The Breakfast Club

Dear Mr. Vernon;
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us—in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…

…and an athlete…
…and a basket case…
…a princess…
…and a criminal.
Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club.

My 5 Teenage Superpowers

I'm not sure what prompted my brain to shift into reverse and start thinking about my high school horror days, but something made me wander there today. So I figure I might as well take advantage of it, at least while I still have the ability to remember anything at all. 

If I'm being honest, I wasn't exactly the homecoming queen, nor was I one of the most "popular" girls. What can I say?

I did, however, have a variety of fabulous superpowers as a teenager, which I'm only too happy to share with you now as a means to pass the time in truly Tinalicious style. Maybe you had these superpowers too. Let's find out, shall we? Come on now...this is going to involve a bit of time traveling. Hold on.

The Power of Invisibility

Yes, folks, I had the miraculous ability to stand in any room in my high school and be completely unseen for vast periods of time. This didn't happen all the time, and it really was quite involuntary on my part, but it did happen without warning on numerous occasions. Teachers would mark me absent when I was sitting at my desk. I could raise my hand (when I occasionally knew the answer to the teacher's question) and not be chosen to share my [questionable] wisdom with the class. And frequently in gym class I would be the last person selected for any team--I mean really, it's like they couldn't see me at all until I was the last one standing there. And eventually I really had to wonder...

Interestingly enough, I still have this superpower to this day, though it only happens when I'm in public places, and frequently when there's some hot gal standing next to me. Yep, I become completely invisible. Weird.

The Power to Repel Volleyballs

The only game I liked in gym class was volleyball. Even though I sucked at it. I totally enjoyed it. But the thing I didn't enjoy was my power to repel volleyballs with certain parts of my anatomy. 

Strangely, there's no real benefit to this superpower. Other than to make everyone in gym class laugh at you, which I did on more than one occasion.

The Power to Believe I was Fat
This power was, like, all too powerful. From about 1981, I truly believed I was fat. I believed no clothes fit me. I believed that everything made me look fat--except sweatpants and bib overalls. Believe. It. And I believed that starving myself and taking diet pills was the sure-fire way to fix my utter fatness.

Gif by www.neopolis.gr

You know, I can only wish now that I was as fat as I THOUGHT I was in high school. Dude, I would kill to be that fat. Not a person or anything. And not an animal. Maybe a mosquito. Yeah, a bug of some sort. I don't think PETA could complain too much about that.

 The Power of Absenteeism. Particularly my junior year.

After moving away from all of my friends at the end of the 10th grade I grew very depressed. So by the time my junior year started I took hating school to an all new level. As a result, I missed a lot of school my junior year. A LOT. I just hated being there. It all seemed so pointless.

I will say though that by my senior year I got out of my funk and managed to quit missing so much school, and basically get my crap together. Go, me.

My Powers of Song

I had the uncanny ability and wonderful power to do synchronized lady dancing while singing chart toppers a capella. 

OK. Maybe that last one is a lie. But considering there is a Pitch Perfect 2 movie in the making, it's never really too soon to throw out a Pitch Perfect movie reference, should the opportunity arise. A-ca believe it.

So there you go. My 5 Teenage Superpowers, which I bet you never knew I had. And maybe you had some of them too? Do tell. Drop me a comment and let me know.

 

My Life in Movies

I was reading a guest post on the Dooce blog the other day, in which the guest blogger (Sarah) posted about movie-milestones in her life. It was quite the fun read, and it inspired me to steal borrow her idea and give you all the Tinalicious perspective of My life in Movies. And it's perfect for a Flashback Friday. So grab some popcorn and lets get to it, shall we?

First animated movie that made me cry, even though I denied it at the time, that I watched at the drive-in from the back of my grandparents' station wagon:

Bambi

Movie that I saw at the theater with my mom and my sister, which I didn't want to go see and raged quite a protest, only to fall in love with it:

Gone With the Wind--it was a special showing at our local theater at the time, probably due to an anniversary of the movie or something. I was around 10 years old at the time, I believe. And dang that movie was long! It even had an intermission.

 
Completely inappropriate movie that my mom took me to, thinking that is was a movie about a superhero, and that she had to cover my eyes in several parts before we finally left the theater:

Superfly.  Note: it was not about a superhero.

One of my favorite movies as a teen, that was just a random movie pick when several of my friends and I hit the theater one weekend, that we almost didn't want to see, and yet we loved so much during the show that when the film broke during a crucial moment we all went wild in the theater in protest:

On Golden Pond

Least favorite movie I saw as a teen, in which I WISHED the film would have broken so I would have had a good excuse to leave the theater:

Absence of Malice

Movie my best friend and I tried to go see at the theater, even though it was rated R and we were under age, and that we lied to our parents and told them we were going to see something else when they dropped us off at the theater, and still tried every way possible to sneak into, to no avail:

Endless Love

Movie I have still never seen to this day after the underage, rated R movie fiasco:

Endless Love

Movie that I saw repeatedly in the theater, and that still is my most viewed theater movie (10 times) to date, and that my sister, my cousin and I sang and danced to its soundtrack album in our living room to the point that our neighbors must have thought it was the only album we owned:

Grease

First action movie that I ever loved, that my awesome Uncle Bobby took me to, and that made me want to become an archaeologist for awhile:

Raiders of the Lost Ark

80's Movies that I adored that I still watch to this day:

The Breakfast Club

Pretty in Pink

Say Anything

16 Candles

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Movies that made me fall in love with the leading men back in the day:

Risky Business

Lethal Weapon

Dirty Dancing

Die Hard

Movies that I hated, and I do mean HATED, and that I would never, ever--don't even bother to offer me money 'cause it ain't happening--watch again:

Pulp Fiction

Gone Fishing

What Dreams May Come

Any of the Star Wars "prequels"

Recent movies I can't stop re-watching:

Bridesmaids
Pitch Perfect

Not-So-Recent movies that I love to re-watch, no matter how many times I've seen them:

National Treasure
Tomb Raider
Titanic
The Mummy
The Big Chill
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ghost
Charlie's Angels

Chick Flicks I can watch over and over, that the Hubs can't stand, so I watch them after he goes to bed (unless I'm mad at him, in which case it would do him good to watch them so I have a chick flick marathon instead):

Hope Floats
Ever After
The Notebook
Message in a Bottle
The Twilight Saga
Pretty Woman
Never Been Kissed
Notting Hill
Sweet Home Alabama

Movies I probably shouldn't like, but I actually love:

What a Girl Wants
Peggy Sue Got Married
Xanadu
Along Came Polly

Some movies I absolutely adore, but that you probably haven't seen--but should:

Paradise (starring Melanie Griffith)
The Man in the Moon (starring a young Reese Witherspoon)
Mystic Pizza (starring Julia Roberts, in one of her first movie roles)
While You Were Sleeping (a sleeper hit, starring Sandra Bullock)
Somewhere in Time (starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour)

OK, well, that's a LOT of my life in movies, isn't it? I should end this here, because hopefully, I've inspired you to watch--or re-watch--a movie or two after reading this. As for me, the next movie I'll be watching this weekend is Meet the Millers. How about you?

 

Future Movie Star

For most of my childhood I wanted to be one and only one thing: a Movie Star. And let me clarify this by saying I didn't just want to be an actress. No, no, I had my eyes on the real prize. Movie. Star. You know, as in being so famous that everyone in the world would know you, and want to take your picture or get your autograph. I always believed as a child that I would grow up and be that movie star.

So, from the age of 4 onward, I would literally practice my movie star pose. And it made a regular appearance in candid photos taken by my mom. See for yourself...

That is me in 1971, at age five, giving my well-worn-over-the-shoulder-movie-star pose for mom's ever-present Kodak instamatic camera. In my left hand, a cup of juice, as all movie stars of the day would drink, I'm sure; and in my right hand, a pair of sunglasses--removed only for this Kodak moment because, after all, a movie star needs to retain some modicum of anonymity. Ahem.

All through my childhood, I would be the one wanting to put on shows or plays, either at school or at home, in my ongoing attempt to finely hone my acting chops. After all, one can't be a Movie Star if one cannot act! I adored the spotlight, and the applause, which I would get even when my acting sucked (and it often did) because I was--if nothing else--oh so cute.

My movie star dreams lasted well into my teen years, at which time I also began practicing my movie star autograph. Because really, if you're gonna be a movie star, you have to have a cool signature that you can scribble in a hurry when clamoring fans ask for your autograph. I worked hard perfecting mine, making sure it was very loopy and fun, and worthy of a famous movie star. And in fact, the signature I use on checks or other documents to this day is based on my well-practiced movie star autograph from my adolescence. 

But alas, my dreams of movie stardom never did materialize. At some point they just became a fond memory from my childhood. Instead I became an art teacher. Luckily, I was able to keep using my autograph skills to sign hall passes and such while I was teaching. And I still had my share of the spotlight--even if it was for a classroom full of students. But the movie star pose disappeared about the same time I began to hate having my photo taken. So it is no more.

Am I sorry that I grew up and out of my movie star dreams? Not really. I look back with fondness at that little girl with big dreams. It's a part of who I was, even if it's not who I became. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

I'm linking up this post to Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop for this week.

My Friday Confessions 6-14

Time once again for another rendition of My Friday Confessions. I know you wait for these with baited breath, so let's get to it!

1.  I think 80's hair is cool. 80's hair really gets a bad rap, in my opinion. I think it was the height of coolness, like, literally. OK, well maybe not Flock-Of-Seagulls-Cool.

But definitely a Madonna or a Janet Jackson 80's hair kind of cool.

Seriously, what is wrong with that hair? There are a lot of things that should have stayed in the 80s--like shoulder pads...or neon colors. But 80's hair? I think not. Bring on the big bangs and the hair that reaches to Heaven. Even Jersey girls can appreciate that.

2.  If I'm doing a Google image search and a random penis shows up in the search results, I enlarge the photo to view it full size. Let me just say that I don't go around Googling penises. I'm married, after all, so I can see a penis any time I want to. But if one happens to pop up in Google images when I'm searching for something else--as penises are occasionally known to do--then, well, I'll be damned if I'm not going to enlarge the photo and have a peek. If you can't be a semi-anonymous man-parts voyeur on Google, then what is the point of the Internet?

3.  I have an irrational hate for the word, 'splice.' Let's face it, one day someone decided that the words 'split' and 'slice' should hook up. And that became like, a thing, that then became a word. And some words are just annoying. 'Splice' is an annoying word, dammit. It just is. Because it is.

4.  People who write 'should of' when they mean 'should have' annoy the crap out of me. Get your grammar together, people.

5.  And speaking of penises, I'm tormented by the inexplicable existence of vampire erections. I'm a Twilight fan. And I'm an
obsessedaddict where The Vampire Diaries is concerned. Can you blame me?

But even though I am fully capable of suspending disbelief for every hour of TVD that I watch, because of, um, the reasons clearly displayed in the photo above, I am still confused by the notion that vampires can have, you know, erections. I'm happy to keep pondering it though, as long as the vampire eye candy continues to keep me...compelled.

Now I think I'm going to go ponder this further...perhaps on Google.

80's Flashback Friday

As I sit here desperately trying to think of what to blog about today, I was browsing through Google images and came across some photos that were totally 80's. And then it hit me: Flashback Friday! So I decided I'd share some of my favorite memories of things and people from the 80's. You know, like, totally. After all, all the coolest people grew up in the 80's. Ahem. So lets travel back in time to that glorious decade of big hair and acid-washed denim that served to usher me into my teen years with quasi reckless abandon.

One of my favorite things from the 80's, for probably no other reason than the fact that everyone else had them, was novelty shoelaces.

I don't know who decided these were cool exactly, but seriously, most of us had them. They came in so many different styles, the possibilities were endless. No matter how cool your shoes were, they just weren't cool enough unless you had some fun shoelaces to go with them. Go figure.

And to go with our acid-washed, and straight-legged jeans, we also needed one very important accessory:

That's right,  you had to carry a comb...in your back pocket. Not in your purse. It had to be your back pocket. And really, they made you so cool. Fer sure. And those of us creative folks would also jazz them up with markers, paint, and whatever else we could find. We'd usually put our name on them too. After all, if you lost your comb, you'd want that cool piece of back-pocket-bling to be returned to you. Even if it was all grody, to the max.

And dang, where would the world of video games be today if we hadn't had these in the 80's:

Going to the local arcade was "the thing" to do back then. Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man (clearly she was a liberated and proud feminist since she was "Ms" rather than "Miss"), Frogger...that was the stuff of Friday nights, and weekends back in the day. I wish I had all the money I spent on video games back then. I could probably buy my grandson the new XBox.

One of my absolute favorite things about the 80's though, and I'm almost not ashamed to say it, was leg warmers!

At some point, you just HAD to have leg warmers to be cool. And to be REALLY cool, you had to have lots of them. You can blame Jane Fonda, or Olivia Newton-John if you weren't a leg warmer kind of 80's gal, but I totally was. I loved them. I wore my leg warmers until they fell apart. Was I a dancer? A gymnast? Hell to the no. I was just one of those oh so cool peeps who got cooler by way of those footless wonders that looked like sleeves that had been cut off of sweaters. The glory of the 80's at its finest.

But what about the people and music of the 80's? I can't forget about them. So lets' start with my major 80's fangurl crush. And that was the one and only, Rick Springfield.

Just look at him, OK?

I first saw him on General Hospital, as Dr. Noah Drake. One look was all it took, and he had me wishing I was Jessie's Girl. General Hospital was at its hottest back then, and Rick Springfield sure added to the hotness factor. HOT-ness. Ohmigod! Fer sure.

And I guess I can't wax nostalgic about the 80's without talking about the one and only Madonna too.

I don't think anyone can argue the fact that the Material Girl helped to define the 80's. I remember the first time I saw Madonna perform; it was on the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. She sang 'Like a Virgin,' and rolled around on stage wearing a bridal-ish gown and a necklace that read, 'Boy-Toy.' My parents were mortified. I thought she was tubular, er, awesome. Whether you loved Madonna then or hated her, without her we'd have missed out on those awesome 80's fashion must-haves like lace gloves, headbands, too many bracelets, and religious jewelry. And oh yeah, wearing bras without shirts. Would you really  have wanted to miss out on that? As if.

And last but not least, I can't talk about the 80's without talking about Michael Jackson. Michael's career was skyrocketing in the 80's and he was setting (and selling) all kinds of records. I can't even think about the 80's without also immediately thinking about Thriller.

Photo Courtesy of My Eternal Angel, on Tumblr

I loved the album--you know, like back when we still had real albums. I played it over and over and over again. And I still remember the first time I saw the Thriller short film on MTV. It was  like a movie and it was amazing. I watched it every chance I could--and the Billie Jean short film too. You may not know it, but Billie Jean was the first video by a black artist to ever air on MTV, which was after their initial refusal to air the video AT ALL. But with the popularity of Billie Jean, and the unprecedented popularity of Thriller, Michael Jackson brought MTV into the mainstream. To many people (no, not just me, ahem), the 'M' in MTV stood for Michael. He was a true pioneer, who helped create and change music history, one leg kick, a-hee-hee, and moonwalk at a time. And Thriller is still, over thirty years later, the best selling album of all time. *Thanks, Michael.*

So I guess that's enough road-tripping through my icon-filled 80's past. It was quite the wild ride back then. Looking back on it, I still believe it was a decade of magic, and maybe a little madness. But it was worth it. If only I could return there for a visit once in awhile...but OK, Tina, time to get Back to the Future while I can still remember how. :)

Have a good weekend.

Like, totally.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ever have one of those days when you just want to stay home from school (or work!)? You know, hang out with your friends, borrow your best friend's father's Ferrari, take a trip into the Windy City, and jump onto a float to sing in a parade that has the onlookers dancing, as the float travels past your father's office building? Well, the 80's flick, Ferris Bueller does that and more in what I think is one of the best movies ever made.

I don't care how old I get, I absolutely love to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It just never gets old. It always makes me laugh and smile, and what more could you want on a day you don't feel like getting out of bed?!

There are some great young stars in this flick too..

Matthew Broderick, of course, plays Ferris, the kid that all the kids know and love--with the exception of his sister, Jeanie, played by Jennifer Gray (Dirty Dancing). Ferris' girlfriend, Sloane, is played by the lovely Mia Sara (Legend), and his befuddled  and tormented best friend, Cameron is played by the amazing Alan Ruck (Spin City).  You'll also see a young Charlie Sheen in the movie, whose role as a drugged out misfit rebel is quite small, but memorable.

And then there's his principal, who's out to prove that Ferris is indeed playing hooky, rather than hacking up internal organs at home, as he would have his parents believe; and he goes to great lengths--and pains--to catch Ferris in his big lie. Only Ferris' sister wants to catch Ferris more, because she's tired of his tricks and his ability fool his parents and get away with anything he wants.

It's impossible to explain everything that's in this movie. So here's a short trailer I found online that will do a better job.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Fan Trailer
by RandySsavage

You might also be interested in some great trivia about the flick posted at IMDB. Some great tidbits there! And FYI, the parade scene was filmed during an actual annual parade in Chicago, and it includes dancers doing a great reproduction of the moves in Michael Jackson's Thriller video.

If you haven't seen this movie, well, you just don't know what you're missing! And if you have seen it, isn't it time you re-watched Ferris Bueller?

Bueller? Bueller?

Anyone?

I Wore Bell-bottoms to Thrifty's!

It's Flashback Friday, and this week, we're hitting the 70's, big time! Travel back with me now, and see how many of these things you remember about being a child of the 70's.

You wore bell-bottoms, and if you were lucky, your bell-bottoms were Dittos (Can you feel the fit?!).

You'd go with the the Fam to Thrifty's Drug Store to get ice cream cones, by the scoop, on a hot day. And oh yeah, it was only 5 cents a scoop.

You used your cassette player to tape songs off the radio.

You knew the words to Muskrat Love, and you weren't afraid to sing them.

You had skates...you know, the kind with four wheels, and you loved to go to the Skating Rink.

You loved the "sweathogs" of Welcome Back, Kotter, and your favorite phrase was, "up your nose with a rubber hose."

Disco. Need I say more?

You had a huge collection of 45's. (Any younger generations are gonna be stumped on this one!)

You rode a bike with a banana seat, and you thought you were cool doing it.

You had a Pet Rock, or you knew someone else who did. (Now THAT is what I call marketing genius: sell rocks, and become a millionaire!)

You thought Sea Monkeys were real.

Everything in your mom's kitchen was harvest gold or avocado green.

Tiger Beat was your favorite magazine.

You begged your mom for some Love's Baby Soft perfume, and bubble gum lip gloss.

Your hair had "wings."

Wallabies. And I don't mean animals.

Asking your Magic 8 ball if you would marry Shaun Cassidy, or maybe Leif Garrett?

Drive-In movies!

I could go on and on about the 70's. It was a wild decade, to be sure. But as I look back on it, one word comes to mind that really sums it up for me:

Groovy!

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl

Way back in "the day," when I was about 10 years old (1976, to be precise), one of my favorite TV shows was Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, about 2 female superheros--reporters by day, who battle all manner of villains in skin-tight body suits and capes. They have their own secret hideout, the Electrabase, lots of cool superhero gadgets, and even their own Electra-car. How could anyone not love a show like that?

Electra Woman was played by Deidre Hall, better known now for her role on Days of Our Lives. But back then, she was Electra-cool as the head super hero. And Dyna Girl was played by Judy Strangis, who was also one of the stars of the popular Room 222 (and yes, I watched that show too!).

Electra Woman, and her Electra-terrific sidekick, Dyna Girl (dig those pony tails), got to wear these special Electra bracelets that let them do all sorts of things, thanks to their gadget man (come on, even James Bond has a gadget man!), Frank.

Eat your heart out, Wonder Woman!

And they would use their powers to fight such bad guys as The Empress of Evil, Leggs and Spinner, The Sorcerer, and Spider Lady...just to name a few.

The show only lasted about one season, but that was long enough to leave an Electra-fied impression on my ten-year-old self. So that's why I picked it for this week's Flashback Friday post. I know, I know...I'm an Electra-geek.

The Pacer

What do you get when you cross:

With

A place on the list of the Top Ugliest Cars Ever Made?

[Yeah, OK, that too]

But no, what you get is:

Yep, AMC's questionable brainchild of the 70's: The Pacer. And why, you ask, is this my Flashback Friday post topic for this week? Simple really...because I learned to drive in an AMC Pacer. And I'll admit it: I thought the Pacer was kinda cool...at first. When we got our used one (I was never clear on why we got THAT particular vehicle), I thought it was neat, even if it was kind of funny looking. It was different, that's for sure. But over time, it started looking rather like a turtle, or at least like a really fat Pinto. And the doors were so big and heavy, and had a tendency to pull closed against their own weight. You had to be sure to get your extremities inside quickly, for fear you'd lose a digit on the way in. It was also really, incredibly S-L-O-W. Honestly, the car had no balls at all. And when you're a teenager, speed is important in a vehicle...especially when you can in no way count on the looks of it to fetch your friends' approval.

My mom wasn't the least bit thrilled by the Pacer purchase. I think her first words to the spousal unit were, "Take it back." Daddio had a habit of bringing home vehicles; he was a car salesman for many years, so he often drove trade-ins home for the night. But sometimes, much to mom's shock and horror, he would bring home some absolute nightmare of automotive conception that we were keeping. The Pacer, clearly, ranked right up there on her list of cars to never drive, let alone own. So she was none too thrilled to have it parked in our driveway. Needless to say, we didn't have it for long...just long enough for me to learn to drive in it. And really, you just have to imagine how cool I looked sitting in the driver's seat of that bubble on wheels. Do the words "teen angst" mean anything to ya?!

On the plus side, since my mom absolutely hated The Pacer, the next rig we got was a glorious improvement. And I was thrilled every day I got to drive it into the school parking lot after I got my driver's license.

That, my friends, is what I call a car! And come to think of it, I met the Hubs when I was driving that car. But pre-Mustang, I couldn't even get a date. Hmm. I'm beginning to wonder if it was me that caught his eye...or that car?? LOL. We got rid of the Mustang eventually, but the Hubs is still around, so it couldn't have just been the car. But hey, it probably didn't hurt either.

Kissing is Pee Chee, but…

This post is not about Kissing! LOL This is my Flashback Friday post for this week on one of my favorite blasts from my 80's high school past: Pee Chees!

Pee Chees were THE folders to have when I was in high school in Washington State. Probably lame by today's slick, glossy and sparkly folder standards, Pee Chees were the coolest of cool folders back in the day. They were made of simple card stock and inside had two pockets, and some useful reference information. But they were far more than just folders; they were your notepads, your art galleries, and your all around means of adolescent self-expression. If you didn't customize your Pee Chees, face it, there was just something wrong with you.

There were some standard Pee Chee graffiti touches: adding thought bubbles to each of the athletic characters--ranging from the simple to the truly profane; changing the attire of the characters by coloring them in with tuxedos, or tutus, or making them look like stoners; or my personal favorite, changing the Pee Chee logo phrase from "Pee Chee All Season Portfolio," to "Kissing is Pee Chee, but Sex is an All Season Sport." You just had to have that one!

I think I still have a Pee Chee stashed away in my memory trunk somewhere. Someday after I'm gone, when my daughter is sorting through my torn and tattered memories, she'll find that Pee Chee and wonder what the heck it is and why I kept it....its coolness will be completely lost on her. But hey, that's OK. Sometimes coolness is obvious and in your face; but then other times it's hidden, in something as simple as a Pee Chee.

The Bugaloos

For my first post in the Flashback Friday category, I'm gonna chat about one of my favorite TV shows as a kid, you know, back in the day (the 70's, for anyone taking note). LOL. I was a huge fan of the shows created by Sid and Marty Krofft, who created not only The Bugaloos, but also the classic, H.R. Pufnstuf!

The Bugaloos were a group of four teenagers, who just happened to have wings and antennae, and they lived in Tranquility Forest. They were British, and they also had a rock band--which, natch, gave them an excuse to squeeze songs into each episode. Their arch enemy on the show was named--get this--Benita Bizarre, and she was jealous of The Bugaloos and wanted their musical talent. So she was constantly trying to capture The Bugaloos or destroy them. Benita was played by the amazing Martha Raye...I recognized her later when she began as a spokesperson in Polident commercials in the 70's. And one of my favorite characters on the show was "Sparky." Sparky was a firefly, played in full costume by Billy Barty.

This show didn't run very long...just a couple of years. But it was a staple of my Saturday mornings while it was on. And since they lived in a veritable fairy land, this may be the reason that I have always had a fondness for fairies and sprites, and all kinds of fantasy creatures! So, does anyone else remember The Bugaloos?!