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Posts tagged ‘Entertainment’

Jan 22

9 Comments

A Year in the 80’s – One Hit Wonders

Continuing the music theme for another week, I present you with some one hit wonders!

For the most part, these are all true one hit on the US Top 40 Pop Chart and that’s all this band ever did wonders, the bands you never of before and then never heard from again.

Here we go!

1980
The Vapors – Turning Japanese
peaked at #36 on November 29th

When I saw this video, I realized I didn’t remember anything except the chorus. And listening to it I can see why: it’s pretty dumb and possibly a bit racist. But the chorus is catchy. I really think so.

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1981
Joey Scarbury – Believe It or Not (Greatest American Hero theme)
peaked at #2 on August 15th

I LOVED this song!! Loved it. And why not, it’s Solid Gold. (Get it? Solid Gold? I crack me up.) ANY-way, this video really is golden 80’s memorabilia, for so many reasons.

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1982
Buckner & Garcia – Pac-Man Fever
peaked at #9 on March 27th

American Bandstand, Dick Clark, skinny ties, Pac Man… I’ve got 80’s fever, ya’ll! I’m not even playing. As an interesting side-note, Buckner now has a show called The 1 Hit Wonders Show.

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1983
Taco – Puttin’ on the Ritz
peaked at #4 on September 3rd

I totally remembered most of the words when I watched this video, you guys! Or at least lots of them. Ok, some of them, but still. It seems a little weird now, but I really liked this video when I was 13. I thought it was super duper.

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1984
Ollie & Jerry – Breakin’… There’s No Stopping Us
peaked at #9 on August 4th

Break dancing is cool. That is all.

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1985
John Hunter – Tragedy
peaked at #39 on February 16th

I have no recollection of this song whatsoever, but this video made me laugh so I had to include it. Plus, cute doggie. This is so thoroughly mid-80’s! The hair, the makeup, the shoulder pads…they’re just a tragedy.

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1986
Boys Don’t Cry – I Wanna Be a Cowboy
peaked at #12 on June 21st

I do  remember this song – and it’s still awesome! Yippie-yippie-yi, Yippie-yi-yo-yo! Oh, Yippie!!

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1987
Danny Wilson – Mary’s Prayer
peaked at #23 on September 5th

I liked this song, but I had no idea until now that he was saying Mary’s prayer.

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1988
E.U. (Experience Unlimited) – Da Butt
peaked at #35 on May 21st

This is a little bit of a cheat because E.U. had other hits on the R&B charts too, but they’re a D.C.-based band, which is local to me. Also it’s old guys singing about butts.

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1989
Grayson Hugh – Talk It Over
peaked at #19 on September 9

This is the only song on the list I even recognized. And I played them all. Where was I in ’89? My favorite parts of this song and video are the background singers. They remind me of my time singing in chorus.

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This was the most fun, you guys!! I think I’ll be spending some money at iTunes in a minute. 🙂

Yippie-yi-yo-yo!

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Jan 15

6 Comments

A Year in the 80’s – a music sampler

The first album I ever bought was Asia’s sefl-titled début record, and I bought it because I liked the cover. What can I say, I was 12 and I just really wanted to own a record.

Remember vinyl records and those big gorgeous covers? And if you were lucky you’d open them up and all the lyrics would be on the inner sleeve and you’d lay on the couch and play the record over and over until you knew all the lyrics by heart. *sigh* That lasted through my cassette tape years, but I was beyond that by the time cd’s came out.

We are now in the digital age, and I don’t even think I’ve bought an actual physical copy of an album in over ten years. Times they are a changin’, and music along with it. But I have a huge place in my heart for the music I grew up with in the 80’s, and that will probably never change. By the way, I really liked that Asia album. 12 year old me knew a good cover when she saw one. 🙂

Here’s a little sampler of the music I listened to in the 1980’s:

1980 – 1982
These were the boombox years for me, when I’d carry that thing all over the neighborhood. I remember when I got my boombox for Christmas. It. Was. Beautiful. Remember listening to the radio, waiting for that one song you loved to come on, your finger hovering over the record button? I remember that.

Air supply – The One That You Love, All Out of Love, Lost In Love, Even the Nights Are Better

Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’, Who’s Crying Now, Open Arms, Faithfully

Hall & Oats – Private Eyes, Kiss on My List, I Can’t Go for That, Maneater

REO Speedwagon – Keep on Loving You, Take It on the Run

Pat Benatar – Hit Me with Your Best Shot, Heartbreaker, Treat Me Right, Love Is a Battlefield

The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

But Abracadabra by Steve Miller Band is the one that always comes to mind first when I think of that boombox. This video is hideous hilarious:

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1983 – 1985
MTV came to my town in ’83 or so, and that’s when I really got into music. Or at least the music they were playing on MTV. Actually, most of these songs blend together along the early 80’s timeline in my brain.

Huey Lewis and the News – Do You Believe in Love, The Heart of Rock & Roll, If This Is It, The Power of Love

Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Here Comes the Rain Again, Would I Lie To You?

Culture Club – Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, Karma Chameleon

Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, All Through The Night

The Go-Go’s – We Got the Beat, Our Lips are Sealed, Vacation

Madonna – Borderline, Lucky Star, Holiday, Crazy for You, Material Girl

Tears for Fears – Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Shout, I Believe

Duran Duran – Hungry Like the Wolf, The Reflex, Rio

Bryan Adams – Strait from the Heart, Summer of ’69, Run to You

John (Cougar) Mellencamp – Jack & Diane, Hurts So Good, Lonely Ol’ Night

Pink Houses is the one I really liked the best. My Nannie lived in a pink house, and I always thought of this song when I thought of her house:

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1986 – 1987
I got my license in ’86, and after that I wasn’t sitting at home watching music videos much anymore. We were cruising town! 

Bon Jovi – You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin’ on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive

Heart – Never, These Dreams, Alone, Nothing at All

Madonna – Causing a Commotion, La Isla Bonita, Open Your Heart, Papa Don’t Preach, Live to Tell

Bruce Springsteen – Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark, Tunnel of Love, Brilliant Disguise, Born in the U.S.A.

The Eagles – New Kid in Town, Life in the Fast Lane, One of These Nights, Take It to the Limit

The Dream Academy – Life in a Northern Town, Bound to Be, Indian Summer, The Love Parade

I saw The Dream Academy on Saturday Night Live and bought their album after only hearing those two songs. I’ve been in love with them ever since.

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1988 – 1989
Graduation and my first year at college! We went to a few concerts these years, too, which are great memories. I went to school in the mountains, and many an afternoon I was riding through the hills blasting The Eagles, Indigo Girls, and Bruce Hornsby. Singing at the top of my lungs. Those poor, poor cows.

U2 – With or Without You, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Where The Streets Have No Name

R.E.M. – Stand, Orange Crush, Pop Song ’89, Begin the Begin, Fall on Me

INXS – What You Need, Need You Tonight, Devil Inside, New Sensation, Never Tear Us Apart

Aerosmith – Dude Looks Like a Lady, Janie’s Got a Gun, What it Takes, Don’t Get Mad Get Even

The Smiths – Is It Really So Strange, Sheila Take a Bow, Panic, Ask

Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine, Tried to Be True, Secure Yourself

Bruce Hornsby and the Range – The Way It Is, Mandolin Rain, Every Little Kiss, On The Western Skyline

The best concert I ever saw was Bruce Hornsby playing piano with the Richmond Symphony. Love, love this music. But I have no recollection of ever having seen this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDgOwX72fLI&list=PLtNHZl8xCc_t7x4h5jje8kNZyw_9txjbg&feature=share

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This one was harder than the movies by a long mile. I wanted to list every single song I remembered from the 80’s! This is just a tiny sampling of the great music I loved from that decade, in the general order of when I remember listening to it.

You know, I just realized that some of the albums I fell in love with in the 80’s – Bruce Hornsby, The Dream Academy, U2, The Eagles – those are still among my absolute favorites today. More than 2o years later. And I still get excited when I hear them.

What were you listening to in the 80’s? I mean, if you were alive then. 🙂

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Jan 8

8 Comments

A Year in the 80’s – a movie sampler

IN WHICH I SQUEEZE 10 YEARS INTO 52 DAYS
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When I think 80’s movies, I first think Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Footloose, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Say Anything. They all have some form of teen angst at their center, so it’s no wonder they stuck out most for me when I was going through many of the same kinds of emotions myself.

But when I sat down to make a real list of the 80’s movies I liked, it got out of hand pretty quickly. And then , when I searched movies by release year, fuhgeddaboudit! I realized I’d have to majorly spread my movie picks out over this year, and it would still be too many films. So be forewarned: I love movies, this is my blog, and I’m gonna put as many picks and write as much as I like on these posts. Continue at your own risk.

To start, here’s a sampler of movies that made a lasting impression on me for one reason or another:

E.T. (82)
I’m 44 years old, and last week I cried my eyes out when E.T. died. Or didn’t really die. Doesn’t matter, I’m gonna cry every time, even though I know he’s coming back in the next scene. Then I cry at the end, too. You know, just for good measure. This movie never, ever, ever gets old. It just gets better every time I see it. Ahem, in its original, pre-“fixed” state, the way God intended E.T. to be watched. Here’s a super fun scene (though I’m not a fan of the CGI ET face), and one of my favorites:

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Terms of Endearment (83)
I haven’t watched this movie in years, but I always remember this particular scene. I especially love it when she starts to climb in. It resonated with me from the first moment I saw it, and it’s one of my favorite opening scenes of any movie ever.  Also, I’ve done this to my dog countless times, poor guy. Terms of Endearment is still alive as a pop culture reference today, but typically when this movie comes up, people quote the hospital scene. You know, the “give my daughter the shot!” scene. But this is the one I love:

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Eddie and the Cruisers (83)
I was captivated by this movie when I first saw it at about 15 or so, and I always remembered it. I watched it again about six months ago. It’s kind of dated, and I couldn’t stop focusing on how every  person in every  scene is smoking a cigarette. But it’s still good; I was still hooked on the hope and melancholy and regret and acceptance. And the music! Not so believable lip-syncing, but awesome music by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band (as Eddie’s voice and band). I totally owned the hell out of that movie soundtrack on cassette tape, ya’ll. Here’s the trailer and a song:

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Red Dawn (84)
This one made a big impression on me when I was younger, but when I watched it last year, it upset me a lot.  A lot, a lot. I couldn’t get it off my mind for a long time. It was years between viewings (mine’s on VHS, if that tells you anything), and I had no idea it would hit me so hard. But the older I get, the more I understand about love and loss and the preciousness of life. Movies like this have a much greater impact on me than they did when I was 16 or 18 or 25.

I didn’t like the characterizations in the remake; they basically ripped the heart and soul right out of the film. I felt like, “that’s too bad,” when the first Wolverine got killed in the new movie, whereas I felt absolutely soul-gutted in the original. This scene from 1984 is not as vibrant as the remake, the color and sound, the special effects, but everything about it feels more real and more heartbreaking. In this clip, green and ill-prepared kids experience combat for the first time, against an enemy that looks and acts a lot like them:

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Night of the Comet (84)
I saw this in the theater when I was 14, and it’s the only time I’ve ever heard people cheer at the movies. The whole audience, not just one little group.  I just watched it again on YouTube, and I still got a kick out of it after all these years (shout out to the boombox, cordless phones with extendable antenna, and the awesomely 80’s shirt Reggie wears through most of the movie).

Hey – one guy gets eaten (off camera) by a zombie-like person in an alley, and another is chased through the house by a zombie-like kid. Those two scenes have popped into my head at random times over all these years. It never occurred to me until now that maybe this movie is how I got my zombie fear. Hm.

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Prince of Darkness (87)
I’ve only seen three scary movies in the theater, and two of those were in the 80’s. This one still haunts me as the scariest movie I’ve ever seen ever. Ever, ever. And that includes The Exorcist. And The Shining – oh my goodness, The Shining! This is worse than The Shining, you guys. I’m sure it’s small potatoes to all the horror fans out there, but I wouldn’t see this movie again if you paid me. Even this trailer freaks me out:

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Dirty Dancing (87)
I loved this movie, and it’s still one of my sentimental favorites. The oldest theater in town (which is now a shopping strip) had dollar movies on Wednesdays, and my friends and I saw Dirty Dancing three Wednesdays in a row. We were in love with Patrick Swayze (and who can blame us), with the dancing and the music, and with the adorable, awkward, awesome Jennifer Grey as “Baby”. We were tickled and delighted and left the theater on little happy clouds week after week. This clip has subtitles, but it’s the only one I could find of the entire scene when Baby first meets Johnny. I’m still like Baby, gawking at the moves – lots of music and dancing and awkward in this one! Not to mention, she “carried a watermelon”.

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Heathers (88)
This is another movie I never forgot, but for being the complete opposite of fluffy fun. Heathers is delightfully odd and twisted and a cult classic. It’s a dark comedy about “teen angst bullshit”, and I can’t think of 80’s movies without this one rearing up its psychopathic head. It’s like the Mean Girls of the 80’s. But with a body count. The trailer pretty much tells it all:

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The Accidental Tourist (88)
Here is another film about odd people who you just can’t forget.  I’m not a great William Hurt fan, but there are roles for which his stiff style are the perfect match, and this was one of them. And Geena Davis, my gosh, so good in her role as Muriel. This is a film full of quirky characters who are so vulnerable and irritating and thoroughly likable. You can’t help but root for each one to find what it is they need to make their lives feel complete.

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Platoon (86) – My most memorable movie experience.
The movie started, and I was gone. When a snake slithered across the screen, a lady screamed and I was amazed to “wake up” in a full theater. I gave a nervous titter with the rest of the audience, and then disappeared again. I was that absorbed: I was inside the movie instead of watching it, I was a pair of eyes in a theater. I forgot about my body, the crowd and the uncomfortable seats. When it was over, there was silence. Just a mass of eerily silent people, sitting still in their seats or slowly shuffling out of the theater. I felt shell-shocked and numb and at a loss for words myself. When I got home, I stuck my key in the lock and suddenly burst out crying.

Unlike Red Dawn, Platoon impacted me less as I aged; the memory was more powerful than the film. What felt dramatic and real and emotional at 16 and 25, touched on self-importance, and even felt a bit contrived, as I watched in my mid-thirties. But I think that’s just because there’d been so much in between. Movies like Platoon are the point of a wedge, carving a path for others to follow. But in so doing, that sharp edge dulls a little in comparison to what comes after. Even so, for me this is still one of the most memorable and impressive films of the 1980’s. Just seeing the trailer gave me chills and brought back memories of that first amazing viewing. I want to know what I think of it now, and I guess I need to keep up that ten year pattern.

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So that’s the first movie list, just a sampler of 80’s films that stick out in my mind.

What are the 80’s movies that made a lasting impression on you?

What are your movie stories?

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Feb 7

6 Comments

The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes and Me

If you’ve read About Me, The Director’s Cut (yeah, I’m that cool) (okay, maybe I’m not  that cool, but it’s sort of mean for you to point that out right now considering how this is my blog and everything, but whatever ) then you know I’ve got a fear/fascination relationship with zombies. Well, not zombies themselves, like personally (I don’t actually know any zombies), but zombie culture .

It’s the gore. I have a thing about gore. I don’t like the gore and zombies always seem to be covered in the gore. It’s creepy.

Oh, and also they want to eat people and no matter how many zombies you kill there will always be more coming right behind them and they keep coming and coming and oh my God you’re gonna die and I’m gonna die but you’re gonna die first and I swear I didn’t mean to trip you but it doesn’t even matter because it only bought me like five minutes and I’m still gonna die!

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So anyway, um, yeah, the zombie thing really creeps me out. But I just can’t keep away from it. When I first wrote that About Me, I said I was sure I’d end up watching AMC’s The Walking Dead. As of now I’ve seen the first two seasons. (Because I bought them. They’re in my house! Oh my goodness, what’s wrong with me?) The second half of season 3 starts this Sunday, and I’ll hopefully get completely caught up then.

Not surprisingly, I’ve gotten somewhat desensitized to the gory stuff. Very surprisingly, I got crazy caught up in some of the characters. And I don’t mean crazy as in “a lot”. You know, like a regular person. I mean crazy-ray emotionally wound up by certain people on the show who just made me so very angry. Like pissed off angry. Like that guy just made me SO MAD.

Ok, it was Rick.

Yeah, I know how much you hated Lori, and she was bad . Really pretty awful. Horrible. Horrible Lori.

But for me it was Rick.

I watched season 2 pretty quickly, in three sittings, and by the end of it I was practically furious with Rick. I gave vent to my Rick anger in a couple of other blogger’s comments: Rick is a terrible leader, he pretty much took leadership of the group without being asked to do it, he makes decisions based on his own emotional needs without regard to what’s best for group survival. He thinks he’s the only one capable of making good decisions, but he agonizes over each and every one, and then he goes into a woe-is-me cry-baby routine when things don’t turn out like he thought they would.  Man up, Rick! This is the apocalypse, dude! You’re gonna have to make some tough choices, so just do it. Be a real leader or step down and let someone take charge who’s willing to make some decisions worthy of the zombie apocalypse.

I was pretty obnoxious.

Honestly, it felt really good to rant. But then I starting thinking about why. Why was I so upset with this fictional character? And why was I so enamored of Daryl? Okay duh, but really, I was drawn to him as a character. And Carol, too. I greatly admired traits that Carol and Daryl possessed. (Carol and Daryl. Have you seen the little Hello Kitty Carol and Daryls? I’m sorry but that’s just cute.)

Daryl is self-assured, self-sufficient, competent. I’m sure he’d rather live, but his actions aren’t entirely governed by a fear of his or anyone else’s death. Daryl and Carol are both resilient, they are survivors. Carol has suffered a great loss, but she plods along and does the best she can with what she’s got. She adapts and just keeps going; she doesn’t let things destroy her.

I think it’s interesting that you have a character like Rick who has a mental collapse when his wife dies, a woman who he doesn’t seem to even like that much anymore. Then you have Carol, who has to watch her daughter get gunned down because she’s a zombie – a zombie, ya’ll – but she continues to be mentally stable. I think Rick maybe takes on more than he’s equipped to handle, and then he buckles under the pressure.

As I thought about these characters, I wondered which of these traits I’m drawn to because I recognize that as part of who I am. And which am I drawn to because I wish that’s who I was? Wait, is that really it?

And then what of the traits that I despise – is it because those are the things I don’t like about myself?

Well, crapola.

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So, yeah. I slowly realized that Carol is who I think I am, Daryl is who I wish I was, and Rick…darn you Rick! Rick is pretty much a lot of who I really am.

I often bite off more than I can chew. I want to be in control and make the decisions; I want to be a leader. But sometimes I find that I’m not up to that challenge. I think I can do things better than somebody else, but then I screw it up or I realize that the job was way harder than I imagined. I definitely second guess my decisions all the time, and I beat myself up way too much when I fail.

So the largest part of my Rick anger was because I thought he was a weak leader, and I identified with a lot of the things that I think made him a weak leader.

Even though that kinda sucks, I’m glad that I can see myself clearly enough to recognize my faults. Ok, some of my faults. And it’s a good thing to see traits in others that you can aspire to, even if they’re seen in fictional characters. Heck, it’s just good to know what kind of person you would like to be. It’s harder to put a stake in that than you’d think.

Wait, that’s a vampire reference.

It’s harder to put a bullet through the brai…

Ugh. I’m sorry, I just can’t do it.  You get it.

Oh and also: I would never trip you, I promise. Everyone else, but never you.

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Realizing all that didn’t make me less mad at him. Really, I want my tv heroes to be stronger than I am, and I guess that’s kind of the bottom line.  True to that, as soon as Rick chopped the guy in the head in season 3, I suddenly wasn’t angry anymore. I was all team Rick again. I like forceful Rick who won’t put up with somebody trying to feed him to a zombie. Chop-group-survival-threats-in-the-head Rick is awesome.

Wait, if I’m like Rick, then that means I’m awesome too!

I knew it!

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Items of Interest:

KnoxMcCoy.com (his Walking Dead recaps are the best – and funniest – as are TWD podcasts that he hosts)

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