Started a sunny, glittering morning with breakfast and finishing out Blade Runner. Honestly, I didn't get a lot of this one. Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a cop searching for Replicants, extremely human robots that can kill at a moment's notice...provided they live to do so. They were originally sent off-planet, but some came back. While a couple are just trying to make a living, many have gone rogue and are killing anyone in their path. Deckard has to bring them back...while dealing with his feelings about one attractive female Replicant (Sean Young).
After enjoying my visits with the original Star Wars trilogy and Last Starfighter, I thought I'd give other sci-fi movies from my childhood a shot. While I admired the whole "40's film noir meets 80's cyber punk" look and found the story to be unique, it was just a bit too complicated and far too violent for my taste. Some good performances, though, especially Ford and Young as the central couple and Rutger Hauer as the wolf-like Replicant killer. I saw the "Final Cut," with the ambiguous ending Ridley Scott had apparently intended, but this is another one of those movies that has 800 versions floating around out there. If you enjoy cyber punk or the darker side of sci-fi a lot more than I do, pick your favorite version and enjoy the neon.
I have a ton of errands I want to do this week, many of which I've had to put off during the last couple of weeks either due to illness or extreme weather. Getting the laundry done was first on the list. I really didn't have much to do, but I wanted to get it out of the way. The laundromat was dead, possibly because the small parking lot is kind of sloped and always ends up flooded and/or clogged with snow and ice after bad weather. I worked on story ideas and listened to The View and Action News. The place was pretty quiet except me, the TV, and one or two other people. I was in and out in less than an hour.
As soon as I got home, I put everything away, then went right back out again. There were backhoes digging out the sides of the roads on West Clinton and men trying to make paths through the snow-covered picnic tables, even as I parked my bike in front of Phillies Phatties. I had my usual slice of cheese and slice of mushroom for lunch, along with a bottle of Diet Pepsi. (The cooler with the cans was broken.) Needless to say, given the mess on the sidewalk, I stayed inside and sort-of listened to AMC going in the background.
Headed across a snow-covered Newton River Park (or the road alongside it - the park itself wasn't shoveled) to Westmont next. The Haddon Township Library was a little busier than the laundromat had been. There were piles and piles of DVDs to shelve. For once, everything fit, even the S titles on the kids' spinning racks. I put away a nice pile of audio books and CDs, too. I guess everyone wanted something to watch or listen to during the storm.
In addition to another Star Wars visual dictionary (this one emphasizing the movies), I took out a lot of DVDs this week. They finally had The Breakfast Club in; I picked up Ferris Bueller's Day Off as well, both as inspiration for the Star Wars 80's story I have planned. Barbie and Her Sisters: A Puppy Adventure doesn't sound much more promising than the pony story from a few years ago, but I figured I'd try it. The Book of Life, a Mexican-based animated fantasy tale, sounds more interesting. I haven't heard good things about Jupiter Ascending, but it wouldn't be the first time I enjoyed a sci-fi/fantasy movie that other people didn't get (John Carter).
Made a very quick stop at Thriftway on the way home. They have cheaper prices on whole wheat flour than the Acme does, mainly because they still sell generic whole-wheat flour. They were quiet when I arrived. I guess a lot of people are still iffy about being out on the roads.
I can't say I blame them. Though I really didn't have many problems on the roads, the side of the roads are clogged with piles of snow and ice more than a foot tall. Some sidewalks haven't been shoveled, either. I had an easier time on the main roads.
Once I got home, I spent the next few hours working on my writing. I'm starting my next story, and it's my first original in a long time. A young woman lives alone on the edge of a small village. She works as a grocer, but spends most of her time creating stories. She's too shy to sell those stories, especially when town leaders turn them away. She's lonely, happier among the animals of the forest and the characters in her head than the people of the village. She wishes she could have a companion, especially since the last man she loved left her many years ago. Little does she know that her wish will be granted, sooner than she thinks...
This is intended to be a simple fairy tale, created from every fantasy and fairy tale I've written in my head and made notes for since I was in my late childhood. I'm going to try to keep it a lot simpler than my last stories - I'm hoping it'll only take a week or two.
Put on The Breakfast Club while having broccoli in Red Wine Sauce and the last of the baked chicken legs for dinner. Five seemingly stereotypical teenagers find themselves stuck in a day-long detention on a Saturday. Needless to say, none of them are happy to be there at first. They spend the first half of the day harassing each other and the teacher in charge...until they defend each other against the teacher during lunch. Drugs and their shared frustration with their parents bring them closer together, allowing them to discover that maybe they're not as typical as they think they are...and that it can be liberating to step out of the box created by family and peers once in a while.
It's amazing how so much can be drawn from so little. This is a very interesting character study of just how kids (and many adults, too) can get so caught up in their own little world, they ignore anything that's outside of it, including other people who might understand them. I actually understand it better now than I did at their age. As a teenager, I wasn't a part of any clique. I was probably closest to eccentric Allison (Ally Sheedy) without the compulsive lying (and practically hauling an entire wardrobe in my purse). Nowadays, I do know what it's like to feel boxed in by expectations and concerns, including your own.
While the central conceit still resonates, a lot of the details have dated badly. Tough kid Bender (Judd Hirsch)'s treatment of popular Claire (Molly Ringwauld) will come off as less amusing and more sexual harassment today. What nerdy Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) did to land in day-long detention would merit far worse punishment than merely a few hours writing. There's the teacher's harsh behavior to all the kids, too, especially Bender. Not to mention the drug-fueled second half and some insults that would come off as racial slurs.
For all the dated aspects, this one still discusses issues many people, teens and adults, continue to grapple with and relate to. The issues will probably fly over the heads of most young kids, even if the language doesn't. For mid-teens on up, this remains essential viewing.
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