S.K.o.S.

Also wanted to mention that from the point of view of a reader trying to figure things out before Marlowe did, I liked how things were set up. After Lennox's death and his wife's death, you would have no way of knowing what really happened - I don't think we'd even met the person responsible yet (could be wrong, I don't have the book here with me, and I'm thinking she might have been the woman with Lennox right at the start). So you have to keep reading. But then Roger Wade's death borders on a locked-room mystery, the number of suspects is very limited, and if you assume that his death is connected to Lennox in some way, you can go through the possibilities and see if they make sense. (Of course, I was also kind of thinking "Maybe we don't have enough information to figure out what happened with Roger yet, just like we didn't have enough information at the time to figure out what happened with Lennox's wife.")

It seemed superfluous to me because the mystery had been solved. Maybe I'm a little too narrow-minded about this genre (EVA in post #19 goes more deeply into things than I would), but I have the idea that the book is about solving the mystery, and when that's done, then the book is pretty much over. After Wade's wife's suicide and confession, we were led into the Menendez stuff, which was fine because it happened very quickly and that thread needed to be tied off anyway. But after that, there were still 30 or 40 pages to go, and I was thinking "Shouldn't this book be over now?" In retrospect, I understand that you need a bit of down time before Lennox shows up again. I guess it also helped that Lennox's confession and suicide were not entirely as they seemed, so it was possible that there was something going on with the second confession and suicide too.

According to Bix on twitter, who contacted the Hartford police department, there were no work visa problems. The charge was dropped in exchange for one day of community service.

It wasn't the last Marlowe book. Chandler followed it with Playback, and was writing another one called Poodle Springs when he died (which was finally finished up by Robert B. Parker and published a few years ago). Oops. I actually got the idea that it was the last Marlowe book from your earlier, longer post, but reading more carefully now, you just said that it was the last one set in Los Angeles.

Will post more later, but I wanted to say that I was giving a lot of credence to the idea that Marlowe was the one responsible for Roger Wade's death. It certainly wouldn't have been out of line with his personality to say "I've decided I'm sick of you, here's your gun." Of course the fact that Marlowe is a recurring character makes it less likely that he'd do a full heel turn, but if I'd known this was the last Marlowe book, I would have been 100% expecting that's how it would turn out (and that he would have gotten away with it). I like the swerve ending in that it makes everything sort of bittersweet. Not sure I buy all the details (the non-fatal head wound, being drugged in the morgue or whatever), but also not sure that the details are what's important.

I think splitting this book up in particular was perfect, because it was pretty long and there would've been huge spoiler issues with certain parts. With anything where the plot takes significant turns, it's cool to look back and check if anyone saw any of it coming at the midway point. Also because the writing here was just so good, everyone has a chance to get their comments on the writing out of the way with the first thread, and then maybe give some more thought to the actual substance of the book in the second thread, if that makes sense. With some other books, it might not work so well. I think it would make the most sense to use your best judgment for each book, rather than sticking to one thread all the time or two threads all the time. Maybe check with the guy who's picking the book to see what they think would be best.

I finished a few days ago. Hoping to write something about it today.

Yes, I've seen it twice now, and Jae and I had a PM conversation about it. I think I've got it figured out enough now that I'm comfortable with it, but I certainly wasn't there after one viewing, and Jae pointed out at least one thing that I still hadn't noticed after the second time I saw it. I think I've still got a long rambling PM about it in my mailbox that I could send to you. No thanks about the PM, but thanks for the offer.

Yes, I've seen it twice now, and Jae and I had a PM conversation about it. I think I've got it figured out enough now that I'm comfortable with it, but I certainly wasn't there after one viewing, and Jae pointed out at least one thing that I still hadn't noticed after the second time I saw it. I think I've still got a long rambling PM about it in my mailbox that I could send to you.

HTTYD2's box office performance is still the most inexplicable thing for me this year. Like I wouldn't have predicted this for ASM2 and Transformers 4, but it's at least understandable. But yeah, if Transformers 4 doesn't do well (by Transformers standards), then there isn't much else. I'm guessing not many people seriously think Guardians is going to move the needle too much.

You're right. The Veeg should be ahead of Super Ape, too. I have this stuff in a spreadsheet on my work computer so I'll have to see on Monday what's happening there. I think I'm probably inadvertently sorting by order of entry rather than the tiebreaker.

The tiebreak is basically the percentage your prediction was off by. A lower number is better. If the movie you used as a tiebreak hasn't come out yet, it shows as "n/a". For example, Maleficent finished at $193,615,390, Jae predicted it'd be $188,000,000, he's off by just 2.9% (which shows as 0.029). Explanation about Erotic Terrorist's RT list in the spoiler. Spoiled for length.

UPDATE 8 OF 21 - through June 26 Standings 1 [- 1] hobo joe - 10 points (6/4, tiebreak n/a) 2 [- 2] Lacelle - 10 points (4/6, tiebreak n/a) 3 [- 3] The Erotic Terrorist - 12 points (10/2, tiebreak n/a) 4 [- 4] Suicide King of Spades - 12 points (8/4, tiebreak n/a) 5 [- 5] Chaos - 14 points (6/8, tiebreak 0.328) 6 [- 6] -MJ- - 14 points (6/8, tiebreak n/a) 7 [- 7] The Natural - 18 points (10/8, tiebreak n/a) 8 [- 8] Ligerbusa - 20 points (10/10, tiebreak n/a) 9 [- 9] The Z - 20 points (12/8, tiebreak 0.05) 10 [↑ 18] The Veeg - 22 points (16/6, tiebreak 0.557) 11 [↑ 13] Super Ape - 22 points (10/12, tiebreak n/a) 12 [↓ 10] Death From Above - 22 points (12/10, tiebreak n/a) 13 [↓ 11] DreamBroken - 22 points (16/6, tiebreak n/a) 14 [↓ 12] Paco - 22 points (14/8, tiebreak n/a) 15 [↑ 17] Hoffman - 22 points (8/14, tiebreak n/a) 16 [↑ 22] Control - 24 points (14/10, tiebreak 1.229) 17 [↓ 14] Rippa - 24 points (12/12, tiebreak n/a) 18 [↑ 19] Niners Fan in CT - 24 points (8/16, tiebreak n/a) 19 [↓ 15] Mike Zeidler - 24 points (16/8, tiebreak n/a) 20 [↓ 16] Kevin Wilson - 24 points (12/12, tiebreak n/a) 21 [- 21] pipGofern - 24 points (10/14, tiebreak n/a) 22 [↓ 20] The Damn Yeti - 26 points (14/12, tiebreak n/a) 23 [↑ 25] Dr. Bathroom - 28 points (12/16, tiebreak n/a) 24 [↓ 23] JRGoldman - 28 points (16/12, tiebreak n/a) 25 [↑ 27] caley - 28 points (8/20, tiebreak n/a) 26 [↓ 24] blitzkrieg - 28 points (14/14, tiebreak n/a) 27 [↑ 32] CSC - 28 points (12/16, tiebreak n/a) 28 [↓ 26] RossWB - 30 points (18/12, tiebreak 0.062) 29 [- 29] Cameron Swift - 30 points (12/18, tiebreak 0.145) 30 [↓ 28] jaedmc - 32 points (14/18, tiebreak 0.029) 31 [↑ 33] SorceressKnight - 34 points (16/18, tiebreak n/a) 32 [↓ 30] ivpvideos - 34 points (10/24, tiebreak n/a) 33 [↓ 31] Elsalvajeloco - 34 points (24/10, tiebreak n/a) 34 [↑ 35] Raziel403 - 38 points (18/20, tiebreak n/a) 35 [↓ 34] MushroomJones - 40 points (22/18, tiebreak n/a) 36 [↑ 37] Sublime - 40 points (14/26, tiebreak n/a) 37 [↓ 36] Ultimo The Great - 42 points (22/20, tiebreak 0.113) Box office 1 [- 1] X-Men: Days of Future Past - $210,594,250 (28 days) 2 [↑ 4] Maleficent - $193,615,390 (28 days) 3 [↓ 2] The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - $188,957,297 (28 days) 4 [↓ 3] Godzilla - $188,144,600 (28 days) 5 [- 5] Neighbors - $132,600,495 (28 days) 6 [- 6] 22 Jump Street - $124,436,892 (14 days) 7 [- 7] How To Train Your Dragon 2 - $108,714,532 (14 days) 8 [- 8] Edge Of Tomorrow - $78,942,472 (21 days) 9 [- 9] A Million Ways To Die In The West - $41,158,955 (28 days) Rotten Tomatoes 1 [- 1] How To Train Your Dragon 2 - 114/124 = 92% (14 days) 2 [- 2] X-Men: Days of Future Past - 205/224 = 92% (28 days) 3 [- 3] Edge Of Tomorrow - 209/232 = 90% (21 days) 4 [- 4] 22 Jump Street - 156/184 = 85% (14 days) 5 [- 5] Godzilla - 180/246 = 73% (28 days) 6 [- 6] Neighbors - 141/193 = 73% (28 days) 7 [- 7] The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - 133/250 = 53% (28 days) 8 [- 8] Maleficent - 91/182 = 50% (28 days) 9 [- 9] A Million Ways To Die In The West - 59/180 = 33% (28 days)

Transformers now at 17% RT on 43 reviews. Yikes. Also, HTTYD2 (barely) made more money yesterday than 22 Jump Street, so maybe the pendulum is starting to swing back in the other direction there?

The hot new trend in cooking: eating dirt! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/the-dish-on-dirt/article19315737/ excerpt:

I didn't cry at that, but I did get an adrenaline surge. It's like a nightmare come to life. The only crying story that comes to mind for me is when I saw 50/50 in the theatre with two female friends. The part where JGL starts freaking out right when they're wheeling him in to surgery, all three of us started crying virtually at the same time. I'm sure I just got hit with some sort of estrogen spillover.

I haven't actually seen anything that happened today, but for what it's worth, the people on my radio seemed pretty convinced that players on Ghana were trying to throw that game.

The Interview doesn't come out until October, but if it had been released during the summer, Franco and Rogen would've pretty much made it an automatic inclusion. For the RT list, X-Men is locked at 205/224 = 91.52%, and HTTYD2 is at 113/123 = 91.87%. So HTTYD2 is still ahead of X-Men for now.

Yes, three nights. August 29, 30, 31.

Jeez, PWG is doing a 24-man BOLA this year at the end of August, they're halfway through announcing the names, and it's quite the list already. Matt Sydal, Zack Sabre Jr., Drew Gulak, Biff Busick, Chris Sabin... plus the usual PWG guys like Kyle O'Reilly, Michael Elgin, ACH, Brian Cage, Johnny Gargano.

Don't know if this is what you meant, but Maleficent isn't "finished" yet. Its 28th day will be this Thursday.

And now you know... the rest of the story.

Nearly everyone has quite a few more points than they did last week, because of HTTYD2 coming in low on the box office list. Also, right now, it looks more likely than not that Maleficent will pass both Godzilla and ASM2 on the box office list.

UPDATE 7 OF 21 - through June 19 Standings 1 [↑ 6] hobo joe - 10 points (6/4, tiebreak n/a) 2 [↑ 3] Lacelle - 10 points (4/6, tiebreak n/a) 3 [↓ 1] The Erotic Terrorist - 12 points (10/2, tiebreak n/a) 4 [↑ 9] Suicide King of Spades - 12 points (8/4, tiebreak n/a) 5 [↓ 2] Chaos - 14 points (6/8, tiebreak 0.328) 6 [↓ 4] -MJ- - 14 points (6/8, tiebreak n/a) 7 [↑ 10] The Natural - 16 points (8/8, tiebreak n/a) 8 [↑ 13] Ligerbusa - 18 points (8/10, tiebreak n/a) 9 [↑ 14] The Z - 20 points (12/8, tiebreak 0.05) 10 [↑ 20] Death From Above - 20 points (10/10, tiebreak n/a) 11 [↓ 7] DreamBroken - 20 points (14/6, tiebreak n/a) 12 [↓ 8] Paco - 20 points (12/8, tiebreak n/a) 13 [↓ 5] Super Ape - 22 points (10/12, tiebreak n/a) 14 [↑ 15] Rippa - 22 points (10/12, tiebreak n/a) 15 [↑ 23] Mike Zeidler - 22 points (14/8, tiebreak n/a) 16 [↑ 24] Kevin Wilson - 22 points (10/12, tiebreak n/a) 17 [↓ 16] Hoffman - 22 points (8/14, tiebreak n/a) 18 [- 18] The Veeg - 24 points (18/6, tiebreak 0.455) 19 [↑ 31] Niners Fan in CT - 24 points (8/16, tiebreak n/a) 20 [↓ 11] The Damn Yeti - 24 points (12/12, tiebreak n/a) 21 [↓ 12] pipGofern - 24 points (10/14, tiebreak n/a) 22 [↑ 29] Control - 26 points (16/10, tiebreak 2.468) 23 [↓ 19] JRGoldman - 26 points (14/12, tiebreak n/a) 24 [↑ 26] blitzkrieg - 26 points (12/14, tiebreak n/a) 25 [- 25] Dr. Bathroom - 28 points (12/16, tiebreak n/a) 26 [↓ 21] RossWB - 28 points (16/12, tiebreak 0.062) 27 [↑ 32] caley - 28 points (8/20, tiebreak n/a) 28 [↓ 22] jaedmc - 28 points (10/18, tiebreak 0.087) 29 [↓ 17] Cameron Swift - 30 points (12/18, tiebreak 0.145) 30 [- 30] ivpvideos - 30 points (6/24, tiebreak n/a) 31 [↑ 33] Elsalvajeloco - 30 points (20/10, tiebreak n/a) 32 [↓ 27] CSC - 30 points (14/16, tiebreak n/a) 33 [↓ 28] SorceressKnight - 32 points (14/18, tiebreak n/a) 34 [- 34] MushroomJones - 36 points (18/18, tiebreak n/a) 35 [- 35] Raziel403 - 36 points (16/20, tiebreak n/a) 36 [↑ 37] Ultimo The Great - 38 points (18/20, tiebreak 0.091) 37 [↓ 36] Sublime - 40 points (14/26, tiebreak n/a) Box office 1 [- 1] X-Men: Days of Future Past - $210,594,250 (28 days) 2 [- 2] The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - $188,957,297 (28 days) 3 [- 3] Godzilla - $188,144,600 (28 days) 4 [- 4] Maleficent - $172,950,568 (21 days) 5 [- 5] Neighbors - $132,600,495 (28 days) 6 [NEW] 22 Jump Street - $82,450,130 (7 days) 7 [NEW] How To Train Your Dragon 2 - $69,876,735 (7 days) 8 [↓ 6] Edge Of Tomorrow - $64,169,333 (14 days) 9 [↓ 7] A Million Ways To Die In The West - $38,701,900 (21 days) Rotten Tomatoes 1 [NEW] How To Train Your Dragon 2 - 108/115 = 94% (7 days) 2 [↓ 1] X-Men: Days of Future Past - 205/224 = 92% (28 days) 3 [↓ 2] Edge Of Tomorrow - 202/225 = 90% (14 days) 4 [NEW] 22 Jump Street - 146/173 = 84% (7 days) 5 [↓ 3] Godzilla - 180/246 = 73% (28 days) 6 [↓ 4] Neighbors - 141/193 = 73% (28 days) 7 [↓ 5] The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - 133/250 = 53% (28 days) 8 [↓ 6] Maleficent - 90/180 = 50% (21 days) 9 [↓ 7] A Million Ways To Die In The West - 59/179 = 33% (21 days)

The two people who are going to benefit from HTTYD2's disappointing weekend are Niners Fan, who left it off his box office list, and MushroomJones, who had it ninth on his box office list. Everyone else put it in their top five, with most people having it either second or third.