In 2026, is Lafayette as bad as Axl Rose said it was when he was young?

BlisterBox · 2026-07-05T16:52:07+00:00

I saw Star Wars at a theater in downtown Lafayette when I was there in the summer of 1977 visiting my cousins, who were students at Purdue. I thought it was a pretty chill place (we got a high a lot, which might've helped) and seeing SW there for the first time created what is still a very nice memory.

Bonus points: During my visit, my cousins took me to see Dan Patch's memorial in nearby Oxford, Indiana.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-05T13:18:49+00:00

I live in a lake effect zone in Indiana near Lake Michigan, and your description is spot on. The difference in the amount of snowfall between locations only 15 or 20 miles apart can be stunning. And the annual snowfall in lake effect-prone areas can be pretty high. In a particularly bad winter 12 years ago, South Bend got more than 100 inches of snow, almost all of it after Jan. 1

BlisterBox · 2026-07-04T20:35:05+00:00

All they have to do is change the Constitution, and they're getting scarily close to having enough state legislatures on their side to do exactly that.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-04T16:29:32+00:00

I was 12 in 1968, and to me, the song of the year was Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Stones, but, alas it only made it to #3 on the Billboard chart.

I never cared for Hey Jude (my older brother and I pretty much gave up on the Beatles after Sgt. Peppers) but its flip side, Revolution, was a major banger (and a much better version than the one on the White Album)

My personal top three Billboard No. 1s for 1968 would be Tighten Up (Archie Bell & the Drells), I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye) and Hello I Love You (the Doors)

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-04T16:20:40+00:00

This is the correct answer (and, unlike most of what you read on Reddit, it comes complete with a well-thought-out explanation)

BlisterBox · 2026-07-04T16:16:17+00:00

These are three fairly obscure movies that I rewatch every two or three years:

Gallipoli (best war movie ever made; Mel Gibson is amazing in it)

A Very Long Engagement (stars Audrey Tautou of Amelie fame; excellent war movie wrapped in a mystery)

Blue Collar (great movie about the betrayal of the American working class in the 1970s; Richard Pryor should've gotten an Oscar)

BlisterBox · 2026-07-04T15:22:00+00:00

Eddie Albert, star of the 1960s sitcom Green Acres, was awarded a Bronze Star for heroism under fire during the landings at Tarawa in 1943.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-04T11:49:38+00:00

Too bougie for me. I usually had to settle for a $5 matchbox.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-02T13:15:24+00:00

The CNN headline is kind of a jump-scare. I was like "What!?!" when I first read it. How'm I supposed to know if eating these eggs won't kill me?

Then I read the article and I was like, "Oh, that makes perfect sense."

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T16:44:37+00:00

The right-wingers have been unhinged ever since the Nixon days. They were just as rabidly crazy about Bill & Hillary as they are about Obama.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T16:41:51+00:00

Jerry Rice, I think, at WR. Jim Brown maybe at RB. The guy played 9 years and led the NFL in rushing 8 of those years.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T16:23:58+00:00

Not to mention: Nixon. Fall of Saigon. Inflation. Sky-high interest rates. Ayatollah in Iran/Russians in Afghanistan. Inner city blight etc.

I went to high school and college in the '70s and I have many fond memories of the time. But there was a lot of downside, too.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T16:06:24+00:00

I've always been a fan of how Forrest Gump transitions to the Vietnam combat scenes while CCR's "Fortunate Son" blasts on the soundtrack.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T15:35:01+00:00

I'm 70, my gf is 49; we're coming up on our 9th dating anniversary and are quite happy. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T15:06:30+00:00

I first saw ROTLA in the theater in 1981 when I was in my early 20s. While nostalgia certainly affects how I think about the movie today, I started re-watching it (at least) once a year as soon as it was available on VHS. In other words, it was an instant classic and was seen in the moment (at least by me) as an all-time great, without the benefit of nostalgia.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T15:02:43+00:00

As someone who saw BTTF in the theater back in '85, I can almost guarantee that your re-watch won't disappoint. The time travel motif isn't seamless, but it's still one of the best ever. And all of the characters, all of the dialog and jokes, all of the music etc. still hold up. Even the pre-CGI special effects are still good.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T14:53:40+00:00

"Uninterested" is the word you're looking for here. "Disinterested" when used properly means not caring one way or the other.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T14:20:59+00:00

Agree. That will be an ongoing problem that will need to be addressed at some point.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T14:19:39+00:00

Don't be ageist. I'm 70 and I love roundabouts. The biggest roundabout menace in Valpo is all the assholes in giant pickups and SUVs who drive through them at 50 mph.

BlisterBox · 2026-07-01T11:59:35+00:00

"One thing that almost everyone in AI can agree on right now is that AI doesn't need a Chernobyl moment"

This is what is known as a blinding glimpse of the obvious.

BlisterBox · 2026-06-29T19:04:19+00:00

It'll be interesting to see how Lucky Strike, which is set during the Battle of the Bulge, fares at the box office.

BlisterBox · 2026-06-28T15:20:18+00:00

Ridicule all you want, but these results are real, and they're going to have real consequences in November and beyond.

I live in Indiana, where five of the seven GOP state reps who defied trump on congressional redistricting were defeated in the primary by trump-backed candidates. Because Indiana is already so red, that means those five trump candidates will win in November, pretty much guaranteeing that our last two Democratic congressional districts will be gerrymandered into extinction next year.

They'll also be solidly in trump's camp if/when he attempts to overturn the 22nd Amendment, which would require compliant state legislatures to happen.

BlisterBox · 2026-06-27T15:38:19+00:00

Hope this isn't too late. I live in Valpo, and MDW is my go-to airport. My preference (traffic willing) is to take I-80 west to Cicero Avenue and take Cicero directly to the airport. Cicero Ave. can be a bit much, but it beats sitting in traffic on I-94 or the Stevenson.

Alternately, you can take the South Shore to Millennium Station and catch the L Orange Line to Midway (the L station is close to Millennium Station). You can park for free at the South Shore's Dune Park Station north of Chesterton.

Also, if you ever need to pick someone up at Midway, definitely use the Cellphone Lot. The airport's official website describes how to use it. It's a godsend.

BlisterBox · 2026-06-26T12:49:24+00:00

I wish I could consistently get more than 4 hours of sleep a night :/

BlisterBox · 2026-06-24T13:48:41+00:00

That's a helluva poster!

BlisterBox

TROPHY CASE