What Possessed Me

Some Kind of Wonderful

If you performed an autopsy on my eleven-year old body, you'd find traces of this movie lodged in my heart. All throughout middle school, I wanted Eric Stolz to be my fantasy boyfriend (artist in a mechanic suit = HAWT). I wanted to play the drums and walk around like a total badass a la Mary Stuart Masterson. I searched high and low for those damned fringed red fingerless gloves and even contemplated a peroxide mop until Sassy Magazine told me I had the wrong head shape for pixie cuts. (Sassy was always right).

And so when my little cousin told me she hadn't seen the film - or any of the 80s movies I love and cherish with all of my heart - I bit my tongue and swallowed it.  

P: "Wait a second - you mean who you haven't seen 'The Breakfast Club'?"

Cousin: "No."

P: "Or 'Sixteen Candles'?"

Cousin: "Nope."

P: How can this be? What about 'Pretty in Pink'?"

Cousin: "Ummmm...no."

P: (Look of utter bafflement)

Cousin: "I was a toddler when those movies came out!"

P: "I don't care! That's no excuse! I don't even know how you are able to operate in contemporary society without these cultural references! How did you learn to talk to boys despite being a misunderstood loner/misfit with excellent raw materials? How could you tell the geeks from the nerds?"

I didn't even wait for the answer because the only solution was to rent "Some Kind of Wonderful" from her iStore.

5 minutes into the movie

  

Cousin: "Wait a second - is Watts going to get with Keith?"

P: "Watch the movie."

 

30 minutes into the movie

Cousin: "Oh GOD - is he going to end up with Amanda Jones? This can't be happening."

P: "Will you please watch the movie?" 

1 hour into the movie

  

Cousin: (Literally biting her nails) "PLEASE GOD LET KEITH END UP WITH WATTS BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO."

P: It's going to be OK ...(morbidly enough to increase the dramatic tension)

Cousin: NO IT'S NOT! He's going to end up with the wrong girl and it's so UNFAIR!

P: Listen, will you please watch the movie? Jeez.

 

1 hour and 30 minutes into the movie

  

Cousin: ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!

P: I know.

Cousin: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

P: Right?

Cousin: Oh my God, it's so good. It's so damn good.

P: Girl, you just got skooled.

 

So now I need to skool this girl good and proper. I need a movie marathon, complete with 80s-themed food and drink. Suggestions?

Daydreamers

Over an obscene amount of shortribs at Korean BBQ the other night, I asked my friend J. what he would do if money, training and other practicalities were no object. Without hesitation, he looked at me squarely in the eye and said, "I'd be a weatherman."

His answer just knocked me out. It's was so perfect - not only because he's a boy who loves data, almanacs, and maps (and hilarious because I could totally imagine him in an appalling suit making sweeping gestures behind a blue screen) - but because it was so...I don't know...effortless? Natural?  Playful? More enviable lightheartedness.

Some things are more subjects for daydreaming than others, I find.  I will, of course, create a fantasy house and garden complete with a host of baby animals at the drop of a hat. I can, without any effort, conjure up a perfectly delightful meeting with Steve Carrell during which I refuse his amorous offers but graciously suggest we remain friends.

But when it comes to career matters, there are stumbling blocks to imagination. Fear? Negativity? Diffidence? Confusion? These are the little poisonous darts that attempt to paralyze me. I am too easily overwhelmed.

So I'm wondering - what do you do to kickstart your imagination when it's skulking under the couch?

Image from here.

A wild and crazy guy

Apparently, when Steve Martin is asked for his autograph, he hands over this card. If it's even possible, this makes me love him more than baby pandas and albino koalas and Peppermint Patties.

I just love Steve Martin. He is famously shy. He's a wild and crazy guy. He writes plays and novellas. He plays and composes on the banjo. Remember The Jerk? Best movie in the WORLDZ. Watch this clip and be charmed forever.