There was something strange and illuminating about watching the classic-because-it’s-crappy 1985 comedy Spies Like Us immediately before watching the President’s acceptance speech last night. True, the former made me immensely happy, and the latter made me sick. But without getting too, too wrapped up in the politics of it all, I think it’s fair to note how dramatically our world has changed in just two decades.

Then: cold war.
Now: war on terror.

Then: Communists.
Now: Islamic Fundamentalists.

Then: Chevy Chase, funny.
Now: Chevy Chase, catastrophically unfunny.