When I was in grad school, our worst prof was denied tenure for having no research profile & openly mocking the suggestion that he not make female students cry, only the worst of his many problems. “Why did you hire him in the first place?” I asked an older prof.

“He interviewed really well.”

That old shitkicker is still alive?

All these options can be true

Before videoconferencing was the norm, meetings & interviews would take up an entire day because of travelling & waiting. But now our work days can be so much more relaxed because we don’t have to be on the go all the time to get things done

I think what annoyed me about John Hughes is the way he told the stories of kids & teenagers. He created all the stereotypes that I find cloying, saccharine, & exhausting

Culkins are more entertaining as adults than as kids. John Candy was funniest playing insecure sociopaths instead of kind-hearted uncles. That said, Planes Trains & Automobiles is the only John Hughes movie I ever liked

Take LoTR. The reason evil exists in the books is because the creator is singing new creations into existence and Melkor wants to co-opt the song. It’s the reason Sauron’s armies are twisted forms of elves. The evil in LoTR CANNOT CREATE, they can go “this thing looks like this other thing”