A Facebook Meme, in Blog Form

The instructions are easy: list 25 movies that say something about you, then tag the friends you think are most likely to do it, too. Also, tag the person who sent this to you.

Oh, wait, this isn’t Facebook? And the meme isn’t movies, it’s 25 random things? Oh, well, my column, my rules.

1. FIGHT CLUB (1999)
Shows my complexity—sure, I’m generally a pro-Ikea, anti-violence kinda gal, but something about Brad Pitt and Edward Norton beating the crap out of each other without shirts is, well, fine with me.

2. HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)
“That’s wonderful, Harold. Go, love some more.”

3. UHF (1989)
Shows my undying love for Al, plus my childlike whimsy. And I adore the commentary—Victoria Jackson cuts the call short because she’s making scalloped potatoes.

4. THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (2007)
The Simpson family are a huge part of my life, and in the movie, Marge swears in anger and we

I wish Bruce’s name was in my secret notebook. Oops. wrong movie.

see Bart’s doodle.

5. THE JERK (1979)
The first time I laid my eyes on Steve, I knew what romantic love was and although I was only 6, I don’t think my understanding has grown all that much more sophisticated in the almost 30 years since.

6. STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006)
Did you ever imagine Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Queen Latifah in the same film? Me neither, but strangely, it works.

7. OFFICE SPACE (1999)
TPS reports, flair, guarding our cake, working 45 minutes a week. Yeah, it’s touched us all.

8. EDDIE IZZARD’S DRESS TO KILL (1999)
The best of all of Izzard’s standup collections, and has taught me most of what I know about teaching.

9. WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (1996)
What is a small town without a Dairy Queen? Absolutely nothing.

10. DOG PARK (1998)
“Owen” is the saddest name in the world? I guess it is, but it had never occurred to me until I saw DOG

If you don’t well up when he says “don’t die, Champ,” you have no soul.

PARK.

11. Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (2001)
I’ve been leery of public swimming pools since.

12. SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003)
It’s how I justify to myself my unorthodox teaching practices. I mean, at least I tie the music to the lesson plan.

13. SiCKO (2007)
If my raft made it, I wonder if a kind, generous Cuban surgeon would remove my tonsils?

14. FRENCH KISS (1995)
Makes me feel triumphant!

15. AKEELAH AND THE BEE (2006)
I saw this movie, went home, and subscribed to dictionary.com’s word of the day. If I don’t know it, I try to use it at least once that day. (The word of the day for Saturday, February 14: myopia. The Spanish word of the day: ganar).

16. SHORT CUTS (1993)
If you gotta go fishing, why not use your local fishin’ hole?

17. MARTY (1955)
Seeing this movie taught me not to take my feminism too seriously: Sometimes, we are just plenty of ripe

In 1965, she coulda painted anyone’s wagon.

tomatoes.

18. TORTILLA SOUP (2001)
I have the crazy down pat. Now, if only I had the metabolism to keep up, I’d fit right in with those hermanas locas.

19. SAME TIME NEXT YEAR (1978)
This movie showed me that it’s still possible to have a fulfilling life, even if things don’t work out the way you planned.

20. MAGNOLIA (1999)
The number one reason I still haven’t seen THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

21. A BRONX TALE (1993)
When I like a guy, I reach over and unlock the driver’s side door. I’m a keeper.

22. THE CHAMP (1979)
In my heart, Ricky Schroeder is still that sad, sweet, tow-headed little boy, and not a Republican.

24. PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006)
Everyone needs a healthy fantasy life.

25. CAT BALLOU (1965)
When I was little, my parents let me watch it whenever it was the Saturday afternoon movie, even though in retrospect, I realize that hearing Jane Fonda’s voice probably made them cringe.

Purple Rain & First Ave’s Reign (Matchflick column celebrating the anniversary of PURPLE RAIN)

For some reason, July 27 is a special day. In 2007, THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was released on that day. In 1984, the film PURPLE RAIN was released on that day. And sometime in the 1970s, I was born on that day. Back in the day, I loved Michael Jackson, Madonna and, of course, Prince. Friends and I would have long discussions about who we liked better. (For some reason, we suburban white kids grouped Michael and Prince together simply because they were black, and it didn’t occur to us that we didn’t have to choose.) Although PURPLE RAIN was mostly filmed a few miles from my home, I wasn’t allowed to see it because it was rated R. But just because the movie was forbidden didn’t mean the album was off limits. Oh, the songs: “Let’s Go Crazy” at middle school dances, slow dances to “Purple Rain” and the controversy of “Darling Nikki.” (“‘Masturbating with a magazine’?” I wondered what that meant for maybe a full year until a magical day when a light bulb went on over my head.) These songs were a huge part of my childhood and on till today; these songs get regular play on my iPod. Finally seeing PURPLE RAIN was magnificent – I rented it from the local video store/tanning salon when I was in high school – and I have since realized how ahead of its time the film really was. While the blending of   Apollonia Kotero

music with the action was nothing new, the way PURPLE RAIN does it is refreshing. The characters discuss and perform the music; they don’t burst into song as characters do in musicals. The merging of reality and fiction was at first confusing yet intriguing. I didn’t know what to believe. Was Prince “The Kid”? Did he really have an abusive father, whose hateful traits he didn’t want to emulate? The main characters used their actual first names, but, I have since decided, the stories were concocted. While Prince’s character was simply called “The Kid,” the members of the Revolution used their real names. Apollonia used hers (kind of—her name is Patricia Apollonia Kotero). Minneapolis is Minneapolis, unlike how Gotham City is clearly Chicago.

I don’t have to tell anyone in the music business or anyone who’s lived around Minneapolis about the mystique of First Avenue. Fame and fortune isn’t a sure bet after playing First Ave, but, many acts will attest, it won’t hurt. The building, previously the city’s Greyhound station, hasn’t been dressed up. Ever. The iconic stars painted on the exterior display the names of the musical acts who’ve played at the venue and tell a piece of the place’s history. Local boys like Prince, The Replacements, and Hϋsker Dϋ have stars alongside big names

Can you see the stars?

like The Melvins, Nirvana, The Pixies, and the Sugarcubes, who played First Ave as relative nobodies. In fact, I had a ritual during my college years in which I would kiss my left hand and leap to give The Cure’s star a little love slap each time I walked by. I never saw The Cure at First Ave—by the time I was old enough to see a show, they were big enough to play Met Center.

Inevitably, the area has changed. The city has ameliorated around it. The club is no longer surrounded by hourly rate motels and strip clubs. Now it’s next to the Target Center, shiny new hotels and a Hard Rock Café. But the building at the intersection of First Avenue and 7th Street looks the same, and if you drive by, you can imagine that the Minneapolis of today is the same city that “The Kid” and Morris Day rivaled over gigs and Apollonia.

In the event of this anniversary, I urge you to see PURPLE RAIN, especially if you never have. Yes, it’ll feel dated (it has been 25 years!), but that’s the point of history. Plus, if you can visit Minneapolis, catch a show in the Main Room or the Entry. Now that the place is smoke-free it smells better than this dank bus station ever has, and you’ll experience a piece of the Midwest’s rock heritage.

Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

Progress on The Simpsons book

Someone asked me today how the book was coming along, and I said that except for thinking about what I need to do and setting up a Twitter account for our book (@Simpsonology), I haven’t done too much lately. But it turns out that setting up the Twitter account was one of the best ideas I’ve had since going to see Patton Oswalt in San Francisco (where we met Dana Gould[!]). I am positively TWITTERPATED. David Silverman (producer, creative mind, and director of many episodes AND The Simpsons Movie) is now following us on Twitter.

Yes, I’ll tell anyone who asks, we are making progress on the book: David Silverman knows Karma and I exist.