Teen Movies and Tupac

Most of the time Netflix thinks I'm a 60 year old gay man with small children. It suggests things like Columbo and Transamerican Love Story and Dora the Explorer. Yes, I realize the suggestions are based on what I watch, so maybe I'm a 60 year old gay man with small children on the inside, but that is totally beside the point.

Anyway, Netflix must have had a flash of genius the other day because I literally gasped with joy when I saw that Drive Me Crazy starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier was available for streaming (finally!)

This 1999 gem stars Melissa Joan Hart as a high school socialite and Adrian Grenier as her slacker-with-rebel-tendencies neighbor. They come up with a scam to get their respective love interests back, makeover ensues, and you can probably guess what happens in the end. (Spoiler: K-I-S-S-I-N-G)

I have a soft spot for teen comedies from the late 90's. They remind me of sleepovers and eating Warheads and giggling in somebody's basement. There is nothing quite like a middle school girls' slumber party.

This is actually from my going away party in 8th grade, not a sleepover, but it's what most of our sleepovers looked like too.

Teen movies have very few story lines: makeovers, modern-day Shakespeare remakes, prom, graduation. That about covers it. You know what to expect from teen movies, there are never plot twists.

You think, "Oh, I wonder if those two are going to get together?!" Are they the main characters? Is one a nerd and one in the popular crowd? Is the world trying to keep them apart? Then yes, yes they are. Cue the credits.

Teen movies are the cotton candy of the film world. Soft, airy, and fabulous. Sure, binges on teen movies would probably make you barf but a little never hurt anyone.

Keeping with the 90's theme, this week's hot jam is Changes by Tupac. Released posthumously in 1998, Changes is a Monster Ballad of the hip hop world; a little more radio-friendly, a little more accepted by the masses (and the Catholic church.), and a little less police violence. It address some serious issues and probably would have been used in some sort of Save the World celebrity fundraiser if it was released before Tupac was killed. Normally, I wouldn't consider any Save the World songs hot jams, but this one is by Tupac, and let's be honest, everything he did was a hot jam. Pour one out and turn it up.

Dirt and The Distillers

This week's favorite thing is the smell of dirt. I love it. I've been trying to get various flower types to grow in my apartment (with very little luck) but I love that when I walk by I can smell the wet dirt.

I'm not sure what it is about the smell I love so much. Maybe it's just flashbacks to childhood. We always had a garden when I was growing up and I always liked digging around in there. (Until I found a worm. Worms grossed me out then and they still do now) If they made wet dirt scented candles, I would certainly buy one. (Business opportunity?!)

I love when I go home to visit my parents because the whole place is pretty much covered in dirt (although, it's really not dirt, it's decomposed granite. But I digress) and if I come home at night everything smells earthy and fabulous.

Maybe that's why I love the smell so much...It just reminds me of my various homes.

Hot jam of the week is City of Angels by The Distillers. Punk rock, pretty much as a whole, falls in the hot jam category as far as I'm concerned. Next time you hear a good punk song, try to not get up and dance. Or at least tap your foot. It's loud. It's fast. And I love it.

One of the things I like about The Distillers is the lead singer is a girl. (Brody Dalle, ex-wife of Rancid front man, Tim Armstrong. How's that for a punk rock power couple?) Any girl that can successfully join the boys' club of punk rock AND play her own guitar gets an A+ in my book. Not to mention she has a voice that you can only get from screaming to punk music your whole life.

City of Angels features lyrics like "It's a ghost town rabid underworld/Dionysian night vitriolic twilight." How many times have you heard Dionysian or vitriolic in a song? Not that many, I'm sure. 


Now get up and dance.

Bucket Lists and Bobby Darin

 This week I'm featuring a topical favorite thing: crossing things off my bucket list. Last week I got to cross a very exciting item off my bucket list. See the northern lights! Thanks to a solar episode and Maggie J's aurora buddy phone app, I ran outside at 11:15 and there they were, shining away. It was amazing even here in town (where you can't see them very often). I wish I could have gotten out of town, but I'm not complaining.

(Best when viewed large. Click it, folks)

I've kept a written bucket list (or as I call it "Things to do and places to see list") for 4 or 5 years. It includes all sorts of things and every once in awhile I get to cross something off. Last time it was sea kayaking (Resurrection Bay Aug 10). I always get such a feeling of accomplishment when I can cross something off. It's like a To-Do list but even cooler because I get to cross off stuff like sea kayaking and northern lights instead of do laundry and clean humidifier. I like to go through and edit my list occasionally; it's fun to see what I wanted to do when I wrote it and what I want to do now. Sometimes, if I've done something cool, but don't have it on my list I'll add it, just so I can cross it off. That might be cheating, but I really don't care. It's like putting easy stuff on a To-Do list just so you can cross it off ("Make To-Do list: check")

I think this song is a little too cute to be considered a full-on hot jam, but it's my blog and I can do whatever I want.

 Dream Lover by Bobby Darin. My Pandora station has been playing this song a lot and I totally love it. I mean, could Bobby Darin get any cuter? Only if he was holding a baby animal. My favorite thing about this video are Bobby's sweet shoulder shakes in the chorus. And that he's looking right in the camera. Bobby Darin are you singing right to me? Swoon.



Interesting fact: In 1968, Bobby Darin learned that his mother was really his grandmother and his sister was really his mom. Crazy!