"Blaine? His name is Blaine? That's not a name it's a major appliance!"

To those of you out there who recognize this as one of Duckie's lines from Pretty In Pink, today is a sad day. John Hughes, responsible for Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and others, passed away today while taking a morning walk in Manhattan. He was only 59.

When I read the Twitter post saying he'd died, my mind immediately flooded with flashes from his movies, like a montage on a highlight reel. Looking back, his movies definitely impacted me and most of my friends. (One of my college roommates would constantly get her hair cut to whatever Molly Ringwald's current style was.) The thing that I recall most vividly was how he managed to capture our angst and awkwardness. I imagine most grown-ups back then thought these movies were just drivel, but to those of us in our teens, they made us feel less alone, less like we were the only ones who had to deal with the indignities of high school and growing up.

To my mind, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Great Outdoors are two of Hughes' funniest works. There's nothing that I can say about Ferris that hasn't been (or won't soon be) said by myriad others in their tributes to Hughes. I'll only say that going to college in Chicago we'd make pilgrimages to some of the key scene locations in the film and recite the lines. John Hughes loved Chicago and that region was always an additional character in each film.

The Great Outdoors is for me almost as funny as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (which never fails to make me laugh till I practically cry). John Candy was such a good physical comic and the relationship between Candy and Dan Ackroyd is quite funny, too. I'd best most families have an uncle/brother-in-law like Ackroyd's 'Roman' character. You know, the one who puts on airs and is generally a jackass until some sort of revelation is made causing a cathartic change. Every family has one :) This movie is silly, and silly is good sometimes. Obviously it's not great art or anything, but it's a good honest laugh and we all need those now and then. My favorite scene features the raccoons scavenging through the garbage and repeating Dan Ackroyd's comment about what hot dogs are made of. I'm happy to say that this description is still in use today in the PaperTyger household...my mother likes the occasional hot dog and even at my advanced age I love teasing her and calling them 'lips and assholes.'

As I said up the page a bit, one of my college roommates was a diehard Molly Ringwald fan so Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club were required watching on the Sony Betamax I took to school with me. Yes, a Betamax. (Haven't seen that reference in print for a while, have you??) What young girl didn't want Jake (from Sixteen Candles) waiting for them? And who didn't want a boyfriend like Andrew McCarthy's 'Blaine' (Blaine at the end, not in the middle of the movie when he was a total coward) who totally cut the snobby James Spader's 'Stef' down to size with his line..."You couldn't buy her, though, that's what's killing you, isn't it? Stef? That's it, Stef. She thinks you're shit. And deep down, you know she's right." Bam, take that Stef!! (Is it just me or is Spader's character an eerie precursor to most of the Gossip Girl male cast???) And then there's the heartbreaker, the scene where Andie (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie (the hilarious Jon Cryer) have a confrontation over Blaine. Duckie says what most of us fantasize about saying to someone we feel has misused our feelings, "Well, that's very nice. I'm glad. Well here's... here's the point, Andie. I'm not particularly concerned with whether or not you like me, because I live to like you and... and I can't like you anymore. So... so when you're feeling real low and... and dirty, and your heart is splattered all over hell, don't look to me to pump you back up 'cause... 'cause... 'cause maybe for the first time in your life I WON'T BE THERE!" Enough said.

I guess at the end of the day I look back and feel like Hughes' movies were a real part of my growing up. To those of us of a certain vintage, his films were major milestones on the coming-of-age road. The characters had the same problems as most of us had--from not being one of the "haves" in high school, to a pretty interesting and often accurate portrayal of the various cliques. We recognized our friends, and ourselves, in the characters and casts.

And the music? Absolutely the soundtrack of a section of my life. Echo and The Bunnymen, OMD, The Smiths, Simple Minds, so much great music. I can't hear If You Leave or Don't You Forget About Me, to this day, without thinking of the last few minutes of Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club. It's wonderful to have his movies to look back on and revisit some part of our youth. Reveling in the days when a boy not liking us or playing hooky from school were our biggest worries; the salad teenage days of being concerned by cliques and fitting in.

Like Ferris said, and it is as sound now--advice wise--as it was then, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Thank you, John Hughes, for the memorable lines, beloved characters, and soundtracks that imprinted upon my 1980s formative years and beyond. Requiescat in pacem, John Hughes.

The Last of a Generation

Earlier today, 25 July, 111 year old Harry Patch died in England. While living for over a century--being a "supercentenarian"--is in itself cause for celebration, Patch is remarkable in another way as well. He was the last surviving man to have experienced the horror of fighting on the frontlines and trenches of WWI. (One of the British papers notes that there is still a surviving ambulance driver in the US and a naval officer in Australia, but neither saw the sort of action that Mr. Patch did.)

From the Queen herself to Prince Charles, Harry Patch is being remembered. General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff said: "He was the last of a generation that in youth was steadfast in its duty in the face of cruel sacrifice and we give thanks for his life - as well as those of his comrades - for upholding the same values and freedom that we continue to cherish and fight for today." A winner of many medals and honors during his lifetime (including the French Legion d'honneur) friends noted that each time he was thusly honored, he knew it was for all of the friends he'd left on the battlefields of Europe.

And that's the astonishing thing, this is truly the end of a generation. Mr. Patch was one of the last people to be an eyewitness to some of the most shocking and horrifying warfare ever seen on the face of the earth. He fought at the battle of Passchendaele in 1917, when 70,000 British troops were killed and managed to survive, though seriously wounded.

Much less surprisingly, Patch was, throughout his life--and even amidst the terror of war--staunchly anti-war. He noted in his autobiography that he didn't want to kill his German enemies, he'd try to shoot them in the legs to wound them.

There is also a planned memorial, noted The Times of London, for the "passing of a generation."

Obituaries are always so interesting to read, I think. My childhood piano teacher, Catherine Mackey, always read the obits from the local paper immediately. She was the church organist and had to know if she'd be playing at any funerals during the week so she could arrange her schedule accordingly. Now and then, since my weekly lesson coincided with the delivery of the local rag, she'd note something interesting while she quickly looked over the various notices. It was something that stuck with me and to this day I so marvel at the lives people have lived. Whether it's a major appreciation for a larger-than-life celebrity or a small town notice that only hits the basic high-points, I find obituaries to be rather fascinating. It's also a great reminder for us all to celebrate the people we love--at birthdays or anniversaries--and to showcase their accomplishments, passions, and special talents. Isn't that better than waiting until an obituary to alert the world to how singularly special our loved ones are? I think it is infinitely better.

Here's a link to the obituary to Mr. Patch's compatriot, Henry Allingham, who passed on last week at the brilliant age of 113. We can only hope that wherever both of these two gentleman are is a place of beauty and peace. Requiescat in pacem, Patch and Allingham.

(The last surviving British Tommy, Harry Patch attends the launch of The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, Weston Super Mare, Britain. 27 Oct 2007 Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Rex Features)

Footloose & Fancy-Free-For-All Friday

Sorry about the header, once I got going with the alliteration I couldn't stop.

Since it is Friday (and honestly, doesn't it seem like it's been kind of a tough week?) I thought I'd just mix it up a little. What follows will be a potpourri, a veritable grab-bag, if you will, of some random thoughts.

So late last night while I was NOT sleeping, I was reading book reviews from the Boston Globe. One review, by Joseph Rosenbloom, was a critique of Charles Pierce's Idiot America. A kind of funny review overall, but one line from the book leapt off the page..."Nominating Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential candidate was 'an insult on a par with the elevation of Caligula’s horse.'" Whoa...back up...Caligula's horse?? After four years of high school Latin (sorry to disappoint, Mr. Jewison) and countless years spent reading books about the ancient world, how did I not know the deal with Caligula and his horse, Incitatus? (see image at top--and I'm guessing they mean a jeweled bridle, not collar, but I won't quibble...)

For those of you who know the story...BRAVO. Here, is what I learned from a clever website called The Straight Dope:

"Several of the ancient sources make mention of Caligula's favorite horse, Incitatus, and how the emperor pampered it with a marble stable, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar, and invitations to banquets. Though not mentioned in the 1979 film, there is a persistent belief that Caligula made the horse a consul. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica once repeated this claim as fact, but has since retracted it. There is no basis in the sources to support the idea that the horse was ever actually elevated to the position. Dio and Suetonius do claim he promised to make the horse consul but died before he could fulfill his plan. Among the modern fictional works surveyed, only The Robe has Caligula actually elevating the horse to a consulship. I, Claudius has him make the horse a senator and nominate him for the consulship. If there is anything more than baseless rumor behind the idea that he promised to make the horse a consul, modern historians are inclined to treat it as a joke on Caligula's part rather than a serious vow."

An historical fun-fact for Footloose & Fancy-Free-For-All Friday!

I'll try to take some pictures while I'm at Belmont tomorrow, assuming I still remember how to use the Twitpic function on my BlackBerry. (How embarrassing would it be to not be able to use Twitpic...wouldn't it make you a real twit?) It's also likely that I'll be tweeting, so you can stop by and see what's up on my Twitter feed, too. It's ThePaperTyger (all one word, no spaces) and as I say, barring technical difficulties, I'll hope to have some fun photos. Lower those expectations, though, it's a BlackBerry, not a real camera.

All that said, I'm looking forward to being at the racetrack tomorrow. I don't know what the race schedule is like for Hollywood Park tomorrow so no idea of when Zenyatta's race will be, but I'll have to watch the replay of it when I get home as I don't spend much time inside by the simulcast televisions. I hope both girls have great race and that all tomorrow's competitors (and their brave jockeys) make it across the finish line safely.

In case Caligula wasn't enough history for y'all today...here's Maira Kalman's wonderful essay Time Wastes Too Fast complete with her whimsical artwork and images of Jefferson's Monticello, one of my favorite places anywhere. Enjoy!

And a final thought, Requiescat in Pacem to Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon.

Happy Friday, wherever you are!!