Personal blog of romance author Janie Crouch. One slightly neurotic woman's journey into the realms of... writing, running, mid-life crises, family, marriage and other calamitous areas. My full name is Mittie Jane. Get it?
Every once
in a while I write for another pop culture blog: Sweep the Leg. Mostly
silliness. We often do a Top Three feature, where two friends and I argue about our favorite stuff and call each other names. A few weeks we discussed the
Top Three Fictional Bands.
#3 Stillwater.Cameron Crowe, you slay me. You are second only to Joss in your ability
to rip emotions from my core. Almost
Famous…a perfect film. A perfect fictional band.
One of my
favorite scenes in any movie. Ever. “You are home.” Indeed.
#2 Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.Who??? Oh, you mean that Muppets band that was cooler than 99% of most
real-life bands? Yeah, I do. This clip includes the entire Muppets gang, but
it’s still awesome.
#1:Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate.Seriously, there was never any other choice for me. Eddie Murphy singing
this song in Coming to America helped
define the person I am today. And that my husband just calls himself Sexual
Vanilla is just a bonus.
Mic dropped.
Hands up. Exit stage right. Beautiful.
To read Adam's stupid differing opinion about this Top 3 click here
To read Anthony's equally stupid also differing opinion about this Top 3 click here
I also write for another blog: Sweep the Leg. On that site, two friends and I regularly compare our Top 3 of various pop culture silliness. One week was Favorite Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Who doesn't think back fondly on Saturday morning cartoons? (Especially now that we're all adult with kids of our own and realize Saturday morning cartoons for what they really were: a babysitter so our parents could sleep in.)
It pains me not to include Transformers or School House Rock -- which taught me more than college ever did -- on this list. But I could only pick three.
Here they are:
#3: The year was 1984. I was eleven. I was just discovering that boys were not all stupid (although I would re-revise that opinion in later years). Ralph Macchio had totally changed my world in Karate Kid. My favorite Saturday morning cartoon that year? Kidd Video.
That’s right, posers. Kidd Video. In case you weren’t one of the 26 people who watched that show. Here’s a little taste for ya…
Can you believe it? – they were taken to the Flip Side to become some fat guy’s “musical slaves”. Does it get more dramatic than that?
But what was especially important to me was that this show was half cartoon/half live action. No fully animated shows – that was for children much younger than me, a tween. And Kidd – was he just like totally hot or what? And they were in a band. Sadly the show was only on the air with new episodes for one year. Kidd Video we hardly knew ye…
#2 Super Friends in all its various titles (Challenge of the Super Friends, All-New Super Friends, World’s Greatest Super Friends… I’m sure there were also other variations I can’t remember).
The Justice League of America vs. The Legion of Doom. I can still hear the theme song in my head. This awesome show (awesome, even despite Zan, Jayna and Gleek) permeated my childhood. I can barely remember a Saturday morning without it.
#1: G.I. Joe– especially in the early years (you know, before I discovered Kidd Video). I was raised in South Florida – the only girl in a neighborhood full of boys. So believe me when I say I could jump, run, play football, climb trees, hop fences and shoot fake guns like the best of them. We played G.I. Joe all the time. I was Lady Jaye. And I kicked butt.
The cartoon had its faults, of course, like the fact that bullets and lasers blazed everywhere but no one ever died. But I loved it; we all loved it. Available action figures just made it more awesome. That, and all those PSA tag lines, memorized by a generation:
I write for another blog on occasion. www.sweep-the-leg.com
Nerds Without Mercy. It’s everything from Settlers of Catan to Comic Books, recent
release movies to 80s hair bands. My
Sunday Showdown is a regular feature on that blog.
Each week on Sweep the Leg the two other main
contributors and I do a Top 3 feature – comparing our top three lists on
different subjects. It’s usually a lot of trash talking and general nonsense. Knowing how much everyone loves nonsense,I thought I would share my portion of that weekly feature here on occasion.
Oh, you’re welcome. Don’t mention it.
If you want to read my counterparts’ responses, I’ll
provide the links, but be cautioned there’s some language on the Sweep the Leg site. Plus
more nerdiness than can be tolerated by the general population. So if you go
there, remember that I tried to warn you.
Top
3 Superhero Movies (Janie’s Take)
(From 7/3/12) Here’s my take on Superhero films (which I
fear is going to lead to me receiving some sort of Pollyanna label): I like my
heroes to be heroes. There are exceptions to that rule, because I don’t mind my
heroes to be a wee bit naughty (a la Tony Stark). But I’m a little sick of the
tortured hero. I get it, we all struggle with the battle of good and evil
within each of us. But with where I am in my life, I want less Dark Knight and more Captain America.
I guess I said that to
prepare everyone for why none of the Dark
Knight pics made it onto my list. Without further ado, my
favorites:
#3: The Fifth Element
Okay, go ahead and scoff, but
I’m putting it on the list anyway. Leeloo is perhaps more alien than superhero,
but the fact is: she has superhuman strength, is willing to sacrifice herself
to fight evil, and she has a costume*. Thus, in my book, she’s a superhero. Add
that to Bruce Willis’ antihero and you’ve got a great mix. I loved this movie
in 1997. Still do.
Plus, let’s face it, part of
my job on this blog is to bring the ladies into the geek conversation as much
as possible. If we want to have a real discussion, let’s talk about the
serious lack of female superhero movies. I mean, what do you want me to put on
the list, Electra? Catwoman? Barb Wire???
* - if you don’t believe
that’s a costume, wait until I wear it for Comic Con 2014
#2 The Incredibles
I know, I know, the mother of
four speaks. But I want to say first that I am not a biganimated film fan, so for me
to put this on the list should be a statement of how much I like it. This
is storytelling at its very best. It’s gut-bustingly funny, appeals to adults
and children, has awesome action, but most importantly has heart. A classic
from the moment it hit the screen.
Ummm… and did I mention I
loved this movie so much we named our youngest daughter JacJac?
#1 The Avengers
Two words: Joss Whedon.
You've either seen it and love it or you don't have a pulse. ‘Nuff said.
(And every night I say a
prayer to the Hollywood gods that they will make a Black Widow/Hawkeye spinoff.
In the name of Spielberg, Scorsese, and Hitchcock. Amen.)
