Sir, your shoelace is untied (April Fools' Day 2013)

"The ballet" is more specific than simply "Ballet". Think Broadway musicals... older ones, although there 's a more recent one that it could also refer to.

Pianosa: Yes, it's a real place, but it also does have a notable fictional reference.

Catch-22?

The horse in the bathtub is a specific (although perhaps, slightly misremembered — it may not have been in the bathtub) literary reference.

And Bingo on Pianosa. Yes, Catch-22 is set at the air base on Pianosa. Cookie for Septimus.

edited 2nd Apr '13 9:22:12 AM by Madrugada

I submitted "1000 feet up. ...900. ...800." purely for the mental image. Though I could imagine quite a few newspaper comics have had people posting online while falling from a plane.

• the secret headquarters behind the dry cleaners: Not The Man from U.N.C.L.E., although it easily could be. The secret headquarters there was behind DelTorio's Tailor Shop. This is another misrembered one. The intent was Special Unit 2 — although the base for SU2 was hidden under a Chinese Laundry, not a dry cleaners. My error; no penalty.

edited 2nd Apr '13 9:38:43 AM by Madrugada

• In an undisclosed location: This is primarily Real Life.

Maddy: is the horse one a reference to the book Horse in the House?

That wasn't the intended reference, no. But it sounds like it may fit as well.

I had the opening of a particular old television show in mind when I suggested "...look up"

This one, at :30:

edited 2nd Apr '13 10:10:21 AM by Madrugada

Belly of the Beast sounds more like an Adventure Time reference for me, though I can't be sure.

Lost in Time and Space could be Doctor Who, but I don't watch it, so I dunno.

Aw. I thought of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song "Southern Cross", but thought the "chasing" bit was also part of the reference.

@Post 105: I'm reminded of the Lemon Demon song "I've Got Some Falling To Do".

• The 20th Century: Broadway again.

• the car: meme

edited 2nd Apr '13 10:45:53 AM by Madrugada

"Lost in Time and Space" is a fate that can befall you in the boardgame Arkham Horror.

I didn't suggest that one, though, so I'm not sure if that's what whoever put it up had in mind.

"Third Earth" is indeed a Thundercats reference.

I'd have to check where we were brainstorming locations, but I believe I intended "1965" to be a reference to the name of the pool hall/arcade where I spent a lot of time in my senior year of high school. When I first saw it in the sandbox I thought "Didn't I put 'At the 1965' down...?".

edited 2nd Apr '13 12:45:00 PM by Willbyr

Is "the belly of the beast" the biblical reference to the book of Jonah? or is it Moby-Dick?

Could "Nowhere" be a reference to the last level of Silent Hill, whereby you end up in "Nowhere" (a place the definitely exists outside conventional reality even in the game)?

Lost in Time and Space is a reference also to the fate of the Sam Beckett (I think that was his name) In Quantum Leap and for some episodes, The Doctor and The Other Sci-Fi Doctor

edited 2nd Apr '13 3:52:59 PM by TheOneWhoTropes

Since I said I'd mention it, I'm the one who is always away LAR Ping.

"The belly of the beast" is Anthrax, it's a song of theirs from their album Persistence of Time (the same one that "Got the Time" is from).

I was right about the 1965 being my personal reference; it's cool that there was another meaning associated with it.

Where/When did you guys suggest those references?

We started putting the list together more than a month ago.

I can't believe I got those two right. Guess being a wannabe hippie has its advantages at times.

Skype makes for a marvelous compilation of lists.

I figured it was Super Secret Mod Jabberings.

It was both. The actual list was kept in Super Secret Mod Jabberings, but a lot of the brainstorming went on in the Skype channel.