When did the contrarian opinion—Catcher sucks—become conventional wisdom? 

I bought my last cassette tape in 99 (The Slim Shady LP), as well as CD copies of Midnite Vultures and Play. I saw Something About Mary and Magnolia and American Beauty and American Pie and American Movie in theaters. I became a nightly drinker and didn’t miss a night until 2005, when a run of inexplicable bad luck…

William Hughes seems pretty happy about this cancellation. 

Yeah, I can be sort of dismissive of the 80s, but it was a hell of a decade for action movies and horror movies.

Punks in the Beerlight has some of the greatest lyrics ever to appear in a rock song. What a loss. 

If anyone is interested, there is audio on the Fresh Air Archive page of Terry Gross interviewing John C. Reilly in January 2000, just after the release of Magnolia. It’s good stuff.

Seeing this in a theater in ‘99 was maybe the best movie experience I’ve ever had. It was thrilling, baffling, mesmerizing. I haven’t missed a P.T. Anderson movie since.

Is the 90's considered a great movie decade now, a close second to the 70's? If so, I’m on board with that. On the other hand, the 90's is when I entered high school and college and began to form my own tastes in movies and other art forms, so I’m probably biased.

A movie I really enjoyed from ‘99 was Outside Providence, which seems all but forgotten lately. I think of it as thinking person’s American Pie (another gem from that year).

Yes. It’s been done to death now. If they want to change their sound, maybe try another genre--country, folk--or add some strings or something. 

It’s a beautiful album, for sure. And I feel like, at that time, switching to electronic music was still sort of new and exciting. Rock was still the dominant musical language then, and eschewing its customs was sort of a bold move. 

Why do rock bands insist on becoming synthesizer bands, and why do music writers act as if this is a “boldly experimental new phase” instead of the worst kind of rock ‘n’ roll cliche? From U2's Pop to To Bring You My Love to Kid A to Sleater Kinney, etc. 

Penelope Gilliatt?

A.O. Scott gets everything wrong, of course. He is our modern-day Bosley Crowther. 

Why do these late-night recap space-filler articles get so much attention around here? Is there a better indicator of how much this website has declined? 

Articles like this are why I love the AV Club. This is pop culture geekdom at its finest—a trivial topic treated seriously, written with a kind of comic earnestness, laced with details only a true obsessive would bother to learn. I could read stuff like this all day.

The puppet segments were the worst. I think watching Sesame Street had given me high expectations when it came to puppetry, and Fred Rogers just couldn’t deliver.

I still love to watch Sesame Street episodes from its 70's-80's heydey. Great stuff.

At least Captain Kangaroo made interesting TV. Did anyone actually enjoy Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? Even at the age of 4, I thought that shit was boring (but Lady Aberlin, my God, what a beauty). 

LOL