Subscribers to Netflix were horrified to learn this week that the online streaming service is removing Titanic from its lineup.

There'll be no more Jack Dawson for us. No more “poor Jack” dancing on the decks below the rich folk. No more of Jack's reckless gambling. No more showing a trusting Kate how to fly.

Social media was all abuzz about Netflix's latest removals (and additions) and hundreds of us went straight home to settle in and watch our favorite disaster movie one more time. Or, as in my case, two more times.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but just as Netflix made their announcement, a real-life Kate Winslet recreated the famous flying scene as she climbed down a mountain head first on Running Wild with Bear Grylls. I watched it several times on YouTube. It wasn't quite the same, but I guess it will have to do until Titanic comes back.

I saw the movie Pixels last night and it really took me back — to the arcade! It's an 8-bit adventure starring some of our favorite old school video game heroes. Oh, and Adam Sandler.

Sandler plays an underachieving, somewhat dim-witted former teen video game champion whose even dimmer best friend (Kevin James) somehow grows up to be President of the United States.

Enter the aliens. They get a hold of some 1982 pop-culture highlight clips and mistake images from classic arcade games as a military threat. The aliens respond by disguising themselves as Centipede and Pac-Man and attacking the Earth. Sandler, of course, is called on to…that's all I'll say so I don't spoil the movie for you.

If you do go see Pixels, be prepared to get all nostalgic for your long lost, 8-bit buddies from video games of yesteryear. And don't be surprised if you find yourself digging through the attic for your old Atari console — I did!

I suppose I'm dating myself when I say I've watched Saturday Night Live from the very first airing. That was long before people called it “SNL”. You know, “back in the day” when the Not Ready for Primetime Players were in their prime. It's hard to believe that SNL celebrated its 40^th anniversary this year.

Since I never stopped watching (even through those dark days when critics were calling it “Saturday Night Dead”) I've become a bit of a SNL trivia buff. In honor of 40 years of silly fun, edgy humor and unforgettable characters, I thought I'd share some little-known tidbits with you.

• Gilda Radner was the first performer cast for Saturday Night Live.
• Before joining SNL, Dana Carvey had a small role in Rob Reiner's cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. He played a mime alongside Billy Crystal.
• Seth Meyer held the Weekend Update anchor chair for eight years — longer than any other cast member.
• Ben Stiller was a cast member in season 14 — but left after only four episodes because of “creative differences”.
• Eddie Murphy joined the show when he was only 19 years old and stayed for four years.
• Steve Martin hosted the show 15 times and did lots of special appearances, but contrary to popular belief, he was never a full-fledged cast member.
• When the show first debuted, it didn't air every Saturday. The news magazine show Weekend aired the first Saturday of every month.
• “The Coneheads” are ranked #15 in TV Guide's list of the “25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends”.
• The Saturday Night Live logo first used the abbreviation SNL in 1995 and it's been called that ever since.

After 40 years, SNL is still funny, still edgy and still churning out crazy characters. I can't wait to see what they'll do for their next 40 years!

Ah…summer refreshments. Is there anything better? Ice cream, hot dogs, popcorn, milkshakes and Coca-Cola were summer staples when I was a kid. Not exactly high nutrition, but it was summer and we got away with lots of things we couldn’t get away with during the school year — like not eating our vegetables and chowing down on salty and sugary snacks and drinks.

My mom used to make homemade ice cream and my dad would stir up root beer floats in ice cold aluminum glasses. We had one of those old school popcorn makers, too. There was nothing like sitting down to watch our favorite sitcoms with a bowl of hot popcorn and a cold root beer float or a milkshake made from Mom’s vanilla ice cream and lots of chocolate syrup.

Of course, nowadays I can’t gobble down bowls of popcorn and wash it down with bottles of Coke and milkshakes all the time. But once in a while, I just have to stroll down memory lane and trade in my adult sensibilities for a decidedly unbalanced summer diet.

It’s 4^th of July weekend — my favorite summer holiday! Not only is it America’s 239^th birthday, it’s time to hit the road for a weekend of camping out, cooking out and setting off fireworks.

Camping on the holiday was a family tradition when I was a kid. The whole extended family would converge at a campground with tents, fishing poles, tons of food and boxes and boxes of fireworks. It was the one holiday where I’d get to hang out with my distant cousins without having to get all dressed up and sit at a holiday “kids table” trying not to fidget or spill anything on my good clothes.

Instead, my cousins and I were pretty much allowed to run wild. We could get as dirty and as sunburned and as worn out as we wanted. Nobody cared if we wore the same cutoff shorts for the whole weekend or didn’t comb our hair. And there was no kids table. We just plopped down on the ground to gobble down dogs and burgers while the adults sat at the picnic tables making jokes and getting ready for the fireworks display.

I guess I’ve always thought of Independence Day as a kids’ holiday because of those camping trips. Inner tubing, making s’mores, blowing up fireworks…to us it seemed (almost) better than Christmas.

Somehow, we’ve managed to kept the tradition going all these years. The family still gathers at the very same campground on the 4^th of July. And even though we’re the ones sitting at the picnic tables instead of on the ground these days, my cousins and I feel far from grown up when we’re out there camping, fishing and celebrating America’s birthday.