THE GRASSHOPPER LIES HEAVY:  Amazon's The Man in the High Castle is very much worth ten hours of your time.  It works well as alt-history, political thriller, period piece and reflection on life under tyranny.  I read the book twenty years ago and while it takes a very different path than the book, I think gets the spirit of the source work just right.

THE NEXT TIME YOU'RE AT THE CHECKOUT STAND AND HEAR THAT BEEP:  They've finally officially confirmed what always seemed obvious to me--on Supermarket Sweep, the smarter strategy than loading up your cart with big sides of beef, hams, and turkeys would be to spend all your time in the health and beauty aisle, grabbing small, lightweight, but expensive items.

EQUATIONS AND SHIT ON THE WALLS: Congratulations, Bay Staters, you live in America's smahtest state.

NETWORKS, MAN:  The Soup (also known as the only reason to watch E!), will come to an end with its December 18 episode.  Article suggests that it's a combination of McHale not wanting to do it any more and internal E! politics (E! shows have frequently been the butt of jokes on the show).  The fact that various efforts to develop a pairing for the show (The Grace Helbig Show, The Comment Section) have failed likely didn't help.

SIMAN TOV U'MAZEL TOV III:  Looks like Lorne Michaels will wait until December 19 to deliver his present.

December is looking good. #SNL pic.twitter.com/URafpplRR3

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) November 17, 2015

TODAY'S POSTS, IN THREE ACTS:  Twenty years ago today, a show called Your Radio Playhouse debuted on WBEZ in Chicago.  In March of 1996, it changed its name to something we're all more familiar with--This American Life.  TAL has influenced well beyond radio and podcasts (and TAL is pretty much the direct ancestor of most podcasts, right?), launching (or at least helping to launch) multiple literary careers.  Share your favorite stories, episodes, and moments.

SIMAN TOV U'MAZEL TOV II:  So, um, anyone have any great ideas for a kids' party adjacent to a May bat mitzvah for a beloved, geeky 13-year-old girl who doesn't want the whole dj/party motivator thing and for whom we'd love to do something less generic than Dave and Busters? Asking for a friend.

SIMAN TOV U'MAZEL TOV!  This blog turns thirteen years old today.

I'll be honest with you; I'm not sure if we should hit fourteen, at least not in this format. You can look at the post totals in the sidebar (and the traffic stats) and see how much we've slowed down in the past few years; indeed, the world has moved to social media, but we're still here. I've wondered if the right move for us is to shift our conversation to where we live more of our online lives—a Facebook page where everyone could share their pop cultural musing and moments of whimsy, perhaps—and maybe today's the day to start that conversation.

This community we've all built isn't going away. Our friendships are real, and they're spectacular. The question is where to center them going forward, and I am open to everyone's ideas.