Hollywood and Childhood Clubs

Hey friends, Liz here again. Today's lunch club was a jumble of disjointed conversations, but two distinct topics stick out in my mind. Alas, only one of those topics featured Lisa Frank, so we'll start with that.

For those of you who were not a girl aged 5-14 in the late 80s/early 90s, Lisa Frank is maybe the most awesome designer of stationary and other products for little girls EVER! Seriously, let's review this poster, which basically encompasses everything you need to know:



We've got ponies, panda bears, golden retrievers, whales, leopards, polar bears, dancing animals, and unicorns, all in an exquisite rainbow colored palette. This is the stuff little girls live for! It came on stickers, notecards, lunchboxes, folders, pencils, you name it. Visit her website if you dare... we're talking a LOT of colors and flashing.

Anyway, Lisa Frank came up in our discussion of childhood clubs, which started out something like this:

Me: "That reminds me of how when I was little, my friends and I made up the Unicorn Club."
Oliver: "What does that stand for?"
Me: "Uh, it stood for us liking unicorns."

Yep, the Unicorn Club was exactly what it sounds like - an organization (very exclusive and with a membership application created with pink pen on purple paper) for girls in 2nd grade who liked unicorns, books about the Sweet Valley Twins, and of course, Lisa Frank.

As if my confession wasn't bad enough, Shannon then revealed that she and her friends also had a club. This club was called... wait for it... waaaaaaiiiiit for it.... Jesus Jammers. The club's primary activity, she told us, was to strap on their rollerblades and carry hand-made "Jesus Jammers" banners through the neighborhood streets. And one time they planned a lemonade stand to raise money for... more banners.

Oh childhood, you were awesome.

Now on to the day's next topic, which was basically a rambling argument about who is and isn't a good or bad or predictable or versatile actor in Hollywood today. It started off with Ryan's ridiculous suggestion that Johnny Depp is the same in all his movies. Now, I will give you that Johnny Depp is almost always a weirdo in all of his movies. BUT, it is a completely different weirdo each time! Let's just document this pictorally:




Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, Captain Jack Sparrow, Ichabod Crane, Sweeney Todd... while they all certainly have Johnny Depp's stamp on them, there's no way you could argue he is playing them all the same! Sorry Ryan, it's true!

The conversation carried on with this same question being posed and argued heartily about many actors and actresses including Nicole Kidman, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Sandra Bullock, Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, and many many more. I think the only thing we agreed on was that Rachel McAdams is adorable and awesome. If you have thoughts on who is and isn't a versatile actor, we'd love to hear it in the comments.

And with that, let's sign off with one for the ladies - here's Johnny Depp breakin' hearts as a gypsy in Chocolat:


Swoon!

-Liz