Jenny's Blog
A young couple moves to a small rural town, where boredom soon sets in. At least, until those pesky local zombies begin to threaten their lives.

The Writing University Archive
The online Writing University Archive offers the best of Iowa City's literary scene.

The Mildred Wirt Benson Collection, Iowa Digital Library
The UI Libraries' digitized exhibit of the archives of Mildred Wirt Benson, 25BA, 27MA [deceased], pioneering journalist and original author of the best-selling Nancy Drew mystery series.

www.that70sshow.com, Fox Television Network

Lime-green leisure suits roamed the earth, a millionaire's daughter was kidnapped and later found guilty of bank robbery, and "Play that Funky Music, White Boy" shared the charts with Neil Sedaka.

It was a weird time—but also the best of times for a group of teenagers who sneak brews from their parents' disco party and pack themselves into Dad's hatchback to putter off to a rock concert. A retro-hip situation comedy set in the era of smile buttons and 8-track cassettes, That 70s Show is an inane—laughably inaccurate and downright erroneous—flashback to the "Me" decade.

Is it coincidental or ironic that this bit of escapism should be making such a hit about 20 years after TV's other '70s show, that '50s comedy called Happy Days? Just as Happy Days ignored certain Eisenhower era realities (racial violence and segregation, wanton nuclear proliferation, U.S. intervention in Korea, and a conflict simmering elsewhere in Southeast Asia), so That 70s Show makes no mention of certain post-Nixon unmentionables (Vietnam War vets, Cambodian killing fields, pollution).

Maybe the only smart thing about this dumb show is Ashton Kutcher, the Iowa native who portrays Michael Kelso—the blow-dried and pimple-free, but intellectually challenged, hunk of the Fox Network series. Kutcher's been voted one of Teen People's "21 Hottest Stars Under 21."

Born and raised near Homestead, Kutcher paid for his UI tuition by working as a cereal dust sweeper at the General Mills plant in Cedar Rapids. Encouraged by a local modeling scout, he left the university for New York City in 1997 to pursue acting. Kutcher quickly landed roles in national Pizza Hut commercials and a Calvin Klein jeans ad campaign. In another bow to nostalgia, he's also Jim Morrison, the late singer of the 60s rock band, The Doors, in the recent movie, Reindeer Games.