Guilty pleasures

My name is M-j, and I am a recovering teen movie addict...

Seriously. Wanna know what my guilty pleasure is? Teen movies. Teen romance, comedies, angst, you name it. Do not ask me why. I love sappy, innocent movies.

It probably started in the 80s when I was in grade school and high school. Those were the days of the "Brat Pack" and movies by John Hughes. You know, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful. There are many more that he did not write that were just as worthy. I have no idea why I fell in love with those movies but I did. And then my love turned to classic films for a while. As long as it was filmed in black and white and in the theaters before 1960 I'd watch it.

A few years ago it happened again. Although watching television is a rare occurrence these days, I still find the occasional teen flick on the free cable channels. Recently I have fell in love with 10 Things I Hate About You (a spin on Taming of the Shrew), Clueless (a spin on Emma), She's All That, Can't Hardly Wait, need I say more?

Recently I have found The Princess Diaries, Ella Enchanted and What a Girl Wants. There is something sappy and charming about these dripping-with-cheese-factor movies that I cannot get enough of. Perhaps it is because lately I do not have the brain power to read and yet I am hungry for romance, drama and true love? Who knows. All I know is that when Darling walks into the room once the boys are in bed and I have one of these movies on he rolls his eyes.

And while we are on the subject of things I am embarrassed to admit I watch, let's discuss the Discovery Channels. I cannot get enough of plastic surgery/makeover shows. Now, I would never actually GET plastic surgery. I would never even consider it unless I had some horribly disfiguring condition and even then I would balk at it. But for some reason nothing intrigues me more than these super-vain people spending their life's savings on a face-left or eye-left and are left looking fake and honestly do not look that much better.

Oh, wait! Then there are the gastric bypass shows. You know, I lost 500 lbs? Then had to have a year's worth of plastic surgery to get rid of the hanging skin? Or the teenage boy who had the bypass surgery at 16 because he weighed 500 lbs?

What about the shows about Little People? The Woman With Half a Body? The Girl Born Without a Face? The Mermaid Baby? Conjoined Twins? The Real Rainman? I am getting the sense that the Science Channels are turning into the Science Fiction Channels, or may have been bought out by the National Enquirer. Talk about Tabloid Fodder.

The next time you see me please, do not chastise me for watching this fluff.