It's been a hell of a week for the Oscars: Brett Ratner quit, Eddie Murphy quit, and everyone had some bright ideas about who should host. Sadly, Brian Grazer and Billy Crystal were quickly hired. And even though the once and future king of the Oscars has been anointed, some of you people are still carrying on about the damn Muppets. Knock it off!

Dennis Haskins, the 60-year-old actor who played fun-busting principal Mr. Belding on the unkillable cockroach of a kid's show Saved by the Bell, now makes his living doing nostalgia-laden personal appearances at tacky bars. Times are tough indeed.

Since it stopped playing music, MTV was supposed to be the youth culture network, always airing zeitgeisty shows that capture what's next. Then why are they bringing back all their hits from the '90s?

With the new series Pan Am on TV, everyone is thinking about what air travel was like back when it was sophisticated. You know, the good old days when people dressed up to travel and airports were wonderful monuments of design. There are even pictures of this lost era!

The '90s indie sensation R.E.M., who you haven't thought about since Automatic for the People, has officially broken up. Oh thank God. They had gotten to be like a novelist who lived too long and wrote all these crappy books that sullied the reputation of their sterling early works.

After closing the original Playboy Club two decades ago in Chicago, the Windy City will be home to a Playboy Club once again. It's like the second coming of Hooters, except the wings aren't as good.

Here's a vintage 1962 filmstrip about all the technology and innovation in New York City. How exciting and Don Draper! Too bad most of the video is about an insurance company changing offices. Wake me up when we're in the bankrupt '70s.

MySpace is so dead it's already circled back for a hipster revival. A 2005 themed party in Gowanus stars the zombified social network and seeks "your most embarrassing... myspacey photo ever." Check out the Evite and start loading your iPod.

While sorting books, Reddit user unmoderated found a copy of New York: Behind the Scenes, a 1939 guide by Lee Mortimer, and scanned the very valuable "Young Lady in Manhattan..." section (apparently part of a larger "Family in Manhattan" chapter). It's fascinating. And, admittedly, a little out of date ("unescorted ladies might as well hang themselves after ten p.m."), though the job market for young New Yorkers doesn't sound all that different from now:

The creator of the 90s pop culture supercut we all adored last month is back at it again, this time with with many more video clips that commenters (like you guys!) pointed out had been omitted.

Ever wonder what a hula hoop sees while it winds around and around its undulating subject? Well wonder no more! Someone attached a camera to the semi-ironic-totally-nostalgic fauxhemian toy of the moment and filmed the results. It's actually a very cool and interesting shot that might give you quite a bit of vertigo. Does this mean the Greenpoint set will be moving on to yo-yos any day now? [BuzzFeed]

After bowing down to Google Talk this week, AIM is effectively dead. Most buddy lists are ghost towns. Chatters fled to Google, Skype and Facebook for their conversational needs. But at its pinnacle, AIM was something singular and amazing. [Gizmodo]

Times Square has always been one of the worst parts of town. Now it's crammed with badly dressed tourists waddling along the sidewalk trying to find M&M World. Back in 1986, it was just as bad.

In 2009, the American Mall was dying. In 2010, the American Mall was still dying. In 2011: Hey, how'd you like to buy an American Mall?

Some people have a tendency to idealize the wild, anything-goes New York City of the 1970s. Here's some vintage footage from some sort of news program or documentary about public transportation during the era. The hilariously stereotypical voiceovers talk about dangerous subways, dirty buses, and horrific cabs. Nostalgia isn't all it's cracked up to be—but the retro soundtrack sure does rock. [via Animal NY]

If you're anything like me, you spent many afternoons after school enthralled by the adventures of Lion-O and his fellow ThunderCats. Banking on collective nerd nostalgia (guilty!) and the exploitable ignorance of kids more than half my age who have no clue this isn't an entirely new phenomenon, Cartoon Network is remaking the show.

Not only is MTV bringing back Beavis and Butthead, it's also relaunching '90s staple 120 Minutes, the Sunday night "alternative" video block that introduced us to Nirvana and others. Matt Pinfield will still host. They're not improving, just relaunching.

If you mid-late twentysomethings weren't feeling the creep of years yet, this TV news will get you there. Also today: pilot news about a terrible musical show, Keira Knightley slums it, and Hemingway gets his wives.

Hey, it's Clarissa Darling—but all grown up!? Enter Clarissa Now, a 1995 pilot for CBS starring a college-aged Clarissa. This time, she's explaining it all about her foray into the professional world as an intern at a newspaper.

Remember when, before iPods, et al. became ubiquitous, record stores—like the Virgin Megastore in Chicago, for example—had those cool listening stations that allowed you to jam out to your favorite tune in public? Those were the days.