All of this is prompted by news that Chomsky was a pal of Epstein. I'm not Chomsky apologist, particularity, and I don't have strong feelings about his work one way or the other. It just got me thinking.

But on the other other hand, from the perspective of someone who wants to find the truth, and speaking only of what I think *I* should do, I rather think it's important to evaluate both art and argument on its merits, not on the basis of whether the guy who said it is cool.

And I felt quite bemused. If a critique is valid, what did it matter who it comes from? But on the other hand, of course it matters. Of course anyone would take advice from a friend and not from an internet rando.

I recently had a little internet interaction where I called out someone I barely knew for saying dumb and bigoted stuff. She picked a major fight with me in return, and then when a friend of hers said the same thing I had she said oops my bad and deleted the original post.

And it seems fair enough to take ethos into consideration. Not just fair enough. Necessary.

Leaving pathos aside for a moment, it seems that discussions of separating the art from the artist usually amount to a tension between logos and ethos.

Aristotle famously articulated this issue when he wrote about the rhetorical triangle. Logos: what is said, Ethos: who says it, and Pathos: how it makes me feel.

It was exciting to hear you! I hope some people check out your comics based on hearing you on the show!

I would like to watch it again.

This movie is very interested in the themes of life and death, fatherhood, creativity as (failed) redemption, the Romantic Promethean desire to remake the world, cycles of abuse. It gestures toward but is surprisingly uninterested in themes of vengeance, motherhood, or even (really) monstrosity.

I've never seen Mia Goth in anything I liked her in. Maybe a personal prejudice. Having her play both Victor's mother AND Elizabeth is brilliant though (she's barely recognizable as Claire).

Although at two and a half hours it's already longer than average, I think it needed another half-hour at least. The final act seemed rushed and the resolution unearned. Without spoilers: neither Victor nor the Creature's final emotional state connects with what we've seen to bring them there.

There are substantial changes in plot from the novel. Don't worry about it. A movie isn't a novel. The novel still exists and you can read it whenever you want to. This movie emphasizes particular themes and downplays others; that's what all adaptations always do and should do.