http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhFnOAwr96o "The Valentines I never knew. The Friday nights charades of youth, were spent on one more beautiful. At seventeen I learned the truth" Bitterly depressing fare from Ms Ian, it lingered close to the top of the US charts and won a Grammy. Ms Ian received 461 Valentine cards the year it was released due to her singing about the paucity of Valentines she received as a teenager. The song is basically a lament about being an ugly duckling at high school and all of the misery that it brings. This involves being alone, inventing boyfriends, not being picked for the basketball team. But Ian intimates that the 'beauty queens' do not stay happy for long - they may have the men, but the men are useless and looks fade. So being popular is an illusion and you are maybe better off being a wall flower to retain your integrity and reach realistic goals. Young women and girls who perceive themselves to be unpopular and 'ugly ducklings' have taken great succour from Janice Ian's song over the years. I don't believe what she tells us about love being solely for beauty queens, maybe American High School is tougher than Northern Irish High School. But the song still a fabulously downbeat anthem for the dateless.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!