Steff

My favorite television character Special Agent Dale Cooper once said, "Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee."
I live my life with this in mind. Usually I opt for hot black coffee over the shirt from the men's store, but sometimes my present to myself is something else entirely. Today, it's this video.

The cast put Pretty in Pink way above the rest of the 80's teen movie crop. From Harry Dean Stanton's tender bum of a dad to Andrew McCarthy's eye-twitching heart-throb to Jon Cryer's brilliant portrayal of the high school outcast I only wish I knew when I was 17, the casting choices were flawless. But H and I have our own favorite character; James Spader's Steff, who wears his shirt perpetually unbuttoned to the navel (sometimes not buttoned at all!) and saunters through the high school looking not a day over 35. We quote Steff a lot, but for some reason, no one else seems to appreciate him the way we do. When we saw PIP in a theatre, we were the only ones laughing at lines like, "What's her name, Eddie or something?" and "If we're gonna shoot, we've gotta shake it," and our personal favorite, "You're gonna be late, buddy." I'm glad this video exists, because it proves that someone else in the world appreciates the wonder and bitchiness that is Steff.

No Small Affair

Right now I'm looking for a streamable Netflix movie that isn't depressing, so naturally I'm leaning towards romantic comedies. This isn't quite what I was looking for, yet in other ways it's exactly what I need.

I'm probably not going to watch this tonight, but I like knowing that it exists.

Movie Night with H.

It's probably pretty obvious that Alex and I like movies a lot. It makes sense. We grew up watching a lot of them with Papa Winfrey, whose passion for movies (that have happy endings) knows no bounds. But H. didn't have the same type of movie-filled young adulthood. In fact, he hasn't seen most of the movies that I love. So, in a moment of weakness that he surely regrets, he told me I could show him some movies.
I will be the first to admit that I'm hardly a film expert. My film education is limited to two classes, one in high school (where we watched Psycho no fewer than three times, which is fine and all, but it wasn't really such a subtle movie to begin with) and one in college (where I enjoyed all the movies but got really bored writing papers and hearing other people's opinions, which is yet another reason I was such a bad student). I know next to nothing about a lot of classics, but a whole lot about certain weird genres. I've never seen Citizen Kane, but I have seen the climactic dance scene of Staying Alive about five times. Regardless! H. has asked for help, and help I will provide.
My first choice was influenced heavily by the events of the past week: Pretty in Pink. It fits into my favorite movie category, which is, "Movies you can sincerely enjoy, but also laugh at." I just love this movie, and I knew that H. would, too. It has drama, lip-syncing to Otis Redding, James Spader lookin' hot, a dress-making montage set to a soundtrack of New Order, and one perfectly placed F-bomb, which can be found below in one of my favorite scene. Here, Andie confronts Blane about ditching her while James Spader lurks in the stairwell:

H. called me a "filthy, fucking liar!" a lot after watching that. We also noted his many similarities to Duckie. All in all, I think our first movie night was a success. H's review was, "She should have ended up with Duckie." Agreed.

John Hughes

Pretty in Pink was my favorite movie in high school. It still is, kind of, I just don't watch it every week like I used to. Molly Ringwald was divine, and I absolutely wanted to be her character Andie. Except that, like most people, I've always wished they stuck with the original ending where Andie ended up with Duckie. Poor, poor, Duckie. I mean, Blane? That's a major appliance, not a name!
I'm really sad that John Hughes died. He seemed like a nice person and his movies always made me (and probably a lot of other nerdy high school kids) feel a lot better. Here's one of my favorite scenes from Pretty in Pink.