It's true that the Republican party has shifted way to the right, so much so that Nixon would nowadays not be considered particularly conservative. But I think the idea that Nixon can be considered a liberal, by any standard, is a dangerous one. From secret bombings in Cambodia and Laos to seeking a "middle way"…

"Like Nixon, but even weirder and less charismatic" is true, but let's not forget the frightening fact that Nixon was elected twice.

Well, it's pretty well known that he used to drink.

Woah, that's what I looked like when I was 11, in 1993. How many of us are there!?

Monroe won the electoral vote in every state in 1820, but of course there were only 24 then. Although he actually lost the popular vote in at least one state (Massachusetts), but the electors ended up voting for him anyway. One elector also voted for John Quincy Adams.

I'll probably be murdered for saying this, but I actually enjoyed Rama II quite a bit. The third and fourth books, though… not good. Very much not good. (Incidentally, I'd also argue that the third and fourth Space Odyssey books, 2061 and 3001 were pretty awful too).

It's the same old "humans are SO special" trope that Roddenberry loved.

The oldest trick in the book.

The novel 2010 is actually a lot more interesting than the film, though, in my opinion (which is the opposite of the case for 2001). In particular, I think the film did itself a real disservice in dropping the Chinese space mission, which motivated a lot of the plot of the book.

True, but that effect is rather different from the lens flare of a film camera, to the point that I'm still rather skeptical about the latter contributing to a film's realism.

I was going to mention "Spooky" by the Classics IV.

But as far as hyper-reality goes, it seems to me that lens flare actually detracts from it. We don't experience lens flare in real life, after all. It's an artifact of the lens; if anything, it's a reminder that what we're seeing is not real.

Huh, you know, now that you mention it, this Donald Trump person seems like he might be something of a clown.

Woody Allen, or possibly Rick Moranis.

I love Zelda II. I'm sure most of that is pure nostalgia and completely unrelated to the objective merits of the game itself… and yet I find myself quite ready to fight to the death against those who would disparage it.

'Evil Hearted You' is a great and under-appreciated song.

Voyager, Seven of Nine.

Stop! You're both wrong! You use "whom" when it's a (grammatical) object. That includes instances where it's governed by a preposition, but also cases in which it's the direct object of a transitive verb (e.g. "Whom did you kill?")

The mouse is also named Penny.

Well, that's highly commendable. You sound like a fine, upstanding citizen.