I'm a Barbie Girl...

I grew up in the 90's so I completely and un-ironically love the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, because I was (and still am) a Barbie girl. This weekend marks the 60th anniversary of Barbie and I am here for it! This photo below is much more pristine version of the 1989 My First Barbie, which was actually one of my first Barbie dolls. She looks like a prom queen princess with customary iridescent 80's pouf sleeves, hot pink lipstick, and blue eye shadow. Her hair is in soft curls and she has some sweet bangs. She is awesome. There were yearly releases of new MFB through the 80's, and each one is a treasure. Here is why I love Barbie so much.

1. She has amazing outfits.
Half the fun of playing with Barbie was dressing her up. Thank you to my mom for always agreeing to brush out the hair of the dolls when I got weighed down in the minutiae of outfit choosing.

2. She has an infinite amount of careers.
I have had Barbies/outfits for the following jobs: police officer, ice skater, teacher, mall rat, rock star, Olympic gymnast, diver, dog walker, tennis player, beach bum, doctor, business lady, and though my own creations, Sandy from Grease. Plus, Barbie takes care of all of her siblings (Skipper, Stacey, Kelly, Chrissy) and drives them around in a minivan (best car ever) because her parents are never around.

3. She's a symbol for the ultimate cool girl.
In the 90's, I would collect Barbie catalogs and magazines (and tradings cards) to make sure my entire life would celebrate Barbie. I owned barbie-themed accessories such as:
CLOTHES: Dresses, shirts, a robe, a giant hair bow, purse, slippers, sneakers
ELECTRONICS AND TOYS: walkie talkies,a walkman, movies, books, cassettes,
HOME ACCESSORIES: sleeping bag, sheets, a suitcase
SPORTING GOODS: roller skates, a bike

4. She's stood the test of time
I regularly visited FAO Schwartz's Barbie area to pay tribute to the original 1960's Barbie in a glass case, and it was a religious experience. She changed with the times, going from a red lipped a high pony-tailed bombshell to a California-cool coral lipped mermaid. Now she comes with different body shapes, earrings, freckles and hair colors (shout outs to Barbie's ride-or-dies, Midge, Christie and Theresa).

5. She's made PINK a power color
Long before Victoria's Secret launched their college-friendly PINK line, Barbie's name was emblazoned in pink. I'm not ashamed to say it's my power color.

Buffy board game

Happy Halloween! It's time to talk about spooky things! A friend who knows me well gifted me with the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game! I can't wait to play it. I own a much earlier version of the game, which came out in 2000 while the series was still on the air.  In the original game, there were 4 possible stories to play, each one fighting a different villain, a.k.a. the 'big bad.' 

Through the phases of the moon, the vampires and wolves got different powers and the good and bad guys delivered damages. It was elaborate! Check out more information about the original game here. I can't wait to play and report back on the new updated game (with stories and characters for all 7 seasons). 

Another Concert Gig Review: Sugar Ray

Mark McGrath lead singer of Sugar Ray, left.  (c)PipPepPop

(c) PipPepPop

Check out my latest GIGSoup concert review for Sugar Ray, live from the rain-threatened streets of Downtown Stamford, CT. There was a great chunk of 90's nostalgia as the band explored new songs, hits from the 14:59 album, and other band favorites like The Ramones.

Photo caption: McGrath grabbed a shamrock guitar for 'Answer the Phone.'

Happy 20th Birthday, Buffy! - Now Supergirl Slays (W/ SPOILERS)

     This past March, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In April, Entertainment Weekly reunited the cast for a chat about the show's impact. Star Sarah Michelle

Buffy explaining her relationship with
Angel - via GIPHY

Gellar and creator Joss Whedon agreed that their literal manifestation of "high school is hell" often played on multiple thematic levels and that their portrayal of happy relationships were far and few between. Gellar looked radiant sitting next to the still-hot David Boreanez, who played the sensitive soul-cursed vampire Angel. She admitted her personal choice would be for Buffy to live happily ever after with Angel instead of Spike (James Marsters), a bad vampire that gained his own conscience after falling in love with Buffy in the later seasons. Boreanez and two other cast members, Alexis Denisof (Wesley) and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) left he show after the 3rd season for Angel's spin-off, where the vampire "moonlighted" as a detective and saved L.A. from demons and lawyers. Carpenter incredibly looks as young as she did when Angel began filming 18 years ago. Denisof's rugged looks won him the hand of another cast member, Alyson Hannigan. The couple married in 2003.

The wisdom of 'Oz' via GIPHY

     There were deeper issues to discuss in the reunion than choosing a side in the Spike/Angel debate. Actresses Amber Benson (Tara) and Hannigan (Willow) spoke about their beautiful lesbian relationship on the show and how it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on TV as little as 15 years ago. As Hannigan's other major love interest, Seth Green spoke more in this interview than his entire time on the show as laconic musician/werewolf, Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne. He offered to host cast potlucks! The loveable duo  Nick Brendan (Xander) and Emma Caulfield (Anya) agreed their characters would have stayed together if Anya hadn't been killed in the final episode.  By the end, Caulfield performed a dramatic then performed a eulogy for her character, who despised bunnies.

'The Body' - Season 5 via GIPHY

     The effervescent Kristine Sutherland (as Buffy's mom Joyce Summers) spoke about her role as the clueless mom and how she slowly became a mother to all of Buddy's marginalized friends, her ball of energy fake sister Dawn (Michelle Tractenberg), and some demons (Clem!!). This sometimes came at the expense of getting kidnapped or knocked unconscious. Sutherland spoke highly of the cast and their commitment to telling stories with multiple levels. Sutherland's character's unexpected death in the 5th season had a dramatic impact on the season, and I would go as far as to say, the course of the last two seasons of the show. Whedon addressed the story (Buffy's mom had first a brain tumor that made her see demons, and after healing, was found unconscious from an aneurysm.) and Buffy's absolute helplessness. There was nothing she could kill or beat up to help her mom, and she went through all of the feelings of grief  in one scene. Whedon also shared his mother passed away when he was a teenager. As he worked through his feelings, the writer found a catharsis and was grateful for fans to share their own experiences of losing a parent too young.

My signed postcard from
Sarah Michelle Gellar, 1999.

     In my 90's Buffy binge haze, something has become abundantly clear to me. While some of the fashion fuzzy sweaters camisoles over t-shirts, knee socks) and  Xander's dialogue is questionable, the messages and themes still hold up. The lessons are timeless and the gains are huge.  Buffy has very heavily influenced the current CW show Supergirl. Read on as I discuss both shows and the continuing legacy of kick-ass female superheroes.

Image from Comic Vine

TROPE: The Dual Identity
     This is pretty obvious, so I won't spend too long on this point. Gellar's Buffy always looked chic, and in the early seasons, Buffy seemed to own an unlimited closet of trench coats and leather jackets for all of her lurking.Buffy spent her high school career sorting through pencils and stakes in her bag and running from math class to stakeouts to graveyards.  She struggled to hold down a job after dropping out of college, although construction work seemed promising given her super strength.  While she didn't often get a restful night's sleep, being the slayer is her calling. She doesn't have a choice. She's lied to her family, dates, hospitals, police, and the entire town. In the end, her graduating class knew there was something funky going on and awarded her the class protector award.

Image from GIPHY

     As you may know, Melissa's Benoist's  Supergirl has a disguise. I'm not saying it's clever, but taking off the suit and throwing up a messy bun and thick glasses transform the hero into plain old Catco Media worker Kara Danvers. I am seriously in love with her red Supergirl boots! In her daily life, Kara dresses pretty boring, classic sweaters and button down shirts, trousers and pencil skirts. A casual game night will land her in some jeans. In her demure persona, Kara get bullied by both of her bosses. First, as an assistant to Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart), she gets shade for the the long coffee runs end with defeating aliens and warming up the coffee with her eyes.

GIF from Timblr

     In season 2, she moved up to the rank of  magazine reporter (yes, that's still a paying job in National City). At times Kara stands up for herself to her Editor-in-Chief Snapper Carr, but writes way too many basic pieces about her buddy, Lena Luthor. She, like Buffy, fired. Then like Buffy, she saves the world, stops an alien registry (so timely with politics), gets re-hired by Catco. Cat reveals after a traumatic battle that she knows Kara (often purposely called Kira by Cat, like in Devil Wears Prada) she's Supergirl. Cat had a great friendship with Sueprgirl over the course of season 1, but was always tough on Kara. On top of all of this, Kara is a super hero because she's an alien that crash landed on earth. She was supposed to protect her baby cousin, but she got lost on her way to earth, and he was grown up and fighting bad aliens off his new planet by the time she arrived. With her powers from her homeland and parental-instilled sense of right and wrong, Kara can't sit by and watch other aliens bring chaos and destruction.

TROPE: The adopted sister/Protecting Family

GIF via FanPop

     Buffy was an only child until some  monks with no eyes combined a dimensional portal into a human body (season 5). They called the teenage girl 'Dawn' and wrote her into everyone's memory. This was an interesting plot choice and became the key arc of season 5. A demon (Hell-God if we're being precise) named Glory (Clare Kramer) was trapped in our dimension and wanted to go home. The way out was a portal with a special key, which was running through Dawn's veins. This led to the phrase "Dawn's kidnapped? It must been Tuesday night."  A super creepy guy named Doc (the legendary Joel Grey) finally lured Dawn away and put her up a big tower in  a junkyard as her blood began to open the portal. In order to save her sister and the dimension, Buffy jumped in to use her blood to close the portal, killing herself in the process. Buffy's sacrifice (in the 100th episode, titled The Gift)  is one of the most devastating season endings of any show. Joss broke the rules by killing off his heroine (twice), during a time of network uncertainty and a season already marked by Joyce' death weeks earlier. The show was cancelled by the WB after contact renewal discussions and "The Gift" ended with a sappy title card from the network thanking the show for 5 years.

     Buffy didn't take things lying down. The show was quickly acquired by UPN and lived on for two more seasons. (Ironically both networks merged a few years later to form the current CW). Whedon also found loopholes to bring Buffy back after both deaths, however damaged she might be. Both times, Buffy's friends jumped in to rescue her. If she was a typical slayer, Buffy have no friends and would have probably died the second she arrived in Sunnydale. But as the every-woman slayer of the 90's/2000's, Buffy made connections with friends that were committed to save the world. As Xander once said, "Here to help. Want to live..." 

Kara and Alex celebrate a rough day. - via Tumblr

     Supergirl had a different family structure from the start. Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) became Kara's big sister when the young alien landed on earth and met up with her cousin, now known as Superman. Kara's cousin placed her with the Danvers family because they protected and raised him.  This new family struck Kara odd at some points but provided her a foundation for being a normal kid.  Sure she could melt things with her eyes and fly, but she was asked to keep those under wraps. As the younger sister, Kara always wants to please Alex. First, she saved Alex's commuter plane,  revealing herself to the world as a superhero. In their many adventures with the Dept. of Extraterrestrial Operations (DEO) Alex has dram jumped and done many stupid things for a human, all in the name of saving her much-powerful sister. The girls became very close to their mother as teens, much like Buffy and Dawn, although for much different reasons.

     The Danvers girls were told their father died on a professorial mission, which was a lie because it was  a mission for his secret DEO work and he is very much alive, minus a hand. Read my take here. The Summers girls were a product of divorce. Buffy's unpredictable all-night slayer schedule and school trouble for 'fighting' put a strain on her parents' already-fragile marriage. Mom moved the girls to a new town and their dad just stopped showing up after a few years. Even Angel came to Joyce's funeral, but Mr. Summers was off on an island (allegedly with his secretary).

     In both cases, the girls became close to their mothers out of necessity. In the season 2 thanksgiving episode, both sisters were trying to outbid each other to out themselves to their mother. Kara planned to come clean about being Supergirl (where has her mom been living by the way? How could she not notice or suspect?). and Alex about her newly discovered feelings for a woman, Maggie. The Danvers girls found a great amount of respect from their mom when everything resolved, which took a lot longer for Buffy. In late season 2, she began letting her mom in on more things, explaining her creepy (vampire) ex was not invited inside the house anymore. The season closer finally brought Buffy, Joyce and Spike to a conversation where Buffy declared herself a slayer. "Did you every try not being one?" asked Joyce. While the subtext for a different coming out is here, Joyce represented the 90's parent, much more naive and willing to believe her kid was out doing good instead of bad. But after a summer, [Buffy ran away to be a vampire-free waitress (possibly the longest non-slayer job she ever had] she returned home again and was welcomed in with a new sense of understanding and maturity.
   
Other Future Tropes to Discuss:

• "GIVE ME SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT!" -Musicals
• The Surrogate Father
• The Delicate Balance: Romance Vs. Saving the World
• The Scoobies vs. The Justice League

Another Concert Gig Review: Sheryl Crow at the Beacon Theater

Enjoy my GIGSoup review of Sheryl Crow's tour stop at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Here are some of my concert pictures! Visit TheLiveMusicGirl for concert videos.

(C) PipPepPop

(c) PipPepPop

(c) PipPepPop

The One: The Backstreet Boys Residency in Las Vegas

At TRL, 2000 for the Backstreet Boys
(c) PipPepPop

  Some people go to a concert once a year. Some go to a concert a couple of times a year. Other people get in the car and drive somewhere  to see their favorite band. I hopped a plane to Las Vegas to see The Backstreet Boys, and I'm so glad I did it! I came, I saw, and I rocked my body right at the Axis at Planet Hollywood on St. Patrick's Day. Today is BSB's 24th anniversary, according to the timeline on their website and social media channels. On this day, Brian officially had joined the band and cemented their place in history.

 

(c) PipPepPop

     I began my BSB journey back in 1998. I was a 4th grader and I was obsessed with the song Quit Playing Games with My Heart. I still may be obsessed because that song rocked at the concert. While the audience was in no danger of getting carded, the crowd around me swayed and screamed like a bunch of teenagers. My friend gave me a shrug when the girl next to us yelled "The Call! That's my JAM! That's my song!" **

     The BSB has been a part of the cultural zeitgeist for well over 20 years now. They ruled the pop charts and MTV's video-heavy Total Request Live countdown show. In a related note, live shows like this are getting new life later this year. I want it that way is consistently on the top song lists. Rolling Stone's list of top boy band songs of all time (including acts like the Jackson 5 and the Monkees) ranked the 1999 classic, I Want it That Way, as its 5th entry. While they're never taken home the coveted Grammy award (7 time nominees), they have won countless fan awards such as MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Awards, Kids Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards. They're also left us pondering what exactly it means to "want it that way" or why the "loneliness is tragical." As of early April, BSB proved they still have it. They were back, taking the stage at the ACM Awards  with friends Florida Georgia Line. The septet performed their new single, God, Your Mama and Me and everyone enjoyed it. Then they music changed and all 7 guys launched into Everybody (Backstreet's Back) complete with dance moves. I have never seen Tim McGraw so into a performance before. He and his wife Faith were like a young Taylor Swift, dancing and singing in the front row.

A Vegas Take on Suits. (c) PipPepPop

     The concert was filled with memories. Nearly all of the songs from the self-titled Backstreet Boys album were played, even forgotten favorites like Darlin' (with Kevin's sexy talking intro) and uplifting ballad, Anywhere for You. We were dancing in our seats during the Euro-pop hit, Get Down, which lends itself to AJ's bad-ass rap portion. There was a heavy amount of dancing in the show, and it was more impressive than all the other BSB concerts I've seen combined (6 or 7), with the possible exception of NKOTBSB. The "chair dance" from As Long as You Love Me was perfection.  There were fedoras present during the mid-tempo ballad, All I Have to Give. The songs from Millennium and Black and Blue were represented, bringing the boys and their 10 dancers together for driving dance tunes like Larger Than Life, The Call and the not heard enough Get Another Boyfriend. , and subduing the crowd with sweet songs like Drowning and Incomplete. The only song from the non-Kevin years performed was the heartbreaking and haunting song, Undone. I have been listening to this non-stop. The show concluded with Everybody (Backstreet's Back), which you can find following the below link to you Youtube channel. We made some new memories that night and I will not soon forget this show.

At the show, 2017
(c) PipPepPop

** The reason I found this comment to be disturbing is that The Call is a song about cheating, and she screamed this directly in her boyfriend's face.

Read more reviews of the show on Ticketmaster. Mine is in there somewhere.
Read the Billboard.com review of the show.
See more of my concert footage on Youtube.

Cop Fridays: Riverdale's 'Sins of the Father' with a Dark Millennial Twist

     First of all, Riverdale is a very spooky town. It's reminiscent of the 90's, a classic, timeless small town where everyone's parents went to school together. This is an increasingly important part of the plot. I love the relationships between the teens, but their parents have some uncomfortable history, See below) and everyone knows everyone's business. It could easily be Forks, Washington (Twilight) or the elusive but about to return) Twin Peaks, Washington. It's definitely in the pacific northwest because these pasty kids need some sunlight. Even on the sunny July 4th of Jason Blossom's disappearance, a slow fog and chill linger by the river.

     It's Jason's mysterious disappearance and eventual murder that kick up unrest in the town. Sheriff Keller is doing his best with his murder board, but he is out of his depth. Somehow teens Betty Cooper and 'Jughead' Jones (why the name?) are lapping him on mystery solving. All-American gal Betty (Lili Reinhart)  has a stake in the matter. Her sister Polly was dumped abruptly by Jason and sent away for a supposed breakdown. Of course, we discover Polly was sent away like it's 1960 because she's  pregnant with Jason's child. To briefly unpack this Romeo and Juliet scene, The Coopers are tightly wound investigative journalists (at the last non-online newspaper on earth) and the blossoms are old money rich from their maple syrup company. Back int he days of their great grandparents, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Blossom had a falling out and now they must never be friendly! Meanwhile Mrs. Cooper (Madchen Amick, formerly of Twin peaks) manipulates Betty, trying to keep her from crossing over to some unknown dark side.  We saw flashes when she dressed like a hooker and tried to boil the football captain in a hot tub. Betty just wants everyone to get along, but her Scooby gang hi-jinks have been bringing her closer to danger.

     Speaking of danger, Betty's new boyfriend and longtime friend Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is from the wrong side of the tracks.  His dad is an unemployed alcoholic and his mom ran off with his little sister. He spent time living and working at the drive in before it was sold to a mysterious buyer. Now poor Juggy has found some solace. His best pal Archie's dad invited him to crash with them, and Jughead seems to have found stability. His poetic lamenting is a bit much for me, it's goth Dawson-esque and not at all attractive. I wonder why people are friends with him, but I guess he's there to lend an ear. This week, Betty (the less damaged version of Joey Potter) threatened  Jughead's happiness by throwing a party for his birthday, which was crashed by the whole school. She also invited his dad, and in a very un-Dawson like matter, they did not come back together and wipe each other's tears away. Another important note about Jughead's dad (Skeet Ulrich) is that he;s the president of a rough and tumble biker gang, the Southside Serpents. This might have led to his wife taking off. The serpents are responsible for several unseemly things in town, shaking down people for payments, and  possible gay bashing. When the party broke up, Mr. Jones leered at Mrs. Cooper, suggesting they had a thing back in high school. This was too disgusting for words because THEIR KIDS ARE DATING!

     Let's get back to the murder at hand. My first guess was that Jason was murdered by his twin sister, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch). Cheryl is the typical rich girl, cheer captain, queen Bee, and resident town insultress. But Cheryl has a soft spot for her twin. She was too attached to him from the first minute. The pair went out or an early morning boat row and he alleged downed trying to pull her glove put of the current. This was a lie. Cheryl (like mean girl Abby on Dawson) was covering for Jason so he could run away with Polly. His parents are typically cold and distant, but their grandmother supposed Jason and Polly's romance, offering him her engagement ring. But she had no idea about the baby. Polly explained to her sister that she went to Jason and he never showed up, she thought he chickened out. So we're thinking Cheryl is very sweet, helping her brother sneak off with his forbidden love. I (of the dark mistrust) intermediately thought Cheryl was jealous of Polly and murdered Jason so nobody could have him. At the party this week, a dangerous game of truth or dare led Veronica to accuse Cheryl of twincest. I completely agree with this theory, but it seems a bit too obvious when the characters confirm it.

     As the new girl in town, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) has her own secrets. The New Yorker (Jen Linley much?)  in a small town shifts back and forth between rivals and friends with Cheryl, and instantly bonds with Betty. The tow are ironically known as fighting over football star Archie Andrews, but here it seems like their girl-mance is more important. Betty was classically in love with Archie, confessing to him after he kissed veronica at a party. Brokenhearted Betty finally moved on, and Archie seems to be "totes kewl" with his two best friends dating. Is yesterday's episode, the house party for Jughead's birthday ended with Archie (KJ Apa's) and Veronica's less than innocent sleepover. This came on the heels of Archie being dumped by Valerie. As much chemistry as the pair have together, their relationship is very icky because their parents used to date, and may be dating again The pair recently started working together and were caught making out several times. This is truly a Riverdale scandal because Mr. Andrews (Luke Perry) is still married (the estranged wife moved to Chicago) and Mrs. Lodge's husband is in jail for a Madoff-like scene. Then Mrs. Lodge got the movie theater land for the Lodge company (on the D.L) and fired Andrews's construction group to run the demolition. There are at least 10 major laws broken in this business deal. It's possible Jason's death is tied to Mr. Bloom bringing down Hiram 'Daddy' Loge's company, but it's too soon to tell.

     Finally, let's discuss Archie, the golden boy of town. He became the new quarterback when Jason Bloom died. Let's hold out horses, I don't think Archie had anything to do with the murder, but he certainly hindered the investigation. Archie was busy banging his music teacher (eww, please teens and teachers should not be having affairs because its icky)  in the woods on the morning Jason was shot. It took some time to tease it out, but everyone found out about Archie and Miss Grundy (Pacey), and Miss Grundy was sent packing. Archie  seems despite his misguided love interest, to be a nice kid. I still am a little surprised that all the girls are throwing themselves at him. In the span of a few weeks, it's been Betty, Miss Grundy, Veronica, Miss Grundy again, Valerie and Cheryl. They are all trying to get in his pants. Only one has succeeded, as it looks like Archie and Veronica made out and slept in separate beds. This poor kid is still reeling from his parent's split, but he may soon get some closure. The last moment of the episode ended with Archie's dad coming back from Chicago with his mom, played by Miss Molly Ringwald.

*The parental relationships are a new level on this show. Usually  on a teen drama, there's a few parents and some sort of love triangle or a couple going through a difficult time. Now we're seeing tons of the generation X drama, which I love. I want to see the parents and their relationships and work drama,  but it just seems like a toxic level of towncest here. I wrote myself a note that said: This town is full of creepy creeping. The level of rivalries and incest present in the parental generation of the town downright revolting.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/03/23/teen-drama-tv-darker-ever/

Welcome to the BH....

     As promised, I re-watched the first episode (of a 2-part premiere) of Beverly Hills, 90210 and have listed my unabashed thoughts below. Please note, I am seeing this after many years and using a  "I've seen too many 90's teen movies" lens.

Image from Quotesgram.com

Meet the Twins/
Entering West Beverly High: 
1. I immediately yelled Whoa Joey Lawrence! when I saw Brandon Walsh's hair.
2. Did I miss it, or did they explain that Brandon and Brenda are twins?
3. Why did they move there?
4. It sounds like Brandon was more popular than Brenda in Minneapolis. I'm sticking with this theory.
5. The opening credits: Why are the paparazzi with business suits? Do kids in BH really drive to school with surf boards in their cars? They're a bit far from the beach.
6. Locking your car remotely was a big deal in 1989.
7. Some girl is wearing a way too short mini skirt to school. Where are her parents?
8. Is there really a high school radio station playing everywhere? This explains She's All That.
9. This is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer school! Torrance, CA shout-out!
10. Why is Steve cool???? Why did Kelly date him? Was she that hideous before the nose job? 
11.Like the boys in the Gossip Girl pilot, Andrea takes the public bus to school. This means she is poor and the whole story will probably change in the next episode.
12. Did anyone sit at legitimate lab desks in high school? We had desks and a counter space ran the outside of the room facing the walls.
13. Is Spanish 2 entirely in Spanish? Even my college level French classes had English components.
14. Steve might be a racist to the Spanish teacher.
15. Newspaper too serious at this school.
16.  Andrea is wearing a men's double-breasted suit jacked instead of a blazer. Tragic!
17. They just went on about pool parties around the year and the cheerleader is wearing a long-sleeved sweater in California, in September.

The Parties:
18. This house party is the start of all my unrealistic expectations about high school.
19. Again, where are the parents?
20. Who has cater waiters at a teenag party?
21. David Silver is the patron saint of nerds: post Anthony Michael Hall and pre-Superbad) and he dressed like Duckie in Pretty in Pink. 
22. Steve has rape culture written all over his forehead fr the first few minutes.
23. I honestly think Steve had no possibly to be redeemed.
24. Steve is so lame, and also the jerky jock. How is this possible?
25. Brandon met the poor little rich girl. she seems to have two personalities (shy loner and throwing stuff in the pool) and I don't believe there will be any payoff to this relationship.
26. Drunk Steve being driven home by 14-year-old David just makes me mad.
27. Steve will not redeem himself. I hate him.
28. Kelly chalks ID's. It is the worst thing I've even seen and I once witnessed someone trying to chalk an ID.
29. Why does the Spanish teacher dance in the hall with headphones? Why is the principal interested? Why is the plot to Clueless showing up before Clueless is written?
30. What 15 or 16 year old is allowed to stay out util midnight? Even with parents, Brenda and Brandon  have way too much freedom.
31. This club looks like a Paula Abdul video people in mesh shirts or and tuxedos grinding on each other.
32. All the girls get turned away from the club except Brenda. This reminds me of The Baby Sitters Club movie where Stacey and Claudia go out with 17 year old Europeans and they are only 13. Thirteen!!
33. Only teenage girls order pineapple colada drinks in a non-tiki bar!!! Red flag, bartender lady!
34. This "nice guy" is a total liar. 

Happy 90210 Day!

Image courtesy of Tumblr.

Today is the 26th anniversary of the first airing of FOX's seminal teen drama,  Beverly  Hills, 90210. Teen twins Brenda (Shannen Doherty) and Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestly) were forced to move from boring old Minneapolis to West Beverly, where they clearly did not fit in. But as most adaptable teens, they "kaught up with the Kardashians*" pretty quickly. Like two frenemies showing up to the formal with the same velvet cocktail dress or a pal stealing your boyfriend, the sun-soaked 10-season show has many memories a-flowing. It also sparked a lifetime movie about the behind the scenes gossip.  In honor, I will be reliving and live blogging the premiere episode later this week.
Stay Tuned!

Image courtesy of TV Guide article. 

* In the 90's, one would have said "kept up with the Joneses".

SPOTTED: Nicktoons Take Over Story NYC

My 90's Nicktoons T-shirt (c) PipPepPop

     I'm bringing the 90's back! A few weeks ago, we officially celebrated the 25th birthday of the Nicktoons. These cartoons^ were a 90's staple on a growing network dedicated solely to kids. In that spirit, NYC's coolest store/gallery/startup Story launched their "Remember When" collection in August. It runs through September 18th! Definitely take a chance and come see it! I had a great time there.

More About Nicktoons:
     These animated shows were an important part of my friends'  after school and weekend viewing. Plus, they were shown on a cable network dedicated solely to kids! The Nickelodeon network began in 1977  under the name Pinwheel to show programs to kids ages 8-17. The Nicktoon cartoons were sometime about regular kids trying to make sense of growing up. Some shows were about as my calls them "sweaty animals." But they all made us think in new ways and gave us lifelong memories such as Ren & Stimpy's "log" song and Tommy Pickles' quest to meet a King Kong-like Reptar. If you can't stop rehashing the days of Nicktoons, check out EW.com's 25th anniversary oral history of Nicktoons.

The Store- (c)PipPepPop

 More about Story

     If you want to "Remember When," story is the place for you. The store looped some of coolest tunes (the Cardigans, the Wallflowers and the Spice Girls).  Check out my snaps from the store to see more. The airy space is set up a bit like a school with post-it style noted printed on the walls with more information.  Fun zones include a school themed set of desks and lockers, a locker room area, and tables of some of the coolest 90's gear around. The collection is primarily curated with Nicktoon characters (everything from flip flops to jumpsuits to coasters). But, there some great 90's books and materials out there. Have you wanted a slap bracelet or a Seinfeld coin purse? They're all here. I left with a way-cool Sweet Valley High covered  notebook.  There's some great Saved by the Bell nostalgia there as well, and a Lance Bass sampler with a bass fish stitched in. Grab your Caboodes and Dr. Pepper LipSmackers and get ready to play in the Double Dare human hamster wheel (pictured below). To cap off the experience, there was a "slime yourself" photo booth that created an online GIF and printout of you getting digitally smiled. The best part is there's no mess. 

Snaps from the Store @ Story (c) PipPepPop

     If you're up for a "wow this is hard" guessing game, take this MTV.com Quiz to guess which musicians guest starred on Nick or Disney Channel shows. Please note this is a hard quiz. If you are close to 30, you will probably get more wrong answers than right answers.

^ The main Nicktoons include (but are not limited to):
Rugrats (1991-2004)
Doug (1991-2004) *Technically sold to Disney in later seasons)
The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991-1996)
Rocko's Modern Life (1993-1996)
AHH! Real Monsters (1994-1997)
Hey Arnold (1996-2004)
The Angry Beavers (1997-2001)
Cat Dog (1998 - 2005)
The Wild Thornberrys (1998 - 2004)
Rocket Power (199-2004)
Spongebob Squarepants (1999- present)

Who Needs Friends When You Have Happy Endings?

In the fall of 2004, networks began looking for the next Friends.* 

Definition from  IMDB.com: "Three young men and three young women - of the BFF kind - live in the same apartment complex and face life and love in New York. They're not above sticking their noses into one another's businesses and swapping romantic partners, which always leads to the kind of hilarity average people will never experience - especially during breakups."

    I spent some time at lunch today defending Friends to a co-worker. She didn't see the big craze with it. I lamented over the heartbreaks, good times, and the inevitable "We were on a break." After Friends left, the viewing public got a lot of options thrown our way from 2004-2010. Some of these shows were terrible, and some included lasting favorites like: How I Met your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. But it took until the Spring of 2011 for something new. This show embodied the comedic situations, ride-or-die bonds, theme nights, and catchphrases of Friends better than any other show out there. This time, with a post-911, totally millennial lens.This show was called Happy Endings and it ran three seasons on ABC. First there were 13 beloved episodes and the 2nd and 3rd seasons ran 21 and 23 episodes, respectively. I just found out this Chicago-based group of college buddies have made the jump to Hulu and all seasons are streaming since January 2016!

     Situations that were taboo in early 90's sitcoms (Ross's wife leaving him for a woman and the threesome struggling to raise Ben together, Phoebe birthing her nieces and nephews for her brother and his wife) look like child's play compared to HE. The new normal of our diverse society has removed the stigma from situations and replaced horror with humor, like Adam Pally's Max bringing multiple female friends as a beard to dinner with his parents instead of admitting he is gay, or Elisha Cuthbert's Alex leaving her longtime fiance at the altar for a guy on roller blades (so 90's). Another common theme of the show is location. Both shows played off the major city they were set in, except the HE crew spent all of their free time drinking at Rosalita's Bar while the friends sipped coffee at Central Perk. Another uniting factor is that both shows led the actors to future roles and successes, some more than others (I'm looking at your decade vacation from acting, David Schwimmer). Although only off the air for three years and  nowhere close to syndication, the stars of HE bounced back well with projects since the cancellation of the show.    

Image courtesy of TV.com

       
     Alex's betrayal of Dave (Zach Knighton) is a cornerstone conflict of the series and it brought a lot of heartache to the group, but also a lot of laughs. Alex makes the perfect Rachel in this story, always misreading the conversation (guys thought she was a guy dressed like Marilyn Monroe for Halloween due to a deep-voiced cold), but coming through with her heart of gold. She also runs a fashion business like Rachel, sort of. Her boutique's only successful item was a baby onezie that teens wore as a belly shirt. Alex's hyper-organized sister Jane (Eliza Coupe) perfectly represents Monica. She is a neat-freak, teaches English to foreigners, whips up a mean brunch, will probably survive a zombie apocalypse, and always is competing. To complete the package, Jane volunteers advice when it is not needed. SNL alum Casey Wilson's Penny is in spirit, totally Phoebe, but with the put-together mindset and career. Her season 2 catchphrase  "Year of Penny!" is often used ironically as one setback after another befalls her personal and professional lives. Penny gets a condo, a promotion, an assistant (Jane the Virgin's Gina Rodriguez), and a few promising love interests, but disaster follows this girl everywhere.  If hipsters had been identified back in the 1990's, Phoebe might have dated one. Penny tried so hard to impress the hipsters that she ended up hating herself. She found she has too much passion and excitement to go through life ironically. 

     For the men, Dave is a free-spirited mix of Ross and Chandler. On the one hand, Dave is boring. Nobody is interested in his stories and his nice guy status is mostly present as relationship with Alex ebbs and flows through the series. On the other hand, Dave's job at the beginning of the series is basically a transponder like Chandler, but he quits to open up a meats of the world restaurant and settles for a steak sandwich food truck. Max is somewhat by default and somewhat totally perfect as the Joey of this group. Like Joey, Max cannot hold a steady job, and he finally buys a limo and drives people around Chicago. Much like Joey, Max enjoys meat, and can pick up anyone, man or woman. Penny dated him in college, and Alex crushes after him in one episode. Jane's husband Brad (Damon Wayans, Jr.) wears suits like Chandler, but he is much cooler. Brad always has the last word, plays basketball, befriends a secret group of black friends that get him, and yes, Brad does think that long polo Alex sold him is a shirt, not a dress. FUN FACT: In between seasons 1 and 2, Wayans appeared in a pilot for Fox's New Girl (another show that has made its own Friends-style group of misfit roommates), and after the first episode, was replaced with Winston Bisop after HE was renewed for a somewhat surprising 2nd season. Wayans later returned to New Girl for several seasons after HE completed.

My 5 Favorite Episodes for Newbie Viewers: 

5. Blax, Snakes, Home: The season 2 opener found Penny moving into a condo and throwing a Great Gatsby-themed housewarming. Too had the last inhabitant of the house was a crazy old cat lady who may be haunting Penny. Max spies in Brad to discover his group of cool, black friends and learns why Brad dubbed him "White Darryl."  Alex and Dave celebrate one year since their almost wedding and are spurred on by Jane to talk about the things the other did in their relationship that annoyed them. 

4. Like Father, Like Gun: This season 1 episode got Penny and Alex to double date a hot pair of Italians. Penny is only able to communicate to them in fluent Italian when she is plastered. Dave and Max use nerf guns to work out roomate issues. Jane encourages Brad to open up to his dad after a heart attack scare. His dad is played by his real-life dad, Damon Wayans.

3. Cocktails and Dreams: Dave's food truck becomes a speakeasy. Actor Colin Hanks befriends Dave and the gang stop going to the food truck because the drinks dive them weird dreams about Dave. 

2. More Like Stanksgiving: The group views a previously unseen episode of The Real World that followed them in their college days. Dave, who is 1/8 Navajo, insists on  holding a proper and traditional Thanksgiving.   

1. The Shershow Redemption: The gorup heads to hot mess buddy Shershow's wedding toward the end of season 1. This guy was wilder than Penny and Max combined and he suddenly has his life together. Penny brings a gay date to the wedding as her fiance while Alex gets blacklisted as a wedding jinx. Jane and Brad plan for a romantic weekend and end up renewing their vows. 

HONORABLE MENTION:

Any episode with Megan Mullally as Penny's mom, Dana. 

5.24.16 UPDATED: Here is more on the Happy Endings reunion panel and possible plans for an on screen reunion. 

TV Theme Songs Revisited- Whatever Happened to Full House

     Since I'm sure you haven't been living under a rock, I'm sure you know Full House is back on Netflix as a new iteration called Fuller House. It's still the same D.J. (Candace Cameron-Bure), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and neighbor Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber), raising up some kiddos in the old Tanner family home in San Francisco. Eldest daughter Donna Jo is very straight-laced like her father, Danny, and she is recently widowed with three boys, which is the exact opposite of how the Tanner girls grew up. Her sister Stephanie (Uncle Jesse much?) and best friend Kimmy (definitely the essence of weird Joey) are moving in to help. Now Kimmy is a mom, and her teenage daughter adds the Disney-channel style sass. I have yet to delve into the hew show, but I will blog the moment it happens. I'm really here to express my interest in the rebooted theme song. Some of you younger folks might not know what a theme song is. Once upon a time (or at least a good ten years ago), all shows (drama and sitcoms) had an opening song that described the sentiment of the show and showed memorable scenes of the characters, introducing the actors by name. Fuller House took the opportunity to re-do it's theme song, Everywhere You Look.

     The theme song was performed by ABC's TV theme hit-maker of the late 80's and early 90's, Jesse Frederick. Jesse also song and penned themes for Family Matters, Perfect Strangers and Step By Step so he was the king of this stuff in the 90's. Most recently, Jesse debuted his version of The Tonight Show theme song. Back in Fuller House land, he worked with Carly Rae Jepsen (Call Me  Maybe*). This song is getting a lot of buzz, appearing in the show teaser and even being sung by CRJ and Danny Tanner himself,  Bob Saget last week. The tune uses the same words and melody of the original song with more of a poppy, twangy take on the song that asks "Whatever happened to predictability?" Please check out the amazing podcast from the Tuner crew that delves deep into the musicality of the two different versions of the theme song. There's also a bonus mash up of the songs together that sounds really weird and pretty cool. Tuner has some amazing podcasts and I have become a total fan girl after discovering them last week, thanks to my trusty Google App!


* Stay Tuned for a post next week where we really dissect the meaning of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit. I have so much more to say about this song.

The X-Files Reboot: I Want to Believe But What Are We Believing? (SPOILERS!)

A.K.A.- Our Kid Is Out There

     To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think of the new miniseries style season (number 10) of The X-Files. It took me watching this to realize how much Fox put into BONES, which picked up where X-Files left off in a way, but with a fuller story arc. They took it one step further- they fell in love, admitted it, had kids, got married, tried to leave the FBI behind, and came crawling back to solve crime (Booth and Bones, not Mulder and Scully).

      In its essence, I liked the new season, which ended last Monday. Still it lacked a district style of storytelling, almost like they had a group of writers throw some ideas at the wall, and then they used all of the ideas, and went home and realized they had to tie the initial story back together. Let it be known, I like the monster of the week concept of storytelling with a longer issue/villain at work (See Buffy, Charmed etc..), but it’s tough to do in a month+ of episodes. The overall (and barely legitimate) story tying things together is that first Scully and then Mulder realize they might have made a big mistake in giving up their son, William. Little William could have had a normal life with them (as normal as a kid of alien hunting FBI agents can do), but they were worried for his safety and they gave him up. He is a teenager now and they desperately need him to fill the hole in their hearts and (SPOILER ALERT!!) to save Mulder from dying of a weird apocalyptic disease.  Also, from the last scene setup, it is clear something else (another season or a third X-Files movie) is in the works with their son making his first real appearance since birth.

     Season 1’s opening episode My Struggle: Part 1 was truly Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) story. The last 14 years have not been kind to him. It looks like he has struggled with drinking and got thrown out of any respect in the FBI, and he still lurks in a basement office.  He and ex-partner (in more ways than one) Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have not seen each other in a while, and they have not lived happily ever after as a couple like one might hope. Scully is doing what she does best, running a hospital lab. Joel McHale’s TV pundit Tad O'Malley brings a case to them: a possible government conspiracy and a woman who claims she was abducted by aliens.

     In today’s society, government cover-ups seem less like the idea of a sci-fi story and more like an everyday practice. What could it be this time?  This one's a doozy. People may have been abducted by UFOs (real alien technology borrowed by the government) and unwillingly become part of secret experiment s that gives them alien DNA. Now that we’re all caught up, Mulder and Scully get back to working for Agent Skinner and trying to make sense of this seemingly bogus threat. As Tad points out; the world has changed. All of our seemingly private conversations are listened to, everything is hacked, and biological warfare threatens the very existence of civilization.

EP 2: Founder’s Mutation

     A series of events lands the duo in trouble with the department of defense for investigating a creepy clinic where pregnant teen girls seek haven. It turns out their babies are being stolen from girls' wombs and experimented on by a doctor (Goldman, a.k.a "The Founder") who did the very same experiments on his own kids' genetics, keeping his daughter locked up for years in a facility and his wife convinced she's crazy.  This girl has Alex Mack style powers. She's just about the same age as William. Goldman's son ends up locating his daughter and they use their super powers to kill their dad and escape. Ah, the joys of parenting...

EP3: Mulder and Scully Meet The Were-Monster

     A dead boy is found in the woods. Maybe he was killed by a bear, a wolf, a vampire... or a were-monster?  Yes, there's a difference. This is one of the odder episodes and it veered way off course from even the alien mythology. Mulder and Scully meet the monster and Mulder gets his whole story: "Guy" was bitten by a human, changing his lizard-like appearance human for certain hours until he turns back into a flesh-eating monster. The only legitimate thing about this episode was Mulder getting some renewed faith in his wacky theories. This is barely a plot point. This episode was really frivolous. 

EP4: Home Again

     Scully's mom is ill and she rushes to be by her side. Mulder handles most of the investigating for the case, a murder of a city official bent on getting the homeless out of a particular area of town. "Trahman", a street artist made a creation of garbage and it came to life, murdering the city official and others. This is heavy on metaphor here- what you build may come back and destroy everything. Scully's mom was heavy on straight talk. She calls of for Scully's long-lost brother William, and tells Mulder, "I have a son named William. You do too." before her final breath. 

EP 5: Babylon

Mulder in "Babylon"- from Fox

     Mulder and Scully meet a pair of partners at the FBI (Still not Booth and Bones, although I see huge crossover potential) while trying to connect to an unconscious surviving bomber to find the rest of his crew.  Agent Miller is just like Mulder, diving into conspiracy theories, and Agent Einstein is a female doctor working with the FBI to bring logic and reasoning to the team. It's basically a blast from the past here. Scully and Miller team up, with Arabic expert Miller communicating and Scully checking the bomber for brain wave functioning.

     Mulder reluctantly gets Dr. Einstein to go with his plan, where she administers him a psychotropic drug and he dream walks into the bomber's subconscious. The reality of the situation is that Mulder thinks he takes 'shrooms and ends up having a fake trip (or was it somehow real?) in Texas, dancing in a honky tonk to the best of Billy Ray Cyrus. This scene was very amusing and I loved it, but it really did eat away at some valuable minutes of the show. Mulder gets in big trouble with Agent Skinner, but his trippy dream led him to the answer : a hotel name in Arabic and some much needed to closure to the bomber's mom that he was coerced into joining the group. Mulder may have seen God in his dreams, depending on how you interpret the white clouds and trippy sense of peace he found. Maybe he became more of Scully's believer, one of faith versus one of aliens and conspiracies.

EP6: My Struggle (Part 2) 

     Episode 6 is Scully's struggle. Gillian Anderson carries most of the episode, with Mulder kidnapped by the "Smoking Man" (who is his birth father, and still alive after all these years?!). Mulder is pretty beaten and bruised and according to his phone, somewhere in South Carolina. Agent Miller goes off to rescue him while Agent Einstein helps Scully try to make sense of the rapid illnesses taking control of the population. Deadly outbreaks of disease start spreading and Tad O'Malley finally has the courage to go on TV and announce all of his crazy theories about aliens and government cover-ups because everyone is probably dying. Everyone except Scully. Why? She was given alien D.N.A. when she was abducted years ago (in Season 6). Agent Reyes started helping the Cigarette Smoking Man  (his proper name) almost 14 years ago with this terrible plan to wipe all the crappy people off the earth, leaving only people with alien D.N.A. alive. Why? No reason, he's just evil.... How did people get alien D.N.A? Abductions like Scully. How did they get sick, vaccinations (score one for Jennie McCarthy here).
   
     CSM asks Mulder is he wants some alien D.N.A. to survive, and he says no. Mulder is rescued by Agent Miller and they drive back to D.C. Scully chases them through the beltway, which is stopped dead with traffic because so many people are ill. Scully has a plan, we'll find William, their long-lost son, who will have her same resistant alien D.N.A., and give some to his dad, Mulder. Then a space ship appears overhead and shines its lights on them. END SCENE....

THE END
     This is how they're leaving it... for now. All of these silly monsters and telekinetic kids and dancing to Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, and then a possible alien invasion and cute kids playing Mulder and Skully junior.  Now the pair want to go find their son, and Mulder is half-dead. Way to go Scully..... This brings an end to my rant. I can't believe where this trajectory landed. I'm also happy to report the advent of cell phones makes things so much easier in these police/emergency drama/ evil creature shows now. #TruthIsOutThere

You Remind Me of the (Literary) Babe

     PureWow put out a fascinating and adorable article about baby names based off of literary characters. I seriously hope people are thinking hard before they christen their baby Hermione (Harry Potter) but I did see some cute ideas based on some charming kids' books and movies of my childhood.

• Ramona (Ramona Quimby, Age 8; Beezus and Ramona) By Beverly Cleary                     (The movie is Ramona and Beezus).  Please do not name you child Beezus!
• Harriet (Harriet the Spy) By Louise Fitzhugh
• Winnie (As in The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh) By A.A. Milne                                Jimmy Fallon's daughter is named Winnie, from Pooh  or The Wonder Years? 
• Finn (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) By Mark Twain                                             (and the underrated  90's movie Tom and Huck with Jonathan Taylor Thomas)

I would also add to my list: 

• Logan (Bruno, Aussie boy baby sitter from The Babysitters Club) By Ann M. Martin
• Sheila (Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great) By Judy Blume                                             Also in: Superfudge, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Fudge-A-Mania
• James (James and the Giant Peach) By Roald Dahl 
• Jessica/ Elizabeth (Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High) By Francine Pascal                    Also in : Sweet Valley University, SVH: Senior Year, and a future movie