<p>We are also an Action movie watching family. We like watching big special effects and amazing sets and stuff blowing up. :)</p>
<p>I tend to not care for any alternate universe / Lord of the Rings-type stuff and if someone were to mention, say, Frodo or or whatever, I don’t really know what character they’re referring to or what sets of characteristics they are trying to conjure up (good, bad or indifferent). </p>
<p>This thread is hysterical. </p>
<p>I really try to not live under a rock, so thank you to whoever posted the link to the Hey Girl meme thing. Had never heard of it. </p>
<p>Perhaps we need a thread about “pop culture references” so all us old fogies can keep up to date. </p>
<p>As to the OP – heard of The Notebook, know of Ryan Gosling, didn’t know the two were matched. I think it’s OK to write an essay with those references as long as the reference is made clear (give the name of the movie) and the whole essay doesn’t revolve around the assumption that the reader has seen the movie. IOW, the main point of the essay should be crystal clear even if the reader has no clue who those characters are. (I just read To The Lighthouse, which is filled with current-for-the-day references, and I was able to follow the story without understanding them.)</p>
<p>I have heard of Lilo & Stich but don’t know anything about the movie at all. H was in charge of taking kid to all Disney movies. </p>
<p>I also wouldn’t have know who Ryan Gosling was if I tripped over him; except they filmed The Place Beyond the Pines here and the cast was all over the local news for months. </p>
<p>Although if you were an ad com circa ten years ago, you probably would have become familiar. ;)</p>
<p>I have a burning question re : Ryan Gosling. I totally do not get the appeal.
He’s pleasantly average looking at best. Is he an amazing actor or something?</p>
<p>I was gratified to find this, now I don’t need to see any of the Sparks movies.</p>
<p>
He compares himself to Hemingway and Austen and the Greek tragedists. 
<a href=“Nicholas Sparks, Miley Cyrus share a 'Last Song' love story - USATODAY.com”>http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2010-03-11-lastsong11_CV_N.htm</a>
And to Grisham, which I agree with.</p>
<p>As an aside, I suggest a movie called Robot & Frank. Set in the near future, a cantankerous older man whose memory is slipping needs help and his kids foist on him a helper robot. The robot’s job is to encourage Frank, to keep him sharp, etc. Problem is Frank’s a jewel thief so what keeps him sharp is the planning and carrying off of a robbery. The movie fits this thread because you learn some important characters turn out to be more than they seem but he’s forgotten. It’s a very sweet movie and I think it’s available on Netflix.</p>
<p>I like the Notebook. My daughters watched it. </p>
<p>To show the extent of cultural penetration, on sports talk radio, a host - former NFL player - asked the guest - current NFL player - if he’d seen The Notebook and talked about how much he liked it, how it made him cry. (And yeah, the guest had seen it too.)</p>
<p>To answer the original question, no I would not reference pop culture of any kind in the essay.</p>
<p>Ek, have you seen him with his shirt off? He’s not my usual type, but I made an exception. ;)</p>
<p>
I’d say, “Huh, I never knew what Noah’s wife’s name was.” But I’d be thinking of the guy who build the Ark.</p>
<p>I think we’re in a period when there just aren’t that many truly universal cultural touchstones, even among Americans of similar backgrounds.</p>
<p>I dragged dh to Robot and Frank, and he enjoyed it. Or at least he said he did. 
</p>
<p>I LOVED it when i saw it in 2004 had a middle aged crush on Ryan Gosling. It really is a very good movie, enough so that I (and my friend) both went out to buy the book. The book wasn’t near as good as the film, and she didn’t think so either. One of the few times that has ever happened. I think it might have been his first book made into a movie. Anyway, I’ve seen subsequent films from his books and think they are just so cheesy and light…quite unmemorable. I have a feeling he writes his books to be made into movies…but nothing has captured the magic of The Notebook IMO. Saying that…the ending was sweet but the only “cheesy” factor of the film. I think I"ve seen The Notebook about 8 times over the last 10 years. </p>
<p>That sounds like another vote for “under a rock” ;)</p>
<p>I think it is OK to have pop culture references in an essay, but I would not recognize the first names of the couple “Noah and Allie.” I’ve never seen The Notebook, but I’ve heard of it, seen photos/clips, seen it on lists of favorite romances. I think a lot of people, especially women, will recognize the movie title. But this couple is not
Romeo and Juliet, Rick and Ilsa, or even Jack and Rose. ( I wouldn’t have been so sure who Ryan Gosling is, but I just saw part of Ides of March on TV a couple days ago.)</p>
<p>
I wouldn’t assume knowledge of the last two, either (although I recognized them–barely, in the case of Jack and Rose).</p>
<p>I know more move couples by the actors’ names rather than the character . . .Ralph Feinnes and Kristin Scott Thomas, Kate and Leo, Fred and Ginger, Bogart and Bergman, Meg and Tom, Meg and Billy . . . I couldn’t tell you the names of most of the movie characters to save my life.</p>
<p>I almost forgot Cher and Nicholas Cage! Now there’s an iconic movie romance :D</p>
<p>“Look! It’s Cosmo’s moon!”</p>
<p>You’re a bit under the rock but it’s okay. The Notebook isn’t about Romeo and Juliet.
I’ve tried to crawl out from under mine. I started asking my kids to give me playlists of music that they listen to that they think I might like.(so nothing too vulgar since they know that’s an instant turn-off). All new–I got plenty of old stuff. And yeah, some of it’s out there. I really do try to give it all a chance and I really wouldn’t know about the groups unless it was introduced to me since I don’t spend a lot of time just listening to the radio. Of course now my H says “what the heck you listening to?” </p>
<p>I remember sitting in the car with my dad listening to the radio as a teen…I said “Dad, that music is at least 40 years old!”. And when I got to this age and the music I liked was 40 or more years old I decided to enlist my kids for updates.
To my dad’s credit (he’s now 92)…he tried new music too (which is now my 40 year old music).</p>
<p>Yeah, Hunt–I was putting them in descending order of familiarity to help folks measure their “under-a-rock quotients.”
(This reminds me of an ice-breaker game I played recently at a wedding shower. We had stickers with names of famous couples on our backs and had to ask yes/no questions to figure them out. It didn’t seem to work that well because there was a mix of generations, some people who never watch TV, etc. . . . I had a really hard time getting a 20something young lady to come up with Cliff and Clair Huxtable.) </p>
<p>so who’s starting the " pop culture references you need to know" thread?</p>
<p>All this epic love story talk made me want to go back and break out my Babs look.</p>