She’s Still Preoccupied With 1985

So I love the ’80s!

I’m not even from that decade but love it as much as one who is.

And one song that describes my feelings is 1985.

Come on kids, I can think of worse things then to be stuck in 1985. The ’80s rule!

And as this year marks the 30th anniversary of 1985, let’s review just how awesome a year it was.

80s rule!

On January 8th, Journey rereleased Only the Young which bounced to the top of the charts.

For more Journey, go to Any Way You Want It

On February 4th, Bug Hall was born. Bug Hall became a huge star for us girls living in the ’90s. He was extremely cute, and still looks good today. He starred in The Little Rascals as Alfalfa, as Adam Szalinski in Honey We Shrunk Ourselves. Where he really became famous to tweens was in the show Bug Juice, then going on to be Jack Downey in Disney’s DCOM Get a Clue. From there I kind of lost track of him, but no doubt he was very influential to my childhood.

On February 9th,  David Gallagher was born. He was in Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish and tons of TV shows from CSI: Miami, Criminal Minds, to even Bones. But what he is most famous for and in where he most affected my childhood? As Simon Camden in 7th Heaven. When I was growing up watching this show I had the hugest crush on him and just loved him. I have yet to review it for my Life as a Fangirl posts, but it is definitely coming soon.

On February 15th, The Breakfast Club was released into theaters and finds a place in our hearts. I already wrote a long post on it in Don’t You Forget About Me.

For even more on The Breakfast Club, go to I Can See Your Beauty: The Breakfast Club (1985)

On February 20th, Simple Minds released Don’t You Forget About Me. 

On February 25th, Tears for Fears releases Shout.

For more on Tears for Fears, go to In Love With the ’80s (Pink Tux to the Prom)

In April, Take on Me by a-ha was released in the U.S. It became one of their most famous songs.

On April 12th, Girls Just Want to Have Fun starring Sarah Jessica Parker, was released. Parker plays an army brat who loves to dance and competes for a spot on TV as part of a Chicago dance crew. In this fun film she has to work with a partner that is her total opposite, and against a wealthy manipulative girl.

On May 30th, Huey Lewis & the News recorded The Power of Love, the song they wrote for the film Back to the Future.

For more on Huey Lewis & the News, go to But It’s Alright

In June, Guns ‘N Roses debuted as a band. I love, love, love them. My favorite songs from this group are Sweet Child o’ Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, and Paradise City.

On June 6th, Good Enough by Cyndi Lauper is released as a marketing tool for the film The Goonies, of which Lauper was musical director and head of the soundtrack.

On June 7th, The Goonies was released in theaters. This film follows a ragtag group, “the Goonies” as they hope to find hidden treasure in order to save their families’ homes.

On June 28th, Pale Rider directed by and starring Clint Eastwood premiered in theaters. Aw Clint! He’s so dreamy!

On July 3rd; Back to the Future opens in theaters and ends up being the highest grossing film of 1985 in the United States and the first film in the successful franchise. Of course I had to write a post on it, Back in Time: Happy 30th Anniversary Back to the Future.

For even more on Back to the Future, go to Fanning All Over the Place

On July 20th, John Francis Daly was born. He has starred in quite a few things, but to me will always be Dr. Sweets from Bones.

On July 24th, The Black Cauldron, the film based on Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain series, makes its theatrical debut.

For more on The Black Cauldron, go to A Hidden Wonder 

On August 1st, Jefferson Starship changes their name to Starship and releases their hit We Built This City.

On August 9th, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure is released and is easily one of the funniest movies of my childhood.

On September 3rd, the wreck of the RMS Titanic is located by a joint American-French expedition.

On September 7th, St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) by John Parr is released.

On September 24th Growing Pains premiered. I’ve already written about my love for it in a previous post, Fandom Love, but this was one of my all-time favorite shows growing up.

On October 19th the first Blockbuster opened. I don’t care if this is the age of Netflix and streaming. I miss going to the store and picking out films from the really old to new releases.

In November of 1985, for the first time Big Bird’s thought to be imaginary friend, Aloysius Snuffleupagus was shown. Snuffleupagus was always one of my favs.

On November 13th, one of Foreigner’s greatest songs was released, I Want to Know What Love Is. This is my song.

For more on Foreigner, go to Old Fandoms and New Fancies

On November 18th, the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes debuts in 35 newspapers in the United States.

 

On December 1st, Anne of Green Gables film, based on the beloved children’s book, was released. I love the book and this film as it was a perfect adaption. Miss you Jonathan Crombie and your perfect depiction of Gilbert Blythe.

For more on Anne of Green Gables, go to Imagination

On December 13th, Clue was released in theaters, with its three different endings. I haven’t reviewed as of yet for Horrorfest, but it is definitely on my list.

Let’s take it away with 1985!

Debbie just hit the wall
She never had it all
One Prozac a day
Husband’s a CPA
Her dreams went out the door
When she turned twenty four
Only been with one man
What happened to her plan?

She was gonna be an actress
She was gonna be a star
She was gonna shake her ass
On the hood of Whitesnake’s car
Her yellow SUV is now the enemy
Looks at her average life
And nothing has been alright since

Bruce Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cause she’s still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985

Woohoohoo
(1985)
Woohoohoo

She’s seen all the classics
She knows every line
Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink
Even Saint Elmo’s Fire
She rocked out to Wham
Not a big Limp Bizkit fan
Thought she’d get a hand
On a member of Duran Duran

Where’s the mini-skirt made of snake skin
And who’s the other guy that’s singing in Van Halen
When did reality become T.V.
Whatever happened to sitcoms, game shows
(on the radio was)

Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cause she’s still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985

Woohoohoo

She hates time make it stop
When did Mötley Crüe become classic rock?
And when did Ozzy become an actor?
Please make this stop, stop
Stop!
And bring back

Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cause she’s still preoccupied
With 1985

Woohoohoo

Bruce Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV (woohoohoo)
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cause she’s still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985

For more ’80s music, go to Rock You Like a Hurricane 

For more ’80s films, go to I’m Going Down the Tubes: Making the Grade (1984)

For more on anniversaries, go to Year of the Anniversaries

Don’t You Forget About Me

30 years ago, one of the best movies was released:

Yep this baby.

Now I know you all are thinking, but it says March 24, 1984. That’s the time in the movie, the film was actually released February 15, 1985.

This film was written by John Hughes in just two days and completely shot in sequence. What also is really interesting about this film is that Hughes actually allowed a lot of ab-libbing in the film. Such as Brian’s reason for a fake ID- “so I can vote”; the whole scene when they are in a circle sharing their feelings; and even the fist in the air by Judd Nelson at the end of the film. Now that last scene is extremely iconic, just like the song “Don’t You Forget About Me”. This song was especially written for the film and was turned down by a quite a few artists, like Billy Idol, to finally be performed by Simple Mind. Of course it became a huge hit for the band and is covered by millions, including Billy Idol. I guess he changed his mind.

So some of you many not be aware of the story, so here is a brief recap.

Five very different students have been sentenced with detention. We have Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), “the basket case” who just came for fun; Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), “the athlete”, who received detention for bullying a kid; John Bender (Judd Nelson), “the criminal”, sent there because of his acting up;  Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), “the princess”, caught skipping school to go shopping; and Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), “the brain”, who brought a flare gun to school.

In the beginning everyone abides by their cliques, Claire and Andrew sit together as they are on the highest level of the totem pole, while the rest sit by themselves. At first they keep their distance and Bender riles everyone, but through the course of the day they all bond together sharing their most personal secrets and working out their dysfunctions.

Allison feels ignored and therefore is a compulsive liar and a klepto, seeking out attention. Andrew hates his overbearing father who is always pressuring him. That is one of the reasons why he was bullying another kid, his father said he wasn’t being manly enough. Bender is abused by his father and ignored the rest of the time. Claire feels confined by the role she is in, as everyone sees her a certain way when in reality she has hardly ever dated and is a virgin. Brian feels so pressured by his family to be perfect and get into a good college, that he contemplated suicide over getting a bad grade in woodshop. Through these discussions, everyone feels much better and is much happier. But at the same time they feel sad and scared that once they are back in school Monday they will no longer be friends and things will continue as they have before.

Before the day ends, they hook up the sound system and have a big dance. Claire and Bender pair up and so do Allison and Andrew. Poor Brian gets stuck writing their detention assignment.

In the end Claire gives Bender one of her diamond earrings so they’ll never forget that moment. Allison steals Andrew’s Captain letter and the two kiss, while Brian gets nothing (poor nerdy guy). And the film ends with Bender’s triumphant arm thrust and Simple Mind’s Don’t You Forget About Me playing in the background.

Now I love this movie. Like freaking love it.

And watch it over and over.

I mean how could you not love it and the messages it covers? First of all you see that labels are nothing, just things we create ourselves to make us feel accepted, when in fact there is a little of everything in all of us.

We all have insecurities:

And that we all are strange. Nobody’s perfect or has it all together.

Yep, I just love this film.

In fact, I am such a fangirl over it that in one of my college courses, a group of us became such great friends and were all so different, yet the same, that we named our collective “The Breakfast Club”. Yep, my fangirl was showing.

So of course being a huge fan, when I saw a quiz to see which character I was, I had to take it. And I got:

To see who you are, click here.

Now this surprised me as I would have thought I’d get the Basket Case, Brain, or Athlete before I ever got the Criminal. But, and you guys will laugh at this, a few weeks ago (and right after I took this quiz) I was watching this film with four other friends. We started teasing my friend Gabe that he was Brian the Brain. He started joking that our friend Stephanie was Allison the Basket Case. Then we all started pairing up people and characters. Laurence did sports so he became Andrew the Athlete. And even though Jack was a boy, we decided he was Claire the Princess, or Prince in his case. And that made me Bender the Criminal. In fact, that night I was wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and black boots; not the exact ones Bender wears, but pretty darn close. Now whenever I see Jack, I always joke around that he’s my girlfriend, or woman as I feel Bender would say.

So this is one fantastic film that I strongly suggest you view. If you’ve never seen it, get a copy and do so as soon as possible. If you have, another thousand viewings is what I recommend. 🙂

For more on The Breakfast Club, go to I Can See Your Beauty: The Breakfast Club (1985)

For more on Judd Nelson, go to I’m Going Down the Tubes: Making the Grade (1984)

For more about the ’80s, go to In Love With the ’80s (Pink Tux to the Prom)

For more quizzes, go to Shall We Dance?: What Happens in Vegas (2008)

I Can See Your Beauty: The Breakfast Club (1985)

Romantic Moment #1

The Breakfast Club (1985)

So one of my all time favorite movies is The Breakfast Club. I just love the story of how you have all these different people crossing social circles and befriending each other. It is something that could not be done today.

***Spoiler Alert***

So the movie begins one Saturday morning:

It turns out that five very different students have been sentenced with detention. We have Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), “the basket case” who just came for fun; Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), “the athlete”, who recieved detention for bullying a kid; John Bender (Judd Nelson), “the criminal”, sent there because of his acting up;  Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), “the princess”, caught skipping school to go shopping; and Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), “the brain”, who brought a flare gun to school. 

In the beginning everyone abides by their cliques, Claire and Andrew sit together as they are on the highest level of the totem pole, while the rest sit amongst themselves. At first they keep their distance and Bender riles everyone, but through the course of the day they all bond together sharing their most personal secrets and working out their dysfunctions.

Allison feels ignored and therefore is a compulsive liar and a klepto, seeking out attention. Andrew hates his overbearing father who is always pressuring him. That is one of the reasons why he was bullying another kid, his father said he wasn’t being manly enough. Bender is abused by his father and ignored the rest of the time. Claire feels confined by the role she is in, as everyone sees her a certain way when in reality she has hardly ever dated and is a virgin. Brian feels so pressured by his family to be perfect and get into a good college, that he contemplated suicide over getting a bad grade in woodshop. Through these discussions, everyone feels much better and is much happier. But at the same time they feel sad and scared that once they are back in school Monday they will no longer be friends and things will continue as they have before.

Before the day ends, they hook up the sound system and have a big dance. Claire and Bender hook up and so do Allison and Andrew. Poor Brian gets stuck writing their detention assignment.

In the end Claire gives Bender one of her diamond earrings so they’ll never forget that moment. Allison steals Andrew’s Captain letter and the two kiss, while Brian gets nothing (poor nerdy guy). And the film ends with Bender’s triumphant arm thrust and Simple Mind’s Don’t You Forget About Me playing in the background.

Most Romantic Moment

Now what I consider  the most romantic moment happens at the end. Emilio Estevez, and let’s face it, if you know me at all you knew that the scene was going to include something about him. I mean look at this gorgeous man!

So at the end of the film, after their crazy dance party (of which I love watching Emilio dance); Claire notices that Andrew has been looking at Allison and she is feeling kinda bored and decides to give Allison a makeover.

Claire pushes Allison’s hair back and does her makeup, but nothing too showy, mostly natural and she comes out. When she goes over to Andrew he is shocked at what he sees and says one of the most romantic things ever.

Andrew: [after Claire has given Allison a makeover] What happened to you?

Allison Reynolds: Why? Claire did it… What’s wrong?

Andrew: Nothing’s wrong… it’s just so different, you know? I can see your face.

Allison Reynolds: Is that good or bad?

Andrew: It’s good.

So romantic!

I mean I just absolutely love how he says “I can see your face.” He doesn’t say that that “you look hot” or “you look so much better than before”. What he says is that “I can see you even clearer than before.” And it’s not like this some new-flung thing. He was interested in her when they went to get the sodas, trying to get to know her better.  Later when she is sharing things about herself, he pays deep attention and defends her when the other people call her bizarre.

But the best thing of all is just the fact that when he tells her that she is beautiful, he’s not saying she is beautiful because she changed herself, but that she was always beautiful and know he can see it even better than before.

For more on The Breakfast Club, go to Heaven on Earth

For more on Judd Nelson, go to When Everything is Going Your Way

For more on the ’80s, go to In Love With the ’80s (Pink Tux to the Prom)

For more on Audrey Hepburn, go to O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree