Audrey Hepburn once said, “Happy girls are the prettiest.”  On a daily basis my mom always tells me something similar to that, “Nobody likes you because you are too sarcastic and mean.”

Am I supposed to infer something from this?

I mean, I think I’m pretty awesome.  Haven’t you ever seen the movies High Fidelity? Say Anything? Better Off Dead?  Sixteen Candles? The Breakfast Club?  I am John Cusack and Molly Ringwald’s character in all those movies.  How does that not make me awesome?

Sure, I might care about playing my 7″ records over hearing my friends “life” problems that usually consist in getting too drunk and sleeping with some low life slob.  And yes, I may judge a person based on the type of music and films they like, but is anything wrong with that?  I mean, even in High Fidelity, Rob (Cusack) says, “…I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are like… Books, records, films – these things matter. Call me shallow but it’s the fuckin’ truth, and by this measure I was having one of the best dates of my life.”  I’m not alone here.  At least I know there is a fictional character who believes in the same thing as me.

After being sick for several days, today I finally feel like I’m on the mend.  Thank goodness!  After nearly four months of freedom, this coming week is my last completely free week before I make my grand and permanent entrance into the Grown Up Working World.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had quite a few jobs in the past (including working full time during times I wasn’t in school), but they have always just been jobs to pay the bills while I’ve made my way through school.  This time,  I’m not going to a job just to help make ends meet.  I’m starting my actual career.   And, a lot of luck and hard work means I’m starting my career in one of the best places for a new lawyer: a top law firm in a top legal market.  I’m excited    (Of course, the fact that this job pays nearly 8 times what my pre-law school job paid is pretty exciting too.  Between Uncle Sam and Uncle Arnold (Schwarzeneggar), I don’t get to keep a lot of it.. but it looks really amazing on paper ).

Today, I added a page to my blog:  30 in 3.   It’s a list of 30 goals I would like to accomplish in the next 3 years.  Feel free to check it out.  As I accomplish the goals, I’ll write posts about them and link the posts on that page

I am still so excited re: the bar results of myself and most of my friends.  I saw an email that said the overall passage rate for July 2009 was around 56% (but that number is a little misleading.  Overall passage rate for first time takers was 79%).  I was genuinely fretting the possibility that I could have failed.  However, at the same time I sort of arrogantly thought, “if I failed, how could so many people pass?”  I worked really hard in law school and did extremely well, graduating Summa Cum Laude.   And I studied really, really hard for the bar.   Way harder than I ever did in law school.  I don’t think there was a single day during the bar where I didn’t touch anything bar related, and only a day or two where I took most of the day off.   And still, I felt a bit of panic in my stomach that maybe I failed.  After all, there was one essay where I read the clock wrong and didn’t even finish half of the subparts.  I had headings, but nothing else for the other parts.  I felt a lot less comfortable with the multiple choice than prior practice tests.  It was possible, I thought, that I could have missed enough between the multiple choice and my lacking Evidence essay that I could have failed.   However, whatever I did was good enough and I passed    Unfortunately, California does not give scores unless you fail.   It would help me, in terms of giving advice, to know if I barely passed or passed by a significant margin.  Instead, I will just have to tell my friends the only advice I can give: study as hard as you can and practice, practice, practice.. because you don’t want to take that thing again!

Anyway, enough bar talk!  I’m going to go eat dinner and watch The Breakfast Club.   By the way, I was out at a happy hour a few weeks ago and a random guy asked if I was Molly Ringwald.  My hair is currently red, it was dark, and I was sitting down… So I guess it could be a reasonable guess?  The guy was also kind of a creeper so I wouldn’t put too much weight into his guess.  But since I’ve been watching quite a few Molly Ringwald movies lately, I loved it

Ontem estava passando a garota de rosa shocking no telecine cult, e por sinal é um dos meus filmes favoritos! Lembro de quando eu era bem pequena e ele passava sempre na sessão da tarde, porem  para minha tristeza parou de passar, eu passei anos tentando pelo menos alugar esse filme e num achava! Por isso quase morri de felicidade quando vi na programação do telecine!

A garota de rosa shocking conta a história de Andie, a menina pobre, que é toda new wave, não popular, que estuda na  escola de pessoas ricas e tem um crush por um dos  plaboyzinhos da escola! Andie trabalha em uma loja de discos (que tem um poster lindo dos Smiths, com o Morrissey novinho), tem um melhor amigo incrível, engraçadissímo e que gosta dela, o Duckie, e uma amiga mais velha a Iona!

A confusão começa quando Blane, (o playboyzinho que ela gosta), chama ela para sair e tanto os amigos dele, como os amigos dela, não aceitam muito bem o relacionamento dos dois, devido a extrema diferença entre seus mundos!

Além do filme ter um figurino 80’s incrível, ele tem uma trilha sonora de matar!

• • “Pretty In Pink” - The Psychedelic Furs
• “Wouldn’t It Be Good” -  Nik Kershaw
• “What’s It Going To Be” -  Maggie Lee
• “Love” –  John Lennon
• “Round, Round” - Belouis Some
• “Pursuit” – Winston Sharples
• “Rave-Up/Shut-Up” – The Rave-Ups
• “Positively Lost Me”- The Rave-Ups
• “Copacabana (At The Copa)” – Barry Manilow
• “Thieves Like Us” – New Order
• “Elegia” – New Order
• “If You Leave” – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
• “Whisper / Touch” – Code Blue
• “Bring On The Dancing Horses” – Echo & The Bunnymen
• “Do Wot You Do” – INXS
• “Shell-Shock” – New Order
• “Try a Little Tenderness” – Otis Redding
• “Cherish” – The Association
• “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” – The Smiths
• “Rudy” – Talk Back
• “Left of Center” – Suzanne Vega
• “Get to Know Ya” – Jesse Johnson

Uma das melhores cenas do filme:

Se você nunca assistiu esse super clássico de 1986, pelo amor assista djá!

Pra não dizer que mulheres não são boas, estou fazendo a versão feminina da minha lista “Os 10 melhores atores“. Como já disse, melhor não quer dizer “mais bonita”, então não fiquem achando que vão aparecer gatonas aqui – claro que algumas são realmente bonitas, mas nem todas.

10 – Evanna Lynch. Essa mocinha é muito interessante, ao meu ver. Saindo de apenas uma garotinha estranha que adorava Harry Potter para uma atriz estranha que adora Harry Potter e que interpreta uma personagem estranha em Harry Potter, Evanna mostrou todo o seu talento como atriz atuando como a digníssima Luna Lovegood, em Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, e em Harry Potter e o Enigma do Príncipe. Tendo um rosto exótico e uma beleza única, Evanna cativou milhões de espectadores – pelo menos EU – com seu jeitinho meigo e carismático.

9 – Julia Stiles. Adoro essa garota. A primeira vez que a vi foi no super conhecido “10 Coisas que odeio em você”, com o perfeito – que Deus o tenha – Heath Ledger. Ela tem um jeito de atuar tão singelo e único, e ela tem uma expressão tão perfeita que você se sente no lugar dela em quase todos os papéis que a mocinha interpreta. Sim, eu tiro meu chapéu para Julia Stiles.

8 – Maggie Smith.  Desde que assiti “O Jardim Secreto” amo essa senhora. Muito boa atriz, impressiona com seus trejeitos, sua expressão decidida, seus papéis sempre são firmes e, na minha opinião, ela os executa com precisão e vontade. Ficou mundialmente famosa como a Professora Mcgonagal, de – onde, mesmo? – Harry Potter, e, como em todos os seus papéis, mostrou que pode ser a melhor, mesmo num papel tão simples.

7 – Meryl Streep. Uma mulher que dou valor. Não assisti muitos filmes com ela, mas é incrível como ela consegue interpretar qualquer papel sem perder a pose. Hoje, ao pensar em fashion, você pensa em Meryl, depois de “O diabo veste prada”. A mulher é um gênio, e também uma das minhas atrizes favoritas, mesmo loira, cantora, tirana ou desesperada, Meryl é uma das melhores. Ah, se é.

6 – Drew Barrymore. Quem não gosta da Drew? Ela é bonita, simpática, tem um sorriso meigo e gentil, e ela atuou em E.T. É, a menininha loirinha e linda É a Drew Barrymore com 6 anos. Além desse filme super legal, a Drew tbm atuou em “As Panteras”, o que a deixou BEM famosa, já que o filme foi um arraso. Adoro a Drew simplesmente porque ela é uma boa atriz, trata as pessoas bem, é fofa e ainda por cima atuou em E.T. A Drew merece a lista, merece sim.

5 – Renee Zellweger. Sim, todos que assistiram “O diário de Bridget Jones” amam a Renee. Aqueles que assistiram “A Enfermeira Betty” também. E, incrivelmente, quem assistiu “Jerry Maguire” também! Então, a Renee tem que ser uma atriz boa, não é verdade? Eu acho que sim. A Renee é uma ótima atriz, que faz sacrificios para fazer um bom filme. Vê a Renee magrinha ai? Pois é, ela teve que engordar MUITO para fazer a nossa querida Bridget. É por isso que ela boa, porque tem que ser muito boa pra agradar todo mundo mesmo sendo gordinha. :*

4 – Molly Ringwald. Chegou a vez da ícone teen anos 80, Molly! Pra quem assistiu “A garota de rosa shocking”, “O Clube dos Cinco”, ou qualquer outro filme que essa moça tenha feito, com certeza gostou – e eu estou falando das meninas, nessa hora. A Molly era o tipo de garota que TODA menina queria ser. Criativa, decidida, e às vezes impulsiva, suas personagens sempre caracterizavam as adolescentes, ou o que elas queriam ser. A Molly ainda é atriz, claro, e lógico, ainda é MUITO boa, mas nunca, nunca vai deixar de ser nossa querida “Claire”

3 – Nicole Kidman. A super Nicole. Essa mulher, definitivamente, não existe. Não é possível que uma mulher seja tão boa atriz, tão bonita e tão … incrível. Um de meus filmes preferidos que a senhorita Kidman atuou foi o famosíssimo Moulin Rouge, onde a mesma interpreta uma prostituta que deseja ser atriz e se apaixona por um escritor. Recentemente, fez outro filme maravilhoso com o maravilhoso Hugh Jackman, chamado Australia. Muito bom, o que só mostra que ela é genial.

2 – Anne Hathaway. Fofa demais. Anne conseguiu fazer, com seu primeiro papel mais famoso, que todo mundo lhe adorasse. Ao interpretar a princesa Mia em O Diário da Princesa, uma legião de meninas desejou ser ela, enquanto outra de meninos desejou TER ela. Ou ser, quem sabe. O fato é que, mesmo depois disso, Anne ainda fez outro filme de estrondoso sucesso, o já dito “O diabo veste prada”. Sempre linda e perfeita, suas personagens são sempre interessantes e divertidas. Sim, a Anne, na minha opinião, merece o segundo lugar.

1 – Liv Tyler. Finalmente, minha diva. Todos aqui que frequentam o blog sabem que amo a Liv. Ela é uma ótima atriz, é linda, e apesar de estar meio gordinha ultimamente, ainda assim é uma moça muito bem apessoada. Depois de fazer muitos filmes que não a mostraram para o mundo, Liv despontou como a querida Arwen Undómiel, em Senhor dos Anéis. Como o esperado, Liv não decepcionou e mostrou que era uma atriz excelente e que se tornou uma das mais amadas atrizes de quase todo nerd.

Essa é minha listinha, e a sua?

University students can’t always buy crazy expensive clothing for obvious reasons.  We can, however, take iconic looks from classic movies and incorporate them into our own look and style.  I have compiled a short list of movies that I think show great style in them. If you haven’t seen them, now would be a great time to check them out; if you have, maybe you’d want to revisit them and look at them in a new way.  Feel free to comment with your own favourite fashion movies by clicking the “leave a comment” link above! 

1. Sixteen Candles

2. The Breakfast Club

3. Roman Holiday

4. My Fair Lady

5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s

6. Funny Face

7. Singing in the Rain

8. High Society

1. pretty macaroons. i want to eat some so badly.

2. reading ‘the importance of being earnest’. it is the funniest thing i’ve read in ages.

it contains the rather hilarious quote…

Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them.

thank you oscar wilde.

3. the illustrator dallas clayton.
    

4. ‘wicked witch of the east’ socks.

5. kid sam’s song, ‘down to the cemetary’.

6. pumpkin. so delicious.

7. dress up parties.
 

do you like my molly ringwald outfit? i thought it looked like something she’d wear in ‘pretty in pink’.

8. hand painted speech bubbles.

this picture is of emily dressed as willow from ‘buffy the vampire slayer’.

9. cardboard.

10. feather hairpieces.
found on etsy by jade rose designs.

eu adoro filmes dos anos 80, estilo Sessão da Tarde, e a musa desta geração, pra mim, sem dúvida, é Molly Ringwald.  

Juntei aki três momentinhos de filmes com ela que eu simplesmente amo. Além de tudo, ela sempre arrasava no figurino.

 1 – Cena de Pretty in Pink . Música de Otis Redding, Try A Little Tenderness.

2 – Cena de Breakfast Club. Música de Karla deVito, We are not alone.

3 – Cenas de Sixteen Candles.

Gluekit illustration for Rolling Stone, 2009.

Most costumes are cheap.

Michael J. Fox

Teen Wolf

That’s not a jean jacket he’s wearing, but a jean jacket will do.

Fur around the cuffs, maybe even feet.

False nails.

You can figure out the furry face.  Have fun!

Marty McFly: Here a good one!

Molly Ringwald

You choose!

We chose Claire from the ‘Breakfast Club’: Bomber jacket, gloves, knee high boots- Simple.  I already have these pieces.  A temp red hair die or wig and an “Omigoh!” Happy Halloween!

Eddie Murphy – Axel Foley

Beverly Hills Cop

A grey t-shirt and jeans will do.  You may want a banana your tailpipe.  Also, a dark hoodie and white sneaks, as seen on the video cover box and poster.

Dustin Hoffman- Dorothy

Tootsie

Kurt Russell- Jack Burton

Big Trouble In Little China

Tank Top w/ some picture (or draw on it with a Sharpie)

Jeans, boots and mullet hair. You should have actual muscles!

Weapon optional.

Tom Hanks -Big

Josh Baskin

White Sneakers, Jeans, retro button-down  and jacket.  Short curly wig and keep telling people you’re “Josh Baskin”.

Sigourney Weaver- Ripley

Aliens

Cargo Pants (grey), White high tops, dirty white t-shirt and suspenders.  Weapon, ammo and kid optional.

Same wig as Tom Hanks’ Big wig.

9 to 5

Great for any female friends in groups of three.

Ferris Bueller

With a swanky retro feel, any slick guy could pull off this look.  Don’t forget the comb-over.

Jennifer Beals- Alex

FlashDance

Tattered grey sweaty, leggings and red pumps.  Toss on some leg warmers for full 80s effect!

Curly hair pinned up on the sides.

Ladies & Gentleman:The Fabulous Stains

Corrine Burns

You might need the movies trailer to get the costume down!

Awesome movie, BTW!

The Legend of Billie Jean

Looks like shes wearing some cut off wet suit with high-waisted cargo pants and combat boots. Standard 80’s stuff.  Check out the clip for more details.

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

Pee-Wee or anyone in the cast, practically!

Grey suit, white shirt, red tie and white (Ferris Beuller) shoes. Don’t forget the crew cut and a hint of red on the lips.

Xanadu

Olivia Newton-John- Kira

You’re gonna need knee-high roller skates… but you can fudge around that by using leg warmers.

See the clip below for more deatails.

Happy Halloween,

Seriously

BONUS: Couldn’t leave out Molly in 16 Candles.…

Samantha

Of all the looks Samantha had in this  movie, this is the prettiest.  Rock it!

Pink dress with tulle, hair twisted back and up.  She looks like a pixie princess.

And…Pretty in Pink…

Andie

I think doing the retro look with the hat in this movie is cool!  Unless you have time to make the prom dress at the end.

1. Getting tickets to Big Day Out ‘10 even though they sold out in 10mins!

2. Re-reading 1984, by George Orwell.

P.S. I want this copy!

3. My Little Golden Book illustrators.

J.P. Miller

Alice & Martin Provensen

4. Winona Ryder

Does anyone else find it amusing that in Girl Interrupted (released in 1999), she plays a girl in a mental hospital who has Borderline Personality Disorder and asks the audience the question “Have you ever stolen something even though you have the money?” and then two years later she steals $5000 worth of cosmetics even though she had the money?

Ha. But I love her anyway…

5.  The song Talk Show Host, by Radiohead. I’d forgotten about it until I watched Romeo + Juliet again the other night and heard it on the soundtrack.

Last night I listened to it over 30 times in a row. It’s so calming.

6. This article, titled “Radiohead ‘definitely’ planning new album in 2010, says guitarist‎.”

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

7.  Talking to this lovely girl…

8. Getting to dress up as Molly Ringwald! I can’t wait Ana!

9. Air’s new album ‘Love 2′. So wonderful!

10. Taking photos of my and other peoples shoes…I do it a lot for some reason. Ha.

Starting top-left and going around clockwise: Blueprint Festival, Sound Relief, Lily Allen, Little Red.

They were taken at 4 separate gigs!…and I have a million more shoe pics on my computer.

I amuse myself.

I finished it!

Molly Ringwald, from Knit scene Fall 2006, knit as small as I could reasonably get it and it is still baggy. Fits great around the shoulders, so my recommendation would be to size this for the shoulders. I did use bamboo silk, which is a really stretchy fiber, so that should be taken into account.

Also finished the toe-ups for Pumpkin

From the book Toe-Up, by Chrissy Gardiner. Pumpkin really likes them, so I am trying a grown up pair of toe-up socks for me. Just started the Gull Wing socks in some Yarntini in the Plum Blossom colorway, a leftover from the Woolgirl Sock Club. Really nice yarn. I think I like it even batter than Dream in Color Smooshy and I liked that yarn alot.

Oh the blogging. Sigh. My grown-up school has started and between that and chasing my kids hither and yon, I don’t know how often I’ll be back. But I will try

VERDICT:
8/10 “Sexy Giiirlfrieeends!“

Might not be the best John Hughes movie of all time, but then again, this is the one that started it all.

Sixteen Candles is about a Sophomore in High School named Samantha Baker whose parents forget about her sixteenth birthday because they’re too caught up in her older sister’s wedding. And like many a sixteen-year-old girl, all she wants is go steady with Jake Ryan – the hunky Senior who’s dating the prom queen and has a secret crush on Samantha – but she thinks he doesn’t even know she exists.

Oh, the drama. That Jake Ryan is such a tease.

It’d been a while since I’d seen this, but after giving it another look for the first time in years the other night I was pleasantly reminded that Sixteen Candles really is one funny movie. This eye-opening experience along with this whole weekly poll jazz is making me want to revisit the entire John Hughes collection because I’m pretty sure I’ll be having the same reaction to Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, both of which I haven’t seen in ages. I don’t know, these are the kinds of movies that are worth revisiting every once in a while because they’re always going to ring true no matter what age you are and because they’re just really damn funny.

And the main reason this movies is still good and don’t feel dated 25 years later goes right back to John Hughes himself. I think I mentioned this in my Breakfast Club review, but I can’t think of any other screenwriter that’s ever really managed to capture the voice and mindset of youth and teenage angst in such a witty, Salingerian way as Hughes.

The other reason Sixteen Candles works is the cast. Even though they could all cure cancer and still be remembered as “The Brat Pack”, they’re all freakin’ great here. Molly Ringwald is totally believable as Samantha Baker, the role of “The Geek” is probably the best contribution Anthony Michael-Hall will ever make to this world, the unappreciated Paul Dooley always plays a great Dad (check out Breaking Away if you have no idea who I’m talking about), and if Gedde Watanabe hasn’t legally changed his name to Long Duk Dong by now, he should really get that taken care of.

But these are just a handful of standouts in amidst a cast filled with hilarious, eccentric performances of people we all remember from High School.

The other thing I like about this is that it’s way, way, way less lovey-dovey than Pretty in Pink and is a way, way, way more enjoyable date movie for both the ladies and fellas. Maybe it’s just me, but Pink just didn’t do it for me, and no, Ducky didn’t do it for me either. I know Hughes didn’t direct it, but come on, like everyone doesn’t associate Sixteen Candles with Pretty in Pink.

There’s also a great ’80s soundtrack here, and considering some of the hits of decade, that’s an accomplishment worth noting.

But like I said, it’s still not the best John Hughes movie. You can kind of tell it’s his debut effort as there’s a lot going on at once and the emotional oomph isn’t as prevalent as it is in, say, The Breakfast Club, but whatever, small complaints. This is a classic for good reason. 

So be the good boyfriend and add this sucker to Netflix. Everybody wins with Sixteen Candles.

And thanks, John Hughes. You were the man.

So that is Claire Collins (my darling sister) and Molly Ringwald (no relation). It doesn’t matter how many pictures we compare or how much Ms Ringwald spends on professional photographers, make-up and hair stylists - still she looks more like my sister than I do.

No one ever says I look like anyone – including siblings. Do you look like someone famous?

To make matters funnier – Molly Ringwald also went by the name Claire once. So I bring you a great movie with essence de-Claire.

CLAIRE

(to Bender)

What’s your name?

BENDER

What’s yours?

CLAIRE

Claire…

BENDER

Ka-Laire?

CLAIRE

Claire…it’s a family name!

BENDER

Nooo…It’s a fat girl’s name!

CLAIRE

Well thank you…

BENDER

You’re welcome…

CLAIRE

I’m not fat!

BENDER

Well not at present but I could see

you really pushing maximum density!

You see, I’m not sure if you know

this…but there are two kinds of

fat people.  There’s fat people that

were born to be fat, and then there’s

fat people that were once thin but

they became fat…so when you look

at them you can sorta see that thin

person inside!  You see, you’re

gonna get married, you’re gonna

squeeze out a few puppies and then,

uh…

He mimes becoming fat, making noises.

Claire gives him the finger.

BENDER

Oh…obscene finger gestures from

such a pristine girl!

CLAIRE

(resentfully)

I’m not that pristine!

Molly Ringwald (Claire) Judd Nelson (Bender)

Molly with red back http://media.photobucket.com/image/molly%20ringwald/NobunagaAzai/Celebrities/MollyRingwald.jpg

Molly and Judd http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/7/1249639707571/Molly-Ringwald-and-Judd-N-001.jpg

Breakfast Club script ( No I didn’t do it from memory) http://www.awesomefilm.com/script/breakfastclub.txt

I missed most of the John Hughes movies until they were out on video years later, but I saw Pretty in Pink in the theater, and fell deeply in love with it.

(First things first: Poor John Hughes, part of this summer’s tsunami of dead famous people. I swear I have been hearing Simple Minds more often in the last few weeks, so perhaps deejays are playing all the songs from his movies more frequently in tribute.)

Andie! Duckie! Blane! Steff! Andie’s little car and Duckie’s pointy shoes and Blane’s swoony stare and Steff’s awful snottiness! LOVED IT. Love it still. And ohhhh, the teen angst and the questionable fashions and the fabulous Annie Potts! And the MUSIC.

I remember going to see this movie in the theater at the just-barely-a-mall in the next town over. My friend and I were the only ones in the audience, somehow, so the movie unspooled just for us. And I’m pretty sure I walked straight out of the theater to the music store next door to buy a cassette of the soundtrack.

All the music in Pretty in Pink is pretty great, but it’s that final song, over that problematic final scene, that is just the best. Now, of COURSE Andie should have chosen Duckie, as was apparently the original intent, but I’m not gonna lie: I swooned when she and Blane ended up together, with O.M.D.’s “If You Leave” playing on the soundtrack.

Talk about your one-hit wonders, but at least O.M.D.’s was a flocking great song. The plaintive singing, the surging and soaring strings — oh my. I am aware that this is a lowest common denominator moment — that Blane is the easy, conventional romantic option and that relying on music for emotional effect is a copout — but in Pretty in Pink (and, okay, 90 percent of the time) I’m a sucker for it.

If I pass this song on the radio, I HAVE to listen to it. If I pass the movie on the TV, I HAVE to watch it. I find Blane a little less dreamy now, with his weird bangs and his fecklessness, but I still wish he would hack into MY computer and ask ME out on a date.

Oh, Pretty in Pink. May I admire you again today?

(PS Also can we talk about how Jon Cryer just won an Emmy for that lame sitcom he’s on, and how sad it is that he does that nonsense when he was DUCKIE, for cry[er]ing out loud? And how Steff/James Spader got all weird and middle aged somewhere along the line? And how Andie/Molly Ringwald is now playing a MOM on some crap show? Terrible. Goodness, you’d think there’d been some passage of time or something since 1986. You’d think everyone had gotten OLDER, for heaven’s sake. I mean, REALLY.)

Dylan Edbus, the protagonist of The Fortress of Solitude, attended Camden College. When this bit of info drops, I just assumed that the school was real because I had no reason not to. Yet, as I continued reading, I began to think that it was Lethem’s invention (I couldn’t tell you what it was in the text that made me question the school’s existence). When I reach the paragraph where Dylan mentions that he and his roommate go to the End of the World, all those brain synapses and sparks and protons and electrons start doing their thing. Camden College is the same fictional school where Bret Easton Ellis’ The Rules of Attraction is set.

I haven’t read any of Ellis’ more recent work but in Less Than Zero and The Rules of Attraction he really takes the minimalist approach to description. Everyone is tan or not tan or not as tan as they used to be. There’s so much repetition in these books—which I imagine is supposed to emulate the inarticulate voice of 1980s youth—that they’re hypnotic, if that makes any sense. They’re kind of Gertrude Stein-esque and you’re looking for variation in the string of repeated words, hoping to figure out the deeper significance. I read The Rules of Attraction four years ago but the End of the World is something that I am able to recall simply because it was mentioned about 50,000 times by various characters.

The End of the World is a bar near Camden College.

quando todos os filmes da Molly Ringwald valiam a pena…
especialmente os dublados e que passavam na sessão da tarde.
oh yeah!

Weeks ago, when John Hughes died, I thought about all of his movies and what they meant in my life.  I’d seen most of them, but realized that they didn’t have the affect on me that they had on most people.  There wasn’t one single character in The Breakfast Club that I could relate to.  My role in the teenage drama was so much less interesting than any of theirs and I certainly never would have found myself in detention.  I suppose I could relate a little to the Molly Ringwald characters in Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink, but at that time in my life my story lacked the romantic Hollywood ending and without that…who cares?

When Patrick Swayze passed this week, I got most of my information from Facebook and Twitter updates.  It was only after I started commenting on people’s updates that I realized how my life is measured by Swayze movies.  @OpinionatedGifts commented that when it comes to Patrick Swayze for him it’s all about  Roadhouse.  I commented “Definitely” because that was the first movie I shared with Mark.  In the history of our relationship, if Mark likes something, usually I like it too (even if I don’t think I will).   Mark loved the movie Roadhouse and it was the first gift I remember buying for him.  We watched it so many times together and yes, I love that movie too.

But after I made that initial comment “Definitely” suddenly I saw something on someone else’s status about Point Break and Dirty Dancing and I jumped back on to add that I also loved those two movies.  I was in 7th or 8th grade when Dirty Dancing came out.  I thought it was the best movie and totally fantasized about being old enough and having a boyfriend to dance like that with.  I had both soundtracks to the movie and remember playing them in a jambox at the beach and by the pool.  Dirty Dancing became one of those movies I would watch every time I was bored.  I watched it so much that it showed up all fuzzy from being overplayed.  Point Break came out when I was in 10th or 11th grade.  For a while it was my very favorite movie.  His character “Bodhi” was the best,  he was the most lovable bad guy ever (at least until I watched The Wire).  My roommate in college bought me a copy of Point Break as a gift.  It’s another one of my videos that has been majorly overplayed.

Then of course there is Ghost, which my mother bought for me one Christmas while I was in college.  I watched it and cried like a baby many times.  Also To Won Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, which I can’t remember anything about but know that I went to see it with my best friend, Kristin and Black Dog (with Meatloaf) which Mark and I rented in the first year of our marriage.

Patrick Swayze definitely left an impression on my life.  His movies were in the backdrop of the most important time in my life, when I formed the most important relationships of my life.  With this I send up a little thank you to him!

We’ve been watching John Hughes films all week and I must say, I’ve never appreciated them as much as I do now. It probably comes with age. I don’t know.

I love lines like:

“This is 1987. Did you know that a girl can be whatever she wants to be?” – Watts

Some Kind of Wonderful

and

“I can’t believe my grandmother actually felt me up.” — Samantha Baker

Sixteen Candles

and of course

“We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.” — Andrew

The Breakfast Club

Allen and John Hughes made my stressful days bearable.

I’m in love with the both of them. teehee.

Samantha Baker, John Hughes and Jake Ryan -- Sixteen Candles

Pretty in Pink

Pais: E.U.
Género: Comedia juvenil
Duración: 96 min.
Dirección: Howard Deutch
Guion: John Hughes
Música: Michael Gore
Producción: Paramount Pictures

Reparto:

Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts,James Spader, Margaret Colin,Gina Gershon.

Descripción:

Andie es una buena estudiante de clase humilde que se enamora de Blane, un chico guapo y sensible de buena familia. Sus sentimientos son correspondidos, pero la gente de alrededor hará todo lo imposible para que su relación no funcione.

Críticas:
John Hughes en su mejor momento.
Aunque aquí no era el director, si se nota su guión. John Hughes es el rey de la mejor comedia adolescente de los 80s. El Club de los Cinco y 16 Velas forman, junto a esta Chica de Rosa, un trío de joyas de la comedia juvenil más inteligente. Inolvidables selección de temas pop rock y aportación de Jon Cryer.

Dos de los ídolos de los 80, Molly Ringwald y Andrew McCarthy obtuvieron un gran éxito en esta triunfal comedia de John Hughes. Ella es una universitaria que vive en el peor barrio de la ciudad. El es un chico rico que sólo desea salir con ella. Pero tan pronto como se inicia el romance, surge la amenaza de la cruel realidad que los separa. Una historia agridulce con un final sorprendente y una formidable banda sonora.

Datos técnicos:
Tamaño: 1,023 Mb
Duracion: 01:32:46
Vídeo codec: Xvid
Resolución: 592 x 328
Bitrate: 1268 Kbps.Qf: 0,261
Audio codec: 0×0055(MP3, ISO) MPEG-1 Layer 3
Bitrate Castellano/Inglés: 48000Hz  126 kb/s total (2 chnls)
Subtítulos [Castellano - Inglés]

Capturas:

Película

Subs.es-en

Controversial to use the word “best,” I know. “Favorite” is probably more accurate. But these three scenes are the ones that, for me, best capture the essence of John Hughes movies and why they’re so brilliant.

1. Sixteen Candles: Samantha cries in the school hallway as Jake Ryan’s girlfriend walks by

As adults, we can laugh at how heartbroken we were over people we barely remember. We have the benefit of comparing the Facebook profiles of our adult selves, which clearly show that guy or girl actually did us a favor by shattering our world when we were 16. But if you ever want to recapture the feeling, just watch the few minutes after Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) embarrasses Sam (Molly Ringwald) on the dance floor and sends her running out of the gym.

2. Pretty in Pink: Andie stands up to the richie girls … in class

Here’s another thing we forget after the days of high school are long behind us: going to school isn’t easy. Those same “office politics” we loathe as adults are just a tamer version of what we survived in our younger years.

On your next stressful day at work, just think about how mean those girls were to Andie, because she dressed differently and didn’t suck up to them. They mouthed nasty things to her when the teacher turned her back, and when the teacher caught on and tried to punish them, it only made things worse. (The teacher meant well, but did she really think she could fix everything with some extra homework? John Hughes knew that teen problems were just as complicated as adult problems.)

3. The Breakfast Club: Claire and co. talk about what will happen Monday

The dancing has ended and the vice principal bamboozled. Somewhere between Allison (Ally Sheedy) sprinkling Pixie Sticks on her sandwich and Andrew (Judd Nelson) staging a scene of Christmas with his family, semi-friendships have been forged. The bond falls apart, though, when Claire says she doesn’t think they’ll be friends after Saturday detention.

I love this scene, because it’s one that conveys that even the popular kids struggle in the social hierarchy of high school. John Hughes movies are some of the few I can think of that do that. (Also see Sixteen Candles, when Michael Schoeffling as Jake looks around at his destroyed house after the party. Not sure if Blane’s frustration at not being able to date Andie counts, since he was rich, but not necessarily well liked.)