I never thought I would be nostalgic for the eighties. As a decade, I found it to be a wash. I had straight hair for a lot of it, not subscribing to the old Texas jewel -- the higher the hair, the closer to God. And I never wore the right clothes or liked the music all that much. Dynasty versus Dallas, greed it good, Bret Easton Ellis novels, well, like I said, a wash. But I find myself these days thinking about how quaint it is in certain ways. I'd no sooner answer my phone these days without knowing who it is and yet I did this routinely throughout my youth. I'd pick up a live snake before giving up caller id.
Just saw Adventureland, a movie set in the dying light of the decade. It's not a comedy, but a depressing valentine to teen angst and minimum wage labor. I liked it; Lou Reed's music plays a large part. And the setting, Pittsburgh, is very much like Detroit. I thought a lot about how things were back in those times, thought a lot about how hard it was to get in touch with the guy you liked given there was no e-mailing or texting options. You had to speak. On the phone. I used to write out little scripts before making such calls. Really. Eventually the person would go off the plan. I'd be left without any defenses. And that was cool. I think Lou Reed would understand.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it's already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer." Eve Arnold
Cocktail Hour
Drinking memoir suggestion:Going Gray Anne Kreamer
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Tuesday! Thanks for all the great video response -- I'm definitely hip on Charles' suggestion to make a bartending video. I'll keep you guys posted!
7 comments:
Where's your scarf, Joyce?--Charles Grossie Pointie
Michelle,
I also have mixed feelings about the '80s. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, LOL!
Hope you have a good week!
The main things I remember about the 80s are grad school and the hunt for tenure, and hair metal.
Judd Apatow was in my class, actually, so I know of & have been to "the" Adventureland he wrote of in this movie. That's the actual name of it, too.
I doubt I'll be watching it. I find much of his stuff still too "high school" & I'm sure this newest serving won't bode well for my PSTD attacks.
When/where/what were the eighties? I have no memory of anything called the "eighties."
"I never thought I would be nostalgic for the eighties. As a decade, I found it to be a wash."
Springsteen, baby!
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
Its a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while were young
`cause tramps like us, baby we were born to runThis is the song that inspired me to get out of the Pittsburgh area!
(OK, so the album came out in the '70s and not the '80s, but, you know, Springsteen='80s, what can I say?)
'Shella, I found the 80's to be a time of great self-discovery. Also freedom, being released from a short, bad, marriage.
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