10:12 p.m. | 2005-02-13 Looking At The Past In The Present. (Okay, deep breath). I�ll admit right here that I�ve never seen Footloose notwithstanding the fact that I�m kind of an eighties child. Except, I�m not. I�m actually a baby boomer. (That�d be on the tail end of that generation.) Mostly, I grew up in the seventies and I was a young adult in the eighties. However, because I look twenty-something, or even thirty-something, well� people think I�m an eighties child. Perhaps that�s because I threw out my leg warmers only a couple of years ago. Yet, I hadn�t worn them for over twenty years. Oddly, I recently perplexed several people at work by admitting that I�d seen Saturday Night Fever at the theatre. When it was first released. Ironically, I�ll be seeing a movie this week that hasn�t yet been released. And, how many DVDs do I have? Two. Both gifts. But, I'm going to watch it tonight and give you my play-by-play reactions. So, let the magic begin. Great song� lots of feet and some leg warmers. Then straight to church. The damnation of rock-and-roll music. (Heh. Just wait till the rap arrives. That�s all I�m saying.) And, some really huge eye glasses. Just to note, I was no exception there. I have a small face too. Not a good result. Oh, and the boom-box duct-taped to the gun rack? Nice. Goes well with boot-legged cassette tapes that are apparently not parent-approved but result in a whole lot of dancing. Those dancing legs? They come from Satan�s dance floor, don�t you know? Product placement? Toll-House cookies served from a Nike�s shoe box. Have you heard that they�ve already progressed to retroactive product placement? Way more wicked than dancing, yet not that pretty to watch. �Dancing is illegal.� Huh? What? School and church probation? What state is this? I never experienced that but, I was grounded on several occasions. And, the thought that classical music doesn�t �confuse a person�s mind or body�? Yeah, have you ever listened to the whole score of Pomp and Circumstance? The preacher�s daughter. Of course. No picture is complete without that whole conflict. In my early years of high school, my best friend was the daughter of a preacher. I was no stranger to religion as my whole family was involved with our church. Which was a different church than my best friend�s church. Their family lived above that church, actually. And, they had more rules than we did. One amongst them was no dancing. Another was no worshipping of false idols. Of course, I wouldn�t want that to happen, yet I had no idea that TV was a �false idol�. It�s even more ironic now because back then? Not so much. TV consisted of no more than 5 channels (where we lived), no cable, no satellite and no computer games. Cellphones were obviously born from Satan�s horns. On the Footloose front, we�ve progressed to tractor chicken fights with the requisite boom box duct-taped to the rear of the vehicle. He�s a hero and he�s gotta be strong because he�s bringing music to the town. Music. That�s the kind of action hero I want to be. The one that brings the boom box. Wait, drinking, smoking and dancing at the same time? As a tantrum? Tell me people don�t do this behind closed doors. The gymnastics were a really cool addition. No so practical in an empty warehouse, but maybe all these non-dancing towns have trapezes in storage. Oh, and a dramatic rescue of a dance-deprived, college-seeking suicidal daughter of a preacher man. I�ve known many a college-seeking, job-seeking, suicidal kids of all sorts of parents in small towns, but you know, dancing never solved any of that. However, I suppose that�s not the point of this movie. Oh lord, they included the old church ladies. Have they no shame? A bar? Aren�t these high school kids? Well, they can cut a rug. (Still a great movie soundtrack.) Oh my god, they can�t help themselves. They�re dancing. Straight to hell I tell you. They�re cutting Satan�s rug. Book burning, fired English teacher, corruption? Oh no, not in this town. It�s already coming around. What�s funny is that I come from small towns and they really don�t come around that easily. Then again, no one ever brought boom boxes and dance to the little villages I lived in. Okay, I�m tired of this movie already. I know how it ends. It�s clear. Dancing changes everything. I�ve never thought it was critical that I see this movie other than it�s an eighties icon. Much like Saturday Night Fever was a seventies icon. Now you also know why no one likes to go to movies with me � and frankly why I don�t go to many. I�m way too critical and not prone to fancy. That�s funny too because I�m going to a movie this week that I don�t really want to see because I�m not going to like it. But whatever. It�s not like I can�t dance. your thoughts? seed flower