It's Just Me

My brain works in mysterious ways. How it gets from point A to point B is often a puzzlement. But here it is....this morning Sullivan was showing me the way he was doing something and said, "Look at me!" to which immediately sang "I'm Sandra Dee" in my head. That's how I starting thinking about the movie "Grease". Remember that, with Olivia Newton John and John Travolta? (I realize if you do remember, you are dating yourself like I am!) Man, I LOVED that movie. I had a big poster of the two Johns dancing on my wall, (that's my exact poster on the right! Memories!) and of course, the soundtrack album. I remember getting this really cool Disco Light for Christmas, you could plug it in and it threw spinning colored lights all over the wall and ceiling. They still make these kinds of things today, but they just don't look the same and they certainly don't call them Disco Lights!! Well, I would crank that thing up and turn on either my "Saturday Night Fever" album (also John Travolta!), or my "Grease" one and do the Hustle in the privacy of my own room. Of course with "Grease" I would have to sing and act it out as well. My childhood friend Laura Grubb says I actually acted out the entire movie for her when we were young. Her parents were very strict and would not let her go to any movie above a G rating, (of course back then, it probably had a G rating!) and since she was so disappointed I guess I played the whole thing out. She said she specifically remembers me twisting my toe into the carpet at the end, which must have been me as Sandra Dee putting out my cigarette. Nice! (because my brain works in mysterious ways, I myself can not remember doing this at all... isn't that sad?!)

Let's think about this. At the time I thought Laura's parents were truly Neanderthal about not letting her see this movie, but think about the message that is being taught!!! Girl meets boy at the beach over summer vacation, she's supposed to move back to Australia (poor girl!) but her family decides to stay in lovely Los Angeles instead. Lo and behold, she sees her summer love at her new high school, but alas, he is not acting like the boy she knew. He is a 'greaser', hanging out with a group of wannabe tough guys. He pretends he doesn't know her because she's such a square, and she's sad. Throughout the rest of the movie he plays with her mind--making her think he never liked her in the first place, and then when he does decide she's okay to hang out with, dumps her because she won't let him make the moves on her. Near the end she sings a song that actually has the words, "the poor man" in it, realizing that her holding out on him is probably giving him a terrible case of the Blue Balls. So, doing her womanly duty, she decides to become a slut. She dresses up in tight black spandex, dons more make-up than the Sweet Transvestite from Transexual Transylvania, smokes a cigarette and shows up at some carnival strutting her stuff and letting him know that he's definitely gettin' some later on. Then they literally ride off into the sunset in their flying car. (huh?! I guess this director was influenced by Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) Maybe Laura's parents knew more than I gave them credit for!

As it is, I had forgotten all of this stuff since it had been so long since I watched it--and quite frankly that message never sank in for me as a kid. I just loved the music, thought it was funny, and of course extremely romantic! I decided one night that I'd put it in (ooh baby!) and then Vivian and I could watch it together. She was just starting to watch more 'grown-up' movies, and I figured the main message would probably go right over her head, like it did with me. Let's just say when the boys showed up at one of the Pink Lady's house to crash their slumber party and then drove off with Rizzo joking about a 'gang bang', I deemed that Vivian needed a few more years before she needed to learn about that kind of stuff. Good grief! I'm no prude, but hey. Kids are smarter these days and pick up on that stuff way more than we did--they have no choice, in this society. I guess I'll just have to continue to sing those Grease songs by and to myself for a while yet.

And on a completely different tangent, (there goes my brain again!) speaking of black spandex.....was anyone watching the Olympics last night? (ok, my daughter wanted to, so there I was...!) Did you see how funny it was when those crazy men doing the Skeleton Luge went flying down the course and their butts were jiggling like crazy? How when the camera people slowed the shot down, their butts jiggled in slow-mo? No? You didn't notice that? Oh. I guess it's just me.