Back in the Day: 5 TV Shows You Loved As A Kid
1. Transformers
2. You Can’t Do That on Television
3. He Man/She Ra
4. Thundercats
5. The Muppet Show/Muppet Babies

Who Would You Do?: 5 TV Characters You Would…Well, It’s Self-Explanatory
1. Emily Prentiss from Criminal Minds
2. Margene Heffman from Big Love
3. Kate Austen from Lost
4. Izzie Stevens from Grey’s Anatomy (though she’d need to keep her mouth shut during the experience!)
5. Alice Pieszecki from The L Word (luckily, her character is Bi!)

If you’d asked me last year I’d have replaced either Izzie or Alice with Anne Boleyn from The Tudors.

“Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs”: 5 TV Theme Songs You Know (and Love) By Heart
1. The Muppet Show (It’s Time to Play the Music)
2. Weeds (Little Boxes)
3. Big Love (God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You)
4. Transformers (More than Meets the Eye…Robots in Disguise!)
5. Smurfs (La La La La La La!)

Eh: 5 Shows You Just Can’t Get Into
1. House
2. CSI/CSI Miami/CSI NY/NCIS
3. Law & Order (SVU, too)
4. Survivor
5. The Bachelor

The Starting Line-Up: 5 Channels You Go To First When You Sit Down to Watch TV
1. Showtime
2. ABC
3. ESPN
4. HBO
5. Fox

This Is An Environment of Welcoming, and You Should Just Get the Hell Out Of Here: 5 TV Characters You Could Do Without
1. Max on The L Word – GO AWAY MAX!
2. Nicolette Grant on Big Love – She drives me nuts though she is kind of necessary
3. Elizabeth from The View (one would say she’s definitely a ‘character’)
4. The Judges on American Idol – They are just plain stupid this season and I can do without them – Their votes don’t count ANYWAY!
5. Kelly Wentworth on The L Word – The lesbian version of Jessie Spano is still not cool

That’s What She Said: 5 Quotes That Still Resonate

“I wipe my ass with your feelings.” – Tony Soprano

“My name is Jack Bauer, and this is the longest day of my life. ” – Jack Bauer

“Lois: And this new girl, this “Margene” you call her.
Bill Henrickson: We call her Margene because that’s her name!”

- Lois & Bill – Big Love

“Dr. Cristina Yang: What are you doing?
Dr. Meredith Grey: Oh, you know, just sitting here with my penis. ”

Meredith & Cristina – Grey’s Anatomy

“Hower: Let me ask you something, Gabrielle. Does Xena ever think about… settling down and getting married?
Gabrielle: No… she likes what I do”

Hower & Gabrielle – Xena

Gimme More: 5 Shows You Can Never Get Enough Of:
Xena
24
Big Love
Dexter
The Sopranos

Technorati Tags: Television, Meme, TV Meme, Survey, Dexter, Xena, Big Love, Lost, The Sopranos

The movie Quid Pro Quo was one I had to review. I was interested in the movie because it was supposed to be about a paralyzed reporter who gets involved with an underground group of BIID sufferers, while investigating a story. I should warn you that this contains spoilers, so if you want to see this movie, you probably shouldn’t continue reading this.

The entire movie, I felt this tightness in my chest. It was if every fiber of my being was screaming how wrong this was. Vera Farmiga’s entire performance creeped me out. I’m not even sure I can watch The Departed again without seeing her in this freaky light. Her character is obsessed with becoming paralyzed, and she has this crazy fetish for braces, wheelchairs, and having sex with a paralyzed guy, without taking him out of his chair.

The entire emphasis is on the fact that people want to be paralyzed or disabled due to psychological events that happen in their lives, and for many, this is a sexual thing, a fetish. Sure, those with BIID say that isn’t the way that it is, but then they go and post how putting on diapers makes their willies happy. Many of them get their jollies from “pretending” and the wannabes are as bad about this as the pretenders are.

All of the stories I’ve read about those who claim to have BIID talk about sad, pathetic childhoods or overbearing parents, abusive parents, abusive priests or psychologists, and the list goes on. In essence, it is as if these people feel inadequate due to events in their life, so they associate it with being in a wheelchair, being paralyzed, or amputating a limb.

In a 60 Minutes expose on the subject, many of those who amputated, felt remorse. They changed their tunes after amputation, when it was too little, too late. The persistent feeling of wanting to be disabled didn’t wan nor did their life become magically better. For some, they became even more depressed, now truly understanding what being disabled meant. Don’t I have a right to be offended by this, because I didn’t have a choice in the matter of becoming disabled, yet people think its cool or a fad?

The most disappointing aspect of Quid Pro Quo is the fact the paralyzed man isn’t really paralyzed. Sure, he didn’t know he was only kidding himself, but this is utterly unrealistic. Some doctor would have caught this and it kind of put a damper on the entire tone of the movie. While the BIID sufferers were psychotic in their desire to make themselves “disabled”, many of them weren’t willing to take the final step and become disabled, even if they had the means and opportunity to do so. The paralyzed reporter’s miraculous recovery is a little too rainbows and sunshine for me. Perhaps, a movie that truly explores paralysis and the normalcy those of us with disabilities can have in our lives, will one day be produced.

Either way, the only good this movie does is emphasize the psychological problems those with BIID face, and open up the discussion for why this should even be considered a logical medical condition and not a neurosis, fetish or aspect of perspective mental illness. Treatment should involve medication and behavioral modification, not hacking off limbs or making someone paralyzed with medication.

Technorati Tags: Quid Pro Quo, BIID, psychological, messed up, condition, Body Integrity Identity Disorder, movie, disability, wheelchair, paralyzed

I believe that the 80s were unique. Movies were made to entertain and tell a story. Music was meant to make you dance and perhaps even shock you (Madonna, anyone?) and entertainment wasn’t nearly as censored as it is today. It was a great time for those of us who grew up in the 80s. Not only did we have the best cartoons, we had the best teen movies…ever.

So, sit back, relax, and take a walk down memory lane as we look at my top ten, favorite, 80s movies of all time.

Honorable Mention: Stand by Me

While technically not a teen movie (otherwise, it’d have made our primary list), though close enough, this Stephen King flick made Wil Wheaton nearly every kid’s hero!

10. Porky’s

Ok, so I wasn’t allowed to see this movie until I was a little older, but once I did, I loved it. Seriously, I was in love with Kim Cattrall (aka Lassie) in the 80s. This movie exemplifies teenage vulgarity. What’s better than that?

9. Adventures in Babysitting

This is one of the first 80s movies I ever remember watching over and over again. Little did I know that Daryl Coopersmith would go on to play Mark in one of the most famous Broadway musicals of this generation, “Rent”. Before then, he was just the a-hole that annoyed Elisabeth Shue. Personally, who wouldn’t have wanted to spend time with her (even if it annoyed her in the process)?

8. The Lost Boys

Everyone wanted to be like Keifer Sutherland. Being a vampire was cool in the 80s. Makes you wonder how a sequel made today could even compare to this movie. Besides, any 80s movie featuring the Coreys is okay in my book.

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street

The first horror movie I ever remember watching from the 80s, this was cheesy, 80s horror and yet I loved every minute of it. To this day, Freddy is still better than Jason or any of the other crazy killers of the 80s.

6. The Legend of Billie Jean

This is a relatively new addition to my list of favorite 80s teen movies. This is a classic I wish I would have seen around the time it came out. Who would believe that Putter Jack would go on to become the voice of Lisa Simpson (you can totally hear Lisa in her voice, though)?

5. Pretty in Pink

I really watch this movie for Duckie. I was big into all of the John Hughes movies, as a kid. Who wasn’t? The funny thing is that Jon Cryer is still Duckie, just on a different show (Two and a Half Men).

4. War Games

I love this movie. I saw it when it first came out. Before Matthew was Ferris, he was a computer hacker in War Games. David was the kid I wanted to be, with his vast computer knowledge, though I could definitely have done without his poor grades.

3. Sixteen Candles

Like many of John Hughes’ 80s films, it is a secondary character who stole the show. I love Sixteen Candles and the overall story, but there is just something about Long Duck Dong that gets me every time!

2. The Goonies

One of my favorite movies growing up, who didn’t want to be a Goonie? I’ve seen this movie more than any other on this list. It never gets old and it always entertains.

1. The Breakfast Club

This movie is what being a teenager in the 80s was all about. Not only was our generation feared (would we care for generations before us the way they cared for generations before them?), we were all about having fun and experiencing life.

It was hard to condense this list. There are so many, great 80s teen films. It’s hard to break it into just ten. Other favorites not on this list include Say Anything, Less than Zero, St. Elmo’s Fire (more a 20 something movie), Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Gremlins, The New Kids, Friday the 13th, Lucas, The Karate Kid, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

So, what’s your favorite 80s teen flick?

Technorati Tags: 80s movies, top ten, Breakfast Club, John Hughes, teen, movies, The Goonies, The Lost Boys, War Games, Porky’s