she's killer-diller when she's dressed to the hilt

Sometime between the end of my love for the New Kids on the Block (yeah, yeah) and the beginning of my appreciation of Nirvana, I was living in San Diego, skipping school on a regular basis, volunteering as a peer counselor, and eating too much ice cream.

I was also a wee bit obsessed with the Beatles, a little-known band that broke up seven years before I was born.

I announced to my family (with a requisite dramatic flourish) that after my death, my ashes were to be scattered in Central Park's Strawberry Fields.

I incessantly listened to "Abbey Road" on vinyl, whose Side Two medley alone secured the entire record as (still) my favorite of all time.

I even wore out my VHS copy of "Help!", a film that I certainly preferred over "Magical Mystery Tour" and "A Hard Day's Night" (though the latter was most critically-acclaimed).

Though John Lennon later publicly complained about the filming, and even said that they "felt like extras" in their own movie, don't they look like they're having a good time?


"Help!" was on the Sundance Channel tonight and I watched it for the first time in over a decade -- but could still recall almost every line.