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Wednesday, May 17, 2006
As I write I'm watching one of my favourite films on TV - Pretty in Pink, the ultimate teen angst movie. It came out in 1986 and I watched it a suitably impressionable teen age and it has been indelibly etched on my memory since then. In fact, there is an homage to this film with a cover of Pretty in Pink making it on to the Teenland soundtrack.
I know it's cheesy - she lives, literally on the wrong side of the tracks, Harry Dean Stanton appears to be drunk during the filming, Andrew McCarthy is pale and uninteresting - Dirty "Richie" Spader is any sensible girl's choice, her prom dress is an eighties nightmare. In spite of (and probably because of) it's fabulous moving film covering unrequited love, lovely Duckie, struggling to fit in and uncertainty of the future.
An embarrassing admission is that at the age of 17 I attended a summer school for art students along with sixth form students from across the North east. We were holed up in an old school in Robin Hoods Bay trying out different media - I did silk screen, anyway, all week the video boys kept shouting "Molly" at me. At the time "Molly" was slang for deeply unfashionable in a granny, musty kind of way and I was deeply offended. It was only months later that I discovered they meant Molly Ringwald as I had a red bob like in the film and ahem, a retro boho style going on. I ended up being introduced to a whole group as Molly and was known by that for ages. I guess there are worse names, looking back I should have been flattered instead of embarrassed Molly Ringwald was / is fabulous.
I've got quite a few teen movies now which form a contrasting collection next to Sheil's ever expanding horror library. With this in mind I went to see Brick on Monday which I loved. It's a hard boiled, chandleresque thriller set in a high school complete with gang boss Lukas Haas (last seen as the child in witness) who lives at home with his Mom, who serves milk from a chicken jug to his gang buddies. The dialogue is fast paced and takes a bit of tuning into but worth the effort. Below is a glossary for the dialogue used in the film. Go see this and DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER going to see Confetti. I was so happy to have a baby sitter that I sat all the way through this film but after felt like I'd never get the time back I'd wasted on it. Terrible, terrible, terrible "Comedy".
Brick Talk: "It's duck soup for you yegs"
(A partial glossary of words and phrases used in Brick, and their definitions)
Blow- to leave, depart; e.g., "Did she blow last night?"
Bulls- cops; e.g., "What first, tip the bulls?"; also, as a verb, to turn over to the cops; e.g., "I bulled the rat."
Burg (or Burgh)- town, city; e.g., "He knows every two-bit toker in the burg."
Copped- stole; e.g., "She copped the junk."
Dose- to take drugs; e.g., "He dosed off the bad junk and it laid him out."
Duck soup- easy pickings.
Gat- gun.
Gum- to mess things up; e.g., "Bulls would only gum it."
Heel- to walk away from (, and show your heels to); e.g., "I'm not heeling you to hook you."
Hop; Jake; Junk- drugs.
Pick- a ride in a car (as in "pick-up"); e.g., "Did she get a pick?"
Reef worm- a stoner (abbrev. of "reefer").
Scape- a patsy to take the blame (abbrev. of "scapegoat").
Scraped- begged off of, cadged from; e.g., "Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it off [name]..."
Shamus- a private detective.
Shine- to wield (as with a weapon); e.g., "He shines a blade."
Sprang- originated; e.g., "His gat sprang from Tugger's gang."
Take a powder- to slip away; e.g., "Why'd you take a powder the other night?"
posted by Jeanie Wednesday, May 17, 2006
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