I think at least in the US, the early pre-disco Bee-Gees have been more or less forgotten. Which is too bad, because songs like "Spicks and Specs" actually are pretty good.

Ask Gus Van Sant.

Not Star Trek V with its brilliant directing from Shatner and its amazing soundtrack? Kirk, Spock, et al, sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"!

This is, I know, years after you've posted this, but if you are still interested, that was part of the name of a pub (Brown Derby Steakery Luv Pub), that was in the mall (yes, in real life; the mall was pretty much what you saw). It was the 70s. Advertising in the name that it would be a good place to pick up a…

This is, I know, years after you've posted this, but if you are still interested, that was part of the name of a pub (Brown Derby Steakery Luv Pub), that was in the mall (yes, in real life; the mall was pretty much what you saw). It was the 70s. Advertising in the name that it would be a good place to pick up a…

It's their eyes. Freaky horizontal pupils. Yes, I know the idea is that they give them a wider range of vision which is helpful for prey animals. But they are so creepy!

The point is the same in both movies (and in a sense Jakob the Liar as well). The point is if death is inevitable than it can at least be made better by reducing the fear involved.

Kind of. Kermit was actually there in Iran during Operation Ajax, not sitting in an office back home.

Perl is referring to the CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt jr., son of TR's Kermit, though.

The late 1990s economy is what you miss, not the 1990s economy in general — the first third or so was pretty bad, actually. That's how an unknown governor of a hick state became President — "It's the economy, stupid" as Clinton's slogan went because Bush Sr. was more interested in foreign policy than what was…

Perhaps. But at least in US pop culture, it does seem to be the later decades. The Music Man explicitly says it is set in 1912, and Lady and the Tramp 1909. When Main Street USA is set is somewhat vague, but as it is supposedly based on Walt's home town as a child, and he was born in 1901, also probably about this…

True, but it's kind of like the '80s nostalgia of a decade ago — more laughing at how cheesy things were than truly idealizing it. I mean more like the '50s nostalgia where all the bad things have been deleted and where most people only know the idealized form of the decade.

I wonder if eventually the '90s *will* be idealized as such a time in pop culture. Nostalgic decades don't last forever; before the 50s became the standard "more innocent time" the standard decade was the '10s prior to WWI (think of The Music Man, Disney's Main Street USA, Lady and the Tramp, etc.).

How about the film "Frequency" (2000) where the time-traveller (well, time-speaker, anyway) uses his power to get his friend to invest in Yahoo? Hope said friend cashed out in time.

I'd say sub-McSweeny's. I've actually laughed at some McSweeny pieces — like the commentary track for "The Lord of the Rings" as done by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky.

Exactly. It's no Paris Review. Or even Lapham's Quarterly.

he brides even refer to themselves as “DisBrides.”
How DisTopian

Not exactly. This is going to be hard because people actually define themselves in terms of their NRA membership. It isn't just accepting that some powerful company was evil, it is accepting that they themselves were part of the evil.

And the Squid & The Whale wasn't exactly kind to either the pretentious pseudo-intellectual Boomer parents or the plagiarizing kid.

Well, there are a lot of people today that enjoy visiting third world countries which aren't a lot different than the past. Visiting someplace when you know you'll soon be back to your comfy clean beds and modern medical care is different from actually having to live your life there.