Ring Lardner Jr wrote the move MASH. St Elsewhere ended with the suggestion that the entire series was the dream of an autistic boy. And Radar, such a good boy, drank Grape Nehi and not from the still that Hawkeye created.

Sorry but my party RAGES on into the night (that's for you Jen). Anyway, I have company keeping me awake, but that means that I don't have as much to chat with you all. Have no fear, soon you will have me all to yourselves again soon.

The movie Real Genius featured Val Kilmer. Whenever I see Jon Gries I say "LAZLO buddy! Ice is NICE!" I do so love that film. In the climax of the film, Prof Jerry Hathway's house is destroyed by what? William Atherton played a villanous EPA agent is what iconic 80s movie (I mentioned it in an earlier post.) Kent, the student slave to Prof. Hathway, is convinced that the voice in his head is Jesus when he reveals what information?

Val Kilmer was also in Willow, which I have to love for being a movie with a little person as the hero. Ron Howard (Opie!) directed Willow, but what famed screenwriter and director penned Willow?
Robert England went against type and was cast as a sympathetic alien. V overtly referenced the Holocaust The story remains a Nazi allegory, right down to the Swastika-like emblem used by the Visitors and their SS like uniforms. There is a youth auxiliary called the "Friends of the Visitors" with obvious similarities to the Hitler Youth and Visitor broadcasts mimic Nazi era propaganda. The show's portrayal of human interaction with the Visitors bears a striking resemblance to stories from Occupied Europe during the Second World War with some citizens choosing collaboration and others choosing to join underground resistance movements.

Some of the central characters in the initial series were from a Jewish family and the grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, frequently commented on the events of the past again unfolding.

Long Before Scrubs and ER, there was St Elsewhere and MASH. MASH was based on a movie written by what Academy Award winning screenwriter? MASH ran longer than the Korean War itself running from 1968-1986. What did Radar drink rather than alcohol at the canteen?

St. Elsewhere was part soap, part comedy, and part drama. The last episode was surrounded with controversy. What did the finale suggest that caused such an uproar?
My haloscan comments are only working on and off now-so congrats to all of you who are getting things right. Hopefully I'll be able to read your answers soon.

Loni Anderson (WKRP) married Burt Reynolds in 1988. The Cannonball Run was a spoof of the movie Cannonball! (1976) The film also feature Harrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Roger Moore, Peter Fonda and Dom Delouise.

In 1983, NBC broadcast a two part miniseries about aliens landing on the Earth. Aliens arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hover over key major cities. They reveal themselves on the roof of the United Nations building in New York City, and are human in appearance, but require special glasses to protect their eyes and have a distinctive low resonance to their voices. Simply referred to as the Visitors, they reach out in friendship, ostensibly seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals needed to aid their ailing world. In return, the Visitors promise to share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth accept the arrangement, and the Visitors, led by their leader John and his deputy Diana, gain considerable influence with human authorities.

Quickly, though, the Visitors turn sinister-scientists find themselves suddenly restricted.. Some reporters sneak above a ship and discover that the aliens are actually reptilian in nature. Quickly alliances form, some humans sell out others (Vichy) for power with the aliens, other humans form a resistance. V overtly referenced what dark period in human history?

The show was so successful that it spawned a sequel AND a series. What slasher film legend appeared in V as one of the aliens who is actually sympathetic to the humans?
Love in Hell was published after Groenig's girlfriend offered to publish Life in Hell in book form. The Simpsons were originally part of the Tracey Ullman Show until they proved more popular than she did. In the 80s, Bart became popular quickly and soon there were t-shirts proudly proclaiming "Eat My Shorts" and "Kowabunga, dude!"

Oh what would my childhood have been like without Burt? That laugh? That stache? That...did I mention the laugh? Burt appeared in the Cannonball Run, although most don't realize it was a spoof of what 70s film? Name at least 4 other famous cast members appearing in the film including the ultimate female representative of 80s hair.

Before there was Brangelina and Tomcat, Burt was one half of an 80s supercouple. Who was his girlfriend who he married in 1988?
Gopher, Fred Grady, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1986. Although he tried to distance himself from his acting career, he told People magazine, "If there were no Gopher, there would be no Fred Grandy for Congress." Herve Villachaize was a French actor who later killed himself. Malcolm McDowell was recast as Mr. Roarke. Way to Go Wendell! Fabulous line Bakerina.

The Simpsons is the longest running American sitcom and the longest-running American Animated Program.While the Simpson's show began in 1989, the characters first appeared in short on what popular comedy show in the 80s? What were Bart's earliest taglines? Matt Groenig was the creator of the show, previously was the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1977-1997) . The first collection of the strip was published in 1984 and was called what after his then girlfriend offered to publish it in book form?
Julie Brown's ultra annoying tagline was "Wubba wubba wubba." Kurt Loder was THE face of Mtv news.

Unfortunately I have a friend coming over to bring supplies and do the general go team go thing so the next few posts will be a bit on the brief side. Forgive me. But for now it's time for you to entertain me.

I really liked both of these shows as a child. I was young I WAS VERY YOUNG, and as I was writing I was wondering if I had to choose which one would I want to visit. I'm all about Fantasy Island (1978-1984). I mean, you could get ANYTHING. I could meet Cary Grant before he died or invest in Toys R Us.

On the other hand, the Love Boat (1978-1986) had....Gopher, Isaac, and the Doc. Not to mention really annoying Julie. Put them up against Herve Villechaize. Incidentally, what country is Herve from? In in 1998 the show was remade. What actor was cast to replace Mr Roarke? In 1986 what did Gopher become?
With the arrival of cable came Mtv, which was launched in 1981. The first video it played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. While it did play music videos, Mtv did also play programs including Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Young Ones. In fact, it was through Mtv that American audiences came to see the Young Ones as part of Mtv's British comedy hour. I was slavishly dedicated to this block of programming as it was the only way to watch the Monty Python episodes before they were released on VHS. Mtv also had original programs like the game show Remote Control. However, they were pretty much all videos all the time. Videos were often group by music type like "The Headbanger's Ball" and 120 Minutes.

Unfortunately, in 1992 the Real World was broadcast essentially ending Mtv as I knew it.

Mtv also revolutionized the music industry-as videos became works of art in their own right, especially after Michael Jackson's Thriller showed how far the art form could be pushed.

Unfortunately Mtv also spawned VJs like ultra annoying Downtown Julie Brown (not to be confused with Julie "Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" Brown) what was her tagline? Also what VJ hosted Mtv News?
Author Fred Worth claimed the majority of the questions and answers came from his books on trivia. While Pursuit admitted they used his book as a source of info, they claimed it was improper use of copyright. Facts are not protected by copyright they argued, the court agreed. Worth also lost the appeal.

While Trivial Pursuit was cool to play with friends, you didn't need a pal to have fun with your Rubik's.Although invented in 1974 (the year I was born) in 1980 it was renamed by Ideal Toys this puzzle was renamed "Rubik's Cube" by Ideal Toys in 1980. Wikipedia claims that it is world's best-selling toy, with over 300,000,000 Rubik's Cubes and imitations sold worldwide.

Postman claimed the popularity of the game illustrated his thesis that information without context was proliferating thanks to an image, not text based, culture.

Rubik's became strangely competitive including people who could solve the puzzle blindfolded. I was lucky if I could slowly solve this puzzle under the BEST of circumstances. Often I resorted to removing and replacing the stickers. (Hey I was in first grade.) Rubik's gradually lost its popularity despite offering new variations including a "snake" that could formed into several shapes including a globe, a globe, and planet Earth version.

Recently, Rubik's have become popular again. Director Michel Gondry even has a short video of himself solving a rubik's cube with his nose!
Salman Rushdie's book Satanic Verses caused a fatwa to be declared on his life.

As I said before I grew up in one of the more depressing and agricultural areas of CT. Thus our power went out often and my mother and I found ourselves playing Trivial Pursuit by candlelight often. I actually remember my parents taking me to adult parties (remember I was an only child taught to socialize as an adult) where the whole point was to play Trivial Pursuit. At Christmas parties, my family would split into to teams to play against each other/

The game's popularity peaked in 1984, a year in which over 20 million games were sold. The rights to the game were licensed to Parker Bros (now part of Hasbro) in 1988; in 2008, Hasbro bought out the rights in full, for US$80 million. By 2004, nearly 88 million games had been sold in 26 countries and 17 languages.

In 1984, however, a 300 million dollar suit was filed against Trivial Pursuit for what? Author Neil Postman also referenced Trivial Pursuit in his famous book Amusing Ourselves to Death as an example of what insidious trend?
John Landis directed and the beginning of Thriller features a character in the movie within a movie say "See You Next Wednesday" which appears in several Landis films including an American Werewolf in London. Rick Baker who received the first Academy Award for Best Make Up for his work on 1981's an American Werewolf in London. Vincent Price added an additional voice over making Thriller a true masterpiece.

By the way, forgot the mention Splash was a remake of the Little Mermaid, but the Money Pit was a remake of the Cary Grant comedy Mr Blanding's Builds his Dream House.

In 1988, Salman Rushdie published a book so controversial that a fatwa was declared on his life as well as the lives of his publishers.

Rushdie immediately lived in seclusion, but over time has become bolder until he essentially came out of hiding. While Rushdie was not harmed, the translators of this book have not faired so well. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese language translator of the book, was stabbed to death on July 11, 1991; Ettore Capriolo, the Italian language translator, was seriously injured in a stabbing the same month, and William Nygaard, the publisher in Norway, barely survived an attempted assassination in Oslo in October of 1993.

What was the name of this book?
Billy Crystal played a suicidal homosexual who at point almost got a sex change to be with his lover, who never appeared on the show. At one point, Crystal's character is confronted by an incredulous woman who seeing him dressed as fairly normal man says "You're the suicidal homosexual?" Crystal responds, "What you expected me to be wearing a noose and a dress?"

Before he was a bleached, surgery addicted, elephant man skeleton owning, pedophile, Michael Jackson produced the best selling album of ALL TIME on November 30th, 1982.It reached number one in the US and the UK simultaneously and became the first album to do so. Seven of the nine songs on the album were released as singles and all reached the top 10.

In December 2, 1983 the video was released. Jackson showed amazing insight as an artist by hiring a film director, a very popular one, to direct his video.1 Another legendary great provided some additional voice work on the song. Finally, the special effects were done by an Academy Award winner. Who are these three horror greats who worked on Thriller? Special points if you can name the idiosyncratic detail included in Thriller that is the signature of the director.

Jackson was one of the great superstars of the 80s and imitations of his Thriller dance as well as his fashion are still to be found in popular movies like the Wedding Singer and 13 Going on 30. I have it on good authority that there was even a porn imitation.

1Mtv and VH1 had just begun broadcasting and thus music videos were a very new phenomena. Even popular musicians were quite running to embrace videos until artists like Jackson and Madonna revealed what a popular and effective tool they could be. Jackson's conceptualization of Thriller as a short film, however, was truly unique and very VERY risky.
The 80s were all about sitcoms, oh were they ever. A few really pushed the envelop. For example, long before he was an Academy Award winning actor, Tom Hanks used to get into drag every week in Bosom Buddies with Peter Scolari. Hanks starred in two comic films in the 80s that were actually "remakes" Splash and the Money Pit. What were the originals? Equally disturbing was Billy Crystal's performance on the show Soap as what?


While there were no cartoons on Saturday, there were the Sunday comics. This was much less exciting when you think about the line up of "reading" available-Family Circle (groan), Marmaduke (wince), Garfield (occasionally entertaining), Peanuts (nostalgic), Beatle Bailey (why?), Andy Capp (stop, please I beg you), Dick Tracey (brain function shuts down) among others. There was nothing really FUNNY about the funny pages any more...until Bloom County.

Bloom County literally was the 80s running from December 8, 1980 until August 6, 1989. I loved it from the very beginning. The anxiety closet, Bill the Cat, DeathTongue, Night of the Mary Kay Commandos, the Zygorthian raiders, Steve Dallas working at DC comics, the reveal of a Pregnant Spuds Mackenzie, the Basseslope, Binkley's late night terrors about celebrities, Ronald Ann's Headless doll, and Cutter Johns' wheelchair/spaceship adventures. It was a brilliantly funny strip. But what was most impressive about the strip was the meta aspect of it. For example, at one point the characters went on strike and their roles were "recast" by scabs. There were also PSAs ("stereotypes: the language of hate"), and even censorship (the strip was "pulled" for using the s word- snugglebunnies)

I love Bloom County. In fact I still have an "Anxiety Prone" t-shirt in my closet featuring a terrified Binkley. Unfortunately, despite the popularity of Bloom County, Berke stopped the strip and began Outland, which only ran on the weekends. While I tried to like Outland, it quickly degenerated into cockroach jokes and never evolved the way Bloom County. Eventually many Bloom County characters found their way back to Outland, but the moment had passed.
Sorry guys but I need time to have dinner and drink some tea. Come back after 6, enjoy some previous posts, or please please PLEASE leave some suggestions for future posts in the comments section. Already my arsenal is depleted.
Oh 8os TV was filled with outstanding hotness in the form of male detectives long before shows like Psyche. From Magnum PI, Simon and Simon, Remington Steele, and Riptide, there was a lot of no shirted crime solving. While it seems clear we still love crime solving and justice (thanks Dick Wolf), it never looked better than it did in the 80s.

So, who would you hire if you needed a detective, Magnum or Remington Steele? Oh and Higgins referred to his dogs as what?

I know this is brief but I still haven't had the time to eat. All those links take time to find.
Marty Feldman hosted an entire episode in drag as scheherazade.

I always a fan of Chases line in Fletch "Excuse me Miss, can I borrow your towel? My car just hit a water buffalo." Murray's "Dogs and Cats living together...total chaos" was also a fave. John Belushi danced on the graves of his cast mates even though he died in 1982-the first of all of them to pass away.

What would the 80s have been without the Muppets? For me, it would have been a much sadder place. (And I grew up in rural CT where we had more than enough sadness to go around.) The Muppets were so important that in high school our favorite game was to cast and recast the show with our friends. (I was often cast, because of my size not my nature, as Robin.)

After watching the Jabberwocky section of the Brooke Shields episode, I was terrified and have never watched that episode since. When I was in grad school I popularized the theory that everyone ws scared of one Muppets episode as a kid. I was always fond of Charles Aznavor singing Inchworm, Harvey Korman as a Beast Tamer, Roger Moore singing Walk with the Animals http://www.youtube.co bnm/watch?v=WKAT13XarKQ, and Mark Hamill .


Oh and Mahna Mahna.

What are your fave muppet moments? Who would you be if you could any of the muppets?

Incidentally, what actor hosted his episode of the Muppet Show in drag as Scheherazade?
Jim Fixx popularized jogging before dropping dead. Bill Hicks referenced his death in his act and the Fauvres wrote a song about his death as well.

What would HBO have been without Caddyshack, Modern Problems, Fletch, Ghostbusters, Stripes, and My Stepmother is Alien?After leaving SNL to a fairly lack lustre cast, the original not ready for primse time players began to make movies like Caddyshack and Ghostbusters, which would give us many lines to quote late at night in bars when we realized that we had nothing in common with each other except a communal knowledge of Bill Murray.

I need a break so I'm going to let you guys do some of the work here. What's your favorite line from one of these films? Is it Bill Murray talking about the Dalai Lama? Do you prefer Chase's deadpan Fletch?

And does anyone not want every copy of My Stepmother is Alien burned? Extra points if you can identify the future Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast member who plays Akroyd's daughter in that film.

One last point-not technically 80s trivia. In the original SNL there was a short film in the last surviving cast member dances on the graves of others. Who played the last survivor?
Adoption sitcoms included Diff'rent Strokes, Facts of Life, Webster, and Punky Brewster. One of the popular trends predicted by these comedies was the creation of biracial families-Strokes, Webster, and Facts (Tootie) all featured white families (or in two cases single parents) who adopted a black child/children. Take that Brangelina! Also 3 of these comedies featured single parents who choose to raise a child/children. Quite admirable really.

One of the most popular trends of the 80s was jogging. A puzzle master and writer managed to popularize the trend after writing several books on the subject until his sudden death from a massive heart attack at the age 52 in 1984. What was his name?
Good work Bakerina ,and Tiffany is totally rocking the trivia! Scrubs indeed parodied the "From You Dad" ad. As for the posthumous PSA, it was Yul Brynner. Yep West World will never be the same.

Oh man, I need a break and no I don't mean Gimme a Break with Nell Carter, but I mean like enough time to eat or do something other than sit here. I did manage to have breakfast. Now I'm working on some lunch and perhaps vacuuming.

But speaking of Gimme a Break, the 80s had some spectacular and craptacular sitcoms. One of the less explicable issues surrounding the 8os sitcom was the proliferation of adoption sitcoms or sitcoms in which the focus of the show is a family with adopted children or a child. Quick-name at least 3 popular "adoption" sitcoms from the 80s. What adoption sitcom cast (technically the show started in the late 70s) seems to particularly tragedy striken? One cast member went the way of softcore porn before dying of a drug overdose and the other two were both arrested. What popular trend did these comedies predict?
Way to go Tiffany! AIDS was originally known as Gay Cancer and later GRIDS. Baby Jessica Mcclure fell down a well causing the world as we know it to stop. In 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded prompting a slew of bad jokes. The one I recall was that NASA sttod for Not Another Seven Atronauts. (What do you want? I was in middle school and WHAM! was cool.) Because of this explosion, the American audiences finally came to known Richard Feynman after he demonstrated the o-ring failure at a press conference with a glass of cold water.


The 80s had some of the most famous, and infamous, PSAs including one famous actor's posthumous plea to quit smoking. (Name the actor. C'mon it's easy.) Rachel Leigh Cook's current frying pan PSA is actually a "remake" of this famed Just say no to drugs PSA from 1987. Furthermore the same campaign spawned this ad about a father son drug confrontation also in 1987, which was parodied what popular sitcom recently?

Station Break:

I'm taking a moment before I run to the dry cleaners to answer a moment to write about a Day of Blogs writing prompt most notably why I chose this charity. When I joined blogathon, I raised money for the American Heart Association in honor of my late father. During the 1996 'thon, I came across a fellower blogger who was blogging for a charity raising money to help children with Neuroblastoma. I was diagnosed with a neuroblastoma when I was 6 months old. I was paralyzed for the following three years, and while my childhood was marked by hospital visits and surgeries I have been cancer free since 1975. Because of the relative rarity of the cancer, I gave up on ever meeting a fellow sufferer until I came across this blog which featured page after after page of biographies with children facing the same cancer I had.

I contacted her to let her know about my experience and she asked if she could use my story for her blog. I was delighted to be of help, but more excited to discover that there was an online support group for parents and families coping with this disease. I know one of the hardest things for my parents was the feeling of isolation, that no one understood what they were going through. For me, having never met another child or adult survivor, it was like suddenly discovering a new family. Last year, I raised money for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation. I was emailed later by a mother who had unfortunately lost her child to neuroblastoma, but was filled with hope by my story and the blogathon.

I know first hand how horrifying this disease is, not just for the child, but also for friends, families, and communities. I won't spend time telling you about the more horrible aspects of what I faced, but I will tell you this-no one should have to go through that kind of pain, especially not a child, and no parent should have to watch his/her child go through it. While a "couple of thousand children" may not seem like a pressing problem to some, if you see what these children have to suffer in order to live, you know even one is too many. Furthermore, I was diagnosed in 1975. In the 32 years since my diagnosis,there is still no cure and children are often not diagnosed until after the cancer has progressed quite far. (In my case, I wasn't diagnosed until I was paralyzed from the shoulders down because my pediatrician was convinced my parents were just nervous first time parents with too much medical knowledge.)

So I'm supporting Band of Parents because the best hope for the thousands of children who face this disease is with private institutions and dedicated research funded by generous donors. So that someday soon there will be cure.
Before Dr Evil's Alan Parson's Project, Reagan supported the ill fated Star Wars back when the Cold War was still on and the Klingons were still evil. Trickle down economics was one Reaganomic theory, but the one reference in Ferris Bueller was "Voodoo economics." Geraldine Fererro, now known for her "People vote for Obama because he's not white" comments, was Walter Mondale's running mate in the 1984 election.

The 80s wasn't just about power bows and the electric boogaloo, some important historical events happened in the 80s. For example, the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended. What years did those events happen? Less fortunately, AIDS surfaced under two different names originally. Do you remember what AIDS was originally called? Also NASA suffered a huge blow with what tragedy occuring in 1986? In that same year, a toddler fell down a well and the media went nuts until she was rescued. Although her full name was not released, what did the media call her?
The first President I remember is Reagan-the jelly bean lover who once said "A hippie is a person who dresses like Tarzan, has hair like Jane, and smells like Cheetah." This from a man who once, like Clint Eastwood, co-starred with a chimp.

Trivia: Reagan supported the development of a space defense station nicknamed after what popular film?

In the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ben Stein asks his class to identify an economics theory that Reagen supported. What was it?

Bill Maher mocked another Reaganomic policy, saying "They basically said 'We're pissing on you.'" What was it?

While Hillary has gotten a lot of press for running for president, in the 80s a woman ran for VP in 1984 with what presidental nominee?




The novel American Psycho has an entire chapter dedicated to the evolution of the group Genesis.



While some 80s fashion, leg warmers and off the shoulder tops, have returned, other trends have blessed vanished. How about the following:

1. Shoulder Pads-Here the cast of Dynasty shows a more "subtle" version of shoulder pads. I never quite understood the seductive allure of a woman who looks like a linebacker.



2. Poodle Hair and Mullets-80s hair should probably have its own post, but well, I don't want to think about it that much. In the 80s the men had hair just as big and scary as the girls.

3. Neon- Oh my eyes, MY EYES. It burns worse than hydrochloric acid.

4. Stirrup pants-Most often worn with....high heels.

5. Power Bows-A big floopy bow often worn by a woman in a suit, but also could be worn, as Madonna often did, in one's hair.

Now I know about all these fashion faux pas because...well yes I rocked them all (although I only had the one pair of stirrup pants-they WERE hot pink). Oh yes the 80s was a time of fashion shame.

Anyone have any bad fashion they would like to share? Some favorite thing that you are secretly sad you can't wear in public....EVER EVER AGAIN? (Just not the neon please.)


Cleavon Little AKA Sherrif Bart from Blazing Saddles was Lauren Hutton's henchman in that classic dance scene.

Somehow I forgot to mention pre-TomCat Cruise rockin' out without his pants and even more inexplicably Fame, both the TV show and the movie. This scene from Fame (Can You Feel It) made me think of the Solid Gold Dancers. If you have never witnessed the glory of Solid Gold essentially the show was hot people in gold lame doing 80s dances to the top ten songs in the US. The clip I've linked to actually features dancers doing their interpretations of the Miami Vice Theme Song.

Oh yes.

Also courtesy of my crack research team (that would be me) I found this vide of Vin Diesil dancing in Electric Boogaloo. Hey Vin throw me some cash and I'll take the link down (wink).


Which brings us to the question of 80s music. While the 80s brought us some great music, it's also brought some of the most classic closet music of all time. Say like my friend Matt's favorite group Hall and Oates, (OK I admit I'm clapping along to the music.) Lionel's Richie's Dancing on the Ceiling, Jermaine Stewart's We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID_N7rv-iN8) Mr Rickrolled himself Rick Astley , David Lee Roth's California Girls cover, The Pointer Sisters I'm So Excited, and Genesis Invisible Touch.

Not to say all of these bands/songs are bad (except for the Rick Astley...classically bad), but certainly my affection for them stems from listening to them on the bus on the way to school.

Trivia: While in the movie American Psycho, Patrick Bateman uses Huey Lewis and the News as the "soundtrack" for a murder, what band gets an entire chapter dedicated to them in the novel? (Hint: they are mentioned in the closet music paragraph)

What's your favorite 80s closet music? I must admit to having a large collection.
Man, you guys seriously know some 80s movies. Good work!

Prof. Jerry Hathway's house is destroyed by Jiffy Pop. Kent is convinced the voice in his head is God when it commands him to "Stop wacking off." George Lucas wrote Willow.

So, well both feature the brat pack and both are the same year, the films have radically different feels to them. Me, I prefer the Breakfast Club, but I have a few trivia questions since you did so well with Real Genius. At the end of St Elmo's Fire, Demi Moore's character threatens to do what to bury her "step monster"? What does Ally Sheedy wear the entire time during her love scene montage Andrew McCarthy? According to Judd Nelson's character Claire is what kind of girl's name? Why does Anthony Michael Hall's character bring a gun to school in Breakfast Club? And what does "Sporto" do to get detention?
The movie in question is called Creator.

On top of strange comedies, the 80s also gave birth to some of the most iconic dance scenes in film. (Unfortunately my customized blog layout no longer loves the YouTube, so you have to click to see a fabulous 80s dance scene montage.) From the Breakfast Club showcasing some classic moves, to Kevin Bacon skidding across the floor in Footloose, to Ferris Bueller rocking an entire parade with Twist N Shout, the bucket of water in Flashdance, to the "nobody puts Baby in a corner" with lift at the end of Dirty Dancing, to the entire cast of Fast Times at Ridgement High attempting to have rhythm, and even my personal favorite Jim Carey doing a vampiric version of the dance off in Once Bitten. (If you have never seen it, you really must.) The dance off/suddenly choregraphed dance routine was a classic feature of 80s films appearing even in movies like Can't Buy Me Love and Teen Witch.

Any favorite 80s dance scenes? Mine goes to Jim Carey, Lauren Hutton and Karen Kopins in Once Bitten. Incidentally more trivia, who plays Lauren Hutton's henchman in this film? (He's in the video clip.)
The 80s spawned some truly unique films, the types of films that only could have flourished in the 80s. My personal favorite was a film that "introduced" the public to Vincent Spano. It also had the most unlikely romantic pairing, pre-dating Woody Allen and Sharon Stone (Ants) or Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (When Harry Met Sally). Peter O'toole plays a brilliant scientist obsessed with cloning his deceased wife. Mariel Hemingway is a heartbroken nymphomaniac who agrees to donate her eggs. In the process, the two fall in love.

Oh yes.

Oh and Vincent Spano gets naked with a young Virginia Madsen. Something for everyone!

What I love about this film is that while it seemed LESS plausible when it was released than films like My Science Project or Wierd Science, it now seems to be an almost inevitable eventuality.

What was the name of this movie? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?


Any great bad 80s film faves?
Colecovision, makers of the Cabbage Patch Kid, made a computer called the Adam intended to compete with the Atari gaming system. We actually owned one, including the last one in the US. I remember the day Coleco told us they could no longer repair our computer as they had closed down their computer division. Ahhhh, a happy day it was as we next purchased a much nicer Apple iic.

The 80s was the rise of the personal computer. What was your first computer? Or did you covet one from afar? Any favorite games you could play on yours?

The Apple iic had bad knock arcade games like mousetrap instead of pacman (mouse =pacman, cats=ghosts) and slither instead of space invaders. Slither was desert themed in which the "invaders" were snakes. At the higher levels the snakes became invisible adding a strange zen aspect to the game. There were also text based "video" games like Transylvania. Ahhhh I spent hours with that freakin' game.

Any happy 80s computer moments?
The Smurfs, original Les Schtroumpfs, were the creation of Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958. The Smurfs, allegedly, are 3 apples high, but it means there was some hunky perspective going on in the cartoon. Hanna Barbera introduced the Smurfs to Americans in 1981.


Long before there was Tickle Me Elmo, parents waited in line for hours in order to get their hands on these ugly little dolls that came complete with adoption papers. I am indeed speaking of Cabbage Patch Kids. Did you have one? I did. I also had a Koosa.

Cabbage Patch Kids were created by Coleco. The popularity of this doll spurred Coleco to create a computer/gaming system by what name?

Cabbage Patch Kids were more popular than some other classic 80s toys like Popples , pound puppies, and my little ponies.

What were your fave toys from the 80s?
Matthew Broderick saved the world from Thermo Nuclear Destruction by teaching the computer threatening to destroy the Earth tic tac toe. The film ends with the fillowing line:

"Interesting game, professor. The only way to win is not to play."


Back in the 80s, cartoons were only on in a large programming block on Saturday morning. Sunday was a hostile wasteland filled with painting shows and, shudder, Dialing for Dollars. Saturday, though, was a child's paradise. I can remember getting up just to settle, still in my jammies, to watch the Smurfs, the Muppet Babies, Looney Tunes, Droopy Dog and the like.

So a couple of questions: What were your favorite cartoons from the 80s? Any least faves? I didn't go for any of the cartoons geared towards boys (like Voltron). And a lot of Hanna Barbera, like the Herculeans, seemed pretty crappy.

While I know I watched hours of toons, I can't really remember much about them. Still I do have some minor trivia.

Despite the fact that the drawings on the show seem to refute this claim, how tall were the smurfs supposed to be?

What was their original name?

The smurfs, despite what many think, are not an American creation. The original creator of the Smurfs was from what country?
Strangely there were quite a few "war" films in the 80s, but one of the stranger ones didn't actually include war. It was the story of a young hacker who wanted to play a game and ended up threatening the world with "thermonuclear destruction." The hacker in question was played by a pre-Ferris Matthew Broderick and his love interest was Ally Sheedy. David Warner, who seems to always be evil, played the reclusive programmer responsible for the "learning" computer, named after his dead son, that is now about to destroy the Earth.

Here's a trivia question: At the very last second, the hacker saves the Earth from destruction by teaching the computer what game?

Morning, gentle readers, and welcome to the beginning of this year's blogathon where I will attempt to raise money for Band of Parents As I've mentioned in the past, this is a particularly important charity for me as I am a survivor of Neuroblastoma myself. I know first hand what these children and their families and friends have to face. The best hope for a cure as well as safer and more effective treatments lies with generous donors to help private insitutions and dedicated researchers. Making the world a better place can often seem overwhelming, if not impossible. Today it is as simple as offering to sponsor me for this event or leaving supportive comments.

In order to sponsor me you can either email me directly with your pledge or you can go to my fundraising page at change.org. Every little bit helps, so please give what you can.

If you can't give, at least post this information on your blog/myspace/facebook/twitter/plurk/cat's ass so that others will come here and lend their support. The more people who know, the more likely I am to reach this year's goal of $1,000.

Now for the fun part. This year's theme is going to be I Love the 80s. I'll be writing and hopefulyl discussing with you everything from Bad Hair Bands (Hall and Oates anyone?) to Bad Fashion (stirrup pants, dayglo colors, off center top of the head ponytails) to Bad TV (Alf, the Love Boat). So let's put a scunci in our hair, and dig out some of those Genesis and Huey Lewis and the News albums and remember when...
Unfortunately because my good friend blogmonkey customized my layout, I can't use a generic fundraising widget to get y'all to sponsor me. So basically you have two options. You can email me and say "Spiegelman put me down 5 bucks" (or better yet $5,000) or you can follow this link to my fundraising page at Change.org. There isn't any time to delay because the 'thon starts tomorrow, July 26th, at 9 am.

Now if you sponsor me, you only have to donate the money upon successful completion of the 'thon. So be generous. Be bold. Be crazy. Because there is no gaurantee I will make it, and then you will be out none of the cash and I'll just be out of pride and sleep.

My goal this year is to raise a $1,000 dollars for Band of Parents, a charity that helps children and families battling the cancer I survived, Neuroblastoma, but there is no time to delay because I have less than two days to achieve my goal.

If you can't give at all, I understand. There are other ways you can help. Spread the word, email your friends, post links on your facebook/myspace and, of course, come here and leave me encouraging comments because I'm already wondering if this may be an epic mistake.But hey if the worst mistake I make is in the name of a children's charity...it's a good life.

And now I have to go see a man about some Red Bull. See you tomorrow morning at 9 am!

Labels: blogathon

I am interrupting this VERY important travelogue to let you know that I am participating in blogathon 2008 July 26th-27th. I know, I know. You want to know what happened to the asshat in Paris.Patience, gentle readers. (I'm almost tempted to say gentle READER at this point as my readership has been reduced by a half). I will be continuing with the Paris diaries tomorrow, but for now I need your attention. Courtesy of this year's blogathon not only will you have the opportunity to stay up all night long with me, the hooterlicious Bunni, but you can help save the world while you do it!

I will be participating in this year's blogathon, which will be this saturday July 26th! Blogathon is a fundraising event in which bloggers agree to stay awake for 24 hours, posting every 30 minutes, in order to raise money for the charity of his or her choice, in my case Band of Parents. Unlike last year, when I raised close to 1500 dollars, I don't have months to painstakingly harass you for money. This year I don't even have a week, so all y'all you need start saying your good-byes to your wallets right now. (I kid, I kid...but not really.) I will be posting more information about sponsorship as soon as it is available. For now, just get used to the idea that ANY sponsorship amount is needed and will be accepted. (In the meanwhile you might enjoy some pictures from last year's blogathon.)

In another departure, this year I will be retiring horror trivia. Yes it's fun, but it has run its course. This year, I will be doing something different. As always there will be a trivia angle, but there will also be questions for the audience and general silliness about the 80s! TV shows (Mork and Mindy, the Love Boat, Fantasy Island), fashion (power bows, stirrup pants, scuncis and...dare I say it? Jordache!), ad campaigns (just say no, bartles and james asti spumanti, it's not nice to fool mother nature), games (trivial pursuit, rubik's cube), trends (yuppies, the brat pack), and of course movies (Best Defense, Flashdance, St Elmo's Fire, Ghostbusters)...all will be under discussion as well as chatting about our worst and best 80s moments. (And yes I am buying pop rocks for the occasion.)

While I will be asking for sponsorship very soon, there are, as always, lots of other ways to show your support. Right now, since my readership is at an all time low (the lowest since I started this freakin thing), word of mouth in the form of emails or posting info on your blog, facebook, myspace, apartment window is appreciated. Also, equally important, are people willing to send me emails and IMs of encouragement during the long dark tea time of the soul (between 4- and 6 am) when one is tempted to give up and sleep.

As I said, as information comes to me I'll be posting it here, so come here often and make sure you spread the word: you spent the night with Bunni and helped save the world.

Labels: blogathon, charity

The next morning, I awake to Nana and the Sauvage sitting on the bed. They are talking and laughing oblivious to the fact that the pressure in my sinuses has blossomed into a migraine. WhileI no longer fear that I might spontaneously combust, every jostle of the bed, every giggle or whine makes me want to drive a pair of scissors into my head. As I sit speculating on the location of the closest knife or weapon, the Sauvage remarks to me that last night my skin was burning. He mimes reaching out in the night and feeling my skin, his hand barely touches me when he pulls back and put his fingers in his mouth. Nana giggles. Being an idiot he repeats this comment a few times, as if I don't quite understand what he saying.

In this, my illness protects him. If I had the strength, I would have certainly come very close to killing him in front of his own daughter. It's one thing to take advantage of a woman because you are too ridiculously clueless to understand the force of her protestations, but he knew. He knew I had a high fever and took advantage of me anyway. Then the moron sat there joking about it with his daughter.*

My lack of language protects both of us. If I had a tongue in my head that he could understand, I have slashed his chest open with a few casual lines that would haunt him for the rest of his natural life. He would hear them echoing in his ears as he died. But I'm not in the condition to travel, and I'm fairly sure he wouldn't be hospitalable after a little bit of verbal Bunny-foo. And more importantly, I might need this asshat to get me a doctor, thus the smart decision is to keep my mouth shut and plan my escape as I recover. If anything, I'm more convinced than ever that I have to get out of this apartment. But in order to do that, I need to sleep.

I've always had trouble sleeping. My sleeping disorder goes back as far as I can remember to the point that my mother always knew I was really sick when I took a nap. Normally I resist sleep. I'll lie on the couch until 3 AM with my eyes barely open watching the most sucktacular programming that the sci-fi channel has to offer even when I have to get up at 6. When I'm ill my body just wants to sleep, some times up to 15 hours. And the one thing I've learned is, I don't argue with my body when I'm that sick. It knows what it needs. So I knew I needed undisturbed rest and this asshat better let me or migraine or dread illness or not and I would teach him that size really doesn't matter when you make the mistake of pissing off the angriest little NYer in Paris.

Eventually Captain Clueless realized that I still had a fever and was barely functional. He herded his daughter into the other room and left me to sleep. I took a full dose of advil. While I had a migraine, the full body achiness and the mind boiling fever had abated. The key now was to keep it that way. My sleep was heavy and uninterrupted. Wakening I had no idea how long I had been asleep, and thought it might have only been an hour or two. My nap seemed to have had a restorative effect, and I thought perhaps the worst of illness had past in feverish slumber. I showered and dressed, which made me feel even healthier. I came out into the living room. The Sauvage and Nana were watching TV. The Sauvage seemed particularly impressed by my transformation from verge of death to semi tartlicious.

Walking into the living room I realized that it must be afternoon, and, in fact, it was five in the afternoon. I had slept the entire day. I hoped, much like in the fairytales, that I would wake up to a happy ending-the curse lifted, the villagers rejoicing, and the broken faith restored. The Sauvage told me once that in Paris all things are possible. This was the one city where I might have faith in the only "evil" that Pandora managed to capture in her box: Hope. 1

* Bretons do not identify themselves as French, but have their own unique cultural identity. The stereotype of Bretons in France is that they are stupid. As I said, I often come across people who help me understand how stereotypes arise and are maintained. This was one of those moments.

1 One of my ex-boyfriend's referred to me as Pandora's Box. I was never sure what he meant, but an examination of Hesiod's description of her Works and Days made me wonder if he didn't mean I was Pandora. After all, Hermes gave her a "shameful mind and deceitful nature" as well as the power of persuasive speech and lies. Aphrodite gave her a "cruel longing" and "cares that weary the limbs." While all the evils of the world came from Pandora's box and her curious nature, she did manage to trap Hope.

Labels: fever, france, health issues, hope, paris