Thursday, September 04, 2008

Sunday Top Ten Part Two: Back in the 90s ...

Hey, speaking of the nineties, remember when Bill Clinton was president? That was cool. Want something like that to happen again? Register to vote RIGHTNOW. The Republicans are pulling out all the stops, like that lady (I prefer the parody of that lady). What if I invented a blog where I promised to kill myself if Obama loses? Would that be un-funny? Is it to soon? It's too soon. Hey-o! JK, death isn't funny. I hate death. Everyone should have babies and pray to Jesus. I'm really too upset to write a blog right now, the Republican National Convention is pushing me over the edge. I was gonna finish this 90s blog [last night/Wednesday], but instead I yelled at CNN. Tinkerbell doesn't like it when I get angry, it gives her ulcers. Anyhow! The 90s!
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5. Beverly Hills 90210
The Walshes were maybe the 50th pop culture icons to employ the Midwest [or other quaint & simple locale]-to-Rodeo storyline as a pilot hook, and they pulled it off. [Also, many shows/movies substituted rough-and-tumble poor for "quaint&simple"] Since (and during) the 90s, many have followed in their footsteps: Ryan Atwood, Spencer Carlin & fam, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Beverly Hillbillies, Haviland, etc.

So last night I saw the new 90210 'cause I'm trying to relax in the evenings and enjoy my newfound freedom to leave my room [I'm currently crashing with natalie while her roommates are in France]. It's now the 100th show to employ aforementioned plot device and unfortunately that device is officially done and DONE.

"A private plane? really?" = BORING, no longer interesting in and of itself.
"Oh my god, the spoiled rich girl wants to get out of a paper for her sweet 16 party!"=LAME.
If we wanna see rich kids use their rich kid stuff, we can watch The Hills, Gossip Girl, etc., where at least the characters are more than just cardboard cut-outs . We're supposed to believe that these new-class kids -- the kids who grew up watching 90210 and Fresh Prince -- are still gonna make fun of a girl just for being from Kansas? C'mon! They've seen this show already, they know better! One minute you're ripping on Brenda and the next minute she's sleeping with Dylan so fuck you guys I'm moving to Paris!! And I hate you both!

90210 broke barriers, but its sticky territory is now familiar and well-trod. Therefore, in the 21st century it ain't easy to create an inventive or surprising teen show -- the shock value stuff's been done and now you've gotta find a truly inventive way to make it really fresh & current. That "evil blogger" storyline on the new 90210 .. that don't cut it. [Teevee writers always have such a bizarre perspective on how the internet is actually used by teenagers.] Also, that poorly executed prescription drug deal? Doesn't cut it either. If we want that, we can watch Intervention.

I wanna see Colin in a high-speed chase with coked-out Kelly, I want David Silver flushing meth down the toilet when Dylan comes over, I want Donna on the bed with the rose petals ready for sexy time and I want that kid blowing his brains out and Brandon telling Andrea she doesn't know about condoms 'cause she's never done the dirty dirty and I want Ray pushing Donna down the stairs come on!!

Rehashing prior character's stereotypes [e.g., Andrea Zuckerman's daughter] is cute at first, but ultimately I don't think these characters will ever stand on their own. In the 90s, I had a serious relationship with Kelly Taylor & Valerie Malone & Claire ... I wanted to be them. I wanted to be cool and sexy and popular and if that meant I had to do crazy things like they did, I would, and I did, and it wasn't as cute when I did them. But despite these negative effects -- still! I totally cared if Donna Martin graduated! (also, check out this site of 90210 fantastichood)

I could barely get the names straight on last night's "New 90210." Despite its hopeless soapiness, I knew Brandon Walsh, David Silver and Valerie Malone like they were real people, and it's not just 'cause I've seen all 5 bajillion episodes. I knew them better from the pilot than I know anyone from last night. [that often happens to me w/r/t last night, though]

The difference between a successful show -- even a "bad" successful show, e.g., Dawson's Creek, Gossip Girl, The O.C., the original Beverly Hills 90210 -- and a shitty show is strong, fleshed-out, fully realized characters with distinct and NEW stories to tell. E.g., we need a lesbian reveal. The adopted black brother thing is just like South of Nowhere, it's over. Also, it's just like the life of Marie Lyn Bernard dot blogspot dot com, so whatever.

I mean, srsly, you know who needs a spinoff? EMILY VALENTINE, that's who.

Emily Valentine could host a talk show or a judge show. Or maybe it could be about the punked out kids she has.
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4. Delia*s & Other Mail-Order Clothing
Maybe I still shop at Delia*s, maybe I don't. Actually, I don't shop anywhere now, online shopping is dangerous and gets people into debt. I should check it out though, I need giant plaid platform sandels from the discount domain. Anyhow, regardless, their catalog was like Sassy without the articles. Though we enjoyed tearing apart each issue by literally scrawling snarky commentary all over the girls airbrushed thighs and delightfully anachronistic facial expressions, we similarly enjoyed their clothing, which came in the mail -- remember the MAIL?! I loved catalogues, especially in boarding school. Online shopping has now taken away the fun I used to have trying to get the J-Crew woman to tell me about her family and how her day was going. She'd be like "good," and I'd be like, "Level with me, Anjalaka, HOW GOOD? like, honey glaze good or deep peacock good?"
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3. SNICK

As I've mentioned 5,000 times, I grew up in a prisoner of world wars camp in a communist commune where I had to grow my own vegetables and if I wanted milk my Ma would make me go out back and milk Bessie and if I mixed meat and milk I got whipped with sugarcane. Therefore I wasn't permitted to enjoy the things other children enjoyed, such as Fruit by the Foot and SNICK. Luckily I had lots of friends, 'cause I was funny if not a little Somalian in the cheekbones, and they'd invite me over, and then we could eat pop tarts and watch SNICK.

Still; my memories of Clarissa are vague. Howevs, I recall this: she rocked outfits I could only dream of rolling. She mastered the denim rolled-up shorts over the leggings which I tried to pull off too but my leggings were too baggy.

I always seem to remember Ghostwriter, one of my fave shows I was allowed to watch in the liberal hippie dungeon where I lived, as being on Nickelodian, but obvs it was on PBS.
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2. It just gives your color ... a kick!
"So when Rayanne Graff told me my hair was holding me back, I had to listen. 'Cause she wasn't just talking about my hair; she was talking about my life."
-Angela Chase, My So-Called Life

Glintz! Glints! I just remembered!!!! Featured Dylan McKay's wife who got shot! Look! Here's the tv ad, remember it?

We had a lot of bold ideas w/r/t hair color in the 90s. Consequentially we expressed ourselves with Manic Panic, Nice 'n Easy, Sun-In, and the always reliable magic markers (you could give yourself baby blue highlights during lunch!). Many a towel and bathroom floor was ruined by glops of inevitably crimson glow-ish hair dye -- a sure sign to our parents that we'd done it again. Blonde to red to black to brown to purple and back again, just whatever. Salons were not punk enough for us.

It wasn't about going natural, it was about pissing off your parents and having something fun to do on a Friday night. For example, it's difficult to rebel when you live in a barbed-wire enclosed jail cell like I did. But one thing I could do? Dye my hair, the one thing my mother (claimed she had) told me not to do before my brother's Bar Mitzvah. Whatevs. Look at that dress! I'm GOLDEN.
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1. Your Photos


Vashti's ready to hang ten at the skate park
got her helmet on, she ain't afraid of the dark
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Crystal says cowabunga dude 'cause she's ready to pump it up
what's in the fanny pack? can i get a what what
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like blossom ms. jackson's got flowers on her babydoll dress
madonna says call 1-888-2-confess
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M.C Hammer's pants have got nothing on cookie's hot green shoes
she's ready to dance to Hewey Lewis and the News
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That may be a laser gun in his hands or puffy paint on the shirt
he clearly doesn't know what's gonna happen to kurt
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moonkiller can't go wrong in pink pants and shoes with polka dots
like the chicago bulls she's making all her shots
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A.C Slater would love the wash on these smashin' shortalls
Clarissa explains it all: don't go chasin' waterfalls
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Meghan has a lot of deep thoughts, thus she needs a beret
She don't gotta pray just to make it today hey!
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Jonathan Brandis has got nothing on this Ladybugs-esque do
Sinead O'Conner says nothing compares to you
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See that hair flip? That's pretty much as rad as life got
Snoop Dogg says drop it like it's hotttt
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FYI, that's not Carly, that's torrie's sister
she's gonna bust a move like mister mister

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"Grownups like to tell you where they were when President Kennedy was shot, which they all know to the exact second. Which makes me almost jealous, like I should have seen something important enough to know where I was when it happened. But I don't yet. And in fact it was a better time then, and people knew what they were supposed to do and how to make the world better. Now nobody knows anything."
-Angela, My So-Called Life
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(register, y'all. be there when something happens.)

34 comments:

The Spaz said...

I remember that episode where Ray pushed Donna down the stairs! I remember it for two reasons: a) Who wouldn't like to see Donna harmed? and b) I used to really like that song of his...

Anonymous said...

If anyone anywhere could just explain to me the cavern of weird that is Tori Spelling's chest. I can't watch 90210 without being like, what the hell is going on in there?

Remember when Valerie first smoked pot on the window seat? Kelly Kapowski no more!

Also, this new Ty kid (or whatever his name is) needs to master Dylan's the-world-pains-me-can't-you-see-that-in-the-way-I-turn-my -head look.

Anonymous said...

90210 is to me, what MSCL is to you. it's fully my barometer of friendship. you love 90210, chances are, i'll love you. i actually really remember the day i realized that brandon and kelly were not real, i think a part of my soul died that day. i never shopped at delia's, obvs, but spent many an hour in limited too. i always wanted one of those blow up chairs for my room..

Anonymous said...

omg I just remembered why I never watched the teevee stuff you guys always talk about like 90210, Saved by the Bell, and My So-Called Life!

Cause I was watching Nickelodeon/Clarissa Explains It All/Snick ALL. THE. TIME.
I never stopped.
So uhh this is where my childhood went. (Also, I spent a lot of it watching 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' cartoons as well.)

I know nothing about 90210 but your description of what you wanted was amazing and I would totally watch that show... someone ODing on meth and someone else getting pushed down some stairs, and then sexy time with rose petals? obvs.

The Brooklyn Boy said...

Ha ... yeahhh ... My bro, mom and I used to have a "SNICK Snack" party every Saturday night while my dad was off being a waiter. Are You Afraid of the Dark? still scares the hell out of The Loveseat, and I never stopped crushing on Larisa Oleynik. Good times, though things like this are why I was not cool until senior year of HS.

Anonymous said...

I didn't watch 90210, but Clarissa was love.

Anonymous said...

Clarissa was the best thing to ever happen to television (which is to say, my mom drew the line at MTV for YEARS so I only saw My So Called Life years after the fact). Now she's got a show with baby tips or something. Might be good--I bet her kids would still look cute in her old outfits.
Does it bother anyone else the over-obvious lone black guy on the new 90210? Like they just put him in so he can have 'controversial' storylines or something?

stef said...

i feel very strongly about nickelodeon in the 90s... doug, rocko's modern life, all that (anything related to tlc, obvs), fuckin' clarissa, salute your shorts, PETE AND PETE. i feel like you missed out on a lot, friend.

i didn't really watch the old 90210 cos like vega i was probs watching clarissa, and i think it's weird that you were able to watch that and not like, ANYTHING ELSE. i did watch the new one, and i'm really confused about it.

The Spaz said...

Perhaps you're thinking of Flirt? Maybe it was called something like Flirt Colour Accents even. It would come in these little bottles with a mascara wand.

Vashti said...

See. When you talk about Nickelodeon, I don't feel so left out of the 90s experience. From 1994 to 2000+, I was at my grandma's house every weekday and I would lock myself in her room because she had cable and watch Nick and [sometimes] Disney non-stop until my mom got home from work. Clarissa, Doug, Double Dare, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Figure It Out, Salute Your Shorts, Bug Juice [OMG, please someone watched this. It was on Disney in the late 90s and it followed kids' lives at summer camp. REALITY DRAMA], really any show that was on between 3:00 and 7:30.

And speaking of Disney: The Disney Channel original movies that came out every month? Looove.

Basically, my entire childhood is summed up by cable television, tree-climbing, and Pokemon.

basia said...

so a friend (i'll call her H) and i are playing a few covers at a small scale campus show this saturday. we had no idea what to call our duet, so we were throwing around some ideas. we thought it might be fun to pick some sort of gay inside joke. after a few really lame ideas put forth by H, the following exchange took place:

H: what's the name of the band of that girl from the L word?
B: Uh Huh Her
H: Uh Huh... Her?
B: Uh Huh Her
H: [pause] Uh Huh Her...
B: *laughs*
H: ok... so let's call ourselves Uh Huh Huh.
B: BRILLIANT

now, i know it'll never be tinkerbell's number one band or anyone's number one feeling, but i just thought you might appreciate the story. of my band. called uh huh huh.

eric mathew said...

From what I remember Clarissa was fantastic... she could spell forwards and backwards which was pretty impressive... although i did think it was odd that whats his face climbed through her window and was all like "Hey Girl.."

SNICK was great... now it sucks. I remember when like Spice Girls and N'SYNC hosted... those were the days... and remember All That! AH.

I gave myself a hickey before my bar mitzvah... my mom had no clue what it was... redic. don't asking me how i did it. I was just bored one day and started sucking on my arm... i know it's redic... but it happens in between hebrew lessons.

autumn m said...

okay first, it is not ok to make fun of the girl from kansas. cant believe people get a kick out of that crap. its not as hoe down, no one wears shoes, but they wear overalls and staw hats, as you think.....ok. and now to the more important stuff. i totally ate a fruit by the foot the other day. they still sell those. i freaking loved watching pbs (we couldnt watch any good stuff cause me and my brothers would fight after watching it. pretending we were them, like you know power rangers). i watched ghost writer all the time. did you ever watch wishbone??? they still play it on pbs. i watched it last weekend.
i always wanted some blow up furniture. it always seemed cool. i had a friend who had a blow up couch. it looked cool, until you sat on it. those things were so uncomfortable. i love me some Nickelodeon. me and a friend were talking about the show legends of the hidden temple. that show rocked. did any one ever watch Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? i was addicted to that show. i had the biggest crush on the host. i watched it the other day. i wanted to kill myself. it was so '90s. as a prize at the end of the show they gave away a tape player/recorder. it was one of those super huge ones. i laughed.
and finally i had a friend who used Sun-in religiously. i mean, everyday, 4 or 5 times a day. her hair was so light!!! but man her hair never went back to her natural color. to this day!!!!
oh how i love to think of the good ole days. thats what you should make, a zine dedicated to the '90s!! i would totally buy that!!!!

autumn m said...

that was way to long. sorry. i just get excited sometimes.

riese said...

the spaz: How do you talk to an angel ... from Jamie Walter's short-lived teevee series "the heights." Dreamy. Always a fan of the overalls.

burningsteady: I think she got a boob job before boob jobs became things people should really get, and then she stopped eating, thus creating the concave tunnel effect happening on her ribcage. Like if there's no fat, then she can't support such massive lumps of flesh. I remember exactly when Valerie smoked pot on the window, after taking it out of her little tin 'o sin.

anonymous: I feel exactly the same way, I remember the day I realized Brandon and Kelly weren't supposed to be impressions of real life people but rather soap operatic characters.

I had a monumental purple blow up chair in my room. It sunk. Perhaps you've seen the video.

a;ex: Of course you did, 'cause they had all these little fiesty girls who solved problems like you. But also I think the other reason that you don't know what we're talking about is 'cause you were born in 1992. The thing about 90210 is; they'd try anything once.

brooklyn boy: I can't imagine having a mother who'd actually coordinate a snick snack party, I would've been violently jealous of you back in the day. Personally I prefer The N.

lexi: Love in balloon pants and a patterned vest is the best kind of love.

emily kate: My Mom actually let me watch MSCL, mostly 'cause she had this quality policy, like if something was good I could watch it no matter what the content. I feel like Clarissa maybe went super Christian, but I might just be confusing her with Jodi Sweetin.

THe best thing is; that adopted-black-brother thing was already done in South of Nowhere, which also featured a family moving from the midwest to Los Angeles and being like "wtf is up with this place?" So lame!

stef: Oh, I loved Doug and Rugrats, I could usually see these while I babysat! I didn't start watching 90210 'til it was in re-runs and they were already in college -- I watched it in the afternoons. this was during the dark ages in the bernard household when my mom was too depresseed to fight with us about teevee and I was too depressed to do anything besides watch teevee. good times! thanks aaron spelling!

the spaz: Glintz! Glintz! Glintz!

vashti: See I almost think that SNICK was maybe even a little young for me, like maybe I was too old for it 'cause it seems all ye young'uns are more attached to it than I was. Howevs, I recall a hefty intake of Salute your shorts and Double Dare.

I saw Bug Juice I think one year like they had a marathon and I was unemployed and less ambitious than I was now, or didn't have intenret or something, it was really serious and made me happy to not be an adolescent anymore. But I loved the Disney Channel.

basia: Natalie thought it was called Mmm Hmmm her, which would also be an amazing band name. Also tinkerbell just called and it's her number two band. No seriously, if I was where you are, iI'd go see it for sure, just out of enthusiasm for the amazing name.

eric mathew: She could, she was really good with the graphics, that Clarissa. I always wanted a boy to climb through my window and then one day I had a window and a boy climbed through it and it was magical. Not Spice Girls magical, but magical.

autumn m: Oh yeah you're totally from kansas. See I feel like I'm sure people could find better things to make fun of you about than Kansas. I mean that not specifically, but really applied to any human being person.

I LOVED WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS CARMEN SANDIEGO. In fact I have to think about that for a while because I loved it so much. Remember ROCKAPELLA? I used to play along and got it for my computer, all I ever wanted in life was to be a contestant on that show. ooo that's a good top ten topic ... game shows ... hm. I'm gonna think this over, my brain just exploded, I need a clue.

Anonymous said...

my friend's cousin was on where in the world is carmen sandiego .. which was totally her claim to fame. except you know how if you won the map round you got an all-expenses paid trip to anywhere in the lower 48 (suck it, sarah palin)? she picked IDAHO. who the fuhhh picks idaho?

do it, rockapella.

i watched ALOT of gameshows in the 90s. some personal favs: supermarket sweep, shop til you drop, and STUDS. anyone else with me?

ps i am about to send you an amazing 90s pic. it may or may not contain a ninja turtle for semi.

DH said...

I don't think I ever watched 90210 or anything else listed here.

Similar to Alex, I watched a whole lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 90's. I think the Turtles are really the only thing I can recall from that decade.

autumn m said...

i am so super serious when i say that you should do a topic of top 10 ten gameshows. i love me some super market sweep!!!!! you know its kinda sad for me to say thig, but i want them to bring it back. and i always had a burning passion to be on where in the world is carmen san diego. i could answer all those questions like i was smart. i think by far where in the world is carmen san diego would be number one game show. i always wanted one of there jackets. oh the good times!!!! oh and rockapella still sings tours with that song!!!

dorothy said...

Glintz! I totally died my hair with Glintz, unbeknownst to my mother. I felt like a rebel.

And Nickelodeon! Salute Your Shorts- my brother and I spent hours pretending we were at our very own Camp Anawanna. We also had the home version of Family Double Dare.

I love it, all of it.

Anonymous said...

I lived a cable-less childhood. I use to hang out with my backyard neighbor and watch Alex Mac and Clarissa. More Alex Mac though. I really identified with the girl who glowed when embarrassed.

ALSO, Ghostwriter was the shit. I would make my family schedule dinners around that show.

Vashti said...

I must say, everyone looked smokin' hot in the 90s.

stef said...

i totally would have had a crush on atherton back in the day

and i guarantee ms jackson is exactly the same height.

carlytron said...

my photo still auto-wins, though. hands down totes.

did anyone watch Roundhouse? i was so into that show.

Anonymous said...

wow these photos are amazing. i think crystal's might be the best of the new bunch. mostly bc i'm jealo of her sweet pumps.

i'm was totally down at the roundhouse, where the music kept playing you know what i'm sayin'

who remembers THE STATE on mtv? it was all that and a bag of chips.

Anonymous said...

As I type this I am blasting Robin S' mid-'90s hit "Show Me Love", to which I used to grind at various suspect Scary Larry Bates Dances and, still worse, even more suspect straight clubs in Downtown and Near North Chicago clubs at the time. Sometimes I miss that time in my life (particularly when I see that I am clearly the eldest member of your '90s set; I mean, OMG, the rest of those photos during that time are of CHILDREN! And I was doing BLOW off of TOILET SEATS in the COFFEEHAUS! WTF?!).

I wanted to watch the 90210 re-launch, I really did. But I didn't, because I wanted to retain the original, the me when I was watching it, way back when, the me who at the time fancied myself the gay bitchy male fraternal twin to Brenda (a far cooler and far more homo version - wait, is that even possible? - of Brandon). Some things, though worth remembering on a daily basis, are not worth re-living or re-making. (Much like that horribly overpriced hair flip. [grin])

Because nothing will ever be as fabulous as all of us, all of those awesome, widely-smiling, and as-yet-unspoiled-by-experience faces that you imaged above, before we had to emerge from that safe space of our lives into the harsh existence of what we have now, so far removed from the safe environs of the Peach Pit.

But it pays to remember, yes? Even if doing so only serves to give us strength to push on further, yes?

(My G-d but that was depressing. I so apologize. Do I at least get props for wearing a proper bow tie, vest, and cuff links in my photo? Heh.)

Anonymous said...

The funny thing is, Sarah Palin picks Idaho! Whee!!

The Brooklyn Boy said...

While I've got no photos of a wee Brooklyn Boy to offer, I should mention -- for Lozo's benefit, if no one else -- that, due to a laundry shortage before the opener, the New York Giants' football season is now riding on (up?) my legs being clad each game in those oh-so-yellow auto-straddle boy shorts I bought half-jokingly when I ordered the 'zine.

Sports fan superstitions and auto-merchandise: A combination I know I didn't see coming. Ha.

Anonymous said...

that commercial with rebecca gayheart is amazingggg. i loved her 90210 and the commercial totally brought it around full circle. we weren't allowed to dye our hair at home ever and the one time i did, it was totally black and i looked like mortica adams, not hot. also, the visual of brooklyn boy is auto straddle boy shots is FULLY amazing.

Meghan said...

I didn't watch teevee until I was, I don't know, 12 or 13. Then I seriously overdosed on sitcoms: the Nanny, Family Matters, Fresh Prince. We didn't have cable, just country peasant vision, so I'm sadly lacking in 90s television knowledge. Except MSCL.

It's strange to see that picture of me in this post. I just realized that a few days ago I tried on a black vest scarily similar to the one in the photo! Cahrazy.

MoonKiller said...

I remember nothing that you mentioned in this blog aha except for the picture of me, even though I sort of didn't. Like when someone's like 'oh do you remember when...?' and you're like 'oh yeh' even though you really mean no. no? okay then.

Anyway, sister and I are weaing matching hoodies which I think is fucking awesome considering I was only 2 maybe 3.

basia said...

aww thanks!

i'm sad i wasn't able to send in a photo - i have some absolutely golden ones but they're all at my parents'... atherton's is my fav from this post - the cigarette clinches it.

riese said...

NEP: wtf did she want to do in Idaho? I have a lot of questions for your friend's cousin. Boise? Potatoes? I've never been to Idaho. Obviously I'd go to California, to see Havi-land. Luckily Crystal had the ninja turtles under control, but your shortalls are really something.

Crystal: Your memory is a steel trap, Crystal, I'm telling you, a steel trap.

autumn m: It'd be my number one thing too, 'cause I always knew all the answers. I think I'd suck at supermarket sweep, which I've actually never seen, but I feel like it has something to do with finding bargains at the supermarket, whihch I'm bad at.

dorothy: I know that was the best part, like even if you did get caught, it'd wash out in eight days so your Mom couldn't get too mad at you. I wish I had Family Double Dare.

Julia: Me too, me too! We had no cable. Until I turned 13 or something. Then I could sneak it when my Mom was away.

Vashti: Hot fo'sho.

stef: Me too, especially since he was gay. And i wanted to make a height reference in ms jackson's couplet, but just couldn't figure one out.

carlytron: I wanted to watch roundhouse. Your picture auto-wins clearly for life, it's the photographic equivalent of semi's drunk comment in October.

nep: I'm jealous of Crystal's pumps too. I vaguely remember The State, it was a comedy show right? Like Kids in the Hall? Maybe?

atherton: Don't worry I am also an elder compared to these younguns, I also attended slc in the 90s. For a few months, like end of '99. I maybe would've been happier there if I could've found the blow of which you speak.

THe hair-flip has been widely commented on and approved, most recently by Natalie who's sitting across the table from me right now. True: Because nothing will ever be as fabulous as all of us, all of those awesome, widely-smiling, and as-yet-unspoiled-by-experience faces that you imaged above, before we had to emerge from that safe space of our lives into the harsh existence of what we have now, so far removed from the safe environs of the Peach Pit.

emily kate: sarah palin should be hit in the head with a potato.

brooklyn boy: I don't understand the stuff about the sport of which you speak but I fully endorse the auto-gear boy-briefs, obviously, and any superstitions that contribute to purchase, enjoyment, and riding opportunities.

anonymous: I know right? I almost wanna say "see what I did there, that's what I do." But I didn't do it, 90210 did it for me, which is Aaron Spelling magic. Which ultimately is nothing compared to Brooklyn Boy magic.

meghan: Me too, I had nothing, and then I had it all at once and so I overosed. But I missed a lot of what other people discuss, like Punky Brewster and that show with gary coleman. Also vests are coming back around, I swear.

moonkiller: Even more amazing would be if I could track down a picture of my brother and I in matching outfits. That actually happened a lot.

basia: I know, he's like "i have feelings I can only express through smoke."

Ms. Jackson said...

I may have grown 2.25 inches since that pic was taken. I defo got stuck with the short gene in the fam. Ah well, I don't really mind being bite sized.

Anonymous said...

there's a reason they no longer make that wash for denim ... and the belt/shortalls combo really kills me. also i'm fairly certain i used to wear that shirt with a bolo tie. HOT.

yes the state was a sketch comedy show like KITH and they played awesome 90s music in the background of each sketch. some of them later went on to make wet hot american summer which i like to quote on a daily basis. i love it as much as i love sister act 2.