Say Anything

[Lorizael]

I watched this movie for the first time last night. For those who don't know, Say Anything is the tragic story of Diane Court, a high school valedictorian whose seemingly perfect life turns out to be a facade that crumbles to nothing over the summer after graduation. A seemingly minor side plot involves Diane hooking up with a local bum who's infatuated with her. By the end of the movie, we know Diane's sense of self has been utterly destroyed when, after having lost everything else, she lets the obsessed boy follow her to England as she begins her college career. Although this is a cruel fate for Diane, casting John Cusack in the role of creepy, lovesick puppy means we are not too surprised.

Oh, also, a brief scene in which Cusack harasses Diane with a boombox is now considered iconic. How did that happen?

[The Mad Monk]

Anything

[Elok]

Didn't see this. I did, however, once see this other movie where five disparate kids get stuck in detention on Saturday by a principal so incompetent that he can't be bothered to actually stay in the room with them, despite one having criminal tendencies and another probably being a cutter. They spend a couple of hours smoking pot and snarking before coming to the life-changing realization that they are not all the completely one-dimensional stereotypes the screenwriters presented them as. Group hug!

[Lorizael]

Oh man, detention. I remember getting detention once, but I cannot now recall why. For some reason public school punished you for breaking a set of arbitrary rules, but didn't punish you (explicitly) for making a series of poor choices that inevitably lead to bleak prospects for your future.

[Jon Miller]

I got in detention numerous times for not doing what teachers said:
Like stopping reading books (I did great in the class, why did I need to listen?) or telling the teacher they were wrong (he was... ).

JM

[Elok]

When I was in fifth grade or so, we had a terribly dim substitute who was a good two or three reading levels below us. I took this as license to mock her to her face, and got myself in some pretty big trouble. That evening my parents sternly explained to me that authority figures must be respected even if they are comically incompetent. They were right, but the lesson didn't go over well with me. I still sometimes find it hard.

[Jon Miller]

The teacher who I argued with in class was wrong, even though he was the best teacher in the school (despite possibly sometimes coming to class high). I was just a little immature and couldn't accept that I didn't need to correct everyone.

JM

[Lorizael]

Hm. I was always very compliant toward authority, even when I "knew" I was right. It was part of my desire to be invisible, to simply pass through the world unnoticed. I saved my vitriol for my peers, because they were the ones who made life difficult for me. Sure, they might bully and humiliate me, but at least I was smarter than they were, blah blah...

[Jon Miller]

I was always much more interested in interacting with the adults than the kids.

JM

[Lorizael]

I wasn't interested in interacting with anybody, but the kids threatening to dunk me because I wore glasses (or whatever) required some kind of response.

[ricketyclik]

Oh man, detention. I remember getting detention once, but I cannot now recall why. For some reason public school punished you for breaking a set of arbitrary rules, but didn't punish you (explicitly) for making a series of poor choices that inevitably lead to bleak prospects for your future.

They didn't need to punish for that, life does.

[Lorizael]

Tell me about it.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

...Please don't tell him about it...

[Lorizael]

When I graduate this December, I'm thinking about yelling, "**** you, high school Lori!" as I walk.

[Jon Miller]

I wasn't interested in interacting with anybody, but the kids threatening to dunk me because I wore glasses (or whatever) required some kind of response.

People in my highschool were (rumored?) to push the penny (which was to push the penny around a toilet bowl with their tongue).

I mostly didn't use the toilet at school (luckily they stilled allowed students to leave the school building when I attended). I also didn't have anything to do with kids outside of the AP/etc courses.

JM