"Reality Bites"?--parts are cringeworthy in their autheticity (sweater folding seminars at the GAP), but the movie proves why Ethan Hawke was destined to be a grunge-era cliche. St. Elmo's Fire has a similar quality--a great Brat pack camp artifact, but it's tough for any Andrew McCarthy flick to be considered iconic about anything important, unless one is being ironic.

"Kicking & Screaming", OTOH, captures much of the longing for endless adolescence in its slacker and liberal arts seeking dimensions, although in a way that's a little too Williams College or Oberlin to be mainstream. Still, it's a very fine film

I'm surprised the ultimate indie film, "Return of the Secaucus Seven" isn't on the list. It's the prototypical indie--John Sayles, his college buddies and zero budget, with a somewhat personal but not too self-indulgent story and the characters are pretty much what you'd expect from the not entirely engaged social conciousness of their era. Granted, the characters are a few years out of school, but it's basically the same idea. "Secaucus Seven" probably begat "The Big Chill", which is more post-post-grad, and is an awful film except for the soundtrack and William Hurt's touchingly funny character.

I'm not old enough to have seen "The Graduate" in its initial release, but I recall being blown away by it the first time I saw it on television. Benjamin is too priviliged to be typical and the Oedipal set-up is too wierd to be believed (although it's probably been the fantasy of any straight boy with an attractive neighbor), but the whole thing works, and is filled with great character players like Marion Lorne ("Hello, Mr. Gladstone") and Norman Fell, as well as underrated lines like "Oh no, sir, it's completely baked". Anne Bancroft is wonderfully understated, yet, clearly ruthless and is reason enough to see the film. It's not reality but it works better than a string of cliches like "Reality Bites".

She obviously does zero research which would make her fit in perfectly with most dead tree or television news organs. Condoms have been a mainstay of mainstream gay porn companies since the late 1980s. Their market share has been eroded by cheap Europorn and by start-up condomless companies, but the majors have maintained a condom-only policy. Now, these firms are threatened by internet sites, which have managed to remain largely adherent to condoms. The straight studios generally do "routine" (i.e., required) testing. The gay studios have not gone this route, with the exception of a small number of the bareback studios. The clinic that does most of the RNA testing for straight porn studios is one entity that stands to lose if studios go to condoms, because it's revenue stream would be lost and its charismatic head (an ex-adult entertainment performer) would lose her soapbox.

The foundation that has filed suit is headed by a notorious gadfly who is well known in Southern California circles. he has gotten under the skin of a great many people. One has to wonder what the angle would be for his organization. While the porn industry, gay and straight, has remained largely centered in California, much of the gay work is done outside of LA and the advent of the internet and cheap video cameras has made it possible for many start-ups to develop all over the country. One possible consequence would be for the decentralization of porn to pick up speed, which would undermine any local regulation in California.

The arc of Funkhauser's administration is not unlike that of the much beloved presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich. His wife was never a problem and his brother, Gary, was probably a better politician, but the young inexperienced, hardnosed people he brought with him proved to be a big part of his undoing. He had been a racebaiting city councilman, so he had little political capital for broadening his base or working with the president of the city council. Today, he's lionized, although a quick purusal of his Congressional record suggests that he remains all noise and no effective action.

Connie Chung was known as "high Q (audience popularity), low IQ Connie". Sawyer seems less dim, but equally shallow. She seems like a 60-something man's idea of what a woman should be, which is decorative, pleasantly serious, and not very deep. Mike Wallace invented the celeb/entertainer to journo transformation, but Barbara Walters perfected it, and yet, Sawyer seems to exemplify it. She seems so shallow in comparison to Walters, who may lack intellectual depth but occasionally shows a sharp, analytic mind. What's sad is there is clearly no second bench of decent anchors, regardless of gender. The dead tree and broadcast news businesses seem to do little cultivate or promote people under 60, esp. those who have much seriousness going on. Amonpour is probably too serious for her won good. It's important to remember that in the days of Howard K. Smith and Cronkite, you also had Peter Jennings, Robert MacNeil, and others as well as Nancy Dickerson, Pauline Frederick, and Liz Trotta.

Cheney was a notorious leaker during the Bush administration. He even spoke regularly with critics like Walter Pincus. It's likely that Broder & company know even more than they are telling and could wind up in the dock with Cheney if a throrough investigation is done.