Hammer did not wear parachute pants which were already long out of style by the time Hammer was getting popular (we were already making fun of them in '85). "parachute pants" were fitted pants made of a nylon material with a kind of satin finish often with superfluous zippers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik… . What…

We like the cars, the cars that go "boom".

"one of the world’s most famous entertainers for a time"

Indeed—Worst. Authoritarian. Ever.

I was working in a record store (Strawberries in Chelmsford, Mass) when Hammer's first album came out and the company put it on the playlist—that galling rotation of songs and blurbs that all stores had to play constantly (at least whenever the managers were around). It was a bit novel at first, being among the first…

"It really does feel like the end of the world has come and gone and left these people standing here."

Not love necessarily—but you are getting at the idea that insofar as since Mellencamp speaks to a certain small town blue collar Midwestern experience, he is seen as belonging to the people there—in the way that I imagine Springsteen "belongs" to New Jersey. I guess I sort of expected that Petty would have a similar…

Milton Schmilton—I'm waiting for a Hollywood 3D epic version of the Ramayana.

This is a good opportunity to ask if those from the Southeast regard Tom Petty the way those in the Midwest regard John Mellencamp. 

"not as smart"

I don't expect to win the argument, or convince those who'd rather be bowled over, but obviously, it is arguable because you are arguing. Also 'Aliens' may not be (as you put it) boring, but it is also not as smart as either of its bookends, being all sound and fury and spectacle.

Just to light that fuse again, 'Alien3' is certainly better than its reputation, and arguably, better than the second film. It is, at any rate, an appropriate return to form for the series and achieves a nice closure for what should have been a trilogy—it's a classic triptych, with the two sides mirroring each other…

I realize she's just a nurse but surely Mildred Ratched deserves some kind of honorable mention. Not only does she handle administrative duties and run the group therapy sessions, she uses the pathologies of her charges to gain the upper hand in matters both petty and paramount, and in at least one instance, drives a…

Cool Story Bro:

No need to apologize for that Chocolate City Spirit. I may be working in PG County and living in Silver Spring now but to the extent that I am who I am as a result of my formative twenties—I was living in Adams Morgan when it mattered and I will always hold the Home Rule in my heart.To those others—you think you know…

Which is kind of why I brought up Herman Cain—because Barry was the real deal once, and that makes his repeated falls from grace that much more tragic. If Lee and Murphy could tell that story—the good, the bad and the ugly—without pulling any punches, it could be a contemporary African American 'All the King's Men'.…

I make no excuses and expect no apologies for the man Marion Barry has become, but in a country that recently saw Herman Cain as a presidential frontrunner, I think it's important for people to understand who Barry had been and how he could still be wildly popular in certain parts of DC (Wards 7 and 8) and just how he…

YAY! Sister Ruth put the "nasti" in "monasticism".

I think they must have done—maybe as an Inventory instead. "Great Unrealized Works" seems familiar. Terry Gilliam's 'Don Quixote' and Jodorowsky's 'Dune' come to mind.

What about Willem Defoe (he asked, basing the observation entirely on the fact that they both did reasonable impersonations of Max Schreck after a fashion)?