Homage to the Homage-O-Meter

I have a new crack pot idea. I recently bought and have been watching the British TV show Spaced (Simon Pegg - go watch it now) with the Homage-O-Meter. The Homage-O-Meter tells you whenever a pop culture reference is made and what the reference is. A few days ago I thought it might be fun to watch all the movies they mention. Today I thought it might be fun to not only watch all the films, but blog about them too. So I decided to try something out. I kept track of all the films they referenced in season 2 episode 1. It totaled to 14 films. 14 films in a 30 minute show! And that's just the movies - the Homage-O-Meter references artists, music, TV... It pops up quite a bit as I'm sure you can imagine.

Anyway, if we assume the average number of films per episode is 14 and multiply that by 14 episodes, that's 196 films to watch. I would have to watch just over one movie every 2 days if I wanted to finish in a year and that's going to be hard with school. Plus I'd have to learn how to write about film, which I totally don't, and to write about film I'd have to learn about film. I took one film class in college called American Cultures in Film and it was just what it sounds like. All we did was watch movies featuring different ethnicities (Tortilla soup, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Chosen, A Bronx Tale...). It was a lot of fun and I got introduced to several fantastic movies, but I learned nothing about film.

Not only that, but there are some movies that I REALLY don't want to watch. Well, only two that I can think of right now: Titanic and The Phantom Menace. Even thought Titanic came out two years before Phantom Menace, I saw Phantom Menace first (I'm taking care not to call it Star Wars). I can't remember why, but the school took us to see Phantom Menace in the theater (it was probably a reward for good grades or something) and in all honesty I can't remember what I thought about it. Now, however... I have very strong thoughts on the subject. As for Titanic, I saw that I think when I was in high school. My mom didn't let me see it when it came out because it was PG-13 and I was 10. All my friends were talking about how great it was and buying the soundtrack and I was so sad that I couldn't see it. As time went on I just lost interest and really didn't care one way or the other. Finally, when I was maybe 17 and our cousin was living with us, she let me borrow her VHS copy because she wanted me to know what I was missing out on. I hated it. I can't remember why or even much of the movie, but I remember rolling my eyes a lot and laughing at moments meant to be tender. My love of Kate Winslet and mild liking of Leonardo DiCaprio did nothing to quell the corn that was that movie.

So there you have it. Even with all those barriers the crack pot idea is still an idea. It'll be on a different blog if I ever do start it. I guess we'll just see if this comes to fruition.

Bachelorette/grad pad

It's official - I'm staying here for the foreseeable future. The plan I had to move out with a friend went to pot and the alternatives of spending more than I could on a studio or living with strangers again really didn't sound all that swell. I'll admit, I'm pretty disappointed I'm not moving out. About 98% of my social life is in Salt Lake, work will be in Salt Lake, school will be in Salt Lake, and better single's wards are in Salt Lake. Unfortunately, I'm in Orem. Come late August, I'll be commuting 5 days a week for school and work, and probably a lot on the weekends for friends. Don't get me wrong, I love my family. They're pretty freaking awesome and I really enjoy hanging out with them. But my parents raised me to be independent (mostly) and life just seems so much better when I'm on my own.

There are a couple up sides though. I'll be saving a ton of money, I'll... Ok, so there's one up side. But saving money right now is a pretty big one. At least that's what I've been telling myself.

Still, I'm going to make the most of it. I'm in the loft of my parent's house and I just spent the last 6ish hours cleaning and unpacking (I had kept pretty much all of my stuff in boxes because I was thinking I was going to move out again this summer). I still have a few finishing touches to make, but it's just about done.

Back in the day when the loft was livable, Sara and I lovingly christened it "The Bachelorette Pad" even though there was nothing really special about it. It opens down to the main floor and that makes it hard to have raves or pretend to watch movies while making out. In fact, I can only remember folding laundry and watching Buffy while my mom complained that 2 TVs in such close proximity wasn't working when it was the bachelorette pad.

After announcing my intentions of staying here until (hopefully) May, Sara asked if I was going to recreate the bachelorette pad. I mentioned my extreme lack of social life down here and the fact that my time in the loft will either be sleeping or studying and Cecily fittingly dubbed it my "Grad Pad."

For years now the loft has been collecting dust and boxes filled with odds and ends belonging to all four of the Christensen kids, not to mention pretty much everything I own as of a couple of months ago. However, you wouldn't know it to look at it now. The banisters have been cleared of dust and spiderwebs, the built in desk is 100% usable again, the floor has been vacuumed, the walls washed, and there isn't a single box in sight (ok, there are still two. But they'll be gone tomorrow after those finishing touches get finished). When it's done, I'll have a nice sitting area with my bookshelves and movies fitting snugly against the wall and my computer set up at the desk complete with headphones to distract me from the goings on downstairs while I work. All I need now is a kitchen and a soundproof enclosure!

Sudden Remembrance

I'm crazy tired and I want to go to bed but I wanted to write about this before I forget. And let's face it: when I want to do something, I want to do it now. If I put anything off it just won't get done.

I watched a couple of episodes of X-Men just now. The cartoon. X-Men: First Class prompted me to watch the first two films (I refuse to watch the third one again) and that got me curious about the animated series. I vaguely remember watching it as a kid but I remember very little about it. Because I don't remember it too well that makes me think that I didn't watch it a ton. At the same time, I was only 5 when it started. 

It got me thinking and I couldn't really remember shows that I watched as a kid. I remember being a little bit older and watching stuff my siblings watched. Shows like SNL, Friends, Seinfield, The Simpsons (of course I didn't fully get the humor when I was 9) but I couldn't remember what I watched when I was little. However, thanks to this handy dandy list of animated TV shows from Wikipedia, my memory was jogged and I felt like sharing (in no particular order). Cause I share useless crap. 

Tale Spin 1990-1994 (ages 3-7)

I remember a few select things about this show. The main character (a bear) had the same voice as Baloo from The Jungle Book, there was a girl bear who I always wanted to get together with the main character (they probably did and I just don't remember), she had a son who wore a backwards cap, they flew one of those planes that lands on water, and I watched it all the time. That's it. But I remember loving it and I'd totally watch it again. 

Tiny Toon Adventures 1990-1992 (ages 3-5)

I probably didn't need Wikipedia to jog my memory if I had thought at all before looking at the list but when I saw the name, a rush of memories came flooding back. This was one of my all time favorites and in all honesty I'll probably own this someday just because. Babs, Buster Max... those might be the only names I can remember. But still, it was awesome. I'm guessing I watched reruns closer to 1994ish because I distinctly remember watching the show around the same time one of the specials came out. 

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 1989-1990 (ages 2-3)

I for sure watched reruns of this. There's no way I would remember something from that young. For some reason this show and Tale Spin morph in my head. I have no idea why. I remember the characters in this well though: Chip 'n Dale of course (Dale wore a fur lined leather jacket) and a mouse and her father who's uncontrollable love of cheese got them into a fair bit of trouble. I could also sing a bit of the opening credits for you. 

Garfield and Friends 1988-1994 (ages 1-7)

This was one of the few shows I watched consistently and I will for sure own it someday. I remember watching it every morning before school and when it was over, it was time to leave for school. Generally I wouldn't finish getting ready before it came on and the babysitter, Jodee Dahl, would have to rush to find me socks and shoes. I wonder how old she was and why she wasn't at school cause mine didn't start till about 9:30... weird. Anyway, Garfield was fantastic. He was lazy and so was I. He love lasagna and I probably didn't at that time, but I'm sure I wanted to in order to be like him. Also his mouth didn't move when he talked which I thought was awesome. Then there were the little side shows within the show (the Friends part of it) and I thought it was weird that one of them (the pig?) had the same voice as Garfield. Totally threw me off. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987-1996 (ages newborn-9)

Obviously I didn't watch all of this. And in all honest, I didn't actually watch a lot of it when I did. Shredder scared the crap out of me and I'm pretty sure my only motivation for watching this was because my brother did. Or maybe I thought he did cause by the time I was old enough to watch and remember this show he was probably in high school. I do remember the movie though and that was awesome. I was SO mad when my mom threw it out. 

Batman: The Animated Series 1992-1995 (ages 3-8)

I watched this when I was closer to 7 or 8. Batman was totally my favorite superhero probably because I didn't really watch other superhero shows other than X-Men. I can't remember the name of the woman who worked for Joker, but good grief her voice drove me insane. By far though my favorite villain was Catwoman. Back then if I was a villain, I'd totally use a whip too. Probably not now...

Animaniacs 1993-1998 (ages 6-11)

I didn't know this, but Animaniacs was on Fox from 1993 to 1995 and then the WB from 1995 to 1998. I watched it on the WB. Towards the end I remember thinking I was getting a little too old for cartoons (even thought I remember my siblings sometimes watching it with me and they were 6, 8, and 9 years older), but I couldn't stop watching that show and I was SO sad when it was cancelled. Yacko, Wacko & Dot, Pinkie and the Brain, Good Idea/Bad Idea... It was all awesome. I'm guessing the first childhood show I buy will be this one. There's just no comparing it to anything else. I'm sure the fact that I can remember this one the best has nothing to do with it. 

Gargoyles 1994-1997 (ages 7-10)

I had completely forgotten about this but holy crap I loved it. I didn't watch a whole lot of darker stuff, but this was one. The gargoyles in some city came to life at night and for some reason I found this enthralling. I only remember one non-gargoyle character and there was a lot of sexual tension between her and one of the gargoyles (although I'm sure I didn't call it sexual tension back then). This is something that I remember practically nothing about except that I loved it. 

And there you have it. My list of childhood animated TV shows. Yet after writing about all of those, I still have the X-Men theme song stuck in my head. Let's see if I can fall asleep to that.