily agree with his picks or his criticisms, but his conversational voice (shown off so well in Faithful, his 2004 Red Sox diary with Stewart O’Nan) is a wonderful thing to spend time with. And I think the column was a useful illustration of the fact that you can have a lot more fun, while... 

I have essentially no sympathy for Family Edited DVDs, a company that’s being sued by a coalition of studios for editing theoretically objectionable material out of major releases and re-releasing them as family entertainment. It’s not just that it’s plagiarism, though of course, it is that, too. It speaks to a larger laziness. Nobody has a right to insist that art contain only... 

It didn’t particularly surprise me when Jezebel asked about movies that spoiled readers’ romantic expectations in real life. But what’s always been more interesting to me is the art I had to detach from because the relationships felt too resonant. Battlestar Galactica was one I had to stop watching for that reason—I related to Starbuck too much, and found her back-and-forth with... 

For those of you just joining us, the first entry and discussion in this series appear here. Max Gladstone, who had a provocative comment about craft and the knowledge authors provide their readers, has continued that thought here. The rules are the same: spoilers below the jump, but please don’t try to spoil beyond Part II for those who haven’t gotten that far yet. I finished the book... 

The AV Club’s discussion of TV couples who will probably end up making it work hits a lot of the usual suspects (Nick & Norah, Henry and Casey from Party Down, Eric and Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights) but I think this section, from Kyle Ryan on Pam and Jim from The Office, gets it a bit wrong: Anyone who watches the show knows the characters were made for each other in the writers’... 

So remember when I wrote a long defense of Work of Art? Heh, yeah, sorry about that. It turns out that the finale last night wasn’t very good. (Spoiler on who won here.) The producers, in a departure from the previous episodes, seemed to want us to take the contestants very seriously as artists. As I said before, what worked for me about Work of Art had more to do with the fact that it was great... 

Michael Ross makes a good point on The Root today about Mad Men. Now that the fourth season of the series is well into the 1960s, writers can no longer use the excuse of historical accuracy not to include black people in its cast of characters. Ross highlights at least one prominent black man who worked in advertising: Jason Chambers’ 2008 book, Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans... 

That as a crazy, one-eyed (FYI: eye damage FREAKS ME OUT, and is a phobia I’ve been unable to overcome in art. So if you recommend something to me that involves eye stuff, and I haven’t seen it, that’s why.) tattooed mute Viking, Mads Mikkelsen would be slightly less sexy than he is normally. You would be mistaken: Mel Gibson was reportedly working on a Viking movie with Leonardo... 

I got a little excited over Jersey Shore‘s second season, even though I ought to be constitutionally opposed to it: By any reasonable algorithm that takes into account how I feel about art, entertainment and human behavior, I recognize that I ought to be repulsed by everything about the series. But I actually find its self-awareness relatively charming, with the exception of Angelina, who should... 

Is it supposed to be, like, subversive or empowering or something that the girl wolf voiced by Alpha and Omega is supposed to be the best hunter? I am not exaggerating when I say I despair over the fact that this is about the average for what’s offered to kids these days. Can you imagine growing up with this as the standard? Maybe it makes it even more amazing when you realize art can be...