Bun DMC. Clever.

While watching The Five Year Engagement....

Erin: "Ha.  That's funny.  'Bun DMC' you see that tshirt?"

Jon:  "Yeah.  What does it mean?"

Erin:  "Oh Run DMC was this rap group.  They were a pretty big deal."

And for the record, the movie was OK.  We Red Boxed it.  But... ehhh .... I still wish The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel had been at the Red Box.  (sigh)

Elizabeth Berkley vs. Barney the Dinosaur

Jeopardy with Alexi and Matt.  Yipes.

A while back a few of Jon's classmates, Alexi and Matt came over for dinner.  Naturally we watched Jeopardy while Jon finished making dinner.  He's a champ in the kitchen.  I have to say that I felt like a ringer this time and managed to get more Jeopardy answers correct than I usually do.  Meanwhile my guests (i.e. opponents) found themselves without answers.

The defining moment of the evening came via back-to-back questions from the 90's Entertainment category.

First Question

Alex Trebek:  "This actress starred in the controversial film titled, Showgirls"
Erin (yelling!):  "Who is Elizabeth Berkley?!?!!"
Alexi and Matt: [silent]

Elizabeth Berkley old skool

Elizabeth Berkley 'the new class'

Second Question

Alex Trebek:  "This popular dinosaur's trademark colors included purple and green."
Erin:  [silent]  Thinking, "I know this!  I know it!  Somewhere in my brain the answer is clear, it is on the tip of my tongue!!!"
Alexi and Matt (who were virtually silent for the entire game):  [simultaneously]  "WHO IS BARNEY!!?!"

And then I had a generational moment.

Slash Was Interviewed on NPR This Morning

 Jon:  "I like this song.  It's by some band named something like Pandora or Panera."

Erin:  "Pantera?"

Jon:  "Is that a band?"

Erin:  "Yes."

Jon:  "Then that's it, Pantera."

Erin:  "But I'm pretty sure this song is by another band though, not Pantera."  (Knowing I vaguely associate Pantera's music with Megadeath and slash metal or something.)

...After a few moments that involve the iphone...

Jon:  "You're right.  It's a band called Guns N Roses."



Then I think, "Yep just some random band called Guns N Roses."

Generational Tragedy - The Cosby Show

The cast of the arguably best television show from the 1980's.  Duh.

Erin: "Jon, have you ever watched The Cosby Show?"
Jon: "No."

I didn't even react.  I couldn't.  I was in a state of such shock and bewilderment mixed with deep sadness faced with the realization that Jon Horne does not know the wonder of The Cosby Show.  Rudy, Theo and Cockroach, the fat kid who Bill Cosby bounced on his knee, the car accident with Stevie Wonder...  COME ON!  Dr. Huxtable!

From Left to Right: President Obama, Joe-Jamal Biden, Michelle Obama

This came to light while watching Maya Rudolf's Saturday Night Live debut on Hulu tonight (thank you, Spooner).  They did a spoof called The Obama Show. It was pretty hilarious; the best part was definitely Joe-Jamal Biden.  When I noticed that Jon was not laughing, I had to dig deeper.... the truth uncovered.  Never seen The Cosby Show.  I am shaking my head, incredulous.

Good Lord I love The Cosby Show

"Haven't you ever heard of civil rights? It's the nineties."

We watched Brides Maids and I laughed so hard at times that I could not breathe.  The disclaimer here is that the film is most definitely vulgar at times, but the hilarity wins out.  Seriously, Jon and I both loved this movie.  For me, in addition to the jokes exchanged between characters Lillien and Annie, the 80's references to Kirk Cameron and mix tapes were great!  At the end when Wilson Philips surprises everyone at the wedding and starts singing Hold On, Jon looked over at me and seriously asked, "Have you ever heard this song before?"

Ahem.  "Yes.  I have."

I Should Have Just Referenced Coolio's Line From Gangsta's Paradise

When I turned 24 my friend, Grafton deButts said that I went from the "Jordan year to the Gordon year."  We laughed at his wit, and obviously knew he was talking about Michael Jordan, Bulls jersey number 23 and Jeff Gordon, race car number 24.  Duh.

Jon has a friend from work whose wife recently turned 24.  I was trying to make conversation!  I was trying to be witty!  (Bad idea).  Recalling Grafton's success with that comment many moons ago, I thought I'd try it out.. ya know, get a chuckle or two, win a few friends.  I mean, I've heard jokes fall flat many times in my day, but this was awful. 
Womp.

After I said it, it was like the whole restaurant went quiet and all the patrons knew I said something really stupid.  Sweet Jon couldn't even help me; I was just dangling out there.  Quickly, rather than make it about the age gap, I blamed the miscommunication on a Virginia/NASCAR thing. (Way cooler, obviously.  Great recovery.  NASCAR! Really, Erin?)  Which maybe made sense?  Everyone else at the table hailed from far-away states like Illinois, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

At least, this is what I keep telling myself.

Oy vey.

Reversal

Tonight Jon Horne threw me a real curve ball.  We were sitting in a class, quietly sharing witty banter in the back of the room when Jon made this reference:  "Should I go get a huge hammer and smash some vegetables?"  I stared at him with a blank look and then squinched my face.  "What?"  With a twinkle in his eye, he whispered, "You know, Gallagher" and promptly erupted into laughter at his own joke.  JON HORNE REFERENCED THE COMEDY OF GALLAGHER AND I DIDN'T GET IT.

Once he connected the dots for me, I was totally with him, but man.  He reached further back than my pop-culture brain was able to go.  Tightly-fitting striped shirts, a huge hammer, and a watermelon... lucky for you all, he's still touring.  And you can check his dates HERE.

Commiserating with Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Have you seen the film 50/50?  It's good.  I think really good.  (Get the Kleenex) And admittedly OK, it's vulgar, but hey it's Seth Rogan + Seattle, what would you expect?

There is this one scene in the movie when I literally laughed out loud, totally getting the interchange between Levitt's character, Adam Lerner when he meets his therapist, Katie McCay for the first time.  McCay is played by Anna Kendrick.  In this scene he is surprised to find a young woman as his therapist and they have the following conversation:

Adam:  "I'm sorry.  How old are you?"
Katie:  "Twenty-four."
Adam makes the joke, "Who are you, like Doogie Howser?"
Katie: "Who?"

For the record, Jon Horne knows who Doogie Howser is.  What he may not be able to identify is Doogie's theme music.  A pity really.

Christmas Sweatshirts from 1991

Spooner and I looked at each other during the typical beat of silence following this type of question:

"What is puffy paint?"

Then the challenge presented itself, how does one explain puffy paint?  "Er, well, hmmm.... let me think. [beat]  OK, it's like this paint that comes out of little squeeze bottles, and you don't use a brush or anything, and it sort of puffs up on its surface and dries after a few hours."  Completely inadequate explanation.

We tried to use an example.  "Jon, do you remember when you were a kid and people would iron-on, like Christmas images to sweatshirts, and then they would use this paint to outline the images?"  Oh Lord, explaining this process makes the sweatshirts sound even stupider than they look (difficult to achieve, yet possible.)  In the end, Jon did not have any cob-webbed memories of puffy paint.  Neither did his contemporary and fellow Naval Flight Officer, Dan.  Also born in the mid-1980's.  Spooner and I felt and fought both the sting of old age, and the urge to make personalized t-shirts.

The Special Sauce

Note: In Florida a lot of our friends are closer to Jon's age than mine.  I fear I occasionally teeter on the see-saw of "Did you know Horne's wife is thirty-one?!!"

We have potential friends, Lyle and Jessica down the street.  We like them.  They are going to have a baby soon.  Also I like Lyle because he saved me, in what could have been an embarrassing, age-induced-guffaw during our first double date.  They took us to their favorite local sushi spot a few weeks back and Lyle explained all the wonderful things about Sumo Sushi.  This included the Sumo Sushi Special Sauce.  Upon Lyle's introduction of the special sauce, I immediately quipped something extremely witty I'm sure about "Did G Love know it was on loan to Sumo Sushi?" or something.  And gah!  The immediate silence that followed my quip!  I felt heat rising in my cheeks and I said, "Please tell me one of you gets this reference."

Hooray for Lyle! (he had older siblings, thank God) who replied, "Oh I got ya, 'My baby got sauce, Your baby ain't sweet like mine' I know G.Love and the Special Sauce."  I nearly flew across the table and hugged him.  "Thank you, Lyle."  Relieved and relevant.

Tool Time

Erin: "... Jonathan Taylor Thomas. [beat]  Do you know who that is?"

Jon:  "No."

Erin:  "Yes, you do."

Jon (slightly offended):  "Then why would you even ask me?  I was only the THE biggest Home Improvement fan."

Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza

I am a Gen X-er.  I am married to a Millenial.  Our birthdays are 6-7ish years apart.  This means that we often have, what we affectionately refer to as "Generational Moments."  These are times when one party makes a comment/joke along the lines of pop culture references, current events of our childhood, etc.  These quips are generally greeted by blank stares, dropped-jaws, confusion, or beats of silence from the other party.  I keep meaning to write these down because they're pretty funny.  Here's a recent exchange which qualifies as a Generation Moment.  Enjoy.

 Jon Horne:  "...I could be the boss of that guy."

 Erin: "Could you tell Tony Danza who's the boss?"

 Jon Horne: "What does that even mean?"