I'm doing some writing now for the very cool site Forces of Geek. I'll have a monthly column, Life Beyond Thunderdome, devoted to exploring some of the stranger backwaters of 1980s pop culture. This, of course, is a subject very near and dear to my heart. Just think of the possibilities! Kidd Video! Max Headroom! Dare I even suggest... Solarbabies?My first column, an in-depth look at the deliriously hooty and awesome 1985 James Spader-Robert Downey, Jr. film Tuff Turf is now up. Enjoy, fellow children of the Eighties!
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I remember buying the *novelization* of Tuff Turf, which had an absurdly long explanation of the difference between "Tuff" (i.e. cool and slick) and "Tough" (i.e. rough).
Viva la 80's! Teen gangs in films make me unreasonably happy.
An awesome film. Totally.
So what do you think for next month? Solarbabies, Y/Y?
As an aside, I'm thinking of reviewing "Class of 1984" over on my site. It's Evil Teens Week! All week! Every week! "The Wraith" will surely follow.
Skate or die, man. Skate or die!
Ah, Solarbabies. My friend Ernie made me turn it off when we tried watching it together. And he actually sat through all of Voyage of the Rock Aliens.
I believe I was also gifted a copy of the film as a care package type item at one point. So good.
I'm obviously lacking in my Solarbabies knowledge. Please, yes, educate me next month.
Just for fun, how few degrees of separation can you think of between Tuff Turf and Solarbabies?
Solarbabies is not for the faint of heart.
Boy-Morgan, yes, you are in possession of a Richter family heirloom...
Boy-Morgan, you've just uncovered a deep, dark family secret: Morgan and I used to buy novelizations of movies when we were growing up. Our family didn't have a VCR (those things were *pricey* in the 80's), so we bought and read the books instead. Which wasn't nerdy at all in the 80's.
Let's see, I distinctly remember owning (and reading): The Karate Kid, Clash of the Titans, Star Wars and Alien. Any others that I'm missing, Morgan?
By the way, between us, Ingrid and I have scored the Pretty in Pink trifecta: I've met Molly Ringwald (on a plane) and Jon Cryer (guest-hosting a show I worked on), and she took an elevator with Andrew McCarthy when he was visiting her workplace. For some reason, this fills me with much joy.
Ah, the Pretty in Pink novel! I forgot that we owned that...
Oh "Solarbabies"...How about "Girls Just Want To Have Fun?" It's a "must watch" with my friends, but very few people seem to have seen it. And that film has everything -- prep school sweetheart and new girl Sarah Jessica Parker who "loves to dance", wild girl Helen Hunt, a very young Shannon Doherty, Jonathan Silverman, and a guy who looks like Joey Lawrence, but isn't. There's even a dance off for crying out loud. Perfection.