WEIRD AL!!! Just got back from Summerfest in Milwaukee to see him for the first time, after being a fan for 35 or so years. Even better, I went with my very cool, artsy, but nerd-at-heart 19 year old daughter, who sang along with every song. I was never so proud.

Yeah, my first impression reading this was that American soldiers were converting the godless communists before they died. I'm really not sure which is worse.

Coincidentally, this morning I heard an interview with the author (Kevin Kruse) of a book on how religion didn't become linked to patriotism in the U.S. until corporations figured out they could co-opt Christianity to oppose the New Deal in the 40's. Sounds like a pretty good read.

I miss my old dog too, Zack.

I read that one shortly after it came out, and was blown away by it. "Batshit crazy" indeed! A very similar experience to reading Going Clear.

When I was a kid my mom taped that HBO special and we watched the VHS endlessly. Along with quotes from Vacation, it's our most common random pop-culture reference. That line specifically!

Elementary school: Every. Fucking. Year.

That really is a perfect summary of an early-80's PHC episode. But no hating on Claudia Schmidt, she is a national treasure. And the gap in her teeth is adorable.

My God, the photo of the author of that piece is going to haunt me for days. HIS EYES!!!

Thank you! I couldn't believe that in this commentariat of pop-culture obsessives, nobody pointed that out immediately!

My best friend in high school had a Vega for a while. Your assessment was correct.

As a birder, and yes, I mean birder, @vitaminshoe:disqus, I am really impressed by the accuracy of the bird depicted in the trailer. That's a black-backed woodpecker, a boreal species that would be found (though not commonly) in the northern tier of states including North Dakota and Minnesota. It is rare to see…

You know, all this 90's nostalgia has made me realize that the era is a pop culture black hole for me. I went from grad school to motherhood during that time, and pretty much lived that decade in a cocoon. Reading these AV club articles is like studying a foreign culture.

As a UU, I'd like to think we are the last ones standing in a post-apocolyptic world.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it's meth.

Seriously. I'm glad I didn't check the Newswire before I went in for my cardiac stress test earlier today, I would have been terrified. But then again, I'm not famous, so I'm probably safe.

"Thus Maria Anna was simultaneously his aunt and grandmother while Margaret of Austria, Maria Anna's mother, was both his grandmother and great-grandmother." Wow.

I think they got stricter and sneakier as time went on!

I did the same back in the vinyl days, and never understood why it was considered such a "scam". I ordered my 12 for a penny, bought the one album required for $8 or $13 or whatever, then just cancelled as the contract specified. I remember how cool it was as a young teenager to leaf through the catalog and be able to…