Thursday, September 3, 2009

Awesome

I should have titled this post "Only read this if you know the movie "Dirty Dancing" inside and out, but I was afraid that would scare off new readers.

So, I'm freaking out about grad school. I've stepped in it with my boss. I'm generally in an 11:38 PM place where I haven't gotten enough done and I am alternating between tears and hysterical laughter. Just another Thursday night.

So for background I put on "Dirty Dancing" because it was on TV the other day and I caught a minute or two and then I went to Best Buy to try to buy Wonderfalls and it (Dirty Dancing - the 20th Anniversary Edition) was on sale for $7, so I bought it.

A few pieces of criticism, as it makes me feel like I'm in control of my life (and I'm obviously not).

When Neil comes to Johnny to tell him that he wants to switch up the final dance of the season from something other than the Mambo, and Johnny shows him a few steps of the thing Johnny has in mind before Neil totally jocks him, those steps? Those are the ONLY steps the whole "staff" does at the end of the movie, while Jennifer Gray is standing there smiling maniacally and swishing her skirt. Really? Maybe he should have tried to verbally conceptualize the dance instead of showing off the ONLY MOVES that he planned on putting into this revolutionary final dance.

The 80's music injected into a period piece? Not so great. Although I did learn how to play "She's Like the Wind" on piano, that song "Yes" that they play when the sister is walking to get some for the first time with Robbie? And the use of "Hungry Eyes?" Not so good. Granted, I owned this soundtrack on cassette when I was 10 and found no fault in it whatsoever, I chalk that up to the fact that every girl wanted to be mousy ol' Baby and find a hunky dancing Patrick Swayze to adore her and declare that she shouldn't be put in a corner. Didn't help that Jennifer Gray went and got decidedly un-mousy and let all us mousy girls down.

The lift at the end? From a pure dancing perspective (and I do have some authority to say so, since I did dance semi-professionally for a little while) it wasn't so clever. Baby nods, gets lifted to the jumping point, runs at Johnny, and then just stays suspended in the air while everyone claps. Like a dog show, but with prettier clothes.

This is what I do when I'm freaked out. I ply you guys with semi-valid observations about 80's movies. I've just put on Moonstruck, wherein I'll roll around on the floor and wallow in my lack of productivity and mind-numbing fear.

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