Kennedy and Producer Andy Schuon on the Golden Age of MTV

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Kennedy and Producer Andy Schuon on the Golden Age of MTV

Last Thursday night, a crowd gathered at Reason's LA headquarters to celebrate the release of Kennedy's new book,  The Kennedy Chronicles!

Kennedy sat down for a live broadcast conversation with producer and media mogul Andy Schuon, who happens to be the man responsible for launching her media career. They discussed the old days at the MTV beach house, ruminated on how cultural and technological shifts have affected popular music, and hyped Schuon's new music video channel, Revolt, which he's launching in conjunction with Diddy.

Watch above, or click below for downloadable versions.

Approximately 29 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Tracy Oppenheimer and Alex Manning.

Comments

[robc]

The 90s was NOT the golden age of MTV.

[sticks]

When was 120 minutes cancelled? Or did it go away and come back sucky? I think that marked the end of MTV being any good.

[robc]

I would argue that the golden age was before the first block genre programming started.

So 120 minutes might have signaled the end of it.

[sticks]

I liked the early block genre programs. Headbangers' Ball might have been the first. My memory is probably off though.

[robc]

I thought 120 minutes was before Headbangers Ball, but they were both from about the same time.

Either way, it was the first step down the hill to not playing music.

It was great to have your favorite genre all in a block, but the randomness of MTV is what made it great, and also wasnt great for ratings.

[John]

This

It was the last free form radio station.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

No, MTV was basically top 40 radio on TV, which meant it played a strictly regimented rotation, with the occasional oddity thrown in. Apparently people here don't remember having to sit through endless replays of cindi lauper, madonna, journey, duran duran, def leppard, etc. It had all the shittiness of top 40 radio, only you couldn't switch stations. The interesting juxtapositions were the exception, not the rule. I think nostalgia has gotten the better of some people here.

[Mad Scientist]

This. My sister watched MTV all the time and it was 95% pop garbage. Paula Fucking Abdul. Van Fucking Halen. R.E. Fucking M. Depeche Fucking Mode. The Fucking Bangles. Spandau Fucking Ballet. Culture Fucking Club. REO Fucking Speedwagon. MTV never found a piece of crap they didn't like.

In retrospect, maybe she watched it just to keep me out of the room.

[John]

MS

That was MTV in the late 80s It was different in the early 80s.

[SIV]

Dear God, No.

MTV sucked so bad because they weren't ever free form at all. It was 24 hour non-stop advertising.

[Episiarch]

For years I had a videotape that I had recorded some random MTV on from like 1984 or something. I could go back and watch that tape at any time and it was fucking great, all of it. The videos were great, it was super fun, and it just would remind me how awesome MTV had been, and how you could just change the channel to it at any time and get...that.

[John]

You would get in a single run between commercials, The Band playing The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Judas Priest, followed by the B62s followed by the Cars. They really played everything except for rapp.

[SIV]

MTV only played A Flock of Seagulls and shit like that.

[SIV]

Back in the 1980s Night Flight showed the good music videos that never appeared on MTV.

The Raybeats for example.

[Knarf Yenrab (prev. An0nB0t)]

That's kind of fantastic.

[amanda012]

before I saw the paycheck that said $5576, I accept that my neighbour was like they say really erning money in their spare time at their laptop.. there friend brother started doing this less than eighteen months and resantly cleared the morgage on their villa and bourt themselves a Bugatti Veyron. we looked here... http://WWW.CNN13.COM

[anon]

Dude, if you're going to spambot, at least get someone that speaks english to write your shit for you. The entire thing is unreadable. You are a bad spambot.

[General Butt Naked]

That's some awful bean footage.

[Francisco d Anconia]

MTV died with Rap circa 1990.

[Episiarch]

Once again, MTV's golden age ended the moment they put non-music programming (other than MTV News clips) on, starting with Remote Control. And I think that was '86 or '87. Before that, it was just four videos, commercials. Four videos, commercials. And absolutely nothing else. It was great.

[John]

Remote Control was fall of 87 and it was the beginning of the end. The real slide started when they did The Real World. That was pretty much the start of them not playing music anymore.

[Episiarch]

The Real World was the nails in the coffin--I remember seeing at and going "what the fuck does this have to do with music videos?"--but the late 80s were pretty bad for MTV. Glam metal copycats were choking up all the airtime--think White Lion or Stryper or the like--and alternative rock was basically dead.

[John]

By fall of 88, the biggest videos on MTV were Poison, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses and Milli Vanilli. The late 80s were just a horror show of bad music.

[Francisco d Anconia]

You take that back John. NOTHING bad ever happened in the 80s.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Except for that Milli Vanilli thing.

[anon]

Nothing bad ever happens with that much cocaine.

[John]

Yeah. that is why disco turned out so well.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

By fall of 88, the biggest videos on MTV were Poison, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses and Milli Vanilli. The late 80s were just a horror show of bad music.

I'll take Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses over what passed for mainstream hard rock / metal in the 1990s, namely Korn and Limp Bizkit.

Can't defend Milli Vanilli, though.

[John]

Korn and Limp Bizkit were mainstream? I always thought they were joke bands that everyone hated. But yeah, it wasn't much better in the 90s really.

[Irish]

Korn and Limp Bizkit were mainstream? I always thought they were joke bands that everyone hated. But yeah, it wasn't much better in the 90s really.

HAHAHA! How happy you must be living in a world where those piece of crap weren't popular.

I am here to ruin your dreams.

Korn released their first demo album, Neidermayer's Mind, in 1993.[7] The band later went on to release their self-titled debut album in 1994, followed by Life Is Peachy in 1996. The band experienced mainstream success with Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999), both of which debuted and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200.[8] The band's mainstream success continued with Untouchables (2002) and Take a Look in the Mirror (2003).

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Limp Bizkit is an American nu metal band. Its original lineup consisted of Fred Durst (vocals), Wes Borland (guitars), Sam Rivers (bass), John Otto (drums) and DJ Lethal (turntables, samples and programming). The band has been nominated for 3 Grammy Awards and have sold over 40 million records worldwide.[1]

[John]

We are doomed

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Yup, even when I was busy hating those nu-metal bands I figured somebody out there must have liked them, because of the massive airplay they were getting.

Now compare Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name with Limp Bizkit's Nookie. Yeah, I'll take the 80s any day, even if I have to wade through second-tier junk like Ratt. (I was going to link their Round and Round video, but 2 links is the maximum.)

[Irish]

I don't have a problem with Bon Jovi and I have a little bit of a soft spot for Guns and Roses.

Neither one is anything I choose to listen to, but if it comes on the radio I don't have a problem with it.

On the other hand, if Limp Bizkit came on the radio I'd smash it for the pain that it had caused me.

[anon]

On the other hand, if Limp Bizkit came on the radio I'd smash it for the pain that it had caused me.

Quote of the day.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

On the other hand, if Limp Bizkit came on the radio I'd smash it for the pain that it had caused me.

In other words, Limp Bizkit makes you want to Break Stuff?

(Hides under table)

Limp Bizkit is the worst band of all time. I defy anyone to come up with a more annoying and awful group.

Well, there's always Anal Cunt, but they were terrible on purpose.

[John]

Limp Bizkit is the worst band of all time. I defy anyone to come up with a more annoying and awful group.

[anon]

Backstreet Boys?

[John]

The Backseat Boys were just an annoying pop group. They could at least sing a bit and did have at least some melody to their songs. They sucked. But they didn't suck any worse than any other teenie bopper act. Limp Bizkit was way beyond that suck. Their music had no melody, no syncopation, no swing, nothing. It was just garbage.

[anon]

The Backseat Boys were just an annoying pop group.

Ok, valid point. It's kinda like you can't hate Beiber because only people that haven't developed rational thought yet listen to him.

[JW]

Fred Durst is one of the few **cough** entertainers that truly deserves to be hunted down on live TV.

Holy fuck. He's like 2 Horsemen of the Apocalypse in one person.

[The Hyperbole]

I nominate the Beach Boys mostly because they just won't fucking die. Did they make some okay music once? sure maybe, but recall they put out that piece of crap 'thats why god made the radio' last year. I had to stop listening to LSUG for a month or two since Little Steven somehow liked it and played it in heavy rotation.

[John]

Brian Wilson is a genius. Pet Sounds is a better record than every Beatles record sans maybe Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper.

You leave the Beach Boys alone Hyperbole.

[Ted S.]

Do you still know a little place like Kokomo?

[barfs]

[Rhywun]

Pet Sounds is a better record than every Beatles record sans maybe Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper.

And Revolver. But yeah, Pet Sounds is great.

[Irish]

I nominate the Beach Boys mostly because they just won't fucking die.

You think the Beach Boys were worse than Limp Bizkit? I realize that musical taste is subjective so you can't technically be wrong, but you are definitely wrong. Woefully, horribly, inexcusably wrong.

[The Hyperbole]

Limp Bizkit came made their shitty music and left. the impact they have on my day to day music appreciation is nil. The Beach Boys continue to annoy with a horrendous new song every few years or so. Also like Jimmy Buffet they have but a handful of songs and revamped them just enough to put out "new" shit. If they had had the decency to make two maybe three albums and then fucked off like LB then I may have some respect for them. As it is, their continued efforts only make their once good song into reminders of why to real musical geniuses (other thanTom Waits) should die before thirty or thirty-five.

[The Hyperbole]

revamped,songs,why to real.

and I'm only on my third beer.

[VG Zaytsev]

Limp Bizkit is the worst band of all time. I defy anyone to come up with a more annoying and awful group.

ICP

[John]

ICP doesn't count. They try to be annoying. Limp Bizket actually thinks they are good.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Don't lump Korn in with Limp Bizkit. Korn is a lot better and has had much better staying power.

[AuH20]

Korn has the redeeming feature of being on a pretty good South Park Halloween episode.

[Cytotoxic]

NickelBack?

[PapayaSF]

The late 80s were just a horror show of bad music.

Except: OMD, The Pretenders, New Order, Game Theory, Erasure, The Railway Children, The Wild Swans, Voice of the Beehive, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Lightning Seeds, Alison Moyet, Morrissey, General Public, Wire Train....

[sam the man]

Is there a reason you did not include The Cure yet felt the need to include Erasure?

[PapayaSF]

No diss meant to the Cure. My list was not meant to be exhaustive. I was looking at songs in iTunes by year, and my Cure tracks may not have years entered.

[Ray Smuckles]

The Cure is silly! It is silly to like The Cure!

[Dweebston]

I stopped collecting music because I couldn't sate my own OCD tendencies with regard to the metadata. Now if I get a hankering for music I find it on youtube... otherwise it's Econtalk or Infinite Monkey Cage, etc.

[mad libertarian guy]

mainstream hard rock / metal

Anyone looking for mainstream metal is doing metal wrong. Metal has NEVER been mainstream. The only thing close to metal that is mainstream are groups that either getting paid was a bigger priority than whatever reason they started making music to begin with (see Metallica which is little more than middle aged rock at this point), or those trying to copy metal. It is by design a niche genre.

Hair metal is not metal. Nu Metal (the genre that Korn and Limp Bizkit belong to) is almost universally despised by metal fans worldwide. Generally the people who like Nu Metal don't like other kinds of metal. In short, fuck Nu Metal. It's entire design was to give a lighter feel to a genre that it not designed to be light. It's not designed to appeal to the masses, and Nu Metal is an attempt to appeal metal to the masses.

Real metal.

[Rhywun]

Aiiieeeee... I was a college freshman in 88, and it was nothing but GnR from one end of the hall to the other in the dorms. Except the one kid across from me who was into Rush and the dude down the hall who was into the same shit as me like Skinny Puppy and Xymox. Funny... I didn't get along with any of the GnR crowd.

[sam the man]

Were you a Ministry fan by any chance?

[Rhywun]

Yup.

[sam the man]

I figured. Industrial is pretty popular in Chicago so DJs are always playing KMFDM and al that.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Ya know, I kinda liked Remote Control. I could live with a game show, now and again, so long as the primary focus was videos.

But, unfortunately, the slippery slope isn't necessarily a fallacy.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Fewer interviews, more naked horseback riding. Thank you.

[AlmightyJB]

More naked anything really.

[anon]

I am down with naked women any time, anywhere, really.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Wikipedia says that her name is Lisa Kennedy Montgomery and that she's an Eastern Orthodox Christian. And the article referenced a quote I'd forgotten, from her article pointing out that atheism is a religion: "My Orthodox priest would probably give me a stern penance for saying this, but I do not have a problem with church-owned businesses paying taxes."

http://reason.com/archives/201.....religion/1

And I suppose atheists should pay taxes, too, since *atheism is a religion.*

/Troll-fu

[Eduard van Haalen]

And I bet atheists like deep-dish circumcision pizza.

[Metazoan]

No way, I don't like deep-dish.

[Eduard van Haalen]

But I bet you'd let Abraham Lincoln circumcise you.

[darius404]

I bet you'd let Abraham Lincoln deep-dish you.

[sticks]

Bring back Ed Lover and Dr. Dre.

[Nazdrakke]

OT: In other TV news Politco runs a profile about Glenn Back positing that his "empire, not influence" is growing. Scrolling through the comments it looks like it took around 200 before someone went Godwin. Possibly Politico is onto something?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Why don't you Beckerheads go back to Glennbeckistan?

[Metazoan]

Mantyla ? who monitors Beck for four hours every day for PFAW's arm, Right Wing Watch

The fuck?

[Irish]

Mantyla ? who monitors Beck for four hours every day for PFAW's arm, Right Wing Watch

The fuck?

Yeah, nothing creepy about watching someone you hate for four hours a day so that you can write blog posts that hardly anyone reads about it.

This is something normal people do.

[anon]

And yet I always find myself wondering why liberal commenters offer the least substance:vitriol ratio in their "arguments."

[Cytotoxic]

MARY STACK ALERT

[ThatSkepticGuy]

He's prepping up a resume so he'll be redy for the day the Ministry finally arrives.

[anon]

"The problem is that no success is ever enough for Beck,

Really? I didn't know that was a "problem."

[Virginian]

That's the leftist mindset in a nutshell. Success is something to admire and seek to emulate, not something to sneer at.

[anon]

"But unless he gets back into a primetime spot on network or mass-market cable television, his glory days will be mostly behind him."

Do they seriously know absolutely jack shit about the coming revolution that's going to pretty much bankrupt "traditional" television providers?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

What, the Internet? Psssh! It's a fad.

[anon]

"But unless he gets back into a primetime spot on network or mass-market cable television, his glory days will be mostly behind him."

Do they seriously know absolutely jack shit about the coming revolution that's going to pretty much bankrupt "traditional" television providers?

[anon]

"But unless he gets back into a primetime spot on network or mass-market cable television, his glory days will be mostly behind him."

Do they seriously know absolutely jack shit about the coming revolution that's going to pretty much bankrupt "traditional" television providers?

[Irish]

"But unless he gets back into a primetime spot on network or mass-market cable television, his glory days will be mostly behind him."

That's an interesting claim because it's totally counterfactual.

Leaving Fox News has turned out to be a pretty good business move for Glenn Beck. By the end of this year, 18 months after he got out of the 24-hour cable news business and struck out on his own as an internet broadcasting pioneer, Beck will have doubled the revenues of his company, Mercury Radio Arts, from $40 million to $80 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Why do these people insist on being wrong about everything?

[anon]

Why do these people insist on being wrong about everything?

If they didn't plan it, they can't control it. If they can't control it, it scares the shit out of them.

[Cytotoxic]

If it doesn't fit the paradigm it's wrong.

[John]

How many people in the entertainment industry period generate $80 million a year in revenue? There can't be more than a dozen or so. Yeah, Beck is totally on his way to irrelevance. Love him or hate him, money doesn't lie.

[AuH20]

...Do you really want to be that depressed John?

Because I'm pretty sure Taylor fucking Swift, amongst other shitty musicians, generates 80 million a year.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Taylor Swift isn't that bad, at least not for a teeny bop phenomena. She can sing in tune and her songs are generic but serviceable. My girls listening to that is a vast improvement over the Justin Beiber days *shudder*

[mad libertarian guy]

Taylor Swift isn't that bad, at least not for a teeny bop phenomena. She can sing in tune and her songs are generic but serviceable. My girls listening to that is a vast improvement over the Justin Beiber days *shudder*

The posters are better too.

[anon]

Yay triple posting thanks to squirrels.

[Francisco d Anconia]

3 at 3:00. That's the third time I've seen that happen.

Too much to be a coincidence. Squirrels have a thing for 3.

[anon]

It's got to be some kind of IP lease renew or server backup or something that happens at 3 every day.

[John]

I love how guys like Beck and Limbaugh who are making gazzillions of dollars don't really matter and are fringe figures while people like Special Ed Shultz and Randy Maddow who are lucky to draw a million viewers are serious important opinion makers.

[Nando]

Randy Maddow

WHO?

[John]

Rachel, Randy, whatever her name is.

[Nando]

YOu're talking about The smartest woman on TV

[SugarFree]

How sad for women if that were even remotely true.

[Nando]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....rson-on-TV

[anon]

I am amazed. And confused.

And I kinda wanna vomit a little.

[Irish]

Wow. I love that liberals always need to tell us how smart their liberal icons are.

They're so smart that none of us can tell unless psychotic socialists explain it to us.

It also seems like they're trying to compensate for something by constantly assuring us how smart they are. If you're actually smart, you don't have to walk around town yelling "PAY ATTENTION TO ME! I AM SMART!"

[AuH20]

Liberal icons are always very well-credentialed. Liberals often mistake this with being smart.

[Cytotoxic]

REALITY-BASED

[anon]

I know there's a man that hosts a show called Rachel Madcow or something...

[Francisco d Anconia]

Don't get Tonio going, now.

[VG Zaytsev]

Randy Maddow has a sister called Chris Hayes.

[Nando]

music videos are the opiate of the masses.

[DblEagle]

I vaguely remember there was another network back in the 1980's named MTV that played music videos. I don't know why they sold their brand name to the current "MTV" that is on the cable.

[anon]

You people still use cable?

Neanderthals.

[Ska]

U68?

[MappRapp]

Dude that just looks like its gonna be coolW@

http://www.Anon-Top.tk

[John]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-J.....rcent-loss

I know this has been mentioned in other threads previously. But you just can't laugh hard enough at the NYT taking a 93% loss selling the Boston Globe.

[Eduard van Haalen]

At least they're not the Kochs. The Kochs would probably make a profit, those bastards.

[SugarFree]

And NYT is keeping the BG pensions ($110 million) and threw in a smaller paper it bought for $300 million in the deal.

They turned a $1,400,000,000 investment into $40,000,000 in liabilities. And that's not even accounting for how much money NYT put into those papers while they ran in the red.

No wonder they think Krugman is a money genius.

[John]

They took local papers that were liberal but generally tolerable and appealing to their readership and turned them into boring dreck written to make a certain breed of upper east side twit feel smug. And they did so while buying the most union ridden and least adaptable papers in the markets they went into right as the internet revolution was about to happen.

I am sure Kruginuts thinks the problem is that they just didn't spend enough good money after bad.

[anon]

I am sure Kruginuts thinks the problem is that they just didn't spend enough good money after bad.

And people still take him seriously.

That's the real tragedy here.

[PapayaSF]

Perhaps the problem can be blamed on libertarians, or urban sprawl.

[Acosmist]

Sunk cost fallacy is a real thing.

[AuH20]

It's actually a bigger loss, because everyone keeps comparing the 1.1 billion they bought it for in 1993 to the 70 mil they sold it for today. They keep forgetting to adjust for inflation.

The BLS' calculator won't let me do amounts over 10 mil, but 10 million in 1993 has the same purchasing power as $16,159,446.37 today. So if anyone wants to math that out, go ahead, but I'm getting that 100 million then would be like... 170 million today? Rounded obviously.

So they actually got hosed for somewhere north of 10 billion dollars.

[Ted S.]

Why couldn't you have done 1.1 million and moved the decimal three places to the right?

[anon]

Or just done a dollar then to a dollar today and multiplied it out.

Keep It Simple & Stupid.

[Knarf Yenrab (prev. An0nB0t)]

Hey, that's my dating strategy too. Small world.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Photos of the only Kennedy who didn't drown woman, didn't help assassinate Vietnamese premiers, didn't hand Freedom Riders over to segregationists, didn't praise Hugo Chavez, didn't get busted for driving dangerously while plastered, and didn't want to socialize the health-care system:

http://bit.ly/19EoxRY

[John]

She is actually better looking now than she was when she was younger.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hmmm...you may be right.

[?J?? de ?guila]

Yes, there is a naked pic.

[Ice Nine]

No, that's not the only one.

[sam the man]

Was really hoping to see Jamie Kennedy

[Irish]

I love watching as the media's influence slowly erodes and they grow progressively more irrelevant.

Poll: Voters support stand your ground laws 53-40.

Poll: Only 24 percent believe Zimmerman was motivated by race.

In other words, the two massive media narratives about the Zimmerman trial failed completely.

[John]

If only they would stop voting as the media tells them.

[Cytotoxic]

I hope you're right. The media sure owned the 2012 election.

[Knarf Yenrab (prev. An0nB0t)]

Thanks to the blogosphere, we're the last couple of generations who will know a world of popular opinion defined by the mainline media narrative. The shameful propaganda of the last few years (the gun control debacle and the elevation of an everyday act of self-defense into unspeakable racist abuse being the freshest on my mind at the moment) is the dying gasp of an outmoded business in its attempts to remain relevant. The old media oligarchy has been getting rolled for a decade now, and they know it.

Glenn Reynolds, Ace of Spades, and (God help us) the Young Turks are the future of political critique. Suck it, Candy Crowley.

[The Late P Brooks]

How sad for women if that were even remotely true.

Yikes!

[Mad Scientist]

Mary, you really should take your meds.

[Eduard van Haalen]

It's frightening when someone shows up who's crazier than I am.

[anon]

Oh the joys of the progressive mind.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Mary (or whoever) - *I'm* the H&R madman. Don't even think of outcrazying me. Only Sugarfree and a couple others get to do that.

[Mad Scientist]

Colorado Lawmakers Have Magical License Plates That Prevent Them From Getting Tickets

[Nazdrakke]

Because why the fuck not, amirite? Why should those noble public servants have to go through the motions of pretending the law applies to everyone equally when a simple FYTW will do.

[Ted S.]

They need to design their site you can you read it without images, not an all-white background image. 🙁

[PapayaSF]

A valid design tip, but what the hell are you using? Lynx? Who turns off images on the web anymore? Is your TV black and white, too? It's 2013, dude. Get with the program.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

"This website is compatible with IE 3.0"

[Cytotoxic]

How does an average citizen emulate this?

[General Butt Naked]

I've heard that the radar detector is aimed at your license plate which has a special reflective coating that's not in the visible range. I also heard that very fine sand paper will remove this coating (probably a felony) and will render a radar detector impotent.

I always figured it was an urban legend, but who knows?

[ThatSkepticGuy]

I always heard it was elves.

[General Butt Naked]

It's the same elves that put strychnine in LSD.

[anon]

Cyto, the article headline is a bit hyperbolic; apparently there's a loophole in Colorado where state legislator's vehicles aren't entered into the DMV database which prevents various officers from administering tickets.

[Nazdrakke]

a loophole

Well, that's one way to put it.

[anon]

Yeah, as soon as I posted I thought "shit, should've used the word Feature."

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

First 10 videos ever played by MTV

[Eduard van Haalen]

OMG Pat Benatar!!!

[A Serious Man]

Scientists say they may have found a genetic 'Adam and Eve', humanity's most recent common ancestors.

Almost every man alive can trace his origins to one man who lived about 135,000 years ago, new research suggests. And that ancient man likely shared the planet with the mother of all women.
The findings, detailed Thursday, Aug. 1, in the journal Science, come from the most complete analysis of the male sex chromosome, or the Y chromosome, to date. The results overturn earlier research, which suggested that men's most recent common ancestor lived just 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

Of course, she was a Cylon, right?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I thought we agreed never to talk about the ending to BSG -- whoops, I meant to say, gee it sure is a shame that BSG got cancelled before they could finish their final season and go out with a bang.

[A Serious Man]

There was a final season of BSG? I'm just speculating on where I thought they were going with it if they wanted a happy ending.

Of course a more realistic ending would be Adama and the other main characters executed by mutineers who lead the fleet to its inevitable destruction.

[anon]

Repeat after me: There is no final season of BSG; the cake is a lie.

[Cytotoxic]

BSG's true ending: 'That was a weird fucking dream. I can't believe I dreamt all that crazed shit [third season]'-Adama

Scene: the fleet finds Earth. Modern day Earth. Which is now kinda fucked because the Cylons are in pursuit.

[MJGreen]

I still can't believe Moore and company had the balls to end the series with Adama being shot out an airlock by a victorious Gaeta. I figured it was going to be a dream sequence, but nope. The mutiny works, Adama and Roslin are killed, and we're left to assume the survivors have the good sense to return to Kobol and restart civilization.

[MJGreen]

Is anyone watching network news? I'm watching NBC's world news, and even if this terror alert is for real, the whole thing feels so damn scripted. Be afraid! People like Peter King know what's going on! Our glorious President is getting up-to-the-minute updates!

Has this ever happened since 9/11? Other than vague color alerts, anyway. Because if not, it's quite convenient that the intelligence community is so smart and open just as they are put under greater scrutiny.

[AuH20]

Remember that scene in V for Vendetta?

"We'll show everyone WHY THEY NEED US!"

[AuH20]

Also, realistically, outside of attacking our troops overseas, who are kind of obvious targets what with having guns and going on patrol... how successful has Al Quada really been since 9/11?

I can think of the attacks in Britain and in Spain as the only examples. And those two combined don't top 500 people. The India attacks in Mumbai were a different group and a different issue.

Honestly, it seems that their primary success has been in Muslim-on-Muslim violence, in various attacks in the Middle East, but ones that kill other Muslims.

[anon]

Duh, AQ hasn't been successful because NSA DATA COLLECTION!

It's bill of rights raping, all the way down.

[JeremyR]

Arguably that's why the Iraq war happened.

Using the old premise, that if you are going to fight a war, do it on someone else's territory.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

so do you think AQ changed their plan for Tuesday then

[Bam!]

Chickens have fled the coop. I repeat: The chickens have fled the coop.

[PapayaSF]

"Molasses tomorrow will bring forth cognac. John has a long mustache."

[mad libertarian guy]

The propaganda spewed forth by the NYT concerning this global alert is fucking great too.

[PapayaSF]

The best music video show wasn't MTV, but Night Flight on the USA network. Generally they would show maybe 40 minutes of music videos centered on a theme (women rockers, European bands, animated videos) and then a cult film like Reefer Madness, 200 Motels, the wonderful Firesign Theatre film J-men Forever, old science fiction TV shows, or things like that. It was wonderful and I still miss it.

[sticks]

I don't think I ever saw that. Definitely saw USA up all night though. The original sounds better.

[PapayaSF]

24 minutes of Night Flight

[SIV]

I'm tearing up with nostalgia for my well-misspent youth.

[PapayaSF]

The show just had a wonderfully '80s vibe: hip trippy stoner retro camp. Some cable channel could do a lot worse than to create some sort of contemporary version. I'd do a mix of modern videos (no hip-hop, sorry), animated and experimental shorts from YouTube and Vimeo, strange old things from Archive.org, and cult movies. Maybe (oh, this would be great) the movies could hosted by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 folks, or a close facsimile. Boy, would I love to see that.

Today there's just too much pandering to mainstream youth pop culture. I think there's a good size audience that would appreciate seeing strange new and old things in a more freeform way.

[General Butt Naked]

Today there's just too much pandering to mainstream youth pop culture.

I'm not old, but I'm not young and would like to know whether pr not there was ever a time where a person in their 30s wouldn't be considered an idiot listening to Top 40 music? I'm no snob, but if someone my age listened to top 40, I'd think they were immature and no too bright.

[Ray Smuckles]

Turn that mother out!

[Bam!]

"I think there's a good size audience that would appreciate seeing strange new and old things in a more freeform way."

It's called, The Internet. It's on computers now.

[PapayaSF]

True, but TV is still around. No reason there couldn't be a new Night Flight on one of those hundreds of cable channels.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Absolutely. I might not have been a fan of everything they played, but even if I didn't like the genre they were playing it was still at least interesting, which set it apart from MTV.

[SugarFree]

"What is Burn Notice?"

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Someone needs your help, Michael.

[SIV]

You are correct, Sir.

I posted this upthread after you. It was really cool back in the 80s to come home after 2 in the morning, spark up a spliff to jumpstart the fading serotonin agonists and watch a little Night Flight.
Ideally (and reasonably often) this occurred in some strange college girl's apartment.

[JeremyR]

I loved that show. I recently got copies of 4 episodes of it.

[anon]

OT: Does this "unspecified terrorist threat" sound like complete bullshit to anyone but me?

[sticks]

Not just you.

[sam the man]

Haven't heard anything yet but I'm quite sure it's bullshit or an overreaction.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

CBC had Video Hits.

[SIV]

"I'm proud to be an American

where at least I know I won't have to watch a The Tragically Hip video on my TV"

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

People who hate 80s music are worse than Hitler.

[General Butt Naked]

If you can hate music based solely upon the arbitrary value of the decade it was produced, it's a short step to hating a person based only upon his parent's religion/race.

[PapayaSF]

The decade had such a wide variety of music that anyone should be able to find something they like.

[William of Purple]

Teenwolf or Trading Places?

[William of Purple]

getting fit and staying that way is all about commitment, dedication and sheer hard work.

[William of Purple]

http://www.nietzschefamilycirc.....=165&q=247

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's awesome

[Jon Lester]

I can't be the only one here who didn't have cable in the 80's. Anyone else remember "MV3?" Anyone from Atlanta remember Cousin Brucie's "Jukebox Video," Channel 5's simulcast with 94Q, or Channel 69 (and Janet Darr in particular)?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Friday Night Videos on NVC

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

NBC

[Jon Lester]

I thought of that and the (technically local) Night Tracks on WTBS, but figured most people would consider those network shows. There really was a time when you could turn to almost any broadcast channel on Friday or Saturday night and find music videos playing.

[MappRapp]

Sounds liek a pretty solid plan dude, I like it.

http://www.Privacy-Rox.tk

[anon]

This is probably true.

[Mad Scientist]

I sure didn't.

[A Serious Man]

Nope.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Wait - what?

[Fatty Bolger]

That reminds me of a Jim David joke:

My dad looks at me, and he says, "So now, so now, what is it that the two of you do? What do you do?" And I said, "Well, you know, Dad, all those things you really wish Mom would do, but she won't? That's what we do."

[John]

I think Mary is off her meds again.

[anon]

Is it Mary or American?

[AuH20]

I'm not sure Mary is ever on her meds. They just normally keep her banned, until she gets a new ISP... which, seriously, is she hitting a bunch of wifi spots, or changing computers, or what? As you guys can tell, I don't know much about how one changes one's ISP.

[Mad Scientist]

Are you sure there's a difference?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Gotta be Mary.

Mary, you're sick. Take your meds. Seriously.

[RBS]

I thought they caught Mary after she vandalized all those monuments.

[Mad Scientist]

They're not likely banning her internet service provider, as that would also ban a big block of addresses used by people who are not crazy. They're just banning her IP address. When she gets a new one (which could happen every time she connects depending on the type of service she has) she gets through again until they ban that address as well. My guess is she's not connecting from a coffee shop because her brand of crazy is fairly unruly and bad for business..

[?J?? de ?guila]

Try this RM, it might straighten out your thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNjXv4rajHE

[Ray Smuckles]

You know me, dude. I'm straighter than John Wayne voting for Reagan on a horse. Somebody says I'm gay, I'll just sit here bein' straight, and they'll be wrong.