I still like Reel Big Fish, although that one isn't one of my favorites. A ton of the music really feel like what I would've written in high school — very blunt lyrics about obvious problems ("I want your girlfriend to be my/ I want your girlfriend to be my/ I want your girlfriend to be my girlfriend") — but its…

Yeah, you can't tell a story about Pearl Harbor and not have it be a tragedy, it'd be like tacking on the bin Laden raid onto United 93. The raid on Tokyo is an interesting subject for a movie, but it is pretty icky how PH makes the point of, "these civilian deaths are OK, even something to be celebrated, because it's…

Wow, really? I heard about WW2 vets having PTSD issues watching Saving Private Ryan but that's horrible.

That seems logical to me, about the next one coming from a female director. If not that, then certainly from a director who is able to see both sides of the romance on equal footing.

True enough, but I think most people would put that as a war movie first, and a romance second (even setting aside the respective qualities of the romance and action). Titanic is a love story, with the epic elements of the story underneath.

I just don't see that. Or rather, production designs and sweeping emotions do enough for me that I don't care that much about the problems. Titanic definitely doesn't rank among my favorite movies, but few movies today feel as big, in terms of scope and such. I miss that. Even today's epics, like Lost City of Z, have…

Seems odd to say about a movie like Titanic, but I feel its somewhat underrated these days. Definitely doesn't fall into the OMG BEST MOVIE EVER point of view of various locker room door interiors, but I think the central love story is pretty good, the direction of the sinking is terrific, and of course the production…

Is there awareness of this? Surely high schoolers must realize that they're lonely and actively look to counter that?

I think he's referring more to the personality of the stereotypical jock, rather than the idea of being attracted to someone who is in shape.

That socializing thing is really strange to me, that kinds don't go out and hang with their friends anymore, or care about getting a car. I was somewhat like that (I knew I was going to go to college in a city, so I never cared about buying a car junior year), but can't imagine how much additionally lonely I would've…

I think you're exactly right, although some recent attempts at recreating the 90s (The To-Do List, Landline) have gone over the top with period details, so I guess it cuts both ways. Some of the funniest parts of Wet Hot 10 Years Later make this exact joke.

I bought my N64 off Craigslist just to play Goldeneye. After a while I wanted to also get Mario Kart, but those things are going for like $60 bucks last time I looked. Obviously i'm not the only one with some serious nostalgia.

A while ago the AVC did a sort of book club featuring an older title (I think Blood Meridian was one of them, as was Carter Beats the Devil). Shame they stopped it; I imagine there's at least a small crowd that'd be into a virtual discussion every month.

I remember loving that book, but I just reread the synopsis and I honestly don't remember any of it. Perrotta's always fun to read, though.

Not exactly related, but on election night there was a part of me that realized "oh man, there's going to be so many terrible books and movie set on this night, aren't there."

The article talks about such powerful trends — popular kids go out less on Saturday nights than nerds used to on Tuesday, fewer teenage murder victims but a skyrocketing in teen suicides — that its hard to see where the end point is. They're not going away, and it seems like there's only so much a parent can do to…

You know, I totally get that every generation frets about new technology and what it is doing to young people and society at large, that everyone views their thing as uniquely different and dangerous, but doesn't it seem like today's issues are actually uniquely different and dangerous?

The one my roommate and I got into in college was Twisted Metal Black, which had a pretty great cooperative mode. Honestly, fun as Goldeneye was, it seems a lot more fun to work with your friends than to be competitive, possibly because I sucked at a lot of these.

Definitely. In fact I'd say that for most people with fond memories of the game, 90% of the time or more was spent on multiplayer. I remember losing interest in the missions pretty quickly.

It definitely still holds up as a group game, even if no one my age (31) really wants to come over just to play Goldeneye. But tell guys of a certain age that you have a copy, and their eyes will get that far-off look in their eyes. They remember. I'm sure some games today have a similar appeal, but today they seem a…