Saturday, January 24, 2009

'I like those earrings, Claire'

Reviving an old crush of mine, here's the news that Molly Ringwald is pregnant with twins:
It will be the second daughter and first son for Ringwald, 40, and husband Panio Gianopoulos, 33. They have a 5-year-old daughter Mathilda Ereni. The babies are due in August.
Secret Life's second season airs on Monday nights on ABC Family. A spokeswoman for the show says Ringwald's pregnancy will be written into the storyline.
Ah, Molly! Going back to 1985, when I attended a sneak-preview showing of The Breakfast Club, there was something about her stuck-up ice-princess character that was . . . well, it was hot. Generally speaking, when it comes to Brat Pack chicks, guys name Demi Moore or Diane Lane as their favorites, but there was something about Claire Standish that spoke to my inner John Bender:
John Bender: I like those earrings, Claire.
Claire Standish: Shut up.
John Bender: Are those real diamonds, Claire?
Claire Standish: Shut up.
John Bender: I bet they are. Did you work for the money to buy those earrings?
Claire Standish: Shut your mouth.
John Bender: Or did your Daddy buy those for you?
Claire Standish: Shut up!
John Bender: I'll bet he bought those for you. I bet those were a Christmas gift. You know what I got for Christmas? Oh, it was a banner f***ing year at the old Bender family. I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said, "Hey, smoke up Johnny." All right? So go home and cry to your Daddy. Don't cry here, OK?
Back in 2007, I reviewed Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes:
The cliques and geeks, the jocks and princesses, the stoners, loners and losers -- did anyone ever capture the cultural essence of high-school the way writer/director John Hughes did in his 1980s teen films?
Though widely dismissed two decades ago as shallow, commercial multiplex fodder, Hughes' films are now viewed as coming-of-age classics by Gen Xers who grew up relating to the Reagan-era teen misfits in "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful."
There is an uncanny timeless quality to those films. When our daughter turned 16, one of the things we did to celebrate the occasion was to watch Sixteen Candles together. It's odd how, despite two decades of changes in fashion and music, she could completely relate to the movie.

So now, Molly is famous as a TV mom who, in real life, is expecting twins. Damn, I'm getting old. But it beats the alternative, I guess.

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