The book version of "Men Who Stared at Goats," is actually an awesome read. 

Trey turned me onto "Under the Kingdom of Heaven," by John Krakauer, which is a damn fine piece of investigative journalism.

"The Power of Habit," is pretty fascinating.

As a Dad, I have a great deal of respect for the book "Unconditional Parenting."

I dug Joe McGuinesses, "The Rogue," and am equally digging Errol Morris new book, "A Wilderness of Error."

I've just been going back to class mostly.  Monday is Escrima, Wednesdays Jiu Jitsu, Saturday Muay Thai.  Before each class I warm up with a light kettlebell routine and after each class I murder whats left of me with battleropes.  I'll start posting tomorrow.

My Jiu Jitsu coach was a special guest at an MMA event in England some years back, and during a break in between fights was interviewed in the ring.  He was going to tell a funny story about this Korean guy next to him who smelled awful.  He started by saying, "So I'm sitting next to this smelly Asian guy...."

He was immediately booed out of the cage.  Because in England, Asian means being from the Middle East, and a racist stereotype over there is that all people from the middle east do not bath.  He said the Yank equivalent of "So this loud colored fellow..."  Now, is he racist or a bad guy?  Of course not.  But he displayed a certain culutural ignorance for which he is ultimately responsible.  Anyone who has traveled internationally runs the risk of this.

Now take that word I just used.  Colored.  Here, it's an awful phrase that is a leftover term from our deplorable history with slavery.  But let's say you go to South Africa and someone says, "Oh that nice Coloured gentleman," what they would be referring to is a specific ethnic subset of Afrikaners from Cape Malay, of European and Kohsian and/or Bantu decent.  That is a self applied term that has no racial history, and perfectly acceptable.

So my point is, look before you leap, even if only a little.

Yeah, let's be clear, the island was NOT purgatory.  The idea is that The sideways flashes during season 7 take place in some sort of afterlife, but only after literally hundreds of years later (to catch up with when Hurley and Ben finally croak).  Everything on the island was absolutely real, in terms of the story it told.

Also, because I'm a buddhist nerd, I got a huge kick out of a character being named Dogen.

Just want to say to all involved, I've really enjoyed this discussion here.   It's been a goo dmix of challenging, respectful, and informative. 

Unlike....some other threads....

Dave, my guts lean this way.  I have to remind myself that my experiences are not everyone else's, nor there's mine.  I think a middle way of resilience for oneself, and empathy for everyone else, is a pretty good goal for society to aim for.  But whereas my father's generation (he was born in 1937) tipped the scale towards having a stiff upper lip probably a bit too much (as my father never acknowledged his PTSD from Nam), I fear this current generation leans too hard towards everyone wearing nerf armor.  I don't know where the proper balance is.  I'm still learning it myself.

I think we can all agree that it is essentially a case by case basis, and that you never know wether comedy will be either salt or salve to that wound until you've actually made the joke and put it into the ether. 

Cancer is obviously a touchy subject but man, did Tig Notaro absolutely SLAY with her 30 min set at Largo.  It was inspiring, moving, and best of all FUNNY.  Now, does that mean every attempt at humor about cancer will work like Tig's did?  No.  The alchemy that made up her set is not a recipe that can be easily replicated.  But I would rather we live in a world where people like James Gunn (who I was specifically referring to in my earlier post) are allowed to make mistakes, and own up to them, before we throw the baby out with the bathwater like Chris Braak did with his dystopian "Whatever," response.

We're all human.  We're all going to make mistakes, but lets look at patterns before we decide to just abandon someone as an artist because of one stupid fucking thing they said.

For the record, I am of the opinion that nothing should be taboo in terms of comedy.  Nothing.  That does not mean I'm never offended by something, I certainly am.  But as Stephen Fry likes to say....

"It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I'm offended by that." Well, so fucking what?"

So yes, I do get offended occasionally (as stated on the commentary, Twilight's depiction of women offends me), but I also recognize that being offended is just a reaction of my ego when I am powerless to actively change something I have moral objection to.  With ALL Of that said, nothing is lower to me than something that is offensive AND not funny.  That makes my blood boil more than anything.

No, but it built like a symphony to that one perfect crystalized moment.