The 80s Club

It’s time to wrap up the Harrison Ford poll. I was hoping to make it to at least 20 votes. Ah, well…

Looks like, as far as you guys are concerned, Ford is safe in his role for a good long while, though a few of us wonder how they’re going to make the new film stand up to the Indiana Jones reputation all these years later. It’ll be interesting to see!

We loved Forest Whitaker as the giggling Pfc. Garlick in Good Morning, Vietnam, and were moved by him as Cuffey in the epic drama, North and South. And now, two decades later, Forest Whitaker is honored with the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Last King of Scotland.

Congratulations, Forest! We are so proud and excited for you!

By the way, did you see all the 80’s looking dresses on the red carpet? From the big bows, to the metallic brightly colored dresses, to the short in front/long in back gowns, the 80’s seemed alive and well tonight.

We’ve been borrowing my sister’s PS2 and her Dance Dance Revolution. The game has a pretty good mix of songs to “dance” to, some of them from our favorite decade. (The 80’s, in case a few of you are new here or just aren’t paying attention. ;) ) A few of them even have the videos to go with them, including Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and Lipps Inc.’s Funkytown.

Here’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun via YouTube. Annie Potts’s character of Iona in Pretty in Pink always reminds me of Cyndi Lauper in this video. Enjoy. :)

I usually don’t catch Medium, for some reason I always forget when it’s on. It’s a pretty good show, but my main motivation for watching it is so that I know what the heck’s going on when I head over to read Sheila’s b5 blog, Medium Dreams, which is about the show. She cracks me up, and it’s a good reason to check her out over there. And I did happen to catch it tonight. :)

What the heck does this have to do with The 80’s Club, you ask? Well, this episode featured one of my favorite 80’s moody/confused/frustrated/angst-filled teens, Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Alan Ruck was perfect in the role of Cameron, I thought, and cracked me up in Spin City. The promo for next week’s Medium showed a clip with Eric Stoltz. He did star in one of my favorite 80s movies of all time. I take it he’s been a visitor to Patricia Arquette before?

If they keep throwing all my favorite 80’s movies stars in the show I may just become a regular!

I remember when the Rubik’s Cube came out and how unexcited I was to get and solve one. Seriously, it looked like absolutely no fun at all to me. My brother got one, and I think he was able to solve it, without even taking the stickers off and just replacing them. I tried it, I couldn’t get it, I didn’t care.

Now a new generation of kids, and an old generation of middle-aged people who still think they’re kids, can try to solve a new version of their favorite old game. Head on over to Hsien’s post to find out how you can try to win a yet-to-be released Rubik’s Revolution. Can you guess how anxious I am to get my hands on one of these? ;)

I don’t often watch The Today Show anymore, my mornings these days are filled with cartoons on PBS or homeschooling. The other morning, though, I was able to catch a few minutes of the show and caught John Mellencamp performing songs from his recent album, Freedom’s Road. You can watch the YouTube video below to see and hear Mellencamp chatting with Today Show host, Matt Lauer.

I think the bit that stole the hour, though, was the cameraman’s capture of Richard Simmons working out while watching Mellencamp perform. You’ve gotta watch it just to check out the glittery tank and the striped shorts, so very 80’s. I can’t say too much, though, the man does have better legs than me. Simmons was there to promote his upcoming hearing to try to get more mandatory Phys.Ed. in the schools as an attachment to the No Child Left Behind Act. The fact that he adjusted himself while they were taping kinda stole the show, but I think it’s no more scandalous than what you’d experience sitting around with guys watching the big game, ya know?

You can check out that video below…

If you just can’t get enough of John Mellencamp, click on over to his site and you can listen to AM (all Mellencamp) streaming radio. Enjoy.

While out with some friends at the movies recently, we saw a preview for the new movie Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant (ha, I almost wrote Hugh Laurie. That would be quite a different film, I’d think.) and Drew Barrymore. The premise is that Grant’s character is an 80’s has been pop star who needs Barrymore’s character (his plant waterer) to help him succeed twenty years after the peak of his career.

The summary from IMDb:

A washed up singer (Grant) is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an admiring teen sensation. Though he’s never written lyrics in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman (Barrymore) with a flair for words.

I was thinking that she seemed awfully young for him, though I still think of her as Gertie, and not as a woman my age. He is a good 15 years older than her, though, so I wasn’t totally off my rocker (this time).

The movie is not getting great reviews. In fact, “dull” seems to be the overriding sentiment, but might be worth the rent just for the fun of the flashback 80’s fashion. It comes out on Valentine’s Day in the US.

The Police are slated to reunite for a performance at this year’s Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 11th, and that will be my reason for watching the awards show. I’m not usually one to sit through these types of programs, but you can bet my butt will be planted to watch The Police! Or maybe I’ll just pretend to jam with them. I’ve been playing Message in a Bottle a bit on Guitar Hero II; it’s like I’m part of the band already. ;)

There’s even a rumor of them going on tour a bit this year. How much would you pay for a ticket to see this classic band, in what possibly is a once in a lifetime opportunity?

While linking to Duncan’s blog for his “best of the worst” picks, I noticed his enthusiastic mention of the reforming of the band Crowded House. And, since reading that post, I haven’t been able to get away for more than a few minutes without, “Something So Strong” running through my head. At least it’s no longer the theme to Charles in Charge though, aye? That really was annoying.

Anyway, here are the sites that Duncan links to: liveDaily and tvnz. And here’s the scoop from another page at tvnz:

A reformed Crowded House is expected to perform at a major American music festival in April.

Julia Connolly, a spokeswoman for Finn’s office, told the Dominion Post newspaper that further auditions were planned in Auckland and Los Angeles. “At the moment, they’re just working at getting the band together,” she said. “Something’s formally coming out once the band is in place.”

And, for your great pleasure, the video to Something So Strong. This is really NOT going to help to get it out of my head. But, as long as it helps to combat the Charles thing, it’ll work for me. :) Enjoy!

ht: Duncan Riley

Kids Incorporated. One of those Saturday morning shows (at least I think that’s when it aired, when else would it have?) that I remember loving, but I no longer have any idea why I liked it or what the plot was even. Kids dancing, that’s what I remember. You can head over here to see what Wikipedia remembers about it.

Enjoy the theme song, and watch for Fergie (Stacey Ferguson) of the Black Eyed Peas. She’s the first one to be credited. Crazy, huh?