The Films of John Hughes

Writer/director/producer John Hughes had an amazing career. His teen films of the 1980s had a significant impact on Generation X. Just check out this amazing filmography;

1983 Vacation (screenplay)
1984 Sixteen Candles (writer/director)
1985 Weird Science (writer/director)
1985 The Breakfast Club (writer/director/producer)
1986 Pretty in Pink (producer/writer)
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off (writer/director/producer)
1987 Planes, Trains and Automobiles (director/producer/writer)
1989 Uncle Buck (director/producer/writer)
1990 Home Alone (writer/producer)

He was also involved in sequels for Home Alone, Vacation and Beethoven. He additionally has worked on the following films; Mr. Mom, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Great Outdoors, Dutch, Curly Sue, Maid in Manhattan and many more. Since the early 1990s, he has written under the pen name of Edmond Dantes. Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1950, and he got his start as a writer for National Lampoon magazine. No doubt, anyone who had their formative years in the 1980s will look back fondly at many of these works. It would require a high level of creativity to come up with all of these amazing works. He was behind the formation of "The Brat Pack" which included actors such as Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, and Anthony Michael Hall. The group also included those from St. Elmo's Fire such as Rob Lowe and Demi Moore. John Candy appeared in 8 of Hughes's films.

Without John Hughes the world may have never known about Molly Ringwald. Her trilogy of The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles made her a teen icon who was featured on the cover of Time magazine. She has acted in many projects in France and has appeared in a Broadway revival of Sweet Charity. She stars in the ABC Family program The Secret Life of the American Teenager. When VH1 did a countdown of the 100 greatest teen stars she ranked #1.

* Some material for this essay came from imdb.com and en.wikipedia.org.

Oscar Results for 2009

Best Picture-Slumdog Millionaire (this won a total of 8 Academy Awards, also including best score, best song, best editing, best adapted screenplay, best sound mixing and best cinematography)
Best Directing-Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actor-Sean Penn (Milk)
Best Actress-Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Best Supporting Actor-Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Supporting Actress-Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Best Animated Feature-Wall-E

I was glad to see Slumdog do so well. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

*Some information from www.buddytv.com

The Man and the Mouse

My wife and I recently took a trip to Walt Disney World outside of Orlando, Florida, and I was thinking about the impressive empire that Disney created. The Disney company bought 28,000 acres in Florida to build the theme parks. The construction of Magic Kingdom was launched in 1967, and it opened in 1971. Epcot opened in 1982, Hollywood Studios in 1989 and Animal Kingdom in 1998. Walt Disney never saw the park bearing his name since he died in 1966. His brother Roy died in 1971, only 3 months after the opening of the Magic Kingdom. We saw all four parks and visited one each day. Disney's Florida properties also include two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon). There are also 2 Disney areas that have lots of retail/dining/entertainment venues and they are called Disney Downtown and Disney Boardwalk. We went to Disney Downtown and they have a House of Blues, a Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe, several Disney stores, a Lego store, a riverboat that serves seafood, and a performance venue for Cirque du Soleil. There is also a Disney Wedding Pavillion, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex and the Walt Disney World Speedway. In addition to all of this, the area also has 23 Disney owned and operated hotels and 5 golf courses. Anaheim, California's Disneyland opened in 1955, and Walt Disney wanted to open a park that would attract visitors from the eastern portions of the U.S. Walt Disney World employs 66,000 people, and it is the largest single-site employer in America.

* Some information from en.wikipedia.org

CBS Cancels Guiding Light

The longest running television drama is going off the air. The Guiding Light started as a radio show in 1937. It has been on CBS television since 1952. Many soap operas have seen ratings decline over the years. The Guiding Light recently changed its on air look and shot much of the show outdoors on location in New Jersey. This was done in an effort to cut costs, and some cast members have taken pay cuts. CBS currently airs soaps from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm eastern time. They have been the ratings leader for daytime dramas for years, and many soaps on other networks have disappeared. NBC only has one soap left, Days of our Lives. The other daytime hours need to be filled by local affiliates. CBS is looking for a lower cost alternative to air in the time slot, which is 3 pm to 4 pm eastern time. The final episode will air on September 18, 2009. The producers say they may try to resurrect the show by airing it on a different network, perhaps on cable.

*Some information from msn.com and en.wikipedia.org