24 Years Late: I just watched The Breakfast Club for the first time and I'd like to talk about it, please.

So. I just watched The Breakfast Club (1985) for the first time. It was for "research" for another project I have going on in my life. If you were here in my apartment with me right now, I'd want to talk to you about it, even though you probably saw it a long time ago and are probably over, or more likely never were interested in, discussing it at length. So consider yourself fortunate that instead of berating you verbally with these thoughts, you only have to peruse them in text form until you decide to click away. Perhaps you already have. Without further ado:

Why oh why is it called The Breakfast Club?

• Again, I've never really had a discussion with anyone about this film, so perhaps this is old news, but please tell me it is generally agreed upon that this is a silly title? Five kids all have detention together on a Saturday from 7-3, early on they discuss different "clubs" (social clubs vs academic clubs vs sport teams vs belonging to no clubs), they eat lunch together, they indicate that they may or may not be friends once this day is over, and then they leave, some of them kissing before they do. They never eat breakfast. 7am does seem early, which is what a lot of the internet posts defending the title or attempting to explain the title pointed to, but actually 7am only seems early for those of us who are no longer on the primary/secondary school schedule. That is just a normal school day that those kids went through. Listen, to me, your title should be one of two things: 1) obviously from the story you are telling (examples of this abound: The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, 10 Things I Hate About You), or 2) although not from the story, title is something that compliments or offers a new twist on our understanding of the story (in The Fountainhead, the word "fountainhead" never appears in the book, but that title works because it supports a theme of the book). In contrast, The Breakfast Club toes the line between making sense and not making sense, in a way that aggravates me more than it should. It feels like an attempt was made to go for the first category of title I described above, something directly from the movie, but there is no justification for "Brian"/Anthony Michael Hall signing their essay "The Breakfast Club." Some of the internet posts defending the title cited this as the reason for the film's title, but this is circular logic to me. The Detention Club maybe? The Saturday Club perhaps? It felt like it was going for a title like this. On the other hand, if the intention was to go for the second type of less obvious title, than I think it wasn't taken far enough. Something like, Nothing Better To Do or What We Did To Get In Here or Five White Kids. Speaking of that...

All types of kids (all of the types of white relatively good looking kids, that is)

• So I suppose it can be attributed to being an artifact of the times or whatever, but if one was going to write a blog entry about one's first time watching The Breakfast Club (which I seem to be doing) then I think it would be impossible not to at least mention this fact. I mean, especially for a film that is about taking five strangers from different backgrounds and showing that they have more in common than they think, it might have been a bit more ambitious to choose a slightly more representative cross section of American society at the time. But hey, at this point it is what it is. I'm mainly sharing my viewing experience, not offering an earnest plea for how the movie should have been made. By the time both the teacher and the janitor were also good looking white dudes, it just seemed like it wasn't simply a grave oversight, but actually possibly an active effort to keep this film white. That being said, this film wouldn't be a classic and hold the place that it does in popular culture without doing a few things pretty damn well...

Ambitious decisions

• Despite the misgivings shared above, there were some things that I really admired. For example, it takes place in one location: a school. Not only that, most of the "action" takes place within the library. Action has been placed in quotation marks because not much action actually occurs, which is also ambitious. I imagine watching this film (pre the teen romantic comedies of the 90s and way pre mumble core films about youth) back in 1985, there was a tremendous feeling amongst middle class teenagers of being able to relate to these characters in a way that previous films might not have had. I imagine movie goers might have even exclaimed things like, "Hey, they're just like us!" or "Hey, they're just sitting around the school talking about stuff - that is what we do!" or even "Hey, they're making jokes, smoking weed in detention, and throwing lunch meat on library statues - aka what we did yesterday!" And while at times there are punches of 80s music that now feel dated and hilarious, there are also long stretches where there is no musical scoring at all, just the dialogue, something that I admire a lot. Music, sometimes more than anything else, in movies tells the viewer what emotion he or she should be feeling at this time. Without music, there is more onus on the viewer to decide how he or she feels about what is on the screen at that moment. At the beginning of the film especially, there is a long break in music between the opening credits and the first time it kicks in again after we've been introduced to all of the characters. During this stretch, there is nothing to entertain us or get us drawn in but the individuals and the unremarkable dialogue we're observing on the screen. I think that is ambitious for a mainstream film.
  

Length of the essay

• They are supposed to write a 1000 word essay. The essay that is read at the end is probably around 90 words. This is fine, but for crazy people like me, if this isn't addressed at least, then inevitably I will notice it and it will take me out of the movie going experience. I was unable to enjoy the satisfaction of the ending because I was just thinking, "Wow, that was way less than 1000 words." Again, ending with an Anthony Michael Hall 1000 word voice over would probably be a bad call, but if you're going to make such a big deal about the length of the essay at the top of the film, then you at least need to address it. One line is all I need. "Well, this isn't quite 1000 words, but here goes..." Again, I am a crazy person, so keep that in mind.
  

Phew. Aren't you glad you weren't here in person for me to say all of this stuff to you?

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to tell me why I'm wrong.

Love,
nate

Empire Autos Extends Cash For Clunkers!

Hey friends,

I wrote this for a sketch class I'm in right now. Let me know what you think.

Clunkers,
nate

The Lonely Island parody parody: Like A Sauce

Hey friends,

Because the nation demanded it! A parody of The Lonely Island's "Like A Boss." We proudly present "Like A Sauce," a song about a guy who thinks he is a sauce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLvM91nLW8M

Written by and starring Nate Dern. Directed/visual effects by Isaac Ravishankara. Cinematography by Sam Ellison. Music recorded and mixed by Matt O'Malley.

Love,
nate

Post-it Super Sticky Notes: I wear my feelings on my Post-it.

Hey friendos,

I made a video for a Post-it Notes video contest with a little help from the http://stacyanne.tumblr.com/

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION,
nate

finished reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 recently

Howdy.

Finished reading Fahrenheit 451 recently. It was the first time I'd read it. Also, feels like I haven't read any book front to cover in a while. Enjoyed reading it. Definitely worthwhile. Glad I did. You should read it, if you haven't. A good book about books. Here are some choice quotes to entice you:

Grandfather's been dead for all these years, but if you lifted my skull, by God, in the convolutions of my brain you'd find the big ridges of his thumbprint. He touched me. As I said earlier, he was a sculptor. 'I hate a Roman named Status Quo!' he said to me. 'Stuff your eyes with wonder,' he said, 'live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in facgtories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,' he said, 'shake the tree and knock the great sloth on his ass.'

Here is another good one:

Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores.

And the one that seems the most likely to stick with me:

You're afraid of making mistakes. Don't be. Mistakes can be profited by. Man, when I was young I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.

Yes, this last one stays with me.

Previously I never would have thought that "shoving your ignorance in people's faces" could possibly be a good thing. But Mr. Bradbury has convinced me that it could be. I recently made a video that I posted on YouTube talking about why I don't like to go to parties. When I'd finished making it, I was nervous about posting it because it felt a bit too earnest and I was afraid that I'd regret having others see it. In the end I posted it. Sure enough, there were a few points that I had attempted to make that people objected to in the comments section, some objections that I foresaw, but more significantly also some that I hadn't expected. So to continue Mr. Bradbury's metaphor, the objections that I foresaw were blows that I was expecting and was prepared to deflect; the objections that I didn't expect, however, were the ones that got through the defense I'd prepared, made contact, and left me a different shape than I was before.

To be clear: this isn't a celebration of ignorance, it is a celebration of being brave enough to put your ignorance out into the light so that the world can show you whats wrong with it, and its a celebration of being open to being shown your own ignorances. We all have many.

And now here I am again, feeling as if I've been a bit too earnest, not really said anything worthwhile while thinking I have. I've never taken a literature course. I don't have anything particularly intelligent to say about Fahrenheit 451 or Ray Bradbury, I can't pretend to be able to offer any new insights to literary theory. I really don't have any business at all posting a blog entry about this or any book. Don't listen to me. If you've read this far I apologize.

So. Should I post it?

I'm telling a story at the Heeb storytelling event!

Hey friends,

I'll be telling a story at the Heeb magazine storytelling event this Wednesday. So will some other folks. Here are the details:

Heeb Storytelling returns to 92Y Tribeca with 7-minute Jewish stories from:

Simon Rich (SNL writer),
Nate Dern ("Beauty and the Geek" alum and comedian),
Scott Raab (celebrity journalist),
Louis Katz (comedian),
Mindy Raf (comedian/writer),
and Doree Shafrir & Jessica Grose (Postcards From Yo Momma).

The event will be hosted by Hannibal Buress,
one of New York Magazine's "Ten New Comedians That Funny People Find Funny."

$10. For tickets call 212-601-1000 or www.92Y.org

When: July 22, 9:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Where: 92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street, New York, NY
More Info: heebmagazine.com/events

Should be fun,
nate

QLP #33: Does anybody know anybody at a party?

In this installment of QLP I discuss the possibility of being yourself at a party. Note: Nate is an introverted dork, so keep that in mind when considering his perspective on the subject.