With this episode of the podcast, I’m kicking off “High School Reunion Month.” No, I won’t be attending my high school reunion (there are scheduling conflicts) but I am going to be doing two podcast episodes and two blog posts about high school reunion movies from the Nineties. First up? Beautiful Girls, a 1996 ensemble comedy directed by the late Ted Demme and starring Matt Dillon,Timothy Hutton, Rosie O’Donnell, Martha Plimpton, Natalie Portman, Michael Rappaport, Mira Sorvino, and Uma Thurman. I take a look at the movie and offer up my favorite moments as well as tackle some long-awaited listener feedback.
You can listen here:
Pop Culture Affidavit podcast page
And for the blog, here’s some bonus material!
The song “Beautiful Girl” by Pete Droge, which plays over the opening credits (and provides the opening music to the show):
Gina (Rosie O’Donnell)’s epic rant about men and the female form:
The movie’s trailer:
For as long as DC has been publishing, talking animals have been part of their lineup. In this episode, I take a brief look at the history of DC’s funny animal comics with a story from The Fox and the Crow as well as some Looney Tunes stories. Plus, I take a look at the first appearance of Captain Carrot! Along the way, reading the comics for and with me is my 7-year-old son, Brett. So sit back and enjoy the zaniness!
It’s an extra-sized 50th episode of In Country. We’ve hit the halfway point in our journey through The ‘Nam as well as our look at the Vietnam War as a whole, so it’s time to look at a novel and movie that share a name with this podcast: In Country. In this episode, I take a look at the novel In Country, which was written by Bobbie Ann Mason and was published in 1984. It’s the story of Sam Hughes, a teenage girl in Kentucky whose father died in the war and her efforts to discover more about who seh is so that she can better understand him as well as her uncle Emmett, who continues to cope with his Vietnam experience. The film version, from 1989, was directed by Norman Jewison and stars Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd.
It’s the 50th episode of Pop Culture Affidavit! For this special episode, I take a look back twenty years to the year I graduated from high school. Along the way, I look at how senior year of high school is represented in movies. It includes stops at, among other things, American Pie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Can’t Buy Me Love, and Paper Towns as well as a host of personal memories about my own senior year of high school (which ended on June 25, 1995). Was high school the best time of my life? Was it a waking nightmare? Was it a little bit of both? You’ll have to listen to find out.
In 1997, Sean McKeever self-published his very first work, The Waiting Place, a story about the ennui that comes with being a young adult trapped in a town that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. It was soon picked up by Slave Labor Graphics and McKeever along with Brendon and Brian Fraim and then Mike Norton finished the entire saga of the town of Northern Plains and its denizens in three volumes plus an epilogue.
Doug Murray is back after a brief fill-in by Chuck Dixon for The ‘Nam #44, a story entitled “Football Hero” that is a meditation on the fear that can paralyze a man, especially in the ‘Nam.
Chuck Dixon fills in for regular writer Doug Murray with a tale that takes us forward in time to April 1970. “The Weight” is a collection of three separate war stories told by GIs in a bar in Saigon with art by Wayne Vansant and Geof Isherwood and a cover you heard Mr. Vansant talk about when I interviewed him in episode 14. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue I’ll be taking a look at the historical context, letters and ads.
We are back in The ‘Nam with this episode as I take a look at The ‘Nam #42, which is called “Inquiry” and was written by Doug Murray with art by Wayne Vansant and Stan Drake. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue I’ll be taking a look at the historical context, letters and ads. And this episode has some special historical context to it, as issue #42 takes place in July 1969 so I spend some time on the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Pop Culture Affidavit 