Monday, December 17, 2007

even now, i'm pretty sure i can race helltrack

referring to how a 12 year old version of me would interact in kid nation got me to thinking about stuff that i was into when i was a kid. thinking back on my interests, say 1990 and earlier, i have no regrets. below i have detailed 2 of my favorite movies and 2 of my favorite tv shows from back then.

rad

i don't know what to say about this movie, other than it was the coolest thing in the world to me for a long time. it introduced me to the celebrity love of my life, lori loughlin and it had cool bmx bike moves. i think i was into that kind of stuff back at age 9, even though i had no idea how to do any of those tricks. i remember renting this movie probably around 10 times and enjoying it every time. a few years ago i managed to purchase an unauthorized version of the movie on dvd, which came with the soundtrack! talk about a deal! below is the bike dancing scene that will be etched into my memory forever. the graceful lori performing incredible stunts on her bike, managing to bike-dance with cru jones...it brings nostalgic tears to my eyes. and anyone trying to say that that is really a stuntman...haters.


teen wolf

a great movie that balances both the whimsical side of teenage life along with the very serious social issues that young adults must deal with as they grow up. it has 5'2 michael j fox on the high school basketball team, styles the awesome best friend, some hot girls, crazy parties, a wolf playing basketball, a bad guy named nick and general zany hijinks. note the inclusion of an awesome, upbeat randy newman-esque song. i would also like to recall watching louis film nick and dave reenacting the scene where teen wolf discovers he is a werewolf...that scene ended with both of them not being able to handle their shit and had dave army crawling across my kitchen floor. anyways, for all you fucking nerds who love back to the future, i think that after watching the clip below, you all will agree that teen wolf is a 10 times better movie.


small wonder


another in a line of media that reflected the current political climate in the united states, this situation comedy blurred the lines between general fiction and surrealism. some dude who i think was an inventor, managed to create a robot girl, named vicki, who then served as the family's maid. she looked just like a girl, but because she was a robot, she had robot strength, robot speed and robot sensibilities. the mom in the show would ask "vicki, can you please pick up the house, it's getting dirty..." vicki would respond in her robot voice "affirmative, picking up house." using state-of-the-art special effect wizardry, she would then proceed to actually lift the entire house into the air. hahahahaha...here's some clips that make me laugh:


perfect strangers


the ol' fish out of water tale retold in hilarious fashion. balki bartokomous travels to america in search of a better life. he ends up staying with distant co0-zin, larry appleton. since balki is from the fictitious island of meapos, general traditions and accepted behavior is foreign to him. but he also has a lot to teach the high strung and neurotic larry. it's an odd couple that brings the funny every week on abc's legendary t.g.i.f. lineup. when in a social setting, to find out who's down with the strangers, ask if anyone knows how to do the dance of joy. i particularly recall an episode where balki bakes a special dessert from meapos called bibibopkas, that, get this, explode if they are not made correctly!


i guess the thing with these shows and movies is that i still enjoy them to this day. for the most part, not in an "ironic, haha, these are so lame they're funny", but in authentic enjoyment and fondness for them. what were some of your favorite shows or movies from back in the day? why did you like them? did you also enjoy any of the above? comment!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

kevin, i vaguely remember that episode of perfect strangers, but i think this episode of small wonder is the only one that i do remember of that programme.

kevin said...

yeah...i think i remember seeing that small wonder too. that perfect strangers scene is a classic with balki and larry spazzing about. don't act like that bike dance scene in rad didn't give you goosebumps...

Anonymous said...

wheres the new posts? you think winter vacation applies to blogging as well??