"Rather than selling music, or even the lifestyle that might be represented by music, the creation myth of We Are The World sells the idea of making listeners feel like they’ve overcome something by listening (any good they really do is incidental)." How is that different from all the hagiography the Boomers have…

I was 9. The second time I heard it, right after it came out. Then it just kept getting played for weeks

This song taught me the meaning of "overplayed" at age 9. I was sick of it the second time I heard it, then it just kept getting played OVER AND OVER AGAIN for weeks.

It's actually kind of surprisingly (and depressing) how many people out there look almost exactly like Peter Griffin. I've seen plenty of people who probably weren't trying to do an intentional immitation who look much closer.

Amazing how the passage of time can make that idea so much less offensive than it would have been 100 years ago.

More like, as long as there've been newpapers. And probably even earlier.

They may have been influenced, but the unsympathetic comedy character goes back decades in Britain.

The South, there's one target Seinfelf missed. Think of the possibilities. Elaine dating a "southern gentleman". Jerry being completely physically attracted to a southern Belle but hating her mannerisms? Kramer dressing like a Kentucky colonel? Someone "demanding satisfaction" from George?

Also tackling the issue of male bladder incontinence.

It was the power of suggestion at work. See the guy on the street, you'd say "white". Have someone else tell you he's black (as Jerry did to Elaine) and your mind starts to see things differently.

That's the same actor? Hmm, I didn't catch that.

Apparently, the Scandinavian name "Nygaard" caused a problem with some viewers of the Fargo show (it's actually pronounced 'NEW-gahrt" in Danish).

Basically, the first successful American sitcom to take the British approach.

Even better, though, were his take downs of bad movies. He could forgive a movie for just plain not being very good. But a bad movie that overly pandered to or insulted the intelligence of the audience could bring out Winston Churchill-esque denunciations.

For me, the real value of his writing wasn't as someone to recommend which movies to see. It was reading WHY he thought a given film was good or not.

He died of liver cirrohsis. His cousin, Soda, just had his second limb amputated because of complications from diabetes.

John playing with his toy submarine and speaking pidgin German in the bathtub still makes me laugh everytime I see it. Perfect example of why you often can't explain humor. It's just funny or it isn't.

OK, make that "had more to do with alcohol, other drugs and testosterone…"

More urban legend and moral panic than fact. The mod vs. rocker label was often applied after the fact to gang street fights that had more to do with alcohol and testosterone than differences in subculture.

Yeah, that's the metajoke I didn't get.