Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

How I Met Your Mother, Season Eight:
Somehow, this series has managed to perfect the space-time continuum stretching technique originally perfected by my undergraduate "Roman World and Early Christianity" class, stretching a time period and storyline so thinly as to actually stop any sense of progression. I have no idea how this isn't the final season, but initial screenings of the NINTH (and Final) season on TV suggest that it will move even slower than this season, stretching a three-day wedding weekend into an entire season. As always, there are laughs to be had, and it's a little lighter than the failed attempts at seriousness tried in Season Seven, but you're mainly going to watch it to get to the end, not because it's a superb show.

Final Grade: C+

Homeland, Season Two:
Season Two was slightly less believable than the amazing first season, especially a plot device based around the conceit that WiFi communications have an infinite radius. I disprove that theorem every time I walk to the front of the house with my laptop. The season ends in a way that provides plenty of fodder for Season Three, while still wrapping up existing storylines nicely.

Final Grade: B+

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh:
My expectations for books by bloggers-become-writers has drastically decreased over the years. Sometimes, the books end up being expensive shovelware of free existing blog posts. Other times, the author loses their blogging charm in the transition to printed book. (Or, in the case of Dad Gone Mad, they'll send pictures of their penis to women on the Internet and then immediately close down their blog when it becomes public).

With that caveat, I did enjoy this book based on the blog of the same name. Although there is familiar material, the book is well produced, and the combination of funny memoirs paired with MS Paint images translates nicely onto its big, colourful pages. I'm impressed by the way the author can easily distill childhood innocence into universally relatable words and illustrations.

Final Grade: B+