Bring On The Dancing Horses

Hello, my name is Kim and I am an Anglophile. It's been 3 hours since I watched the Young Ones and so far so good, though I'm saying "wanker" more than any American really should without REALLY sounding like a wanker and everyone thinks I'm a dork but damn you Vyvyan, damn you straight to hell for being so downright shaggable. I'm pretty sure my love of British culture started in my pre-pubescent years growing up in the 80's when you couldn't swing a bag of cats without running into someone wearing a Smiths tee, or at least the really cool high school teenagers did, the ones I envied and SO wanted to be when I grew up. And I don't mean the Misunderstood Artsy Goth Kids in Bauhaus Tees And Fishnets either, but the girls who knew all the cool college radio bands and thought John Cusack Will Save the World in His Trench Coat. Which he probably will, but that's neither here nor there, and I'm pretty sure he's an Anglophile himself and now Lloyd Dobler, you are even more adorable in my book. What's with the British bands kicking all sorts of ass in the 80's? Can you say TACO? Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Taco was from the UK or not. I think maybe he was actually German, or maybe his pink wig is making me think he was German, not that wearing a pink wig is necessarily a German thing and I should probably do some fact-checking before making blasphemous statements about Germany's #1 hot commodity, second to David Hasselhoff.

It's really no wonder that so many of us Gen X-ers are screwed up, jaded or in group therapy, since we're the ones who've suffered the Cinderella Syndrome more than any generation. I totally made up Cinderella Syndrome. It's from growing up in the 80's watching too many Terribly Romantic Comedies, where the Sensitive Boy saves the Sad Lonely Girl complete with a cliched Ultra Dramatic End Scene With British Song For Emphasis. Isn't every girl STILL waiting for her own romantic comedy scene with a song from INXS playing in the background? I know *I* am, and I've been with the same guy for 400 years and he is a DAMN LUCKY MAN, so I remind him every day. If ever there was a time for Great Britain to kick America's ass it would have been then, brainwashing us into submission with hit songs from the Pet Shop Shop Boys, but you MISSED YOUR CHANCE, ENGLAND. What gives, conspiracy theorists? Notes of interest, and also because I am a fan of list-making:

1. Sixteen Candles. 'Member the scene at the end with Jake Ryan? Of course you do. I'll give you a minute to collect yourselves from all the sighing. 4 words: If You Were Here...And now I'm all verklempt thinking about that part. I will give myself a topic and talk amongst myself to get over it.

2. Pretty in Pink: If You Leave. Also chock full of other UK dreaminess.

3. Valley Girl: I Melt With You. Come ON, one of the best songs ever. Lucky for you though, you can hear it every 10 seconds on the Taco bell commercial.

4. Breakfast Club: Don't You (Forget About Me)

5. Say Anything: In Your Eyes. You can't say "cliche" fast enough. But still dreamy, no?


Is that a boom box in your hands or are you just happy to see me?