Niki N. Phaser

Cameron Crowe’s teen classic, Say Anything… is turning 20 this year (to continue our string of anniversaries). To mark the occasion, the film is being (re)released on Blu-Ray and DVD, of course and we all know that it’s not Cameron’s style to offer us something without any bonuses. This new edition will come with all the extra material you would want and some of it, available for the first time. For those of you who are not familiar with the movie (do you still exist?) it will be a good chance to get acquainted with the quintessential teen romantic comedy of the 80′s. For those of us who are already hooked on lines like “Bitches, man!” or “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen”, this will be an opportunity to go even deeper in the genesis of this feel-good classic, that even inspired the name of the band Say Anything, as well as creating some of the most circulated clichés in the world of romantic comedy — the boombox pose is a pop icon, no doubt about it. But, then again, Cameron Crowe’s movies were always sources of pop culture iconography, whether is visual or just verbal. And to paraphrase (again) the film’s tagline, “To know Cameron Crowe is to love Cameron Crowe’s movies”.

Say Anything… TRAILER

Cameron Crowe (source:www.gawker.com)

But, not to be rude, I will refresh your memory: Cameron Crowe is one of the most influential movie directors of our times. He is responsible for Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, Vanilla Sky, Almost Famous, Singles and Elizabethtown, so far and he is currently working on a new comedy with Reese Whiterspoon and Ben Stiller. He also wrote the novel and the screenplay Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In his younger days, he used to write for Rolling Stones, just like the character from Almost Famous. He received numerous awards, but I am not the one to pay much attention to such trivial matters, as the Oscars…

What makes Cameron Crowe an idol for me… Well, he did everything I like and is still doing it, successfully. He wrote about music and even composed some songs with his wife, Nancy Wilson, the guitar chick from Heart. He wrote a novel and also a book based on his interviews with Billy Wilder, which is his hero. He did all these great movies which spawned memorable characters, like Spicoli and Lloyd Dobler, memorable lines like Show me the money and classic images like John Cusack holding the stereo above his head…

So, music, literature and film, the best things in life… Cameron Crowe did it all (and with a vengeance). I don’t think I will DO all of these things, but at least, now I will write about them… even literature… I might just review a Chuck Palahniuk novel from time to time, who knows… Keep phasing on…