EVA

I think it would be easier to do this as "biggest/most popular band that is no one's favorite," simply because "best" is so subjective and kinda muddies the water. Like, Vampire Weekend is a fairly acclaimed act and even had one of the consensus "best" albums in 2013, but a lot of people fucking hate them. (That said, do you know anybody that's ride or die for them? I don't.) I want to say U2, but surely there are some Joshua Tree-era fans who will still swear by them. That's probably the cut-off point, though. I imagine everyone who came in around the Achtung Baby era probably hates the band they became in the 00's. And I can't imagine anyone falling head over heels for their more recent stuff, even though they had a run of big hits.

This is wild: Four months later, I see this commercial on TV. I decide to come to this thread to talk aobut it. I click on the thread and it immediately takes me to THIS post as my first unread post. I'm kinda freaking out right now. This means something.

My only exposure to Maher these days are when commercials for his show pop up on HBO, but, man, I'm so hopeful John Oliver's new show takes off so HBO will redundancy his ass out the door.

Terrible. FX needs to get their shit together with FX Now, because they are just killing themselves in the streaming game.

Didn't you walk out on the first one?

BATES MOTEL episode 4: In which Norma Bates says, "I killed the CRAP out of him."

BATES MOTEL episode 3: SEX DUNGEON. Because if there's one thing TV has taught me, it's that no sleepy small town is complete without a sex dungeon, preferably located in the basement of one of it's most upstanding citizens. Not enough Cystic Fibrosis Girl for my liking. Emma. Her name is Emma Decody. She's trying to solve a MYSTERY, and her name is DECODE-y.

So BATES MOTEL is a surprisingly funny show. Was not expecting that. That's a good sign. I had to stop myself mid-eyeroll when Norman's soon-to-be quasi-girlfriend finds the Rape Sketchbook in his room, because I was so sure I knew where it was going, but...nope. Turns out she's INTO IT. She says, "I've read manga worse than this!" She asks to borrow it! He lets her! I can't believe any of this is happening. Later in the episode, we find out that not only has she been ogling the creepy drawings, she has WRITTEN HER OWN STORYLINE to match the sketches. This is awesome. I don't even know this girl's name, but she is skyrocketing up my list of favorite characters on TV. Less awesome is later when the girl takes Norman on a hike to find this local mountain that she thinks appears in one of the drawings and they stumble upon a secret pot farm and get chased and yadda yadda. But I'm in this for Cystic Fibrosis Girl for as long as she's around. Did I mention she has cystic fibrosis? She does. Which means she's probably not going to be around for very long if she keeps getting involved in footchases through the countryside.

Bagged my first white whale tonight. It took a while but was probably less challenging than the great whites. Still, I feel accomplished. Speaking of sharks: Fuck sharks.

For lack of anything better to do tonight, I watched the first episode of BATES MOTEL, and it was a suprisingly good hour of TV. I'm still don't see how it's sustainable as a series, and you can already see the writers throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to pad the story out (Norman discovers a notebook under the carpet filled with sketches of women being bound and tortured! Who drew them?! How will this play into his development into a psycho?!)...but for one hour, it was good.

WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE? IT TASTES LIKE PISS TO ME!

I get what you're saying on Beck. I actually have a close friend who is an obsessive Beck fan, but given his pedigree as long-time, critically acclaimed artist with at least 2 era-defining hit songs to his credit, you would expect him to be a bigger deal with a larger following than he actually has. As a point of comparison, he has more hit songs than his 90's contemporaries, Radiohead, but they sell out massive venues and shut down every festival they play, while Beck has never been more than the late afternoon guy - his touring profile is closer to a band like Wilco, who were never a 1/1,000th as successful as him. Considering how infrequently he tours, you would expect the big festivals to be treating his return to the circuit this summer like they did Nine Inch Nails last summer. But, thus far, it doesn't appear to be happening. And all of that is directly tied to the fact that he doesn't have a massive, impassioned following like either of those bands. Why is that? I would guess it's because the vast majority of his music is this impenetrable word salad of no discernible meaning. You inspire a massive cult following by writing songs that people connect with, that people feel speak to their soul or their experience. How can people feel "spoken to" if they have no idea what you're saying? I mean, have you ever been to a Beck show and seen somebody in the crowd who sang along to every word of every song? Probably not, because Beck songs have a zillion words, most of which aren't connected by any sense of logical storytelling or conventional thematic connectivity. Everybody knows "Loser" and "Where It's At," but for most people, that's enough (ain't nobody got time for the deep cuts on The Information). I think that's the inherent drawback to his style. It's fucking HARD to be a Beck superfan, and even once you've memorized the words, there's no guarantee it's going to make any more sense to you.

This means nothing to me because I don't watch these shows, but it appears America has finally rid itself of Simon Cowell. X-FACTOR is canceled and we're shipping him back to England, the ancestral home of trolls.

I've only played Resogun once since I downloaded it, but I was shocked at how much fun it was.

Wait, wasn't Resident Evil also big into Ayn Rand, or am I thinking of someone else? I remember there being a massive Rand thread at one point with him being the central figure.

You are such a trooper! Proud of you.

I'm almost certain that's him who still posts here as "Dog." Just not very regularly.

"Lately, I'm getting the feeling I came in at the end." EDIT: That's Gonzalez, there in the back.

There's no doubt I would fucking hate 21-year old me.

Sorry to quote myself, but this reminds me...No retrospective on the history of DVDVR would be complete without mentioning "lol ill pretend u said 18" and the ROH invasion, of which I must, in the interest of full disclosure, regretfully admit to being a part of. Let us not forget Tree. Let us not forget JSWO. Or Gregh. I really feel like I'm the last remnant from that crashing wave of idiocy, barring a couple of guys who were already posting here before that fateful day (who therefore knew how to behave themselves and were not idiots). And, yes, I'm as surprised as anyone.

I feel like there should be some official statement on the Hoardak banning. Right now, I feel like I invested in a TV show and it got canceled before the finale.

Actually, Hoardak is banned. I can't believe it either. I regret that I apparently missed the last straw.

The first time I ever heard about this board, it was because people over here were making fun of me for some idiocy I was involved in on the old ROH board. Probably around 2003. I wish I could remember names, because I just know it was some of you fuckers.

The two episodes from this week were on fire

The way it was going, I was expecting something bad to happen to Art or Ava. Ava needs to stop talking about her and Boyd living happily ever after. The universe get her every time.