Summer Vacation Staff Picks…and yours too!
Though you can’t tell by recent weather conditions, the days are getting longer and the air is getting warmer and soon the clouds will break, unleashing the full radiance of the Northwest sunshine. We at Scarecrow decided to hasten the arrival of summer with a new staff pick section: SUMMER VACATION!!
What does that mean? According to our wise inventory office folks, it’s anything from films featuring the beach or other tropical locales to road movies to vacations gone amuck or anything that keeps with the spirit of summer.
How do we go about assembling a section such as this? Here’s how it usually works:
1) The idea for a section is hatched, either by one inspired staffer or a group of inspired employees.
2) The idea is presented to the inventory office powers that be, who say, “Sure, sounds awesome!”
3) Blank ballots are printed out for the entire staff to fill out. Depending on the size of the section, we usually get five to ten picks. We can’t repeat other employee’s picks, so the competition to fill out ballots is always fierce.
4) We post our completed lists on the shelves in back so everyone can read what’s been picked. People like to congregate there and comment on everyone’s choices. Most of it sounds like this: “DAMN! Why didn’t I think of that!” and “DAMN! I wanted to pick that!”
5) Once most everyone’s done, the hard working inventory crew runs around the store collecting all the chosen films, processing them in our scientific database, putting clever stickers on each box and finally placing them all together on the shelves for you to browse and take home to watch.
The ballots for SUMMER VACATION just went out this morning and already there are many completed lists. A quick glance so far shows they’re heavy on the horror films and include titles ranging from Do The Right Thing to Ernest Goes to Camp.
Once the section is up and running, we’ll post our lists and let you know why we picked what. However, we’re interested in what films YOU would select for a SUMMER VACATION section. Post back here and let us know!
Tags: Stella Discussion
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Here are a few that didn’t make the final cut of my employee pick list:
Vanishing Point – This movie makes me want to take a crazy cross country road trip with the windows down and some sweet soul music blasting on the 8-track.
Tourist Trap – While on my road trip, I will endeavor to avoid any and all roadside concessions run by Chuck Connors.
Dudes – This is another road trip movie which I really love, its kind of like Easy Rider, except that instead of being about some idealistic hippies, its about a carload of punk rockers driving from New York to Los Angeles.
Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Killer Mutant Snowman. – You’re probably thinking that a movie with words “killer mutant snowman” in the title has no place on a list of favorite Summer themed movies, but if you are thinking that, you are mistaken. JF2 takes place on a tropical island, where the eponymous snowman is accidentally ressurected. This time he’s got even stupider powers – for instance he can spawn killer snowballs, survive in tropical temperatures, and turn even a tropical paradise into a winter wonderland. I would’ve included it, except that it takes place during Christmas. So, I guess you are right in thinking it has no place on a list of Summer Vacation movies.
Impromptu – This is a completely charming costume drama about the love affair between Frederick Chopan and George Sands. The first part of the film takes place over the course of a long weekend in the country, and although it plays fast and loose with the historical facts, it makes up for it by being witty and just plain fun to watch.
Endless Summer – This vintage surfing documentary is a real classic. Not only does it have some truly amazing footage, but it perfectly captures the spirit of its era. Even you don’t live near the beach, Endless Summer practically makes you feel the sand between your toes.
Back to the Beach – This 1987 parody of the classic Frankie Avalon Annette Funicello beach pictures is one of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. With cameo appearances by Pee Wee Herman, Dick Dale, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Surf Punks, and others (there’s even a duet between Annette Funicello and Fishbone) Back to the Beach is one of those rare films that can make me nostalgic for two eras at once.
a polling of our office yielded the following results:
-Lord of the Flies
-Gleaming the Cube
-Blue Lagoon
-Sleepaway Camp
-The Monkees (TV series)
-Wet Hot American Summer
-The Goonies
-Dogtown and Z Boys
-Point Break
-Cannibal Holocaust
and Overboard, which is was deemed almost too amazing to be confined to just a “summer movie” list.
The Summer Vacation section is up! Here are my picks:
Jesus Camp—Why make macaroni necklaces when you could be crying over tiny plastic fetuses? Why sing around a campfire when you could be speaking in tongues? This summer camp for Evangelical Christian kids is so strict, the kids aren’t even allowed to tell ghost stories.
Dirty Dancing—What would have happened if Baby hadn’t carried that watermelon? My guess is the summer would have been a little less eventful.
Gidget—Girl likes boy. Boy likes to surf. Girl learns how to surf to attract attention of Boy. Minor complications ensure, but all is resolved when Girl remembers, “To be a real woman is to bring out the best in a man.” Boy and Girl fall in love and surf together. Ugh. This film is downright ridiculous, but the fake surfing close-ups are hilarious.
Neverending Story—This must have been the only VHS tape available for rental or purchase in the greater Omaha area during the summers of 1985 and 86, because it was the ONLY movie ever showed at my day care center. I still smell the clover in the play yard whenever it’s on.
R.E.M.: Parallel—“Nightswimming” is the perfect summer evening song and the video, directed by Jem Cohen, perfectly captures that humid Southern twilight. “September’s coming soon…”
Seattle Mariners: Sweet 116: The summer of 2001 was an wonderful and welcome reprieve from the usual pain and suffering that comes with being a Seattle Mariners fan.
A League of Their Own—Dirt in the skirt!! Dirt in the skirt!!
Head—Every summer needs a great soundtrack, and this film certainly has one. The scene where Mickey roams the desert (shirtless!) and finds a Coke machine is wonderful too.
I would take any opportunity to encourage people to see Weekend at Bernies II, which I assure you is not nearly as bad as you think it is. High praise, I realize.
[...] Some of you may have read Madamecrow’s post about the Summer Vacation section here at the ‘Crow, but in case you didn’t, here’s a brief re-cap: the staff was asked to select some vacationy/summery movies for a large special section, and we were all (staff and blog readers alike) asked to contribute to the list. The original post was made before the section was actually completed and has since been burried under other posts, so I’m going to revive it here. Here’s what we have so far: [...]