Heart Of The 80s

Labyrinth starring Jennifer Connelly was one of my much-awaited movies from the 80s. My bestfriend Lanie waited months for it to be shown in our province. Yes, by that time, Lanie became a Jennifer Connelly fan also!  Thanks to the first movie I've watched, also starring her in Phenomena. Since then, she became our favorite :)

I love this movie mostly for it's fantasy theme, it's almost like a fairytale story for me then.. and still is now! 
Here's the movie's plot (acknowledgements to wikipedia)

The film opens with a barn owl watching a teenager, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), reciting lines from her favorite book called The Labyrinth in a park. As Sarah struggles to remember the final line of her monologue, the town clock chimes seven o' clock and Sarah remembers she has to babysit her brother Toby. She rushes home and has a confrontation with her impatient stepmother.
Following her parents' departure Sarah realizes that her teddy bear, Lancelot, is missing from her room. She finds the toy in Toby's room and resentfully declares a wish that the goblins would take the baby away. Abruptly, Toby vanishes and a barn owl flies into the room, transforming into Jareth: King of the Goblins (David Bowie). Jareth tells Sarah that he will return her brother if she can solve his Labyrinth within thirteen hours. He transports Sarah and himself to the Labyrinth, then leaves Sarah to start her quest.
At the entrance of the Labyrinth, Sarah meets Hoggle, a grumpy and obstinate dwarf who refuses to help her. She advances through the labyrinth alone and overcomes a series of obstacles during her journey, including a Knights and Knaves logic puzzle, before eventually trapping herself in an oubliette. Jareth sends Hoggle into the oubliette to free Sarah and misdirect her back to the beginning of the labyrinth.
As they travel Sarah and Hoggle encounter a group of goblins tormenting a gentle beast named Ludo, whose roars frighten Hoggle and lead him to flee. Sarah saves Ludo and travels with him but the two become separated. A group of revelers with detachable limbs called the Fire Gang harass Sarah until Hoggle reappears to rescue her. Shortly afterward they pass through the Bog of Eternal Stench where they are reunited with Ludo and add another to their party: Sir Didymus, a chivalrous, fox-like knight who guards the bridge that leads away from the bog.






Hoggle offers Sarah a peach that Jareth had ordered him to give her. Upon biting the peach, Sarah falls into a trance and finds herself in a dream-like ballroom where Jareth attempts to seduce her. The sound of a striking clock reminds Sarah that she needs to save her brother and she frees herself from the vision to resume her quest. After rejecting an old goblin junk lady who tries to convince her to stay in a recreation of her room filled with all the discarded possessions she outgrew over the years, Sarah rejoins Ludo and Sir Didymus, and the three of them approach the Goblin City that surrounds Jareth's castle. Hoggle appears and disables a giant robot that guards the city gate. Sarah forgives Hoggle for his earlier betrayal and continues with all her friends through the city, successfully defeating the soldiers of the goblin army who have been sent to stop them.
Upon reaching Jareth's throne room, Sarah decides to go forward alone. She finds Jareth and Toby in a vast, stair-filled room,  and attempts unsuccessfully to find a path to reach her brother. She is interrupted by Jareth, who confronts her face-to-face and asks her to abandon her quest in order to stay with him forever.
Sarah however vehemently rejects the overture and begins to recite the monologue from the beginning of the film once again in order to help her concentrate on repelling Jareth and rescuing her brother. As he prepares to cast the ultimate spell over her, she finally remembers the last line: "You have no power over me." Jareth, acknowledging defeat, returns Sarah and Toby to their home, whereupon she finds Toby sleeping in his crib, apparently oblivious to the previous events.

Upon having a seat at her vanity, Sarah discovers that she can see Hoggle and the rest of her friends from the Labyrinth, but only behind her through a reflection in the bedroom mirror, as when she turns to face them, they are not there. Sarah tells her friends that she does need them after all, whereupon they appear in her room, surrounding her. The film closes as Sarah and the creatures celebrate her victory over Jareth. Outside the bedroom window, a barn owl briefly watches the party before flying away.

High school memories.... aargh! It was my luck to be seated next to these guys: Marty on my right, Daryl just behind me and Jessie just a little bit far from our aisle who frequently stays by. We were all seated at the back of the class - where most of the mischief in class started.
Common characteristics of these guys... they are smart, with winsome personalities, good family background ( I didn't know that then) and transferees from other private schools. Their pics here were posted as such, to protect their identity. Sayang naman if they will run for public office in the future or if they will take the bar exam.
Though we've made peace after graduation - and 8 months after graduation, I just want to write about this. Subtitled: "The crybaby me"




I'm not sure what I was back then or how my classmates saw me. But definitely I had low morale. Not just because of my own twisted thinking but also because of the embarrassing criticisms and name-calling I got when we were in III year. Some said I was smart - but I thought I was stupid;  some said I was pretty - but I thought I was bland and uninteresting; I had no talent- just good in my English subjects and just striving to please our teachers, ... Some female schoolmates hated me and female teachers too (yes, the ladies mostly) Pero I did not do anything against anybody. I simply stayed out of anybody-who-dislikes-me's way.
Why was I being treated that way? My theory - I was always praised for being "white" or "tisay" but behind that reputation my classmates thought I was just a GI baby (l.c. from a foreigner and a pinay) But no.... my parents were decent folks, even myself didn't know it because I did not listen to the stories about them ( hang on to my blog and you'll know more about that soon)
Yet the lowest point of my day would be when I would answer in class discussions this way : Click here minus the wrong grammar. I get a horrific mental block when a teacher calls on me during recitations. Yes, of course,I'm always prepared for graded recitations when announced, otherwise... it's a dizazter.


Marty is a funny guy, always alert (hyper?), top of the class and actively participating in class discussions. His bff and chatmate was Daryl. Both of them were always nasty to me. Sometimes I was their "friend" when they need something hehe, sometimes I was their "enemy" and sometimes they just ignore me..... one of my most horrifying moments with Marty is that in every major exam we took he would try to answer his test paper on his own, leaving out the difficult ones (enumeration, essay type) then 15 minutes to the time, he would KICK my chair and ask for my answers. And I would "share" it in my lowest voice possible. Daryl would follow or would ask me to raise my test paper within his view.
Eh one time, our adviser - a good-natured lady nearing her retirement year - just warned " No murmuring, or else" I had respect for her hence, I kept quiet and went about doing my own business. But as usual, Marty had to ask. So I gave my answers as quietly as possible - I said:"Manchuria" .. It was History exam that time... Marty: "What?" .... Me:"Manchuria" ...... Marty: "Can't hear you, speak louder...." Me:"Ahem, Manchuria." .... Marty: "HA?" .... Me: (yelling)"MANCHURIA! I think I'll use a microphone to share my answers to the whole class?!" I was annoyed for his pestering. ha! okay. But after class exam, same old story. PEACE, Marty, ha!


Daryl- Ah, two unforgettable incidents. I often found him before holding a butterfly knife(balisong), sometimes playing with it. So that thought stuck in my mind. One time, as I vaguely recall, he pressed the pointed object on my back, just for practice. Well, just pretended to be scared. But there was this one time he pressed a sharp object on my back again while saying, give me your day's allowance (or whatever) I got really scared, we were in class that moment, I did not move for fear that the sharp edge would pierce my back or hurt me. I said okay and was about to hand over what he asked for. Then he laughed and showed me what "sharp" object he used - it was just the sharp edge of a ballpen cover!!! I got so angry and cried.

Next, in our religion class, we were having an unannounced recitation. It was my turn so I stood up. As always, I had difficulty answering the question because my mind went blank even if I knew the answer. I was still not satisfied with my answer and was disturbed over it. So I sat down for a while when --HORRORS! my butt landed on the floor! The whole class laughed, so it seemed, most of the guys - maybe even my "crush" laughed out loud! I was so embarrassed then, just imagine I was wearing a skirt uniform and I landed on the floor like a klutz! Whatever happened after that was no comfort to my wounded reputation. Our teacher reprimanded Daryl and he answered back respectfully but still snickering at me - he wasn't the argumentative type, bless him.

Personally, and the fact that I know this Rel.Ed. teacher, she should've done something more... fellow bloggers, what do you think? .... Me, don't ask me what went through my mind at that time. It's unthinkable.
And adding insult to injury (that time)- he said "sorry". That was a right thing to do, but I don't accept apologies at the "crime scene" and not infront of an audience. I needed much more comforting than that. What was ideal that time, could've been...
"Sorry, Christine, I'm so sorry, I'm truly sorry... and I won't do it ever again" Just not that simple sorry, hehehe.

But it's no worries now because Marty and Daryl are okay with mealready, and they are still so funny always saying sorry for everything... kaya heto I'm posting this tuloy just to let them know everything is okay. Actually, I should be the guilty party kase may mga utang pa ako kay Daryl... lagot. PEACE Daryl, you're tops! Mai-advertise nga ang kabutihan nito... ah, yes truly he's a law-abiding citizen and works for somebody important. that's enough, too much clues here!


Jessie naman, I could hardly recall him bullying me. He was so quiet and decent but when we were in III year he was always calling me names ( that were really below-the-belt and so untrue). In fairness, he seemed mild-mannered. But just this recent STHS reunion, wow, he admitted he made so many "booby traps". He even asked me if I still remember the day when I was just entered our classroom and as I opened the door a shoe fell on my head. Says he was the mastermind. He knew I was coming through and lodged the shoe by the door ( hmm, like Tom and Jerry cartoons eh?) Oh, well, I've got selective amnesia,I guess, so when he told me that, I was clueless. But since he admitted doing so.... ahem, he's included in my book Peace Jessie!

Every highschool reunion I meet most of my classmates that I sorely miss. And I've had fun reminiscing what happened in our 80's high school... such bittersweet memories... the funny,the sad (we made our adviser cry), the horrendous, the jokes, the exams that wracked our brains, the teachers who were patient with us, all the fun we had.


Narrated by yours truly....... ;)