The Guardian on the mass popularity of Lord of the Rings and its ilk: "We are all nerds now...There's been a trend in popular culture towards legitimising child-like or adolescent pursuits. Previously, we were supposed to grow out of stuff like that. Now that notion has broken down." I guess this explains why my dad, a product of the 1940s, couldn't understand why I watched Pee Wee's Playhouse and the Simpsons in college.