If I Were a John Hughes Movie's New Wave 80s Soundtrack

No one could quite sum up life as a teenager in the 80s like John Hughes.

It was Some Kind of Wonderful to think that in the 80s, when there were Sixteen Candles on my birthday cake, that I was Pretty in Pink. When, in reality, after travelling by Planes, Trains, and Automobiles because I was Home Alone, my parents realized they needed a Vacation. How sad. Thank God, my Uncle Buck was in town.

My Dad really needed time off from being Mr. Mom, he could hardly believe my mom was knocked up again, really? She's Having a Baby? He was really in Dutch with the mrs. after that impromptu trip to the Great Outdoors. Could you blame him? Even The Breakfast Club got a break.

All right, all right. I know, settle down there Curly Sue. Enough of all of this Flubber. I've got to get back to some Weird Science since Ferris Bueller's Day Off made me late for the Class Reunion.

I'll stop. Even I can't take that much pun. Enough silly word plays, let's get down to brass tacks gentlemen (and ladies.) If my life were a soundtrack, I’d have to include these top 16 all time best new wave songs:

- Forever Young by Alphaville
- How Soon is Now by The Smith
- Just Like Heaven by The Cure
- She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult
- True Faith by New Order
- Desire Gene Loves Jezebel
- Chains of Love Erasure
- Peek a Boo Siouxsie and the Banshees
- Strangelove Depeche Mode
- If You Were Here The Thompson Twins
- Mad World Tears for Fears
- Tenderness General Public
- We Close Our Eyes Oingo Boingo
- What You Need INXS
- The Killing Moon Echo and the Bunnymen
- We Care A Lot Faith No More

The Over 21 Beverage

If ever there were the perfect that I couldn't live withou, it would be a Barbera d'Alba D.O.C. Hilberg-Pasquero and Fratelli Revello make good ones, but I haven’t met a Barbera I didn’t like. It’s dry and a little bitter in the beginning, but really smooth. It’s not too fruity, but it’s not too oakey (is that how you spell it? I don't know I've been drinking wine). It goes great with pizza, pasta and pungent cheeses. Now, if I were a John Hughes movie, I’d be too young to enjoy this grape. Good thing I graduated high school 20 years ago!

Strange Brew

Beer? Let's harken back to my Friday night's at Matt Sullivan's house when all we could afford was Milwaukee's Best Light (Beast Light) or Schlitz.

Smothered and Chunked

Sometimes I wonder if I'm not the female equivalent of Tucker Max. Not the female antithesis of a misogynistic pig, just...fickle, independent, solitary. Yea, that's it. Actually, I think I identify more with Laura Kipnis in her polemic: Against Love. And I quote, "So just as a thought experiment - though it will never happen to you and certainly never has - please imagine finding yourself in the contradictory position of having elected to live a life from which you now plot intricate and meticulous escapes: a subdivision getaway artist, a Houdini of the home front." I never liked Houdini.

Things that make you go hmmm.

Ok. Enough of that. Judge for yourself is Tucker was a bastard or just misunderstood in I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.

The Movie

Tucker decides to take an impromptu trip to celebrate his friend's bachelor party. He drags his friend into a lie with his fiancée, gets him into trouble and then abandons him in order to pursue a hilarious carnal interest. Tucker is disinvited to the wedding, and in order to get back in, Tucker has to find a way to balance his narcissism with the demands of friendship.

The Wine

The Dante Merlot makes itself to the table as a smooth red with no edges; drinks smoothly from start to finish; tart red flavors abound.

The Devil's Brew

Belgian Beer no.6: Duvel, the devil beer. Duvel means ‘the devil’ in Flemish. And a devilish beer it is.

We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes

Now, most everyone knows Janet Leigh is Jamie Lee Curtis' mother, and that Alfred Hitchcock always made a cameo appearance in his movies. But, did you know that Anthony Perkins became an ordained minister and performed the marriage of actor Dennis Hopper to his fourth wife, Katherine LaNasta, in 1989?

Come in out of the rain; we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 vacancies.

The Movie

Based on Robert Bloch's book, Psycho is the tale of Marion Crane, a Phoenix, Arizona working girl fed up with having to sneak away during lunch breaks to meet her lover, Sam Loomis, who cannot get married because most of his money goes towards alimony. One Friday, Marion's employer asks her to take $40,000 in cash to a local bank for deposit. Desperate to make a change in her life, she impulsively leaves town with the money, determined to start a new life with Sam in California. As night falls and a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her, Marion turns off the main highway. Exhausted from the long drive and the stress of her criminal act, she decides to spend the night at the desolate Bates Motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, a peculiar young man dominated by his invalid mother. After Norman fixes her a light dinner, Marion goes back to her room for a shower....

Wine

How about a glass of Pommard like bottle used in the film Notorious by Alfred Hitchcock-- the most famous bottle of wine in the history of cinema. Mischief and Mayhem - Pommard Clos de L'Orgelot is a nice blood red wine with red berry, vanilla and nutmeg.

Beer

Insanity is an oak-aged English-style Barleywine from the Weyerbacher brewery in Pennsylvania.

Penchant for the Prosaic?

O Captain, my captain. In 1950s New England, before there were iPhones, Blu Ray and Blogs, men read poetry. Well, not right out in the open, more like holed up in a cave, but none the less Carpe Diem was the motto of the Dead Poet's Society. Woo, those non-conformists prep school boys knew how to party.

Seriously, though, it's one of my all time favorite movies with a wicked awesome cast.

The Movie

Painfully shy Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian. His room-mate, Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father (Kurtwood Smith). The two, along with their other friends, meet Professor Keating (Robin Williams), their new English teacher, who tells them of the Dead Poets Society, and encourages them to go against the status quo. Each, in their own way, does this, and are changed for life.

The Whine

Freshly peeled grapefruit and a hint of ripe pear define Poet's Leap Riesling. Bright acidity gives the wine its vibrancy and a touch of sweetness (like me).

The Brew

Baltimore-Washington Beer Works, of Baltimore, Maryland produces a beer named for one of the most famous poems of our time, The Raven: Special Lager.

"Filled with mingled cream and amber I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber through the chamber of my brain - Quaintest thoughts - queerest fancies come to life and fade away. What care I how time advances? I am drinking ale today."
— Edgar Allen Poe