May 2 08

i’ve mentioned before that i’m the product of four uber-hardworking parents. because of this i was one of those tv-as-babysitter kids. i learned, from a very early age, who was who in Genoa City, because my grandfather and i would watch Y&R together. i knew the price of fabric softener and bleach from watching the Price is Right every. single. day. with my grandmother. talk shows, game shows, soaps, sitcoms, dramas, i watched it all. even Divorce Court. (bubbie was a big fan of the court shows)

i didn’t just like TV. i was obsessed. I was also a huge fan of the movie. My dad wasn’t much of a talker (still isn’t…but he did say, “i love you, Alicia” last night for the first time, possibly ever, and it melted my heart) but he was a big movie-watcher. so, that was one thing he could do with us. so, he took us to movies. a lot. in fact, the first movie i can remember him taking me and my sister to was Flashdance. i was five. certainly age appropriate. ahem.

again…i didn’t just like movies. i was obsessed. and would become obsessed with certain movies and watch them over. and over. and over.

strange movies. among my childhood obsessions…

Annie. i still know every. single. line. to this movie. i swear. i could act out the entire movie. sadly.

Space Camp. Joaquin Phoenix back when he was calling himself Leaf…and pre-OC Tate Donovan. LOVE.

The Goonies. it’s where i learned to do the Truffle Shuffle and where i learned the phrase ‘jerk alert’….and trust me, i learned the hard way that this is not an appropriate greeting for when your mom comes home from a hard day at work.

Beaches. this was the first movie i saw in the theater without a parent. I convinced my dad to find me a bootlegged copy of it in NYC and i watched that vhs tape until it literally broke.

Alex: the Life of a Child.

The Neverending Story. there are no words to express the love i had for this movie.

The Cutting Edge. i drove my siblings CRAZY by throwing a random ‘toe pick’ line in every. single. conversation.

Can’t Buy Me Love. oh, how my sister and i LOVED this movie. we prayed and prayed that we would one day get to drive the car of our dreams. the white Volkswagen Cabriolet.

The Man in the Moon. Old School Reese Witherspoon. before anyone knew who she was.

oh, i could keep going. Karate Kid. Back to the Future. The Breakfast Club. Weird Science. St. Elmo’s Fire. Footloose. Sixteen Candles. Grease. Poltergeist. Rainman.

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  1. That is hilarious that your Dad took you to Flashdance when you were 5!!! I wonder what you thought of the date scene???

    Great rundown of the movies. Those were the days, weren’t they? Nowadays it’s a big deal when we take the kids to “Horton Sees a Who!”

    happy weekend Ali!

    PS: I’ve got one of those strong, silent type Dads too. I still tear up when I think of my Dad squeezing my arm just before he walked me down the aisle at my wedding, telling me I was doing great and it was all going to be OK.

    Karen MEG’s last blog post..OMG, was that a Pick Up Line?

    Comment by Karen MEG on May 2, 2008
  2. Ahh Breakfast Club, the sole reason I wouldn’t name my kid Claire (“it’s a fat girls name”)….. I also still have Annie memorized, I should really get on Amazon and buy a copy of that movie soon!

    My Dad was one of those who never really said how they feel, I think I would have fallen over if he ever said he loved me in my adult lifetime.

    Sleepynita’s last blog post..Hypocrisy and the Evil Trifecta

    Comment by Sleepynita on May 2, 2008
  3. And I had no idea that Joaquin was formerly known as Leif. I thought they were brothers DUH!

    Sleepynita’s last blog post..Hypocrisy and the Evil Trifecta

    Comment by Sleepynita on May 2, 2008
  4. SO many of these are among my favorites! Especially SPACE CAMP! Love that one! And Can’t Buy Me Love was my very first PG-13 viewing 🙂

    Jen’s last blog post..I’m So Old I Stuff Kleenex in My Sleeves.

    Comment by Jen on May 2, 2008
  5. I have never seen Space Camp, and somehow, I feel like my life will be incomplete until I do.

    As for me?
    Starship Troopers
    The Shawshank Redemption
    Remember The Titans
    Legally Blonde
    The Matrix
    The New Guy
    Batman Begins

    SciFi Dad’s last blog post..TDS: Random

    Comment by SciFi Dad on May 2, 2008
  6. OMG – Just reading “Toe Pick” makes me smile and laugh!

    This was on ABC Family recently and I tried to get Maddie (age 7) to watch with me. She just doesn’t appreciate the classics.

    TOE – pick. 🙂

    Comment by Tricia on May 2, 2008
  7. mmmmm movies!

    fringes’s last blog post..Motormouth asks me about books, sugar highs and BBQ

    Comment by fringes on May 2, 2008
  8. Unbelievable.
    Our childhoods must have been parallel…

    When my grandparents would come from Ireland every summer I’d sit and watch The Price Is Right with my Granda everyday. I only ever watched it with him.

    I had to laugh about Y&R – Sean’s dad is devotee and the Cam will sometimes watch it with him.

    And the lady who lives across the street from us has a license plate that says “Toe Pic”
    For the first 2 yrs we lived here that’s how we referred to her. “Toe Pic dropped that off for you” “Toe Pic’s garbage bin blew away”

    Have you seen the new Kia commercial? Flashdance theme? Love it!

    Comment by Christine on May 2, 2008
  9. and can you believe how many more of the cutting edge movies have come out since! too funny.

    what about “the lost boys” or “cocktail” or “dirty dancing?”

    tracey’s last blog post..sailing takes me away to where i’m going

    Comment by tracey on May 2, 2008
  10. Ahhhh…. awesome list. The Neverending Story rocks. When do you think is a good time to expose my children to it? I can’t wait to watch it again.

    OHmommy’s last blog post..Out of the mouth of Lola…

    Comment by OHmommy on May 2, 2008
  11. Grease, Footloose, Weird Science, Dirty Dancing, Fletch, Bugsy Malone (anyone? Jody Foster, Scott Baio…), the Breakfast Club…these movies define my childhood and teen years. Starting with the days when you had to rent a VCR and then when you rented a movie you chose VHS or Beta – we had a Beta…:(

    I too watched TV as a hobby – Y&R, Days, Price is Right, Three’s Company, Eight is Enough, Little House, M*A*S*H*, the list goes on.

    These were the days before family channel and kids programming. There were hardly any kids movies so you watched what the grown-ups watched. It was just starting to happen when I was a bit too old to appreciate it…maybe right around your time, Ali!

    Jen Maier’s last blog post..Body and Soul CONTEST!

    Comment by Jen Maier on May 2, 2008
  12. i LOVED the neverending story!! forgot all about it. i also could quote and act out every scene from the breakfast club!

    JuJuBee’s last blog post..Outed.

    Comment by JuJuBee on May 2, 2008
  13. You and I had very similar childhoods, but I’m older than you so some of my favorites are different. But I did love St. Elmo’s Fire and Sixteen Candles. And I watched The Breakfast Club every day after school and I still know every line of that one.

    I loved Beaches, too, it was the first movie that ever made me cry.

    Sadie’s last blog post..Go Tigers!

    Comment by Sadie on May 2, 2008
  14. I had completely forgotten about Space Camp! I have to find a copy of that, I think my space obsessed kiddo would eat that up just as much as I did.

    One movie I remember watching over and over again was Mannequin. No idea why I loved it so much but I did! And Grease…one of my all time favorites, and a big reason why each week I wait and hope that Jason Castro will burst into “Summer Lovin'” on Idol. He’s so “Danny Travolta.” :0P

    Comment by AJ on May 2, 2008
  15. I have an unhealthy love for Annie, Can’t Buy Me Love, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Beaches…oh, how I love Beaches.

    Amanda (Shamelessly’s last blog post..The Tin Can Adventures: The Human Trash Target

    Comment by Amanda (Shamelessly on May 2, 2008
  16. Ok, now that you’ve listed every movie that I have to stop to watch whenever I see it listed on tv (Can’t Buy Me Love especially) and outed yourself as a Karate Kid fan, you get to go check out this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFlQNtL8F9s

    I think you’ll love it in inexplicable ways.

    Backpacking Dad’s last blog post..In which I try my hand at stand-up

    Comment by Backpacking Dad on May 2, 2008
  17. Kramer vs. Kramer & Terms of Endearment, both still make me bawl like nothing else! I know every line & every song in Grease, I could sing them all right now. That was the 1st movie my mom took me to with her friends – I felt so special! Star Wars was my 1st actual movie in a theatre before that.

    Comment by Maria on May 2, 2008
  18. love neverending story. my all time favorite. i, too, can recite annie by heart, and most of space camp and goonies. another fave has got to be my blue heaven!

    Comment by age on May 2, 2008
  19. Oh my goodness…I think we could be the bestest of friends!

    Space Camp…love it…I thought Trish was sooo cool!

    Goonies…my children love it…I live only a few hours from Astoria…went there on my honeymoon! You’re jealous…I know!

    Great list…

    I could watch Anne of Green Gables over and over…Terms of Endearment…breaks my heart when the kids come say good bye to mom…

    amy’s last blog post..Happy May Day…

    Comment by amy on May 2, 2008
  20. Can’t Buy Me Love is one of my favorites! So is The Man in the Moon!

    She Likes Purple’s last blog post..We’ll Also Serve As Your Tour Guides When You Get Here (For A Small Fee)

    Comment by She Likes Purple on May 2, 2008
  21. my friend goes on and on about The Cutting Edge and I have yet to see it. I keep hearing it is one of those must see flicks!!! 🙂

    Me = footloose = love

    Holly’s last blog post..Praying for a Miracle

    Comment by Holly on May 2, 2008
  22. I am so happy to hear I am not the only kid who broke a VHS tape from watching it over and over and over. Mine was Footloose. I tried so hard to “fix” it, yea doesn’t work. I am so with you on these movies; I still quote daily without even realizing it. I even went to Oregon and found the Goonies house to take a picture of it.

    Comment by Andrea on May 2, 2008
  23. LOVE The Cutting Edge. One of my non age appropriate movies from that time was Cat’s Eye. OMG scary. I think we might be soul mates. Whenever we finally meet, we will definetly be watching a couple of these!! I’ll bring Cat’s Eye.

    Miss’s last blog post..Rehab

    Comment by Miss on May 2, 2008
  24. i loved cutting edge. my sister and i still “toe pic” eachother! LOL.. and man in the moon- i own that movie and didn’t think anyone even knew what it was. lol i also LOVE mystic pizza!
    i was obsessed with can’t buy me love because i loved the lead chick’s hair and clothes. i remember thinking she was SO pretty and that i hoped i would be as pretty as her when i grew up. whatever happened to her?

    jennster’s last blog post..it’s hard to be a mom sometimes

    Comment by jennster on May 2, 2008
  25. My weird Luddite parents refused to own a VCR or get cable or any of that, which is why I’m so maladjusted now.

    Rebecca’s last blog post..I am endlessly blathering Friday

    Comment by Rebecca on May 2, 2008
  26. I loved Annie. So much so that I wore the dress to the fourth grade. I can’t believe I didn’t get beat up.

    “Face it. You’re a neo maxi zoom dweebie…”

    ha.

    anne’s last blog post..Haiku Friday: Gardeners of doom

    Comment by anne on May 2, 2008
  27. Ali. I am seriously scared now. WE ARE TWINS. I was obsessed with each of these movies (yes, even Man in the Moon which no one else knew of) AND read the Alex book eleventy billion times. I was traumatized, but yet kept reading it anyway. For some reason, the part that sticks with me is when–right after she dies–her dad sees the root beer that she had asked for in the fridge, and he gets all upset.

    I haven’t thought about that book in YEARS.

    metalia’s last blog post..Blogging Goddesses+Ethical Dilemma=My Tuesday Night

    Comment by metalia on May 2, 2008
  28. OMW!!!!!

    I watched Annie SO. MANY. TIMES. My grandparents owned it and I watched it repeatedly there… EVERY WEEKEND I VISITED. And I visited them at least every other weekend, plus every other full week in the summer. It was THE FAV MOVIE!

    The Parent Trap and The Electric Grandmother were close seconds… as I got older, I LOVED the Cutting Edge (even owned it, which was rare for us), and ALL the Indiana Jones movies…

    Jana’s last blog post..Busy Daze

    Comment by Jana on May 2, 2008
  29. TEEN WITCH! TEEEEEEEEN WIIIIIITCH! You would love it!!!!!

    Haley-O’s last blog post..New Fitness Regime with Squeeze of HOTT Motivation

    Comment by Haley-O on May 2, 2008
  30. You’re so much cooler than I – I was obsessed with the “Tammy” movies (starring Debbie Reynolds…I’m only 32!) If it came on TBS at 10am in the summer-time or other holiday, I was there watching it with my Maw-maw!

    Cristan’s last blog post..Laundry

    Comment by Cristan on May 2, 2008
  31. I’m feeling kinda freaky over how many movies we both loved.

    But at the same time, I’m relieved to know you watched a lot of TV and turned out to be a smart and intelligent person. There is hope for my youngest son!

    Queen of Shake Shake’s last blog post..The Shake-Shake Marriage – A Double Entendre?

    Comment by Queen of Shake Shake on May 2, 2008
  32. Girl! I loved the same ones!

    Oh, the Goonies.

    “Fifty dollar bill! Fifty dollar bill!”

    Awesome.

    Angella’s last blog post..I Scream, You Scream

    Comment by Angella on May 2, 2008
  33. Sheesh, stop already girl. You are scaring me. Now I’m afeerd of Bridges AND 80s flix lists!

    (You left off Lost Boys-watched it 18 million times, and I just saw a trailer for partII!)

    Good & Crazy’s last blog post..To my very own Husband.

    Comment by Good & Crazy on May 2, 2008
  34. I LOVE Man in the Moon!! I didn’t think there was anyone else who even knew it existed! I can watch it over and over.

    By the way, I found your blog through DadGoneMad. I’ve posted a complete list of everyone who left their blog link in a post called Blog Rolling With My Homies over on my blog, so if you want to see it come on over and sit a spell. I don’t bite…that hard anyway!

    DeeDee’s last blog post..It’s On Like Donkey Kong!

    Comment by DeeDee on May 2, 2008
  35. Ou, ou, ou!!! Agreed! I watched can’t buy me love everyday the summer I was 13 and loved every minute of it!

    Comment by Sarah on May 2, 2008
  36. My dad busted me performing Anne, the One Woman Show in my room with all my stuffed animals when I was about 6. It still goes down as one of my most embarrassing moments EVER.

    Goonies and the Neverending Story were both birthday party movies of mine, along with ET and Natty Gan. Ahhh, sweet youth.

    But you forgot Legend and Labyrinth! Best sappy little girl movies of all time!

    Jemima’s last blog post..Cinco de Moustache

    Comment by Jemima on May 2, 2008
  37. Ahhh a person after my own heart. I am a movie obsessed crazy person.

    I too have been known (even now) to throw a “Toe Pick” in once awhile.

    As a point of interest (or not), I came here through Dad Gone Mad and DeeDee. I’m lagging behind in the commenting race…so off I go.

    Meg (Mad Woman)’s last blog post..I’d like a broom and a blender please

    Comment by Meg (Mad Woman) on May 2, 2008
  38. Wow! I WAS the Grandpa taking the grandkiddies to some of these! Memories of taking them & my kids before them are terrific, especially as movies were a once in a blue moon treat in my young days:)

    Mike S’s last blog post..Spring Memories

    Comment by Mike S on May 3, 2008
  39. I never realized Joaquin and Leaf were the same Phoenix …

    merrymishaps’s last blog post..how i met my honey

    Comment by merrymishaps on May 3, 2008
  40. Our childhoods were so different – our tv and videos were strictly monitored.
    But, oh how I loved the Cutting Edge. Toe Pick. Funny. loved that!

    LD’s last blog post..At Least We Got a Playdate out of It

    Comment by LD on May 3, 2008
  41. You have educated me today – I never realized that Joaquin and Leaf were the same person.

    Comment by Anna on May 3, 2008
  42. the man in the moon is the best movie ever! i haven’t seen it in so long, i have an urge to go buy it.

    jess’s last blog post..My Face is Clear!

    Comment by jess on May 3, 2008
  43. Atraue!

    VALCOR!

    mamatulip’s last blog post..Two’s a charm

    Comment by mamatulip on May 3, 2008
  44. I used to watch so much TV … I don’t have as much time or interest anymore.

    Teena in Toronto’s last blog post..Book ~ “The Writing Diet” (2007) – Julia Cameron

    Comment by Teena in Toronto on May 3, 2008
  45. Oh good Lord, I just took a trip back in time. The Goonies is still my favorite show, Cutting Edge is awesome and I just watched it the other day and who the hell wouldn’t like Flashdance.

    Thanks for the trip back in time. I might hit blockbuster and rent all of these today.

    Comment by krissy on May 4, 2008
  46. We definitely grew up in the same era – these movies were all my favorites! Now I want to rent a few. My boys just watched Never Ending Story this week!

    amy’s last blog post..Taking Care of Business….

    Comment by amy on May 4, 2008
  47. Flashdance when you were five? That IS AWESOME! Good times right there!

    Comment by Burgh Baby on May 4, 2008
  48. I have never seen Beaches. I hate Bette Midler.

    My first movie I remember is E.T. at the Drive-In.

    Our subdivision clubhouse used to have movie showings for the kids in the neighborhood and you could bring your own popcorn and hang out with the big kids. I only remember watching The Neverending Story and Tron.

    Kristabella’s last blog post..Good Times Guaranteed

    Comment by Kristabella on May 6, 2008
  49. I loved all of these movies as a kid. Still do in fact. The first movie I remember adoring was Dirty Dancing. I was five too. Our parents were cool. 🙂

    Phoenix’s last blog post..Things my nephew will NOT be named

    Comment by Phoenix on May 6, 2008
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