The Breakfast Club Game
August 7, 2009
The passing of John Hughes is my Michael Jackson moment. In my opinion, three weeks of full-on news coverage of his death would be appropriate. I want to see Long Duk Dong on CNN explaining how Mr. Hughes brought attention to the slave trade/foreign exchange student situation of the 1980′s, the true agenda of the movie Sixteen Candles.
That’s my favorite of all of his work. Just watched it last night. Aside from a couple of uses of the word “fag” and “faggot” as insults, the movie is perfection. What I like most about his work is that he championed the misfit, and really made it clear that everyone feels the isolation that is usually only acknowledged/accepted in the teenage years of our existence.
I was pretty young when Hughes unleashed the Holy Trinity of the 80′s (Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club, respectively), but it still resonated with me and my friends. We wanted to be John Bender from the Club so badly that we invented a neighborhood game based on the movie. If you want to play in tribute of Hughes, here’s how:
- find the friend with the biggest house
- use front porch as the library/detention
- to avoid arguments, randomly draw characters from a hat (geek, jock, criminal, principal, whatever Ally Sheedy was)
- you can only use movie quotes that involve cursing
The Principal just walks around the house aimlessly, while the others “sneak out” from the porch from time to time. It was really fun when I was 10. I bet the game holds up today. Post a Comment if you play with friends. Bonus points if you videotape it and upload to YouTube.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I remember seeing that in the theater with friends. The movie came out about a year before I was diagnosed with HIV, and it must have influenced me to use my HIV status as a reason to stay home from school. Thank you, John Hughes, for that. Of course, I drew the line at stealing a friend’s dad’s car. But only because I was 12.
The “Save Ferris” campaign in the movie still cracks me up. I could have made so much lunch money if I’d been out about my status in junior high school.
It’s tough to make teen movies that stand the test of time, but John Hughes managed to pull it off. At 34 I enjoy them just as much- if not more so- than I did on first viewing. Sure, he made some crappy movies, but that was intentional- Hughes just wanted to show he was human. I was saddened by the news of his passing because of my sentimental connection to his work, but was happy to read that he’d spent the better part of the last decade with his family.
He took Ferris’ advice about life moving pretty fast, and slowed down to take a look around.
Good for him.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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John Hughes 1950-2009
August 7, 2009
“Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller 
John Hughes died of a heart attack yesterday at the age of 59. I’m going to write about his artistic imprint on my own life in the next blog entry. Right now, I’m going to bed to watch one of his movies with Gwenn.
Thanks for the laughs, John.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Riding “Waves” w/ Jdavyd Williams
August 3, 2009
One of Charlottesville’s best musicians has released an album called “Waves”. I’m pimping the work because Jdavyd Williams shares a love for Depeche Mode, and you can hear that and other influences (Gary Numan chief among them) in his work.
It’s a really interesting approach to electronic music, involving chanting and Jdavyd’s interest in Kirtan. You can check out the music by visiting his web site: JdavydWilliams.com.
I met Jdavyd back when Tokyo Rose ran the underground goth night, The Dawning, here in C’ville. One time, we were both doing solo electronic music- me as Synthetic Division, and him as Visions In Blue- and we were opening up for Bella Morte. Each of our sets were 20 minutes long, and Gopal Metro asked, “What are you doing, punk sets???”
Synthpop, actually.
At the recent HIV benefit show, Jdavyd donated his talents to run sound, and he always goes the extra mile to make bands sound the best that they can. I’m really happy for him for making his first solo CD after years of being in bands (In Tenebris), and the results are impressive.
What made doing the last Synthetic Division CD exciting for me was having a co-writer in Kyle Wiggins- he provided the music which allowed me to approach the vocals with more excitement. I’m really excited about writing new music, and last fall Jdavyd and I decided to collaborate. The music he sent me is incredible, and I’m doing my best to write vocals that match the level.
If it’s slow-going, it’s because of me, not him! Will post new Synthetic Division music here, but in the meantime, go catch the “Wave” with Jdavyd, and enjoy the ride.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
PS… If you’re in town, mark down his CD Release Party at Twisted Branch on Wednesday, August 19.
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LIFE IN PHOTOS
Face Time fun with my Goddaughter. She was digging our phone chat- even though we were about three feet away from one another.
Making the enemy quit out with @squirrel_munky and @vaineos :)
Closing out the Joe with @gwennbarringer this afternoon.
Caught in full Mocha Mode...
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