Oh, you said "one", right? Oops, sorry. 
Help Save Me From Being Clueless All The Time
- Thread starter Kestra
- Start date
You must've become an absolute maniac then.
For movies.... full Metal Jacket, or maybe Back to the Future
For TV... the A-team
For music I know you're expecting me to bust out slayer or metallica or something so my music tip is Take On Me by A-Ha (very famous video).
For TV... the A-team
For music I know you're expecting me to bust out slayer or metallica or something so my music tip is Take On Me by A-Ha (very famous video).
my friends are always surprised that I never watched Fraggle Rock . . .You must've become an absolute maniac then.
I was watching Square One and Nova instead
music: Queen Greatest Hits I
film: Aliens
TV: Airwolf
film: Aliens
TV: Airwolf
Movie: Pink Floyd's The Wall
Song: Sympathy for the Devil by The Rollingstones
TV: Gilligan's Island
Book: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Have fun.
And Loony Tunes are fantastic if you can get them uncut and uncensored.
Song: Sympathy for the Devil by The Rollingstones
TV: Gilligan's Island
Book: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Have fun.
And Loony Tunes are fantastic if you can get them uncut and uncensored.
That sounds like a good idea, actually. I watch Family Guy now and I miss out on so many of the references. Usually I try to look them up or get my husband to explain them to me if he's not too busy being exasperated with my lack of knowledge.But to answer your original question: going back to The Simpsons would be a good starting point to begin your pop cultural re-education - it in itself contains a lot of American historical and pop-culture references (in all forms of media) you can draw from.
Yeah - wikipedia is definitely your friend here - I'm often looking up stuff on there, references that I read on here that I don't get.
Along with the Simpsons, watch South Park - it is in itself a pop culture reference that everyone talks about, but like Simpsons it also refers to all the other pop culture references. Between the two of those, and some sneaky wiki look-ups, you should be good
Movies: Everything John Hughes made.
Sixteen Candles
The Breakfast Club
Weird Science
Pretty in Pink
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
The Great Outdoors
Just about everything John Cusack has starred in.
The Sure Thing
Better Off Dead...
One Crazy Summer
Say Anything...
Christian Slater movies
Heathers
Gleaming the Cube
Pump Up the Volume
Kuffs
Untamed Heart
TV Shows
All of M*A*S*H
All of Cheers
All of The Cosby Show
That will get you through most of the 80s-Early 90s
Sixteen Candles
The Breakfast Club
Weird Science
Pretty in Pink
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
The Great Outdoors
Just about everything John Cusack has starred in.
The Sure Thing
Better Off Dead...
One Crazy Summer
Say Anything...
Christian Slater movies
Heathers
Gleaming the Cube
Pump Up the Volume
Kuffs
Untamed Heart
TV Shows
All of M*A*S*H
All of Cheers
All of The Cosby Show
That will get you through most of the 80s-Early 90s
There are so many, I can't think of all of them, but here are a few off the top of my head.
some eighties music I'd suggest:
U2
The Police
The Cure
Depeche Mode
The Smiths
Talking Heads
Duran Duran
Tears for Fears
movies:
Any Hughes movie
Back to the Future
The Princess Bride
Die Hard
The Karate Kid
Romancing the Stone
Coming to America
some eighties music I'd suggest:
U2
The Police
The Cure
Depeche Mode
The Smiths
Talking Heads
Duran Duran
Tears for Fears
movies:
Any Hughes movie
Back to the Future
The Princess Bride
Die Hard
The Karate Kid
Romancing the Stone
Coming to America
Wow, I totally forgot U2.
*jealous* I'm still trying.
Booo!
Just for that I hope you get Pride stuck in your head.
*plays No Line On The Horizon*
Just for that I hope you get Pride stuck in your head.
*plays No Line On The Horizon*
Movies: DIE HARD--probably the greatest action movie ever made. Even today, 2 decades later, it's still a massive influence on the genre.
TV: ALL IN THE FAMILY--a 70's sitcom that pretty much re-defined the sitcom landscape. It could effortlessly switch from roll-on-the-floor funny to heartbreaking drama.
MUSIC: Get yourself something like THIS
It'll show you what was popular during the timeframe--not always what was BEST, but certainly what most people listened to.
TV: ALL IN THE FAMILY--a 70's sitcom that pretty much re-defined the sitcom landscape. It could effortlessly switch from roll-on-the-floor funny to heartbreaking drama.
MUSIC: Get yourself something like THIS
It'll show you what was popular during the timeframe--not always what was BEST, but certainly what most people listened to.
And, in The Netherlands at least, you'd probably be smack in the midle of the rave / happy hardcore trend at a time you'd be most influenced by popular music. Probably not applicable to someone overseas, but perhaps funny to listen to what you've managed to escape:
Charlie lownoise & mental theo - Wonderful days, Dune - Hardcore vibes, Interactive - Forever young, Mark 'oh - Tears don't lie, Marusha - Somewhere over the rainbow, Party animals - Atomic, Party animals - Hava naquila, Party animals - Have you ever been mellow, Paul elstak - Rainbow in the sky, Soushkin - Dream your dream, Technohead - I wanna be a hippy and, last but not least, Tokyo ghetto pussy - I kiss your lips.
Dutch dance/house music is so boring...
Movies:
Gremlins 1 & 2
Short Circuit 1 & 2
Bill & Ted 1 & 2
Airplane 1 & 2
Music:
MARRS Pump up the volume
99 red ballons - Nena
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
Traveling Wilburys Handle with Care
I didn't say it was quality music
, but it was quite hot at the time.
There's no limit to the quality of Dutch dance music. If it was offered to me, I certainly wouldn't techno for answer.I didn't say it was quality music
There's no limit to the quality of Dutch dance music. If it was offered to me, I certainly wouldn't techno for answer.I didn't say it was quality music
No, no, no no no no.
Hi Kestra
Music: going back a little, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here (not quite as good as Dark Side, but accessible), and Queen's A Night At The Opera.
After that, read up a little here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_music
When it was New Wave, between '78 and '81, music went through an incredible explosion of talent and genres and styles. After that, however, the quality dropped off drastically, I found music from '83 to '88 very very dull.
And I'd say the Police as well, followed by Sting's first solo albums and maybe a Best Of.
TV: if someone's mentioned Cheers, I'm mentioning Frasier. It rose a long way above its sitcom roots and became a sublime exploration of characters. Someone else said West Wing, agree very much.
Books: as I always say in these type of requests, and I can't stress it enough, read the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Funny, deep and damn good stories. Like any good SFF series, it comments on our society from a different angle.
Try Mort (Death takes on an apprentice), Wyrd Sisters (a retelling of 'the Scottish play') or Guards! Guards! (Hill Street Blues in magical mediaeval world). One of the best things in literature. Yes, I went there.
Aside from that, hmmm, reluctant to suggest much else, as my book tastes are fairly eclectic. Maybe Michael Moorcock, especially the Runestaff tetralogy and the Elric series, though its timeline is a bit tangled. If you can get a hold of Howard Waldrop's books he's very good. And maybe Clive James's Unreliable Memoirs - Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week Was In June, and North Face of Soho. A boy grow up in Australia, moves to England, and has adventures in the world of letters. Very funny in places. Oh, and of course, any of the Big 3's books (that's Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asmov, and Robert Heinlein (especially The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Time Enough For Love, but not so much after 1980)). I'll also throw in Spider Robinson's Callahan's Bar sequence, thought the earlier ones are better than the later ones. And William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy - Neromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive - and his short stories collection, Burning Chrome. Very, very influential.
There's much more, I'll post when I think of them.
Music: going back a little, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here (not quite as good as Dark Side, but accessible), and Queen's A Night At The Opera.
After that, read up a little here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_music
When it was New Wave, between '78 and '81, music went through an incredible explosion of talent and genres and styles. After that, however, the quality dropped off drastically, I found music from '83 to '88 very very dull.
And I'd say the Police as well, followed by Sting's first solo albums and maybe a Best Of.
TV: if someone's mentioned Cheers, I'm mentioning Frasier. It rose a long way above its sitcom roots and became a sublime exploration of characters. Someone else said West Wing, agree very much.
Books: as I always say in these type of requests, and I can't stress it enough, read the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Funny, deep and damn good stories. Like any good SFF series, it comments on our society from a different angle.
Try Mort (Death takes on an apprentice), Wyrd Sisters (a retelling of 'the Scottish play') or Guards! Guards! (Hill Street Blues in magical mediaeval world). One of the best things in literature. Yes, I went there.
Aside from that, hmmm, reluctant to suggest much else, as my book tastes are fairly eclectic. Maybe Michael Moorcock, especially the Runestaff tetralogy and the Elric series, though its timeline is a bit tangled. If you can get a hold of Howard Waldrop's books he's very good. And maybe Clive James's Unreliable Memoirs - Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week Was In June, and North Face of Soho. A boy grow up in Australia, moves to England, and has adventures in the world of letters. Very funny in places. Oh, and of course, any of the Big 3's books (that's Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asmov, and Robert Heinlein (especially The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Time Enough For Love, but not so much after 1980)). I'll also throw in Spider Robinson's Callahan's Bar sequence, thought the earlier ones are better than the later ones. And William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy - Neromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive - and his short stories collection, Burning Chrome. Very, very influential.
There's much more, I'll post when I think of them.
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