So a comp series killed the pop-punk boom? And all this time I mistakenly believed it died because the music was infantile, formulaic, and embarrassingly anodyne compared to the harder hip-hop of the day.

I wanna rock!

If you're doing an honest warts-and-all pop-culture history of 1997, you simply cannot omit ska. It was the breakout trend of the year.

I remember 1997 as the year ska broke big. That was the final straw for me as far as keeping up with current popular music. Nu metal and pop-punk had already halfway pushed me out the door, but it was ska that made me say "See ya!"

Better hang on to that copy because I just saw a report saying the studio is putting out a new edition with CGI replacing the practical effects. The original movie will be pulled off the market.

Dazed And Confused is a great example of a writer writing what he knew. The result is a world that feels lived-in and authentic. That's all too rare in Hollywood.

You've just described the rock critic syndrome. It's the syndrome that made nerdy over-educated smarty-pants rock critics oblivious to the greatness of Van Halen's debut record while the rest of the world perceived it immediately. But of course the critics gushed over the simplistic 3-chord cliches of the Ramones,…

This is closer to my idea of hell than a movie I would pay money to see:

The Cold War tough-guy fantasy is not an isolated incident though. Recall the over-the-top triumphalism around the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi and a gazillion droned Al Qaeda 2nd-in-commands. Democratic Boomers have revealed a real taste for blood and macho chest-thumping. They have some fucked up…

Is the crisis really over though? I've heard it theorized that the emotional oomph behind the recent reboot of the Cold War is at least partly fueled by Democratic Boomers who've never stopped being bitter that Republicans successfully stereotyped them as soft on Russia. It's a chance for them to relive the Cold War…

Maybe I'm an utter philistine, but to me they sound like a hybrid of Bryan Adams and synthy Foreigner. Juke box heroes, they ain't.

The modern indie-rock aesthetic bores the fuck out of me. Beach House is the only part of it that does anything for me. The rest can die for all I care.

Holy shit Cirith Ungol is back together. I had no idea. Mighty warrior, raise your sword!

You sure it's not hipsters driving up antenna sales? Antennas are ripe for a retro fad. If it happened to audio cassettes and VCRs, it can happen to TV antennas.

Yeah, I heard Chapo say that, and it was refreshing to hear because there were other red lines I wanted the Left to enforce during the Obama years, but it didn't happen. Maybe the lowest point was in early 2011 when Obama openly began negotiating to keep troops in Iraq and the response was crickets chirping. The…

Sell single-payer as "Medicare For All" and it's a slam dunk. Medicare is a popular program. If Democrats would just get out in public and explain this they could sell it to voters very easily, but they're not trying. Medicare For All as a sales pitch is a thousand times simpler and easier to digest than the Rube…

From youGov poll in April, section 81. Opinion on health reforms – Expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American, page 88. This is the "Medicare For All" proposal that is the most commonly touted form of single-payer.

You do realize Democrats might very well still be in power in they had a left wing prodding them to make good policy instead of the Republican-lite shit they delivered?

Were you asleep for the past eight years? Tell me — when in Obama's entire presidency did the Left insist on ANYTHING from Democrats? If it happened, I never saw it, and I was paying attention too.

What skeletons? He admitted long ago that he did his share of partying back in the day, including sniffing the white powder.