Yeah — I love it when real-life events get included in the series. Except for the Reagan shooting, "The Americans" hasn't really used them much, which is too bad — part of the enjoyment of series set in the relatively recent past is to see how news affects the characters.

But I'm impressed Kate knew what toilet paper was, given that in the Soviet Union, it was a commodity in short supply.

Isn't this a bit early? Or have the critics already seen the finale?

Well, that sort of mini-nationalism is kind of a recent trend (for better or worse) due to the devolution movement. Heck, in the earth 20th century it wouldn't be unheard of for a Scot or Welshman to describe themselves as *English* (at least to people outside the UK) — it was only the Irish that made a big deal about…

Cultured? Well, he isn't quite as bad as his father Prince Philip in that he tends not to make racist jokes in public, but he still has some pretty messed up ideas about modern art and architecture being worthless.

No — most tribal cultures have a taboo against inbreeding.

But what if they are Gen-X, and are giving respect because they see the fake watch as being "ironic", "postmodern", or similar Gen-X shibboleths?

He's a Jew. That bit was gone long ago.

Nor is Natalie Portman. I feel bad that they will have to carry the stigma of the prequels for the rest of their career.

Yeah. It's basically a World's Fair that never ends. Maybe I just have a soft spot for it because one of my formative experiences growing up was the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. Plus, unlike the Magic Kingdom, Epcot serves beer so the adults can have fun too.

Yes — which was the disappointment of many people when Disney *did* end up making a "utopian" community — Celebration. It's sad that in the 1950s and 1960s, "utopia" meant the future, but in modern era it means aping the 1950s.

Wow. Maybe they are both Claudia?

To be fair almost *every* Crichton novel (except the ones near the end when he was going off the rails) got made into a movie, so how it would work as a movie was probably always in his mind as he wrote.

I think Jared and Larrick are the same person — he's even better at disguises than Philip and Elizabeth.

"In fact, one could live a pretty decent, moral life going just by the teachings of the Four Gospels."

Perhaps it was only clear from the video, but Aha's "The Sun Always Shines On TV" is a sequel to "Take Me On" — it has the sad conclusion to "Take Me On"'s lonely diner girl/comic book motorcyclist romance.

"Whatever 'LeaseTech' is, it’s not around today. But IBM is"
But there are plenty of value-added companies equivalent to LeaseTech even today. Remember that they weren't about making their own technology.

Yeah — the whole idea of "Godless Communism" is a bit of a myth. Yes, Lenin briefly tried to stamp out religion, but gave it up after a few years, and Stalin of course actually trained to be an Orthodox priest (although he never took vows) and was very friendly with the church.

This was a legend way before AVGN was around. It was even in pop culture — the briefly popular band "Wintergreen" even had a video showing the band members digging up the cartridges (staged), which like most videos had nothing to do with the song.

In Germany, the infamous East German "Trabant", which many people simply abandoned after the fall of the Wall, is now a collectors item and has a whole community behind it.