Word: popped
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...some of these shows, such as the proliferating Star Trek spin-offs, the aliens are benign, intellectually curious--like American mid-century liberals, only with pointy ears or exposed frontal lobes. The Zeitgeistiest programs, however, tap into a pop persecution mania. Consider this: the U.S. stands unchallenged as a world power, is not at war, enjoys a high standard of living and has relatively stable rates of interest and unemployment; yet polls continue to show a profound malaise. People feel crushed by government, abused by corporate employers, baffled by computers. "Technology is moving fast-forward," says Carter, "and we rarely...
...Vatican. The story goes like this: in July 1947, flying saucers crashed near Roswell, and dead creatures and their spacecraft were taken into government custody; for a half-century, alien remains have been studied in Area 51. Officially, the place barely exists, but it and Roswell have entered the pop lexicon. Area 51 appeared in the second episode of The X-Files; it is the setting for much of Independence Day. In the hit movie The Rock, the FBI director says that Sean Connery knows about "the alien landing at Roswell." Dark Skies posits that the government suppressed news...
...while sci-fi may never fully shed its dweeby image, the reality has evolved along with the rest of pop culture. Readers can choose from a wide array of subgenres, including Tolkienesque fantasy, high-tech cyberpunk, horror sci-fi, feminist sci-fi, techno-thriller sci-fi, gay and lesbian sci-fi and even sci-fi erotica. Readership and authorship have broadened too: women now account for a third of the science-fiction audience, compared with just 10% in the '50s, and such writers as Ursula Le Guin and Octavia E. Butler (one of sci-fi's few African-American authors...
There are two ways an immigrant can assimilate into American life. One approach is to embrace mainstream culture, the sitcoms, the Coca-Cola, the straight-ahead pop music and, of course, the English language. The other way is to assert your own identity, your own heritage, and compel the rest of America to taste your spices, to dance to your Afro-Cuban grooves. Estefan has done both. From the mid-1980s on, her work with the Miami Sound Machine consisted mostly of processed American-style dance music seasoned with punchy Latin rhythms. "She was the first to take Latin-influenced...
...sing-along, go-for-the-gold choruses. (Estefan says she and writing partner Diane Warren composed the song in 15 minutes.) Destiny is not a perfect album, but it draws smartly from Estefan's sleek Latin-music heritage while mostly avoiding the excesses of her earlier American dance-pop. Says Estefan: "I feel Destiny is a synthesis of everything that we've done in the past five years...