Junior High School

#22 in an occasional series of repressed 70's memories that turn out to be true.


I don't usually post two 70s entries so close to each other. I like you to think I am more well-rounded than this. After all, the President just won the Nobel Prize, the next door neighbors have moved out, and the news down the Mill is outragous as always. But I went looking for a beloved treasure whose songs I once knew by heart.


The only lines I can remember right now are
This is called a band saw/The blade can slice a tree
Be careful when you use it/Or you'll be an amputee.


Junior High School, the 1978 musical short that would have been lost forever if the ingenue had not grown up to be Paula Abdul. In its day, this bizarro and painfully accurate portrayal of Junior High (I myself was 14 and ghastly) was on The Movie Channel whenever Same Time Next Year was not. I knew them both by heart.


Cue theme music.
Tonight the DrawingIn Room does what it does best. Or at least most often:
Trolls the net for things you would rather not spend time on.
 
The main lesson of this particular department on this particular blog is that life is not harder for kids these days and the world is not at all a meaner place. Today's kids would not last one week on the banana-seat mean streets of our day. We are not better people than they will be because of it. I am just saying...
That they are pansies.
 
The plot: (from the film's facebook fan page)


Jerry (P. David Ebersole) wants to ask Lori (Karen Capelle) to Sherri's (Paula Abdul) party but she seems to be going with Bill AND Bob. Fearing he might end up with the dreaded Karen, Jerry decides to take Paul's advice and just ask her. Easier said than done, especially with the evil nerd Keith terrorizing the halls.


You may also remember this plot from your sad high-water slacks life.

The party, though hosted by Sherri, is actually at Julie's house because her folks are out of town. Folks were always out of town. Sixties parents were throwing cocktail bashes and progressive gin parties in their own homes, but seventies parents were god knows where.




You know Paula plays the popular girl because of her exceptional curling iron proficiency.
 
 Not long after Alan Parker made that freakshow Bugsy Malone, in which child actors were dubbed with adult voices (worst Jodie Foster film ever? Not if you have seen Svengali)


Sorry, I distracted you with that. That was unfair. About Junior High School...


Not long after Bugsy Malone, director Michael Nankin shot Junior High School using real jr high kids, some with more talent than others, but most with very little at all.
Roger Ebert tells how it got made.


This is Michael Nankin's website. There is nothing on it.   literally.
Michael Nankin... Nan--kin... stop doing your stagey head scratching and snap your fingers, HARD.  He's the Battlestar Galactica Guy. Here is an interview with him by a guy who should help him with his website.


Nankin was a young film student, collaborating with writers David Wechter, Helyn Spears, and Steve Jacobson (who according to IMDB did nothing else with himself) who created Junior High. Helyn went on to become an editor and professional name-changer.   But she has an Emmy and I don't.


In 37 minutes, it packs in production numbers, multiple plotlines, and a surprising lot of jockstrap and titty talk.  We were jaded beyond our years.  See also Foxes.
 
Notice that the gym teacher is named Miss van Dyke.


You can watch the whole film on You Tube, but only in You Tube style chunks. Picklepuss' channel seems to have all of them. 

Interesting side note: The filmmakers received the Golden Knight award in 1978 for their achievement. This is an amateur film award (an award for amateur film; I am sure the award itself is professional. Or professionally ripped off from the Academy award) sponsored by the Malta Cine Circle.


Malta?   hunh.
I am unable to uncover how this little film by some 2nd year film studentds made its way to Malta.
 
Other things that are Maltese.

I am going to admit that any snicker that may have elicited was not worth the effort it took to make that image. And it was off-message anyway.

Halloween Nutcrackers

From the people who brought you the Easter Egg tree.....
If you've been working on how to make nutcrackers (insane robots of Christmas) more horrifying, try this.  This photo makes them look like there might actually be people in them.

Dig the Krampus version:

If you are looking to one-up the neighbors on Halloween decorations, let The DrawingIn Room offer this culled list of crossover hits:

goth gift wrap

The Tree - "perfect for displaying Halloween decorations," they say.



stockings

Photos with Dracula
Your choice of encore posts on this topic

http://drawingin.blogspot.com/2008/03/true-story.html
http://drawingin.blogspot.com/2008/04/bowman-body.html

You can always count on a chess set



I am oddly drawn to chess sets.  And glass candy.  I don't collect either because I realize that's crazy.









Annoy The Neighbors - the goal of any outdoor decorating




Or just your dog



In closing.......
Your Halloween Wedding Planner

Sunshine yellow drove us mad

"It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw--not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things." 

~~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman

#21 in an occasional series of repressed 70's memories that turn out to be true.

Too much of a good thing?  After all, the 70s weren't all brown, no matter how much we have shaded the memory so.  The refrigerator was green, the toilet was blue, and more times than not, an entire room would be sunshine yellow.  Usually the kitchen.

All the better to seeeee you with.

Yellow was supposed to be Happy, Bright, Inspiring.  Yellow was the Happy Face; Yellow was this guy.  --->

And for a long time, we believed it.

Current thinking has it (and current thinking may also be quackery, but hear me out) "Yellow is also the most fatiguing to the eye due to the high amount of light that is reflected....Yellow can also create feelings of frustration and anger. While it is considered a cheerful color, people are more likely to lose their tempers in yellow rooms and babies tend to cry more in yellow rooms.....Since yellow is the most visible color, it is also the most attention-getting color."  Have we found Culprit Zero of the Me Decade?

Another source adds, "Be careful with yellow as some stronger shades can enhance feelings of emotional distress. "  That shade would most likely be Sunshine.

Scary Evidence of Yellow Gone Wrong

1. Plaid 

"The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing." (Gilman)

2. Vinyl

3. Needlecrafts

4.  Furniture.                         

Beans or Air

The 2nd one might also be a gummy bear.

 5.    

6.  Appliances.  This ad correctly identifies the appliance color as Harvest Gold, and it is slightly darker than Sunshine.  But it was too brilliant to resist. 

7.  "The World's Fastest Soft Drink"

The soda no one needed attempted to compete with Mountain Dew, and to train you to chug.  The 80s are comin at ya!  (see refrigerator ad) 

9.  The Pacer.  No one is waving at you, friend.  They are haling you.

10.  Also a bit of a cheat.  Because this is Lemon.  And so is he.   

HR1700

A step forward in the establishment of a women's history museum in our nation's capital.

The National Women's History Museum Act of 2009 came a step closer to real this week when HR 1700 was passed by committee, in this case the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on Public Buildings and Emergency Management.  zzzzz.  We'll take what we can get.

Most bills do not make it this far.

GovTrack helps you follow the bills you are interested in with a status tracker showing how far little Bill still has left to go.  HR 1700 needs to be voted on by the House, then the Senate (hoo boy...so woman-friendly, our Senate) then to the President's desk.

And getting this far has worn our little Bill out.

I am not a charter member of many things: The Puppy Power Club, the Service Readiness Team, and the National Women's History Museum Project.  Founded in 1996, NWHM has spent most of its energy lobbying for a spot on the Mall and drumming up membership.  Getting other national women's organizations to join its coalition has also been a priority.  Who else could get the Junior League, Hadassah, and the DAR to agree on anything?  Noticably absent: NOW.  And I am still trying to get to the bottom of that.

Highlights of the Bill:
To authorize the Administrator of General Services to convey a parcel of real property in the District of Columbia to provide for the establishment of a National Women’s History Museum.

Real.  NMWH has a "virtual" museum on its website.  We will not settle.

The property is generally bounded by 12th Street, Independence Avenue, Maryland Avenue, the James Forrestal Building, and L’Enfant Plaza, all in Southwest Washington, District of Columbia, and shall include all associated air rights, improvements thereon, and appurtenances thereto...

So...not the Mall.  But there is not much space left on the Mall, and we are not going to argue the Latino-American Museum which was granted the Castle spot instead of us.  This parcel is actually known as the Cotton Annex, which is irritatingly ironic.  Let us all agree not to refer to it as on "the apron" of L'Enfant Plaza.

The purchase price for the property shall be its fair market value based on its highest and best use as determined by an independent appraisal commissioned by the Administrator and paid for by the Museum.

In other words, not government money.  (how to support the museum effort)

...shall be dedicated for use as a site for a national women’s history museum for the 99-year period beginning on date of conveyance of that portion to the Museum.

Good thing Jesse Helm is dead.
Most of this Bill is a real estate closing, which explains the committee it was sent to.  Since this will be a private organization, and not a government endeavor, the Bill does not attempt to dictate the contents or mission of the museum.  This will make the alarmist-news people happy, so they can imagine (then be outraged by) the Lesbian Wing and the multi-media history of abortion.  Because women's history is all about sex, you know.


One fairly conservative and generally Republican veteran I know said during a recent election, "Do you know there are three women running for Governor seats?"
 
I said dryly, "Oh, yeh, we're out there."  In fact, 28 women have been governor.  28 women, 50 states, 233 years. 
 
There have been 37 women in the US Senate since we invented it.
Half of them have been elected since the founding of the NWHM Project.
 

Passing the NWHM Act might be easier than passing the ERA.  But only because we are willing to take a building the National Health Museum Project didn't want.

Just another blog about Facebook

Blogging about Facebook is so... 2008.

But I've been workshopping this essay at cocktail parties (read: repeating myself over beers down the Coyote) and my blogroll tells me it's ok for us to still be talking about it (here and here). Here's what I want to explain to those who have dropped in to see what condition their condition is in, and find the whole experience stressful.

Yes, stressful.
There are those in our circle who can not navigate the complex rules of Facebook culture. Here is what I want to explain.

The rules of Facebook are very clear and simple. They are just not the rules of polite society. I feel your confusion, because as you recall, my experiment with Second Life was a complete wash. I feel like that weird long-legged character who attached himself to me is still flying around waiting for "Abby" to come back from the shoe store.

There are active Facebookers, occasionals, and people who never make it to the newsfeed for one reason or another. There are people who don't even provide status. I equate them to Netflix friends who won't rate movies. They are still my friends, I will still flip through their queues, but it would be more fun if they would play along. And here is one of the FB social rules: you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to.

It took years, cue cards, and the Female Seminary at Botetourt Springs to help me make small talk at parties. It took 10 years in Higher Ed to practice approaching wallflowers and inviting them into the conversation. FB rules allow you to bust into or avoid any salon taking place at the moment. Because it is only going to be for that moment, and there is another happening right behind it.

You do not have to befriend anyone you don't want to; similarly, you may approach anyone you like, so long as you understand they can ignore you. People tell me "I don't want to Friend that person," (sadly, in FBland, "befriend" did not catch on) "But I don't know how not to."
Like this:

If someone sent you a valentine, or a birthday party invitation, or approached you at a dinner party in real life -- or, if in Second Life, when a skunk with Sailor Moon ponytails approaches a taller, trimmer version of yourself -- it would be rude to literally ignore them. Not so in Facebook.  Accept or don't accept, it's your Wall.

People who find this stressful are only practicing the Golden Rule: they want all their gifts and quizzes and offers of games to be accepted, so they practice receiving.  I can see how that would be stressful.  And a little conceited.  Remind yourself it is not real life, and that isn't a real bouquet you just sent, and you can feel better about not playing Mafia Wars.

I feel very secure in not playing Mafia Wars.

One of my Friend/friends who studies game theory is working on a study of Facebook "play" to identify who plays and who doesn't and why.  If she had been awake at 2am today as I was, she would discover that Facebookers play because they are awake at 2am.

Let me also say that FB is a great communication device.  Use it to organize your personal life, and the results are quite pleasing.  Plan events, schedule group lunches and reunions, meet up for a jog (ok, that's not an example from my life, but you are with me right?), check in on F/friends in flood and fire zones.  Share the pictures from the wedding.  It does all the things Craigslist, eVite, Chat Rooms and You Tube do without the clutter of strangers.  Cultivate your actual friendships and rejuvenate your old ones.  Experiment with new ones if you like.

If you like.

A dear friend I talked into Facebook hated it from the first day.  She bailed quickly, and wrote about it in an old-fashioned medium whose rules she understood better (blogs).  It is an honest account of what's wrong with Facebook, and I don't deny her experience.  No one was more surprised than I was that I "rock Facebook like [I] invented it," (says the man who got me to join Facebook). 

I discovered that FB Nation is a culture that meets my public/private persona needs with the right balance of "Here for you" and "Not right now."  Moving to New England had a similar effect.