This weekend I righted a terrible wrong: wifebot(tm) hadn't seen Fast Times. We rectified that immediately, and it was an interesting process: me, revisiting a very dated and nostalgic film for the first time in years, with someone seeing it for the first time. As you can probably guess, we had different viewing experiences. For her, it was more about spotting the celebrity actors in early roles, and a general sense of plot relevance. For me, it was noting how some scenes matched up well with my admittedly-handgrenades-not-horseshoes memory, and others... well, didn't.

I don't know if I saw this when it was first out, but soon after, probably onTV first and then on VHS. I remember enough of the randy content for it to have been more than just TV edits, but it was clearly an edited VHS, because I didn't remember quite so many boobs. And certainly not 'HAIRY PUSSY' on the mirror as Judge Reinhold confidently intoned to himself: "I'm a single, successful guy. This could be my best year ever." In a fast food uniform. In fact, I think MOST of the lampooning of archtypes and teenage delusion was lost on me AS a teenager. I got the plot, i related to the romantic and lustful themes... but I don't think I grasped how foolish these kids were. Judge's character is completely fabricating his own worldview, while his fantasy object, Phoebe Cates, turns out to do the same. Jennifer Jason Leighm who seemed to be the innocent girl when i was younger, 'experimenting' in hopes of finding true love... was actually kind of a slut, and I've never seen such deft seduction with a childhood photo album as the tool of the act. I loved the scalper as much now as I did then, possibly MORE, though I was nonplussed to discover virtually all of my favorite lines were different than I remembered. I spent most of last night reminding wifebot(tm) the rules of romance. And I cackled, alone mind you, when the little brother to Forrest Whittaker's footballer screeches: "hes gonna shit! He's gonna kill us!" [Spiccoli: "Well, which is it going to be? Is he gonna shot, or is he gonna kill us?"] "FIRST he's gonna shot, THEN he's gonna kill us!"

I just don't remember some of the edge to this film. The stoner van was really packed with smoke, and those surfers were very effectively rendered as wasted on cigaweed. Maybe time has granted me more experience in such matters. I vaguely remembered young Eric Stolz who, like Phoebe Cates, never aged, but I didn't remember the third surfer, ER's Anthony Edwards. I remember being similarly obsessed with that hot, droopy pizza back in the day, but I don't remember being aware of how much Mr. Hand shook his head in disbelief, and how much, at least now, I related to HIM. Penn remained as awesome as ever. And while I did recall there was some innocent breast-baring, the sex scenes with Leigh were more uncomfortable and sad to me now, perhaps because I have something to compare them to. Now, I certainly remember the mother of all awesome girls-on-film scenes, which was also the mother of all sexual-humiliation scenes. I warned wifebot it was coming, and was probably on the edge of my seat. After he was caught in the bathroom, I groaned aloud and turned to her, "Wasn't that the most humiliating thing ever?!?" but only got a cocked eyebrow and a grimace in response. Clearly, masturbatory ridicule was a boy's dilemma. However, Phoebe with her cafe au lait skin and bright red bikini pretty much worked the same, 17 years later. WOW.

My wifebot(tm) had a different impression. Partly, she didn't get the fuss: she saw it as a pretty so-so slice of life high school film that was obviously dated by today's standards. When we talked about Cameron Crowe's imprinting of the teen angst movie with contemporary indie rock, sexual awkwardness and identity crises themes, it got more interesting, and we both noted how much Dazed and Confused looks now like a Fast Times remake. We both wondered whatever happened to Robert Romanus... a check on IMDB yields a string of b-movies, TV and a divorce. The future wasn't as kind to him as it was to some of the rest of the cast. She and I both noted how clever it was to frame the opposing football team for Whitaker's smashed up Camaro. And as it turns out, it was interesting that the montage of him crushing the other team ended up being the template for like every future football film. I think Last Boy Scout ripped this whole sequence off, and just gave him a gun in the end. And interestingly, she noted several details that i quite liked on the new viewing, like how sympathetic and reasonable the bio teacher was, or how supportive Cates was in her own over-confident self-made way. And we both thought that while he must have been a ttoal dork to the teen set, the main protagonist was absolutely the most reasonable guy in that high school. Even if he DIDN'T finish his bratwurst.

All in all, the film held up as much from nostalgia as from genuine quality. I think, judged against Crowe's future films, it's one of the more interesting early works for a recognizable filmmaker, in that you can spot all the touches there in rough-edged form. Sure, I benefitted from being of that age when i saw it, but it was still pretty fun.

7/10 Clicks

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Wow, I am a target market.

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Bureau of Communication's motto:

"Let that which is unsaid be said."
So funny. Check em all out here:
http://bureauofcommunication.com/

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ok, so we just finished season 1 of "MAD MEN" this weekend. i was committed in my head to give it one season, see if it stuck. the first several eps were tough -- it wasn't gelling for me, though i had definite emotional attachments to some of the characters.

but that's why i decided to give it a whole season, cause i knew it would take a minute, and sure enough, there was an episode where it all turned a corner for me and i was hooked. i really needed that. but here's what's wierd. during that episode, and for all others after, all my attachments to the characters started CHANGING! people that i hadn't liked before i all of a sudden loved. people that i'd thought were decent prior, turned out to be not that. it was like all this huge reboot. very cool to be able to do that to the audience without turning them OFF.

i must admit that there's one particular character's story arc that almost made me completely throw the series away and never watch it again. and i don't know how that's gonna pan out for season 2 -- i'll know in a couple weeks when i get into season 2. but i'll throw it at you here for discussion...

/// SPOILERS AHEAD \\\

ok, so the character is peggy olson, and i LOVE peggy olson. her shyness and calm demeanour are super attractive to me, and i like that she's an everywoman. i love that she's talented enough to get noticed, and by the end of the season had been promoted to junior copywriter. while i hate seeing her involved with peter, i think it's toughening her up to the ways of advertising, manhattan, and otherwise. awesome. all awesome. but here's the thing. she didn't NOTICE she was pregnant for NINE MONTHS? not to mention, she'd gotten a prescription for birth control pills not 3 minutes after she became sexually active in the office, which means that she was taking the pills during her FULL TERM, which would have SERIOUSLY affected that baby, if not just flat-out caused her to miscarry, especially in those first tenuous weeks. i swear to fucking GOD, that story arc completion almost made me ban the show. and i fucking WILL ban the show if anything else like that happens. i can accept that nobody from the real "D.D."s family has noticed that he never came home. but i can NOT swallow that a person went full-term through their pregnancy without ever knowing. i can swallow that everyone ELSE didn't notice -- teen grrls do that shit all the time and then have their baby in gym class. but THEY know they're pregnant and fucking peggy would have, too. UNACCEPTABLE. UN.FUCKING.ACCEPTABLE.

\\\ END SPOILERS///

but even with that one tenuous thread threatening to snap and drop this show out of my viewing lot entirely, most of it is so fucking good i can't stand it. the attention to detail and styling alone are enough to get me in front of episodes when i have nothing else to do. i love that they use the names of real agencies as sterling/cooper's competition. Y&R (young & rubicam), BBDO, mccann/erickson -- these are all real-life ad agencies, and while sterling/cooper is not, it's very cool that they play this balance of reality and fiction so well. one good example of their attention to detail and balance of reality/fiction is actually using real advertising within the show's reality. one of the most famous advertising campaigns in history is the volkswagen campaign from the early 60s which contained the "think small" and "lemon" ads. these were shown in mad men as sterling/cooper's competition. the lucky strike "it's toasted" campaign STILL runs. the kodak slide projector's wheel being called a "carousel." these are all ads that really did, and in many instances, still DO, run.

i also love how much the industry of advertising seems to have not changed all that much. the rampant infidelity, the obscene amounts of alcohol and cigarettes consumed, the attitudes and inter-office romances and politics and rivalries -- it's all kind of amusing to watch from the outside. i remember when i was in advertising, i was called into my creative director's office one day so we could kick off this huge project and i got there and walked in and he was standing at his FULL BAR and turned to say, "get you something?" this happens ALL THE TIME on "mad men."

another thing about this show that's awesome is that by exploring people's backstories -- well, ONE person's backstory, anyway -- we get to tread on TWO rich eras inticing characters and visuals. the "current time" of 1960, and the "prior era" of the 1940s and 50s. only "mad men" can show a sexy office fetish in one scene and lay out the whole hobo code in the next. RAD.

anyway, i love everything about the show, barring that one thorn in my side (see "spoiler" section above), and i'll be back for season two, which is due at the house in just a few days!

8/10 CLANKS! and if anyone on this board has an office secretary fetish (ahem), this is the show for YOU.

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ROAD TRIP! By bike of course.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/28/mu ... -anim.html

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Sure, I mean, they don't ADMIT it, but you know it's true.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/27/vide ... s-upgrade/

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This review series focuses specifically on the wrong science in fun films. I grew up LOVING Weird Science, for about 33 easily parsable reasons and at least 3 dodgy ones. My favorite part of this review:

"Crypto-Smasher V3.10

Crypto-Smasher V3.10 is a great application for those who want to crack into the Pentagon's mainframe. By establishing parity frequency responses with the government, the app leads you through a series of virtual pentagon-shaped corridors and gates, visualizing your many command-line entries as a maze. Feature specs include entry mode search, memory sector selector, encoding command shell scripts, and access to up-to 3000 Mbytes. Beware of coming across skull and crossbones in the visualization, as this typically alerts the Pentagon of your unauthorized presence in their system and prompts security personnel to manually type in ACCESS DENIED as a warning. Technologically, we still have some questions left unanswered; like how the software manages to overcome the technical limitations of an acoustic coupler modem to hack into military computer systems."

Read it here:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/28/movi ... d-science/

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ROAD TRIP.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/27/wa ... s-art.html

I want that mini coffin!

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Possibly the only thing more cool than the film and story on which is is based.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/27/wh ... ing-1.html

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That's my interpretation, anyway.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/27/ch ... gic-s.html

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