My inner quirk now resides somewhere between Amy Adams and Emily Blunt from Sunshine Cleaning (2009).

After a seven month layoff, I’ve gone back to work. While this means I will no longer have to eat Apple Jacks for supper or wait on Sacramento to shake some loose change out of the sofa for my unemployment check, a daytime gig means I have been unable to produce any new content for This Distracted Globe. Please bear with me while I readjust to wearing socks and having a clue and I’ll be back real soon.

There was probably no better year to be a kid going to the movies than 1984.

It seems like I might have spent most of the year at two theaters in northwest Houston: the AMC North Oaks 6 and a six screen General Cinemas theater at the gargantuan Willowbrook Mall. Willowbrook featured countless retail stores. Toys By Roy and a shop that sold role playing game gear are two that stand out because I was their ideal customer at the time.

I preferred North Oaks. In addition to the movie theater, there was B. Dalton Booksellers and Aladdin’s Castle arcade. North Oaks lacked an essential element in the development of the mall as a social scene — the food court — but this suited my purposes well. I could safely enter the world of the movie with minimal risk of running into Shu-Shu Taylor and worrying what I would have to say to her.

Romancing the Stone, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Top Secret!, Night of the Comet, Dune, Beverly Hills Cop and Starman are among the pictures I remember spending time in a darkened theater with. Some (Red Dawn, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Johnny Dangerously) I felt were masterpieces at the time. Others (Conan the Destroyer, Cannonball Run II, Runaway) I felt were crap then and 25 years has done little to change my mind.

Dialing the way-back machine to the year of 1984 with me over the next several days are the following bloggers. This post will be updated as their links continue to come in, so check back. If you enjoy the content you’re discovering at these sites, bookmark, blogroll or brag about them to anyone you know who loves reading about movies.

Jeremy Richey at Moon In The Gutter brings us all a dream of Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare On Elm Street, with some spooky screen shots.

Neil Fulwood at The Agitation of the Mind opens up the ledger on Sergio Leone’s melancholy swan song Once Upon A Time in America.

Ivan Lerner at The United Provinces of Ivanlandia (too bad for anyone else thinking of naming their blog that!) is all over the stupidest smart movie of 1984: Red Dawn.

Mike Phillips at goatdogblog answers the question of how you make a documentary without the cooperation of the subject with Maximillian Schell’s Marlene.

“Wings” at Caffeinated Joe beholds Crispin Glover dancing and other Crystal Lake horrors in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.

Jeff McMahon at When the Dead Walk the Earth chimes in with what he loves about Bill “Ghostbustin” Murray in Ghostbusters.

Patricia Evans at Pretty Pink Patty’s Pictures takes us back through the dark woods with Little Red Riding Hood in The Company of Wolves. Apropos to Patricia’s location, Neil Jordan’s adult faerie tale opened in the U.K. in 1984.

Kelsy Chesnut at cheerful cynicism embarks on a review as epic and ridiculous as the film itself, taking her first trip to the David Lynch adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Fantastic post, Kelsy!

Jim Wilson at Let’s Not Talk About Movies recounts the legend of Roy Hobbs, a siren’s bullet and a baseball bat called Wonderboy in The Natural.

Chuck Bowen at Bowen’s-Cinematic revisits Ron Howard’s “wonderful, frisky fantasy” Splash. I couldn’t have said it any better, Chuck!

Edward Copeland at Edward Copeland on Film polishes off his Blue Blaze Irregular badge and blasts back to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension.

Daniel Getahun at Getafilm marvels over The Gods Must Be Crazy. A film connoisseur, Dan knows that this South African comedy played all over the globe before reaching U.S. art houses in 1984, but his take makes me glad he picked it.

Amanda Rehagen at My Life in Movies ventures back to Fantasia for Wolfgang Petersen’s adaptation of Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. Awesome selection, Amanda! Can’t wait to find out if that creature was a dragon or a flying dog.

In the first of two exclusives he nabbed for this blogathon, Jim Magovern at The Moviezzz Blog chats with actress Catherine Mary Stewart about The Last Starfighter and Night of the Comet. Coming real soon, Stewart’s Comet co-star Kelli Maroney. Jim, you win the Carl Bernstein Award for tenacity!

Jim Magovern at The Moviezzz Blog grabs a word or two with actress Kelli Maroney about Night of the Comet.

Megan Cahalan at All I Need Is Everything uses the movies of 1984 to recall an experience growing up. On Monday, it was doing “The Neutron Dance” from Beverly Hills Cop. Tuesday brings memories of Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner doing the business in Romancing the Stone. I really enjoyed your take on this blogathon, Megan.

J.D. Lafrance at Radiator Heaven dreams about Michael Pare and Diane Lane in Walter Hill’s maligned rock ‘n roll fable Streets of Fire.

Christian Divine at Technicolor Dreams turns in an old homework assignment, but his defense of Alex Cox’s Repo Man rates way better than an incomplete grade.

Marilyn Ferdinand at Ferdy on Films descends into Michael Radford’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. Thanks, Marilyn! This post was worth the wait and is a key film to close to the blogathon on.

“What you looking at? You never seen a guy who slept with a fish before?” — Freddie (John Candy) in Splash (1984)

This Distracted Globe will host its first ever carnival — The Class of ’84 Blogathon — on Monday, October 26, 2009. On this date, anyone with a website is invited to post their thoughts on a movie or movies released in 1984. October 26 marks the 25th anniversary of The Terminator, which will be my addition to the festivities.

In addition to those contributors previously announced, the following bloggers are also set to go nostalgic:

Wings over at Caffeinated Joe will return to Crystal Lake with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.

Between hot dogs and beer, the busy Tommy Salami at Pluck You, Too! is weighing his options carefully.

Kate Hanley at Life with a Cocktail is set to go Footloose.

Also making her contribution a game time decision will be Megan Cahalan at All I Need Is Everything.

If you haven’t already done so, RSVP This Distracted Globe in either the comments section below or via email at journeymanjones [at] gmail [dot] com. As soon as your post goes live on October 26, remember to email me your URL so I can publish it. Failure to do so may result in a bucket of seawater being thrown on yous.

“Honest work. Let me tell ya somethin’ about ‘honest work’. When somebody says they got ‘honest work’, you know what they got? They got a shit job, that’s what they got.” — Charlie (Mickey Rourke) in The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)

This Distracted Globe will host its first ever carnival — The Class of ’84 Blogathon — on Monday, October 26, 2009. On this date, anyone with a website is invited to post their thoughts on a movie or movies released in 1984. October 26 marks the 25th anniversary of The Terminator, which will be my contribution to the festivities.

Who’s participating so far and which movies are they planning to revisit?

Why a 1984 blogathon?

If you haven’t already done so, RSVP This Distracted Globe in either the comments section below or via email at journeymanjones [at] gmail [dot] com. As soon as your post goes live on October 26, remember to email me your URL so I can publish it. Failure to do so may result in a Bedbug Eddie number being put on yous.

This Distracted Globe has announced that its first ever carnival — The Class of ’84 Blogathon — will convene Monday, October 26, 2009. On this date, anyone with a website is invited to post their thoughts on a movie released in 1984.

The registrar’s office has released the names of those scheduled to participate and the films they plan on bringing to class:

Marilyn Ferdinand at Ferdy on Films will descend into director Michael Radford’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984.

J.D. LaFrance at Radiator Heaven to dream about Michael Pare and Diane Lane in the maligned “rock ‘n roll fable” Streets of Fire.

Jim Magovern at The Moviezzz Blog is weighing in on the most influential movies of 1984.

Neil Fulwood at The Agitation of the Mind will open up the ledger on Sergio Leone’s gangland masterpiece Once Upon A Time In America.

Ivan Lerner at The United Provinces of Ivanlandia to go gung-ho over John Milius’ guerilla warfare fantasy Red Dawn.

Amanda Rehagen at My Life In Movies is making her contribution a game-time decision.

Kelsy Chesnut at Cheerful Cynicism will take a trip to David Lynch’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Charles Bowen Jr. at Bowen’s Cinematic to take a look back at Tom Hanks’ first starring role with Splash.

Patricia Evans at Pretty Pink Patty’s Pictures is bringing Neil Jordan’s adult faerie tale The Company of Wolves.

Edward Copeland at Edward Copeland on Film will give props to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension.

Michael W. Phillips Jr. at Goatdog Blog to cover Marlene, Maximilian Schell’s documentary on Marlene Dietrich.

Daniel Getahun at Getafilm is naming his contribution at the bell.

Pat Piper at Lazy Eye Theatre will throw his gaze on whichever 1984 movie he pleases and the rest is for YOU to find out.

Ned Merrill at Obscure One-Sheet to throw a party for Jonathan Demme’s perfect concert film Stop Making Sense.

Jeff McMahon at When the Dead Walk the Earth is also naming his contribution at a later date.

Jim Wilson at Let’s Not Talk About Movies will be a horn of plenty, ‘84 style, with articles on The Natural, The Razor’s Edge and 2010.

Jeremy Richey at Moon in the Gutter to bring us all a dream of Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare on Elm Street.

October 26 will mark the 25th anniversary of The Terminator, which will be my contribution to the festivities.

Multiple perspectives on the same movies are welcome. To participate, RSVP This Distracted Globe in either the comments section below or via email at journeymanjones [at] gmail [dot] com. As soon as your post goes live on October 26, remember to email me your URL so I can publish it.

“I’ll be back.” Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

There was probably no better year to be a kid going to the movies than 1984.

It seems like I might have spent most of the year at two theaters in northwest Houston: the AMC North Oaks 6 and a six screen General Cinemas theater at the gargantuan Willowbrook Mall. Willowbrook featured countless retail stores. Toys By Roy and a shop that sold role playing game gear are two that stand out because I was their ideal customer at the time.

I preferred North Oaks. In addition to the movie theater, there was B. Dalton Booksellers and Aladdin’s Castle arcade. North Oaks lacked an essential element in the development of the mall as a social scene — the food court — but this suited my purposes well. I could safely enter the world of the movie with minimal risk of running into Shu-Shu Taylor and worrying what I would have to say to her.

A sample of the movies that came in 1984:

This Distracted Globe will go nostalgic by hosting its first ever carnival — The Class of ’84 Blogathon — on Monday, October 26, 2009. On this date, anyone with a website is invited to post their thoughts on a movie released in 1984. October 26 marks the 25th anniversary of The Terminator, which will be my contribution to the festivities.

To participate, RSVP This Distracted Globe in either the comments section below or via email at journeymanjones [at] gmail [dot] com. As soon as your post goes live on October 26, remember to email me your URL so I can publish it.

If you were too busy playing Zork on your Commodore 64 to recall the year’s movies, I recommend consulting The Moviezzz Blog, where Jim Magovern recently generated a list of many of the films that hit theaters in 1984. Below are some buttons Aaron Valdez has designed for any promotional needs you might have.

Here at This Distracted Globe, I rarely take the opportunity to share the best of what I find on the Internet. I’ve got links to my favorite movie and culture commentators in my blogroll, but there’s fantastic content out there that deserves far greater recognition.

Examples of posts, articles or websites deserving far greater recognition:

* Industry professionals reporting on the state of the art, or offering their read on where film is headed

* Intelligent, thought provoking reviews or lists

* Witty, insightful retrospectives

* Video interviews with talented people by great talk show hosts

* Creativity that took either a good deal of time, or a great deal of talent, to produce. Sometimes both

* Musical genius I get a kick out of hearing in the middle of my day

* Comic genius I get a kick out of hearing in the middle of my day

By now you’re probably asking: how can I get access to all of this on a daily basis? By signing up for StumbleUpon and following my “stumbles”.

StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site where people can exchange websites that they find interesting, write reviews about them and share their discoveries with other users. It works with a toolbar you’ll be able to install on your browser, whether you use Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

When you sign up for a StumbleUpon account, anyone in your email address book already using the site will automatically begin to appear under a “What’s New” tab with the sites they’ve discovered and recommend. You can also find people who like the same content you do and follow their recommendations by selecting them as a friend.

Feel free to check out my stumbles here. If you like what you’re reading, you can subscribe to my favorites, or send a friend request my way like you would on Facebook.

What I won’t recommend:

* Sites featuring flagrant use of the following words: auteur, cinema, essay

* Sites featuring flagrant use of the following names: Apatow, Frodo, Transformers

* Sites with obnoxious ads or any commercials

* Sites with obtrusive music or sound

* Celebrity death notices

* Photoshopped images. Photoshopped Star Wars images in particular

* Most anything to do with Star Wars at this point, actually

This Distracted Globe. Delivering an infinitely better playlist than the one from this movie

In a first here at This Distracted Globe, I’m taking a break from my usual writing regimen to participate in The 12 Movies Meme, which Pat Piper at Lazy Eye Theatre started last week. Pat asked his legions of readers to pretend they were curators at the New Beverly Cinema – L.A.’s renowned revival theater – and to program six double features. Here are my selections and the days they would be played:

Monday: Harry and Walter Go To New York (1976)/ The Fortune (1975)

Harry and Walter Go To New York (1976)
Screenplay by Don Devlin and John Byrum, story by John Byrum
Directed by Mark Rydell
Cast: James Caan, Elliott Gould, Diane Keaton, Michael Caine, Charles Durning, Lesley Ann Warren, Jack Gilford, Val Avery, Carol Kane, David Proval, Michael Conrad, Burt Young
Produced by Devlin-Gittes/ Tony Bill
Running time: 115 minutes

The Fortune (1975)
Written by Carole Eastman
Directed by Mike Nichols
Cast: Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Stockard Channing, Scatman Crothers, Dub Taylor
Produced by Columbia Pictures
Running time: 88 minutes

Tuesday: Charley Varrick (1973)/ Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

Charley Varrick (1973)
Screenplay by Howard Rodman and Dean Riesner, based on the novel by John Reese
Directed by Don Siegel
Cast: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Andrew Robinson, Felicia Farr, Sheree North, Norman Fell
Produced by Universal Pictures
Running time: 111 minutes

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Written by Michael Cimino
Directed by Michael Cimino
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy, Geoffrey Lewis, Catherine Bach, Gary Busey, Vic Tayback, Dub Taylor
Produced by The Malpaso Company
Running time: 115 minutes

Wednesday: Young Doctors In Love (1982)/ Top Secret! (1984)

Young Doctors In Love (1982)
Written by Michael Elias & Rich Eustis
Directed by Garry Marshall
Cast: Michael McKean, Sean Young, Dabney Coleman, Rick Overton, Crystal Bernard, Ted McGinley, Saul Rubinek, Harry Dean Stanton, Pamela Reed, Taylor Negron, Michael Richards
Produced by ABC Motion Pictures
Running time: 96 minutes

Top Secret! (1984)
Written by Jerry Zucker & Jim Abrahams & David Zucker and Martyn Burke
Directed by Jerry Zucker & Jim Abrahams & David Zucker
Cast: Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Christopher Villiers, Jeremy Kemp, Warren Clarke, Harry Ditson, Jim Carter, Eddie Tagoe, Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing
Produced by Kingsmere Properties/ Paramount Pictures
Running time: 90 minutes

Thursday: The Dark Crystal (1982)/ Return To Oz (1985)

The Dark Crystal (1982)
Screenplay by David Odell, story by Jim Henson
Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz
Cast: Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz
Produced by Jim Henson Productions/ ITC
Running time: 93 minutes

Return To Oz (1985)
Screenplay by Walter Murch & Gill Dennis, based on the books by L. Frank Baum
Directed by Walter Murch
Cast: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark
Produced by Silver Screen Partners II/ Walt Disney Pictures
Running time: 113 minutes

Friday: Foxes (1980)/ Over the Edge (1979)

Foxes (1980)
Written by Gerald Ayres
Directed by Adrian Lyne
Cast: Jodie Foster, Sally Kellerman, Scott Baio, Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan, Kandice Stroh, Randy Quaid, Lois Smith
Produced by Casablanca Filmworks
Running time: 106 minutes

Over the Edge (1979)
Written by Charlie Haas & Tim Hunter
Directed by Jonathan Kaplan
Cast: Michael Eric Kramer, Pamela Ludwig, Matt Dillon, Tom Fergus, Vincent Spano, Harry Northup, Tiger Thompson, Andy Romano, Ellen Geer, Julia Pomeroy
Produced by Orion Pictures
Running time: 95 minutes

Saturday: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)/ The Thing (1982)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Screenplay by W.D. Richter, based on the novel by Jack Finney
Directed by Philip Kaufman
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, Art Hindle
Produced by Solofilm/ United Artists
Running time: 115 minutes

The Thing (1982)
Screenplay by Bill Lancaster, based on the short story by John W. Campbell Jr.
Directed by John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Ricahrd Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, Thomas Waites
Produced by Turman-Foster Company/ David Foster Productions/ Universal Pictures
Running time: 109 minutes

Fellow curators of the overlooked and underappreciated:

Jeremy Richey at Moon In The Gutter
Alan Lopuszynski at Burbanked
Marilyn Ferdinand at Ferdy on Films, etc.
Moviezzz at The Moviezzz Blog
Megan Cahalan at All I Need Is Everything
Raquelle at Out of the Past

© Joe Valdez