The Wonder Years (Series)

Growing up, I had the hugest innocuous crush on Fred Savage from the 80's/90's series, The Wonder Years. I loved watching the Arnold family go through life's ups and downs as if I was a part of it all. It was a story full of characters that you'd instantly identify with. Set in the 60s, it's a day-to-day account of how Kevin Arnold in his teens coped and embraced life as we know it.

Some of the big actors and actresses of today played minor roles in the series, still fledglings at that time. There were Giovanni Ribisi, Seth Green, David Schwimmer and Juliette Lewis to name of few.  

I've selected some 'light bulb moment' lines worth sharing. Source: IMDB

"When you're a little kid you're a bit of everything; Scientist, Philosopher, Artist. Sometimes it seems like growing up is giving these things up one at a time."

"All of our young lives we search for someone to love. Someone that makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope. All the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, there's someone perfect who might be searching for us."

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

So I’ve been listening to Duncan Sheik’s The Ghost in You on auto repeat on my daily trek home from work. It seems I could not get enough of it. I discovered this rendition by Duncan Sheik while searching for the mp3 of the original track by Counting Crows. 

While listening to it, the nitty-gritty ride home becomes a bit animated. My mind meanders off to an inculpable world while my eyes remain transfixed at my reflection on the tinctured window opposite me. I drop all my inhibitions and send all thoughts flying off like the disarray in Seussville. Like a film in medias res, I create my very own music video in my head unabashedly and with boldness I can never ever muster once I step out of that world. 

I am triumphant while it lasts, I smile inside. Who knew a song could whiff magic like that. Me thinks, it’s a gift from God.

  

The Mirror Has Two Faces and discovering Puccini

I was 17 when I first watched the film The Mirror Has Two Faces. Fifteen years later and it still has the same prepossessing effect on me.  The beautifully written script hasn’t wavered in its ability to strike a chord somewhere in the beginning, in the middle and to the very end. The musical score was equally genius, interweaving both classical music and mainstream ballads. I loved the team up of Barbara Streisand and Jeff Bridges and their enamoring chemistry on screen. It would be wrong not to share my favorite quotes from this movie so here are the lines that briefly suspended me from reality. 

For those of you who missed out on this great movie, here is the trailer from IMDb, http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4176871705/ .

My favorite part would have to be when Rose (Barbara Streisand) was discussing their lesson in class as transcribed below. I’ve highlighted the best bits in my humble opinion. Enjoy!

“Rose: So this is the scene at my sister’s wedding, right. There she is getting drunk regretting she ever got married for the third time, mind you. My mother is so jealous she’s sprouting snakes from her hair and I’m thinking this is perfect. We've got three feminine archetypes: The divine whore, Medusa - and me. Who am I? What archetype?

Trevor: The Virgin Mary?

Rose: Thanks a lot, Trevor.

Rose: No, the faithful handmaiden. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. It does prove however what Jung said all along. Myths and archetypes are alive and well and living in my apartment. As l stood beside the altar beside my sister and her husband to be, it struck me that this ritual, a wedding ceremony, is really just the final scene of a fairy tale. They never tell you what happens after. They never tell you that Cinderella drove the prince crazy with her obsessive need to clean the castle. But she missed her day job. No, they don't tell us what happens after because there is no after. The be-all and end-all of romantic love was ... Mike?

Mike: Sex?

Rose: Mike, Mike, Mike sex on the brain, Mike.

Student: Marriage.

Rose: Marriage, that’s right but it wasn't always like that. In the twelfth century there was a notion known as ''courtly love'', which had nothing to do with sex. In most cases, it was defined as a passionate relationship between a knight and a lady of the court who was already married...And so they could never consummate their love. In this way they would have to rise above your ordinary ''going to the bathroom in front of each other'' kinda love, and they would go after something more divine. They took sex out of the equation, and what was left was a union of souls. Think of this. Sex was always the fatal love potion. Look at the literature of the time, Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde. All consummation could lead to was madness, despair or death. Clinical experts, scholars and my Aunt Esther are united in the belief that True love has spiritual dimensions, while romantic love is nothing but a lie, an illusion, a modern myth, a soulless manipulation. Speaking of manipulation, it’s like going to the movies and we see the lovers on screen kiss and the music swells, and we buy it, right? So when my date takes me home and kisses me good night, and if I don’t hear the Philharmonic in my head, l dump him. Now the question is why do we buy it? We buy it because whether it’s a myth or manipulation, let’s face it, we all want to fall in love, right? Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified and our everyday reality is shattered, and we are flung into the heavens. lt may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon but that doesn't diminish its value because we're left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives. l read an article a while ago that said that when we fall in love, we hear Puccini in our heads. l love that. I think it’s because his music fully expresses our longing for passion in our lives and romantic love and while we’re listening to La Bóheme or Turandot, or reading Wuthering Heights, or watching Casablanca a little bit of that love lives in us, too. So the final question is: Why do people want to fall in love when it can have such a short shelf life and be devastatingly painful?

Student 1: Propagation of the species?

Student 2: Psychologically, we need to connect with somebody.

Student 3: Because we are culturally preconditioned?

Rose: Good, but too intellectual for me. l think it's because, as some of you may already know…while it does last, it feels fucking great.”