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Mar112008
Picking-the-Movie Syndrome
When I was a kid, I lived in a neighborhood behind a dollar theater. And though I like to think those days were not so long ago, I look back and marvel at all the freedom my parents gave me. With my dollar allowance in hand, I got into a lot of movies, and, more often than not, I went by myself. From checking the Friday newspaper listings to picking out the candy I would smuggle in, the choices were mine, and, after a final, lingering glance at the movie poster as I left the theater, I still had a solitary walk home to think it all over. And so my lifelong love of the movies began by spicing up the inner life of…kind of a lonely kid. It was not until years later that I first experienced what I have come to call “Picking-the-Movie Syndrome.”
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Feb112008
Welcome Back, Jane Krakowski, from a Long “Vacation”
If I had to name the movie I reference most often, it would be National Lampoon’s Vacation. Whether I’m reluctantly signing up for a mailer, rolling up my car windows in panic or reminding my kids that “the bed was very soft,” the language of Vacation is all around me, elevating the mundanity of my day. One especially memorable side character is Cousin Vicki, played by a 15-year-old Jane Krakowski. In her short time onscreen, she manages to stir a batch of Kool-Aid with her arm, brag that her father has declared her the best French-kisser, and reveal a shoe box full of pot to prove that being a farmer is indeed cool. Then where did Krakowski go? (more…)
