She's the Cheese and I'm the Macaroni

This Monday, I went to see a preview of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" at the Elmwood Regal. It was everything I expected and more: wordplay, action, romance and more.

By wordplay I don't mean f-bombs, by action I don't mean blood and guts, by romance I don't mean doing it upside-down in a bomb shelter and by more I don't mean a chorus line of zebras dancing to Wreckz-N-Effect - not that "Rumpshaker" isn't still the jump-off.

I'm not going to decry the fall of ethics and morality: that ship has sailed and no one cared to read about its departure. What I will stand up for is the human imagination.

When I was 15, it felt perfectly normal and age-appropriate to check every movie I was about to rent for naked ladies, exploded innards and jokes related to genitalia and the newest slang for "prostitute."

"Sky Captain," like many fine films well before it, refused to take the easy road, instead choosing to rely on interplay and these things called "acting" and "directing." You may have heard of it. God knows Alfred Hitchcock, Rod Serling, Eva Marie Saint, Cary Grant and Gene Kelly had.

What I've realized lately more than ever before is what I still find funny and moving to this day, for the most part, would've been just as funny if it was in the 1950's-with an obvious exception to pop-culture based comedy.

I still throw around "Dirty Work" and "Billy Madison" quotes, but I quote "The Royal Tenenbaums" far more often. Eli Cash's (Owen Wilson) introduction, "Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is ... maybe he didn't." Well, I didn't think dry punch lines could make a grown man wet himself.

When I was in the sixth grade I snuck the Beastie Boys' "Ill Communication" into my house. I did this for two reasons: My mom hated them, and I couldn't wait to hear what the material that had warranted that nice, big Parental Advisory sticker was going to do for my vocabulary. Over a decade later, I pop the Beastie Boys in for entirely different reasons.

"Never ever ever smoking crack/ Never ever ever f****** wack/ I eat the f****** pineapple Now & Laters/ Listen to me now, don't listen to me later" used to get me riled up because I wanted to be like my straight-edge cousin who swore in front of me and got me into hardcore and great hip-hop. Also, I apparently was real down with the pineapple cause.

Sure, there's no denying it still plays a nostalgic role, but now all I can think about is how sweet it is that on the same song ("Get It Together") Adrock ripped off the couplet: "Got to do it like this like Chachi and Joanie/ 'cause she's the cheese and I'm the macaroni."

Now that s*** is fit for wedding songs.