^^and yes, that's the oldest kid from dr. quinn, medicine woman
two. first hero/idol -- yes, there was a time in my life in which the thing i wanted most - literally more than anything else in the entire world - the thing i would pretend/fantasize/dream about being - was to be michael knight (and of course by extension ride in/drive kitt) ... yes, i wanted to be the hoff! (and i didn't even know he could sing at that point)
three. first movie i watched in the theater -- at the general cinemas movie theater in westbrook (located at what is now ruby tuesdays/panera bread) - 3 months short of my 5th bday - following our viewing of sesame street's follow that bird, my father decided to then sneak me into the ending of stephen king's silver bullet - super. fucking. terrifying. - and super awesome
four. first time i cared about anything in the world of sports -- he made it cool to be fat (or as we called it - "big-boned")
five. first time i realized i liked girls -- if you've seen risky business ... no explanation is necessary - at the time, with my adolescent hormones raging, it was basically like watching hardcore porn
six. first time i realized i liked boys too -- just watch the video - trust me, in this context, it's absolutely hilarious! - again, at this point in my life, this one was like watching softcore porn ... and it seemed like it was on the tv every freakin' day!
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmgvVleHsO8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmgvVleHsO8
seven. first time i realized the world was much larger than my world -- saturday morning, june 10, 1989 - i was watching the smurfs on tv alone in our living-room - and then tom brokaw/nbc news broke into the cartoon telecast with a special report titled "china in crisis" - brokaw and the other newspeople were discussing student protests (and china's military response/suppression) which had occurred earlier that week in tienanmen square - one of the main focuses of the report was that of an unnamed college student (referred to later as "tank man") who 5 days earlier was filmed standing up (literally) to the chinese army - tom brokaw knew his audience that morning was primarily children and he handled the report accordingly - he in a very real sense became a school teacher - he explained to us (to me) the idea of things like "freedom" "protest" "real courage" "civil disobedience" "authoritarianism" - he also explained what had most likely happened to that young man - i was 8 years old - and i would never be the same
eight. first comic book i bought/owned -- at the ben franklin department store in gorham (located at what is now goodwill - across hall from burger king) - i'd be lying if i said that the shiny hologram cover wasn't a big influence - this purchase was shortly followed by my purchases of todd mcfarlane's spider-man series (at the time they were being sold really cheap in multi-packs at ames department stores) - since that time, over the course of 20-plus years, i have def collected way more x-men and batman - and while it's true that if i were to rank "my favorite" comics, both x and bats would undoubtedly be placed higher than spidey - it is however also true, that to this day, when i read my old spider-man comics ... something happens ... in a way unlike any other comic - it makes me feel like a kid again - and that's kinda amazing
nine. first cd i bought/owned -- at bullmoose in sanford - wednesday afternoon, may 21, 1997 - i bought my first cd player (a portable sony discman with anti-skip shock protection) - i also had just read an outstanding review in rolling stone for radiohead's new album which just so happened to have been released that day (i was a huge fan already of their prev album the bends - which i had bought on cassette for a penny via one of those bmg music club magazine pullout postcard thingies) and so i bought the album/cd - my first cd - 17 years, 8 months, 24 days later, and it is still the best album i've ever heard/listened to - in the words of my friend brian (who at the time was explaining his own experience with radiohead's album kid a), "it changed my world"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMwLgZz7BMs
ten. first time i knew that barack obama was gonna be the president of the united states -- tuesday night, july 27, 2004 - i was watching the democratic national convention on pbs - i had recently read an article in usa today about this little-known guy named barack obama - he was running for the senate against jeri ryan's (star trek: voyager's seven-of-nine) ex husband, and had become the front-runner when it came out that alex ryan liked having public sex in red district sex clubs - this unknown candidate from illinois got the keynote - i was intrigued to say the least ... but oh my goodness i was not expecting this! - the dude "took me to church!" - the speech literally brought tears to my eyes, while simultaneously energizing something inside me that no politician ever had - i immediately said out loud "that is the first african american president of the united states" - i then told everyone i knew that "if john kerry loses, forget about hillary clinton in 2008, barack obama will be our next president!" - i love that i was right
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5V2U6IJSYc
one. he-man and the masters of the universe
two. knightrider
three. follow that bird (& silver bullet)
four. william "the refrigerator" perry
five. rebecca de mornay in risky business
six. soloflex guy
seven. tienanmen square / tank man
eight. amazing spider-man #365
nine. ok computer
ten. obama keynote at 2004 democratic national convention
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