It's my policy to never read the comments! Especially for something like this - I'm there to read what MARK says; I don't care what all the random people who flotsamed in from the Internet have to say.

I can't read most of the comments anyway and am too lazy to translate.

edit: Also, what Zen said. I wouldn't mind chatting with Mark himself, but the side conversations aren't as interesting to me.

He's going to be doing Supernatural after Cowboy Bebop (which is after Buffy ).

I find the nannyism a bit over the top. I get the intentions, but it is too much.

Yeah. A lot of the comments are worth reading, though. It's a lot of fun, but I try to avoid the endless arguments. Can't avoid them entirely, though, since I'm a mod. But I roll my eyes a lot.

He's going to be doing Supernatural after Cowboy Bebop

Seriously? Seriously? Okay, I may show up for that, at least to start out. It seems rather different from most of the stuff he watches--not as critically acclaimed, for one, and a lot more prurient. What am I missing that he's watched/read that's similar?

I like comments. I like comments a lot. It's how we started, after all. I got nothing against commenters. But there are certain kinds of groupthink/community standards (formal or informal) that drive me up a wall, and prevent me from feeling like I can be part of a commenting community (which is the best part, the regularity), and the sort of nannying that gives PC a bad name (not PC, but PC, you know) is way high on that list.

Seriously? Seriously? Okay, I may show up for that, at least to start out. It seems rather different from most of the stuff he watches--not as critically acclaimed, for one, and a lot more prurient.

He reserves the right to quit it, but enough people have told him to watch it that he's willing to give it a shot. It does have a huge fandom, after all, and it's savvy to watch shows with huge fandoms since it brings in traffic. (This is not to say that's his only criterion, but I'm sure it comes into play.)

But there are certain kinds of groupthink/community standards (formal or informal) that drive me up a wall, and prevent me from feeling like I can be part of a commenting community (which is the best part, the regularity), and the sort of nannying that gives PC a bad name (not PC, but PC, you know) is way high on that list.

Yeah, I absolutely agree. There have been times where I've felt like I should just leave, but the positive aspects of the community usually outweigh the negative. They love my puns!

Is this his main source of income? Is he living the dream? Does he get to watch and read genre stuff and then pontificate about it, and make decent money?

It's not his main source of income yet, but it seems that he's doing pretty well. He recently opened up a store to sell merchandise and ebooks. Perhaps one day he can live the dream!

Ok, I have to start reading this stuff. What is the link?

quester, here you go.

I'm one of those picky heathens who devours pretty much all of Mark's watchings and readings but barely lurks in the comment threads because of all the policing and the tsuris and the glayvin and all the rest of it. But his posts alone are so well worth it. His Harry Potter readings, particularly, have been so thoughtful, truthful and deeply felt that they've changed the way I read the entire series: about the highest praise of a critical evaluation I've got to offer. But his Buffy love and astonishment are, so far, pretty delightful themselves.

I mean, he's no Nilly, but I'd love to lock Mark and Nilly in a room together with a handful of key episodes and make podcasts of the conversation.

thank you, JZ!