this is my official answer for the "what Simpsons quote pops into your head on the regular?" post.

Rod Serling stands in a glowing doorway, surrounded by the title Serling: A Journey Into The Twilight Zone with TV's First Visionary, by Alan Sepinwall

Very excited to reveal the cover for my next book, Serling: A Journey Into The Twilight Zone with TV’s First Visionary. The book will be published by Grand Central on October 13 of this year, and pre-orders are open now: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...

I continue to gloat that history proved me right on both.

do any games critics around here have a PR contact for 007 First Light? pls feel free to share with anyone you think might know! i'm on assignment and would love to get in touch with them.

Commission a movie review! | Zack Handlen Writes Get more from Zack Handlen Writes on Patreon

i'm moving in a couple of weeks, and i really, _really_ need money--I've got my next few movies set, but if you're willing to wait and want to commission a review yourself, i'd really appreciate it.

It Follows | Zack Handlen Writes Get more from Zack Handlen Writes on Patreon

my latest movie review is live, and available to everyone to read. had a lot of fun revisiting this one.

Autistic After Hours

i really, really need my landlord to stop "casually" asking me how my room search is going. he's not a bad dude, but, like--YES THIS IS THE THING THAT IS OCCUPYING MY EVERY WAKING MOMENT BECAUSE YOU'RE FORCING ME TO MOVE

I feel like a raw nerve, an alien undercover on a human world; like everyone got a user manual for being a person but mine got lost in the mail. I’ve been saying shit like that for years, and it turns out these are all basic autistic cliches. It’s wild.

driving in my car, listening to a podcast of someone reciting people’s different metaphors for autism; and almost sobbing at how many of them are things I’ve said about myself over and over again.

it still hasn’t entirely sunk in. but just… i can’t believe I’m not actually broken.

how'd that work out for you?

i dream of someday having the romantic confidence to say to someone, "Get out of my dreams--get into my car!"

Ayuh. All of the dudes in this movie are kinda sleazy, which feels intentional.

It’s such a good, scary premise, like a fairy tale. Goes right to the nerve endings. And just the potency of the metaphor is so cool. It’s one of those movies where I envy how cool it must’ve felt to come up with it.

Possibly!

watching IT FOLLOWS again for a review. still one of my favorite horror movies in the last twenty years or so, although every time I rewatch, I get a little more annoyed at Paul.

sort of yes and sort of "c'mon guys."

for the past six months, Ginny has haunted our bathroom like its the moors.

i like the Unclear and Present Danger podcast quite a bit--its a great concept, the hosts are smart, and i wish i had the money to sub to its Patreon--but it's hilarious that two years in, they both still sound like guys who forgot they were doing this until the recording started.

i haven't read a ton of them, but it's basically the idea version of pulp writing--prose is clunky, almost childish, but the energy created it feels like you're reading something hacked out of stone.

legit have no idea what level of parasocial we're at for this sort of thing, but happy birthday, bud.

with respect to Jake, i think that slow pacing is what makes it feel epic in the first place. it's a very somber, straight-faced take on some absurd things, and that makes it both a fitting adaptation of the source material and (for me) a definitely Good Movie.

oh the RE4R is wonderful, you should absolutely one hundred percent get that at some point. but RE7 is so good, at least for the first two-thirds, definitely give it a spin if you already own it.

RE7 rules (possibly my favorite in the series); RE3make is slight but fun; the first Revelations game is pretty good, if annoying; i've never gotten through the second Revelations game, and 0 is supposed to be pretty bad. (wait, do you mean what you should pick up out of these, or...?)

i think that's one that's harder to push back against, because part of the social contract is that the "I liked/disliked" is supposed to be implicit in me personally saying "This is bad." (also, in reviews, while i usually avoid flat statements, sometimes they're necessary.)

intriguing--referencing thirst in a thirst trap.

may i visit you two occasionally so that i may shake hands with you both. (not a fetish thing, i just really like Dearden but respect that you got here first.)

no, wait--it's a pointless conversation _starter_. it just creates uninteresting arguments. but then again, as I get older, the less i care about arguing with anyone about the value of a certain piece of art. (i, too, am arrogant, but i politely keep my mouth shut.)

i hate the word "overrated." the implicit arrogance in it--_I_ have the correct assessment, while you rubes all fell for the hype--makes it impossible for me to take seriously. i'm not saying it's always wrong. it's just such a pointless conversation ender.

<steps up to podium> <clears throat> Good news, everyone. Video games are art. We have decided this one. With everything the way it is, it felt like the right time to take some of the dumber issues off the plate. See also: women are funny, men are emotional, and kindness is necessary.