Way up to Mars

Okay. One more thing on Adventureland. The soundtrack/song tracks played throughout the film is incredible with some main stream hits like “Obsession” by Animotion, “Rock Me Amadeous” by Falco (as previously mentioned), Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again”, “Point of No Return” by Expose, “Your Love” by Outfield and “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House.

And it has its share of more obscure songs like “Tops” off the Tattoo You album by The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground’s “Here She Comes Now”,  Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love”, “Taste of Cindy” by  The Jesus & Mary Chain, and “I’m in Love With a Girl” by Big Star, off the album, Radio City. 

Also, notably, during a bumper car scene after everyone eats pot cookies, a huge portion of my favorite Cure song, “Just Like Heaven” is played. Major kudos. “Pale Blue Eyes” by The Velvet Underground is used in a scene when Em (Kristen Stewart) is driving with James (Jessie Eisenberg), and “Satellite of Love” by Lou Reed, paired off with the colorful lights and movement of the carnival like atmosphere, serves as a key point in the plot of the film itself. 

Other period films with a great soundtrack and gritty suburban undertones: Almost Famous (2000), American Graffiti (1973), The Virgin Suicides (1999), Juno (2007), Running With Scissors (2006), and Wet Hot American Summer (2001).

Satin lives.

I watched Adventureland the other night, a 2009 film directed by Greg Mottola. The setting is undeniably 1980s, but it’s not the over-the-top ’80s back-splash you might expect. In other words, it’s not a scene out of an ’80s party you go to in a college dorm room, where girls are wearing Flashdance t-shirts and neon spandex and the guys are in popped collared polos. It’s deeper than that. It’s grimier. Grimy ’80s. Lou Reed. David Bowie. Worn out t-shirts. Corn dogs. 

It’s the summer of 1987 and James (Jessie Eisenberg) needs a summer job to pay his way to New York, so he starts working as a “Games Guy” at the local amusement park called Adventureland. He’s hired by a pair of managers in acid wash jean shorts, whom may or may not be a couple, but have a strange power-struggle relationship, and the guy manager, Bobby, has a mustache that could be its own character. The games at the park are all rigged — Fedora hats are glued to the heads of mannequins, the basketball hoops are oval shaped….you might leave the park feeling like a winner, but you’ll never score a giant ass Panda bear.

James meets Joel (Mark Miller), a boy with greasy black hair and glasses, Frigo, a kid who makes his own t-shirts, and Em (Kristen Stewart), whom  is secretly involved with “Connell” (Ryan Reynolds), a shady older guy who carouses the park with his guitar and woos girls over with his questionable rock musician stories. He’s married to a girl who works at “Razz-Ma-Tazz”, a dance club in town. Em has really had it with Connell’s ways, but you can tell she’s guarded against guys and likes to play by her own rules. Her dad is oblivious to her, and her step mom wears a wig, a fabulous shaggy feathered number that reminds me of Lee Purcell’s character, Beth, in Valley Girl. A few days into the summer, Lisa P. arrives at Adventureland, a girl who operates the rides, and dances around in her high waisted skinny jeans to “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco. 

James hates that song. But he’s less interested in the likes of Lisa P. and more into Em. She has that mysterious appeal that makes him wanting more. He also has a huge stash of pot his friend left him for the summer, and she’s willing to make pot cookies. They hit it off great, but Em doesn’t want anything serious – and tells James to cool it a little. He doesn’t know about her and Connell. As the story unravels, so do all of the secrets, and inevitably, this leads James to take Lisa P. out on a fancy date to “The Velvet Touch,” a nice restaurant in town. Lisa P. always chews gum, which is reminiscent of one of the counselor characters from one of my favorite films, Wet Hot American Summer. She isn’t completely dense, even though she has enough Aqua Net in her hair to kill the ozone. But, when James tells her that Em and Connell are sneaking around — Lisa P. tells everyone. Em quits. Connell’s wife divorces him. The summer ends. James crashes his car, but takes a bus to New York anyway, desperate for Em’s forgiveness. What do you think happens? 

But this movie is obviously not about on my list of favorites for its predictable plot. Coming of age, summer romance/friendship films always end the same way. You feel relieved and sad all at once. What drives this movie are the aesthetics: the oversized walkee talkees, one guy Pete’s morning invite to take Lisa P. to a Judas Priest concert, the kid with the drum sticks who sings a Rush song to Em but forgets the lyrics, payphones and landlines, beater cars, and Joel’s little brother in tube socks mowing the backyard. 

The guy who misspells Satan and writes “Satin Lives” in spray paint on the wall of the park, is just as important as Sue, the girl who tells Joel she can’t go out with him because he’s Jewish, or when Lisa P. confides in James about her broken home life. Maybe when Em says, “I don’t want to lose you,” we sigh and know for sure that we’ve said that once or twice to someone. And maybe we know for a fact that Connell and guys like Connell will always be hanging around the park to retell the same Lou Reed stories to young girls. This movie isn’t trying to dress anything up and wrap it in a box. It’s just the blink of an eye, a summer in your life, when you were standing outside with friends, just trying to figure out what to do and where to go. 

 

 

Acoustic monday

It just feels like the kind of day for one of my favorite Nirvana covers, David Bowie’s “Man Who Sold The World.” This was filmed in November of 1993 for MTV Unplugged. This set list and performance that night, was, in my opinion, Nirvana’s final hour, and Kurt’s finest moment. Enjoy. 

Smells like teen spirit.

…Not to be confused with the deodorant brand us girls wore when were 10. Caribbean Breeze, anyone? 

It’s time to get scent–imental in here. Yes, I know…my creative wordage is at an all-time high. I was thinking about CK One today. CK One was a unisex perfume from the early ’90s – made popular by the heroin chic, waifer thin models dressed in Calvins. I went through the half bottle my babysitter gave me, and then my mom bought me a new bottle. The one I received came with a spiffy silver pencil case and thin silver pencils that had really awful erasers, like, entirely nonfunctional and disappointing. They should never open a school supplies store.

So, with that said — what are some scents you remember from your childhood? My first perfume as a little kid was Love’s Baby Soft. It came in a pink bottle and smelled like a combination of baby powder, Joey McIntyre, and the summer beach episodes from season 2 of Beverly Hills, 90210. My mom always wore one perfume throughout the ’80s and ’90s, and that was Anais Anais. It still comes in the same white bottle with a decorative pastel floral motif around it. It smells like hairspray and a Saturday night.

But back to my CK One phase (roughly from 1994-1996.) At that time, little teeny bopper jewelry shops in the mall like Claire’s and Afterthoughts came out with a line of scented clear nailpolishes, including one scented like CK One, and another infused with another popular perfume from that era, Sunflowers. The Gap was also the source of signature scent purchases. As a 5th grader, my choice Gap perfume was Dream. And as I recall, the other choices were Heaven, Om, and Grass. I was walking down the sidewalk last night and could have sworn I walked past a boy wearing Gap Dream. It infiltrated my nostrils with the Gin Blossoms, adventures in the mall, and pens with fluffy puff balls on them. 

Cool Water by Davidoff will always remind me of rainy nights at summer camp in the mountains of North Carolina and the harsh, adolescent years of middle school. And there are numerous colognes and perfumes that remind me of exes, best friends, and crushes. You can’t help but think about frilly dresses and school dances, the way someone’s car smells just like them when you open up the passenger door, a night, a weekend, a time in your life that you hate to remember, or wish you could remember better. 

My windows are open right now, and it even smells like summer and autumn are mixing together, sweet and airy. Do you know that smell?

Howdy.

This is utterly fantastic. To view more, check out the “Public School” blog.