Good Bye John Hughes

The death of John Hughes is a disappointing event on a couple different levels. When I woke up early this morning, it didn't appear on the front of my Yahoo page. In fact, I was greeted with another Michael Jackson related story. Instead, I discovered his death via Facebook. Several friends had placed quotes from his various movies in their status line, and after a little scrolling, I learned about his passing.
After a summer of Jackson stories, the death of Hughes seems to be just a blip on the radar of life, but yet his influence was huge to any suburban teenager growing up in the 80s. It would difficult to find a writer/director that had a track record better than Hughes for that decade. When channel surfing, I still find myself stopping if a Hughes movie of that period is playing. He did write some hits in the 90s, but the impact of his films just wasn't the same.
Teens flocked to his movies because they felt the films spoke to them, presenting a realistic portrayal of their lives. But Hughes brought that style of reality to a lot of his films from that decade. Whether he directed and/or wrote the screenplay, you were drawn into his movies because they were generally situations you could relate. Sometime he would cross the line into an absurd reality to racket up the comedy, but you could still feel for the characters.
Teens saw themselves in the characters of "The Breakfast Club", whether it be an individual character or a combination (half the fun was figuring out which one). "Sixteen Candles" featured the awkwardness of puberty along with the embarrassment that family could provide. "Ferris Bueller" (my personal favorite) was the kid everyone wanted to be in high school while "Pretty in Pink" showed the difficulties of peer pressure.
You can even move beyond the teen films for those everyday life situations. Who hasn't been on a hellish family vacation like "National Lampoon's Vacation" or had some bad travel experience similar to the many depicted in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"? I've never had much luck with train travel.
It's also hard to talk about Hughes films without the mention of music. After screening one of his films, I remember heading to the record store to find some of the music. Psychedelic Furs, New Order, Love and Rockets and Simple Minds were just some of the bands that populated his soundtracks, opening a new avenue of music for many kids. Not all the tracks were winners, but hey, who else would put music by Yello, the Beatles and Wayne Newton in the same movie?
So thanks John for making the 80s enjoyable and bringing us stories we often felt were ripped straight out of lives. It's tempting to fire up the VCR to watch "Ferris Bueller", but I'll probably stick with my DVD copy.

Five thing I'm digging right now:

1) "Michael and Michael Have Issues"; Comedy Central keeps tossing out new shows and this one is a winner.
2) "Funny People"; not the comedy you'd expect from Apatow. Still plenty of dick jokes, but with a more serious side.
3) "Top Chef Masters"; I don't care for the host or the panel of judges, but it's fun to watch the chefs create these fabulous meals.
4) Talking Heads Dual Disc releases; the entire Heads collection remastered with bonus tracks and video.
5) Pandora; even though I broadcast on Live 365, it's always interesting to see what Pandora has in store for me.

Plank is Back... and so is Conan

I haven't posted anything new in the last two years, and a big part of it is simple... I'm lazy. Blogging seems to be a fun thing to do, but I was turning it into too much of a project. The entries were turning into lengthy essays, with research and re-writes. I'd sometimes spend a couple hours carefully crafting a single entry, trying to ensure that everything was worded perfectly. But recently, I started reading other blogs and came to the realization that it's really not that hard. Write what you know and let the words spill out. So Plank is back... until I get lazy again.

Given my work schedule, I don't get to watch a lot of late night television. I'll record "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" and catch up with them on the weekend. And when the opportunity would present itself, I'd stay up on watch Conan. With so much hype on his ascending to "The Tonight Show", I thought I would take a peek. His final "Late Night" was funny and bittersweet, and hopes were high with the new gig.

I finally got to watch it Tuesday afternoon, and I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I know that the reviews have been mixed, so this is just another to add to the pile. First, I'm very happy to see Andy Richter back on the show, although it seems to be in a limited role. He now stands at a podium and I'm not sure whether he's announcing the show or seating a table of four. Hopefully that's one aspect that gets ironed out.

The criticism against those that knocked the show was that the reviewer just didn't get Conan's edgy humor. Unfortunately I would have to disagree with that statement because it seemed the writers played it safe. The filmed pieces were hit-or-miss. The opening piece wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, but I enjoyed it. The tram piece seemed to miss some promising opportunities, while the bit about the Tauras was just lame. And given the amount of preparation time, I guess I expected more. However, Conan seemed a little nervous during the opening, which would seem natural given what's riding on the show. On the plus side, Will Ferrel, as usual, brought the funny, although it took a lengthy time to bring him out. Pearl Jam also rocked the house even though I'll never understand what Eddie Vedder is singing.

I think it's a promising start to what I hope will be a long run for Conan. I'm sure he's going to ease into the time slot, with the edge coming back to the forefront. I hope that the big name bands isn't the norm as I enjoyed many of the lesser known bands often featured. So best to you Conan, and thanks for finally knocking Jay out of that time slot.

Five things I digging right now:

1) Breaking Bad. The season just ended and it was a wild ride.
2) Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga". Listening to it as I write.
3) The local Humane Society. If you're adopting a pet, go there first.
4) Point Beer. A friend brought me a six and it was delicious.
5) Guitar Hero. I'm not very good, but I could spend hours playing.