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Convoluted References You Appreciate
Growing up in a house full of movie and trivia buffs we were always very into clever cross-referencing. Pre-internet, this required things like a lot of watching movie credits on slow-forward. You could score a lot of "cool points" if you recognized a minor character in the background of something and knew where you knew them from. We were also a puzzle-happy household, so that added to our sense of a good time. I was wondering if other people get so into convoluted references.
Here's one example:
So there's an episode of Num3rs which includes 2 relevant characters, one played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the other by Bruce Davison. At some point my sister answered a question about this episode by describing a character as "Mr. Alex Mack." This was hilariously ambiguous if you are just the same age we are.
The Secret World of Alex Mack was a TV show in which Larisa Oleynik had the superpower of turning into liquid and running around through drains. In the X-Men films Bruce Davison plays Senator Kelly who ends up with similar melty powers, so he could be "Mr. Alex Mack." But, in 10 Things I Hate About You, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Larisa Oleynik's love interest, so HE could be "Mr. Alex Mack." I don't even remember which one she actually meant but it was a lot of fun.




I like it! I could be wrong but I'm pretty certain that Larisa Oleynik played JGL's irlfriend in 3rd Rock From The Sun also, so that would have given your sister triple points in our house! :-)
Oh, goodness, I think you're right! I didn't watch that much 3rd Rock, just a little because John Lithgow had some family in my hometown.
this post is cool. I am 46 yo and did not get the references - not sure if I am before or after. But I get the point, my old friends and I were always referencing movies. Not so much group fun anymore, miss it. Take care.