“When you grow up, your heart dies.” — from The Breakfast Club
Just finished Susannah Gora’s new book You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, And Their Impact On A Generation. As the title implies, the book looks back on the 1980s and the particular brand of teen movies of the era pioneered by the late writer/director John Hughes (Gora focuses on the seven seminal works in this genre: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful and Say Anything).
Many of us here at YOMYOMF grew up in the 1980s and these films were an important part of our youth despite their flaws (i.e. the glaring lack of diversity in them except for one infamous exception—see below). So let’s take a trip to the past with these little-known facts from Gora’s book: Read more...
Before Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, or Lucy Liu, there was Etsuko Shihomi (aka “Sue” Shiomi). She was my hero growing up in Hawaii. She was the female version of Bruce Lee – strong, beautiful and able to kick some major butt.
She was a member of Sonny Chiba’s Japan Action Club. (Another graduate of the JAC is Hiroyuki Sanada, who has been making guest appearances in the series “Lost”). Ms. Shihomi has appeared in a number of martial arts films, which often co-starred Sonny Chiba and/or Hiroyuki Sanada. But more impressive was the fact that Ms. Shihomi was the headlining star in several films including the “Sister Street Fighter” series and “Dragon Princess”. There aren’t many action women out there that can actually open a movie today, let alone back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Read more...
I was 15 years old and broke. And as we all know, it sucks to be 15 and broke (I know, it sucks at all ages but at 15 you’re simply stuck with very few options). Unlike my friends who got allowances, I was not so fortunate. I did, however work at my parents’ mom ‘n pop fish and chips restaurant. But knowing how much of a struggle it was to get by, no way was I going to ask for money. So one day I went to school and applied for a work permit. I decided it was time for me to grow up and make it on my own. And the corporate ladder I chose to climb was our local Jack in the Box.
This is not the glorious Jack in the Box we all know now with the Lakers halftime show, this was the old Jack in the Box known for allegedly serving its patrons kangeroo meat (still not sure if this is a fact but in the 80’s that was the word on the street). Read more...
Been enjoying running alone lately, maybe it’s a part of getting older, or maybe I’m turning into a hermit. Funny thing, before I discovered running I couldn’t stand to be by myself, I always had to have someone around me. Running has changed me, mostly it’s calmed me down. It’s made me less anxious, less angry, less bitter. Solitude seems, well, just easier. It’s quieter. The sounds of my footsteps and natures musical score beats any ipod running mix or people chit chat. Running alone comes with less baggage. No one to judge or be judged by. No one to follow or be followed by. The only one that’s going to beat me is me. I’m accountable to myself from start to finish. Conversations with myself are quick and efficient. No concerns about feelings being hurt or taking things the wrong way. Even the most difficult questions answer themselves after two hours of running. If not, then the question isn’t really worth asking. Read more...
Growing up in SoCal during the 80’s, one guy dominated the airwaves when it came to local TV– Cal Worthington. Whether it’s channel 9’s Saturday Kung Fu theater, KTLA’s Family Film Festival or reruns of iconic 60’s shows on channel 13, it seemed like Cal sponsored them all. What made him unique was that he was truly an old school pitchman. Usually dressed in a cowboy outfit, he’d hawk used cars while playing with some exotic animal that seemed to have fallen off a circus truck as his catchy jingle played in the background.
I grew up reading comic books, but not the American variety, rather the Japanese “mangas” that were geared particularly to young girls, or “shoujo manga” as they are known. Although I could really only read about half of the Japanese characters, there were plenty of pictures to get the gist of what was going on. Probably my favorite manga series was “Berusaiyu no Bara” which translates to “The Rose of Versailles”
On this very day in 1985, the Coca-Cola company launched its new Cherry Coke in New York. A long-time staple of drugstores and soda fountains where cherry-flavored syrup would be manually added to the cola to give it that cherry zing, this was the first attempt to mass manufacture that experience in a can.
We have all different types of Coke now including Coke with lime, Coke Zero and Vanilla Coke, but back then, Cherry Coke was a big deal. It wasn’t available in Los Angeles yet, but I remember one of my friends bringing a can to school that his father had bought on a business trip to the east coast and it was a magical experience. A bunch of us gathered around and we each took a sip from the can. I can still remember how amazing that first taste was. I thought if humans could invent something like this, man, we could do anything we wanted to do! It was that good. Those were much simpler times.
Here’s the first commercial for Cherry Coke from 1985. Like I said, much simpler times (there’s even an Asian chick…uh…jazzercising?): Read more...
Growing up, learning English was always a bit awkward. When my family and I emigrated to the states, I was eight– too old for Sesame Street but just the right age to be extremely aware I was not part of the norm. One of the pleasures I found was inside my elementary school’s little library. The donated books and its makeshift shelves acted as the fort I was looking for to escape from everything. There I learned English by reading the sports encyclopedia and biographies endlessly. Jerry West became my Big Bird and Reggie Jackson my Cookie Monster. And as for Oscar the Grouch, well… it was Oscar Robertson of course. Read more...
Saw a post over at CrunchGear about a Japanese TV spot from the 1970s that featured the Star Wars characters (unlicensed, of course) to sell “sea chicken” which as far as I can tell is canned tuna (maybe Jessica Simpson can give us a more accurate definition). Not sure what Star Wars has to do with tuna, but this is still pretty awesome in a cheese-tacular sort of way! Anyway, here’s the ad in all its glory for you to enjoy: Read more...
If you don’t remember ABC’s TV series Joanie Loves Chachi (1982-83), you’re not alone. This spin-off of the more successful Happy Days, where young lovers Joanie and Chachi moved to Chicago to pursue their music career, died quickly after being pounced in the ratings by another new show entitled The A-Team. But to this day, people still believe the program was not only a huge success in South Korea, but the highest-rated American TV series to ever air on Korean television.
And why would people think this? Because as the story goes, when the title of the show was translated into the Korean language, the name of the show inadvertantly became Joanie Loves Penis. Read more...
Jon Moritsugu is a super indie director known for his award-winning, underground films including Scumrock and Fame Whore. The “punk rocker” of filmmaking makes no compromises when he writes his movies and often shoots in low quality 16 mm film stock to give them a home-made feel.
It just so happens that I went to school with Jon in Hawaii. At Lincoln Elementary School in Honolulu, we often played at recess together. Jon, myself, and some other kids played the usual “Hide and Seek,” “Mother May I,” “Dodge Ball” and whatever else second and third graders did that involved running around on the recess field. I even had a crush on Jon because he was the super smart kid. Best in math, best in art, best in everything, pretty much. Read more...
Watching the Knicks stay kinda competitive with the Heat on this Christmas morning made me think about the good ‘ole days when I lived in New York, the 90s. New York made the playoffs every year in that decade. One of my favorite Knicks was Anthony Mason. A New York dude (he was originally from Queens), Mason started with the Knicks in 1991. With Xavier McDaniel, Charles Oakley and Patrick Ewing, the Knicks back then were a physical team. Mase was a big part of it. He had a rough-tough game and a cockiness that I admired. Read more...
What’s better than watching sports in Hi-Def? Watching highlights in slow motion Hi-Def. I still don’t think anything beats witnessing it live, but the next generation’s sports heroes are going to be built on slo-mo Hi-Def highlight reels. I know Youtube is a poor viewing device to make my point, but imagine this clip on a 72″ LCD screen with surround sound.
Yet every time I watch one of these clips I can’t help but think about how legends were built when I was growing up– through story telling. And the one man that captured my generation’s imagination was Dr. J, Julius Erving. Read more...
When I was a kid, there was one thing I looked forward to around this time of year more than anything else. It wasn’t the presents I was going to get for Christmas or even the two weeks we had off from school. No, it was the holiday specials that would air on television. We’re talking A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty The Snowman, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and many others.
As soon as Halloween was over, I’d count the days until the first Christmas special would air. I grew up in a time before the internet, DVDs, cable and even VHS tapes were just in their infancy so it wasn’t like today when a child can watch any Christmas special anytime they want with just the click of a mouse. Nope, back in those dark days, you had to wait until the shows actually played to view them. Read more...
First off, Happy Birthday to Jay-Z. Which leads me to this Jay-Z (“I’m the new Sinatra” vs. Frank Sinatra battle for New York anthem supremacy. And I gotta say, there is no competition. Jigga Man wins. I love “Empire State of Mind.” But it did get me thinking about Ol’ Blue Eyes, and then I thought about this guy. I used to love these MTV commercials.
Have you ever believed in something so fundamentally ingrained within our society that you take comfort in knowing that it will always be there for you and then one day you wake up and it’s gone?
It happened to me recently. For some reason I was craving Jell-O Pudding Pops. It was my favorite icy snack as a kid. I remember loving its flavor, texture (both how it melts in your mouth and the thin ice coding on top of it), and that it was confidently not too sweet. Forget apple pie, Bill Cosby pushed it to be the symbol of the new multi-cultural America. So much so, what is the one Bill Cosby line that everyone uses when doing his impression? Start shaking your head and roll your eyes upward. “Jeeell-O Puddin’ Pop!” Read more...
Alright, it’s been way too long. I have to come out and admit it. I had the biggest crush on Betty White growing up. When the other kids were out partying I actually preferred spending my Saturday nights with the Golden Girls.
Betty White’s character, Rose, was everything I thought I’d want in the girl of my dream. She was beautiful in such an innocent way (got to love ‘em dimples.) Her smile made me forget all my schoolyard problems. She had class (unlike like that loosy goosy Blanche) but would still be willing to experiment in the sack. And her mood! Always so positive, supportive, and out to have fun. She was the perfect girl. This might sound funny but I didn’t even realized she was a retired older woman until years later, which is the ultimate testament to the show itself. They did such a great job humanizing their characters that even a ten old boy could relate with their struggles and joys of life. Either that or I was just really into much more mature ladies. Read more...
Revisiting Justin’s entry on the illogical ROCKY III training montage, I felt compelled to defend the inevitable Cold War allegorical, cheesier ROCKY IV which in my opinion, is the best Rocky film ever! Although I concur that Part III had a great cheesy training montage that wiped away the viewer’s suspicions that our hero was taking some HGH on the side to beat Clubber Lang, but part IV… Two thirds of Part IV is all montages! And with cheesy, obscure 80s rock singers!
Here’s exhibit A, as Rocky takes a night time drive after the death of Apollo Creed. The life-ending fight between Creed and our Soviet villain Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren, who earned an MA in chemical engineering and was also a Fulbright Scholar) is replayed in Rocky’s head, as well as scenes from Parts I – IV! The song is NO EASY WAY OUT by Robert Tepper: Read more...
Just finished Susannah Gora’s new book You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, And Their Impact On A Generation. As the title implies, the book looks back on the 1980s and the particular brand of teen movies of the era pioneered by the late writer/director John Hughes (Gora focuses on the seven seminal works in this genre: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful and Say Anything).
Before Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, or Lucy Liu, there was 
