Oceania has always been fighting the drug war.

My intended point was more along the lines of it not being a matter of religion, as an outside force, compelling people to do something that they otherwise wouldn't. I think it's more a matter of the persecution of "outsiders" as scapegoats being such a strong cultural force that it tends to get incorporated into…

Though I've heard claims that the treaty by which Texas was annexed retained certain special rights for it as a state — such as being able to divide itself into five states at its own discretion. Yeah, mostly it's just wacky state jingoism, but there might well be some legal realities underneath it all.

I kind of think the majority religion was a feature of the Salem events, but maybe not technically the driver. Modern witch hunts and murders in Africa aren't necessarily driven by Christianity vs. Paganism, but rather a function of everyone believing in black magic, and turning on the community outcast that they…

I dunno. Sometimes it takes much longer. Johnny Carson frequently resorted to quipping "It's still too soon," every time he tried to tell a Ford's Theater/Lincoln joke.

Well, it technically was. I think it and Hawaii are the only US territories that were voluntarily annexed sovereign nations (though Hawaii stretches the "voluntary" part), as opposed to land swapped between larger nations by treaty.

They look stylistically similar to me, though. And not in a good way. Were they the work of the same "artist"?

The very closest modern parallel is likely the almost literal "witch hunts" of the Satanic Ritual Abuse panic of the '80s/early '90s, culminating in things like the McMartin preschool case, and the West Memphis Three. I tend to think it's a more sociological than psychological phenomenon — Torch-bearing mobs form…

The Wiccan interest has been present for decades, though the aggressive merchandising of that, along with the more broadly kitschy stuff, is comparatively recent. I visited there 25 years ago, and there were only a couple of real tourist trap museums, along with the legitimate historical sites.

True enough. Revise your list accordingly, Mr. dirtside!

Did Vader definitely torture Leia? She doesn't look too much the worse for the wear when she's rescued, and even seems relaxed enough to make snarky comments to her rescuers.

Pity they never advertised on So You Think You Can Dance.

Try to tell me he's not a natural for that part.

This dates from only a year after MTV's creation, when "concept" (as opposed to simple "performance") videos were still in their infancy. It was a time when record companies gave ambitious noob creative teams more-or-less free rein, if not much of a budget, to experiment.

As I recall, when the monsters' energy was depleted in Rampage, they shrank/metamorphosed into human form. Surely The Rock could play George the gorilla, battling the other monsters with his fists and wisecracks.

For a long time I naively believed that the various lyric sites were taken from actual liner notes or some other authoritative source. I gradually realized that they were just the work of someone typing what they thought they heard, and that the someone was likely of limited English fluency.

You'd think General Veers' troops would still be following him. The guy was the one bright spot in the Imperial officer corps.

Not to mention "intemperate" instead of "drunk".

Ends on a freeze-frame of Henry Fonda on the hotline laughing at a joke by the Soviet Premier.

Speaking of drama, check Godwin’s vocals and lyrics: