10 Things I Loved About The '80s

10. Freddy Krueger: Yes I was that kid. The kid whose father let his 7 year old daughter watch A Nightmare On Elm Street on VHS. Sure I slept with the lights on that night but I became a girl obsessed. I subscribed to Fangoria magazine, I watched the television series, had his posters on my wall, and was at the theater every time a new film came out. If it involved Freddy, I had to be involved.




9 Electric Youth Perfume: I love this perfume, it was the very first perfume I had ever owned. I thought the lightning bolt in the center was just the coolest thing ever. As soon as one ran out or was accidentally lost, I would beg my father to take me to the store so I could replace it.




8. Fred Savage: You are looking at my first celebrity crush here. My room at one time was equally dominated by posters of my two favorite Freds, Kruger and Savage. My crush was so severe that I even sat through films like Little Monsters and The Wizard just to see him. I never missed an episode of The Wonder Years. I even developed a crush on a kid in my class simply because he looked just like him.




7. Tiffany: Tiffany was the first singer that I had ever gotten into by myself. All the other music I listened to were courtesy of my parents. I would play her first album at least three or four times a day. My father who was a heavy metal/classic rock fan made the ultimate sacrifice and took me to see her at Six Flags in '87. I had never been to a concert before and had no concept of the term opening act. I pouted during the entire opening set waiting for my idol to appear. The opening band was New Kids On The Block.



6. MTV: Remember when MTV would just play hours upon hours of music videos. You had the privilege of seeing your favorite artists anytime you wanted to. Even the television shows like Headbanger's Ball and Yo! MTV Raps were music video oriented. That's before MTV became a pseudo-reality network dedicated to spoiled rotten teens.


5. Sweet Valley High: Between the ages of 9 and 13, I worshiped these books. I even went so far as to buy the board game (which was boring.) On our weekly visits to the local used bookstore, I would pore through the shelves praying to find ones I didn't already have. True excitement was going to the grocery store and seeing a new one on the racks. My dad was always annoyed that I would finish the book the very same day that he got it for me. Strangely enough the book never made me want to blond haired and blue-eyed, but it did make me wanna have dimples in the worst way.


4. Plastic Charm Necklaces: Believe these bright and clunky things were the must have accessories in my elementary school. Our teacher went so far as to use them as prizes during spelling and math bees. Even though I already had bunch of them, I was still jealous of any girl who had a charm that I didn't have. Particular favorites were an abacus, a baby bottle, and a record.




3. Nintendo: I wasn't one of the lucky kids to have a Nintendo at my house. However, I had friends who did. Many hours were spent parked in front of the television playing Mario or Donkey Kong. My babysitters would park me in front of their Nintendo in exchange for a few hours of privacy. I finally got a Nintendo in '93 when the original console was considered obsolete. Obsolete or not, I still got a kick out of playing it.




2. Cabbage Patch Kids: Forget Tickle Me Elmo, the demand for Cabbage Patch kids were way more insane. My dad braved the Christmas crowds in search of a brown eyed brown haired doll for my very own. Instead he got a me a blond haired blue eyed one and told me I should be grateful to have gotten that. I treasured that doll and kept with me for many many years. Once it stopped being interesting as a toy, it became a nostalgic artifact.



1. Madonna: I confess that I was a junior Madonna wannabe. Blame my babysitter who owned Like A Virgin and played it constantly. I begged for my own copy which I received as a birthday gift and I was hooked. She was the continuing soundtrack to my '80s childhood. My mother worked at a video store and managed to score me a cardboard cutout from Shanghai Surprise. I even lucked out and got to see her live during her Blond Ambition tour. To this day I'm still a fan.

Madonna: Innocence Lost

More like the $1.50 lost renting this DVD. Heck in when this thing aired on Fox in 1994, I could have been pissed off for free. I didn't know there was a Madonna television movie, so being a Madonnaphile I was excited to see this.

First and foremost, it is asinine to try to do any kind of Madonna film in two hours or an hour and thirty minutes sans commercials. It comes off as rushed and doesn't really delve into Madonna's past. It leaps over some major key moments from that time period that could made the film more interesting.

Did we really need to know how close Madonna was with her first manager. Granted I loved seeing Wendy Malick in the film but her character seemed like emotionless filler. The grunty, sweaty, gratuitous sex scenes were also unnecessary. We get it Madonna had sex, she even wrote a book about it. And the title, Innocence Lost, what a joke. She is potrayed as cold and calculating, using sex to get her way. Where was this supposed innocence?

What about showing her auditioning for Fame? Maybe explain the story behind that wacky (and not suitable for work) student film she did? Maybe the story behind a Certain Sacrifice, a film that Madonna fought like hell to keep from being released.

The actress Terumi Matthews is apparently no stranger to playing Madonna. Her IMDB page lists her as playing Madonna in the Dennis Rodman television movie Bad As I Wanna Be. The problem though while she shares a certain resembelence to the singer, she simply can't pass as Madonna. She looks suprisingly like Gloria Estefan which made it harder for me to accept her as the singer.

This movie is to be avoided, especially if you are a hard core Madonna fan.

The Bucket List

One of our assignments for my blog tour is to write a bucket list. Here is mine.

I want to visit a foreign country preferably Indonesia

I'd like to bungee jump

I'd like to have a child

I want to be with my honey forever

I want to be fluent in at least three languages

I want to have published at least one book.

I'd like to sing in front of an audience but not karaoke

I want to scuba dive

I'd like to see my 100th birthday

I want to interview one of my idols, Stevie Nicks, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Madonna, Stephen King or Naomi Judd

I'd love to appear in a slasher film even I am the first character killed.


It's a weird list but then again I'm a weird girl.

LadyJ's Top 10 Of Music Videos

Remember the olden days when MTV played these wacky three or four minute movies set to music. Remember when VH-1 also showed those odd little things. Nowadays the so called music video channels might show an actual video interspersed with the loads upon loads of reality television but that's once in a blue moon. In honor of this lost television art I present my list of the ten best videos I've ever seen. If you want to watch the video just click on the title of the songs and it will lead you to the Youtube link.

10# Cryin by Aerosmith:

Before Clueless and Batman and Robin, Alicia Silverstone was best known as the "Aerosmith Girl". She had appeared in three videos off of their Get A Grip album. Cryin was the first. Silverstone plays a young girl obsessed with a guy (Stephen Dorff) who pretty much treats her like crap. She begins acting out eventually getting his attention and telling him to get lost in a single breath. Lost fans can spot the future Sawyer Ford (Josh Holloway) at 3:45 in the video.

9. Bad Girl by Madonna

This video is from Madonna's 1992 Erotica Album and seems to borrow from the 70s film Looking For Mr. Goodbar. Madonna plays a reckless, cold-hearted business woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She spends her evenings getting loaded and taking home strange men. Unknown to her she being watched by an angel (Christopher Walken) who finds himself enamored with her. This is an intense and amazing video that shows us a more honest side of Madonna.

8.Toxic by Britney Spears

This in my humble opinion is one of Britney's more innovative videos from her 2001 self-titled album. She plays a spy who dons a variety of disguises in order to obtain a vial of poison in which to use on what I presume to be an ex-lover. It seems to have Alias type vibe to it and features actor Taye Diggs in the motorcycle segment. It's fun and creative, not like the other videos where Britney just dances and writhes around.

7.Freedom '90 by George Michael

In 1987, George Michael created an image for him with his Faith album instantly becoming a notable pop star. However by 1990 he was quick to jetison that image and Freedom '90 was that image's swan song. George Michael refused to appear in the video and instead hired the biggest supermodels of the time to mouth the lyrics. The models were Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz, and Christy Turlington. He took potshots at his Faith image by blowing up his trademark jukebox and burning the trademark jacket that appeared in his Faith video. It's a great F.U. to an image he had long outgrown.

6.November Rain by Guns N' Roses

This epic video also spelled the end to this band's career but what a way to end. Based on Del James' short story Without You, we follow the love, marriage, and eventual death of a couple (played by Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose and then girlfriend Stephanie Seymour). Interspersed with these scenes is the band playing among a huge orchestra and a killer shot of Slash's guitar solo in the desert. This video is breathtaking with great symbolic scenes and just IMHO the best power ballad ever made.

5.Three Little Pigs by Green Jelly

Take the three little pigs, throw in a falsetto cameo by the lead singer of Tool, ganja, Harley's and Rambo and you have a pretty kick ass video. Done entirely in claymation this 1992 video only debuted as a video not a single. The only way to get the song at the time was to buy a pink vinyl 45. This innovative video helped propel this song to #17 on the Billboard charts.

4.Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time is probably the only video to make me cry every time I see it. Cyndi plays a girl who's outgrown the small time she lives in. The only thing keeping her there is her boyfriend whom she loves. She eventually leaves and her boyfriend momentarily agrees to leave with her, however he chickens out at the last moment. She tearfully watches him as she prepares for her new life. It's just amazing and makes great use of such an emotional song.

3.Pleasure Principle by Janet Jackson

This video may seem a little stark in contrast with the other videos but I love it just the same. It's simplicity is probably what makes this video the most striking. It showcases what made Janet an '80s phenomenon in the first place her dance moves and her voice. The song can be found on her 1986 album Control

2.Always by Bon Jovi

This single from Bon Jovi's 1994 Crossroads album potrays the good and eventual bad times of a couple (played by Jack Noseworthy and Carla Gugino). They are intensely happy and very attracted to one another. Until he attempts to hook up with another girl while she's away. She catches them and runs off eventually meeting and hooking up with an artist who paints her nude. The next day she decides to take her boyfriend back only to have him freak out over her infidelity. She says Goodbye and he ends up destroying her lover's apartment and presumably is on the run. He is last seen in a Mexican hotel obviously still haunted by her. This video is just perfect and I can't get enough of watching it. The video also start Keri Russell as the "other woman" and Jason Wiles as the painter.

1.Take On Me by A-Ha

This video from 1985's Hunting High And Low is ahead of it's time. It bears a great blend of live action and animation in a time where CGI was unheard of. We see a young woman in a diner reading a comic about a motorcycle racer. She is stunned when the studly star of the comic pulls her into the pages. Their moment together is interrupted by the comic's antagonists and she manages to flee the comic only to find her cartoon lover presumably dead. She brings the comic home and sees him fighting to break free of his world in order to join her in hers. It's innovative and withstands time.