fluffycakes
Junior Sitter
A silken-haired beauty with a laugh like pealing bells
Posts: 868
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Post by fluffycakes on Oct 7, 2009 9:15:34 GMT -5
^Don't forget John Brooke, who dated Maureen, and Jessi's uncle John, and probably a bunch of other 'one-time only' characters. I don't think it was an obsession - it comes across as poor researching/lazy writing than anything else. I like to think it was an inside joke among the ghosties - see how many characters they can name John without anyone picking up on it - but somehow I doubt it.
I never picked up on the copious amounts of I Love Lucy and Wizard of Oz references as a child. Rereading it now, I find it strange. It's kind of funny. I don't buy every kid in Stoneybrook fawning over I Love Lucy, though. I tried watching it once when I was younger, because of these books, and I really didn't like it. (I do love The Wizard of Oz, though! Even though I have it on DVD, I still watch it when it comes on TV.)
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Post by wenonah4th on Oct 8, 2009 14:38:18 GMT -5
Of course you watch it! That's just something one ought to do! It's possible to get DVDs of the Charlie Brown specials, too, but everyone still has to sit down when they're shown. Still wondering when Great Pumpkin is, this year....
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Apr 12, 2010 19:50:08 GMT -5
LOL d*ck Spier sound hilarious!
She likes freckles, a lot of characters have them like karen, andrew, mallory and a little bit of vanessa, the rodowsys, the hobarts
For someone who hates to cook, she loves to write about food. Especially turkey dinners and vegetables. And special valentine breakfasts as she did in Karen's in Love and Mary Anne vs. Logan though there might be more I missed out on after.
Another recent pop culture reference was in Mary Anne's Makeover when she showed them the model with the short hair and claudia screamed like "the kid from Home Alone" (Maculay Culkin) That's cool Hanson was mentioned, I had stopped collecting the books by then so had no clue. In Stacey and the Mystery at the Mall, one of the kids Mallory was reading to had on a Barney T Shirt, and in Karen's Twin, she, Audrey and the two sets of twins went to go see Aladdin.
She likes Michael Jackson (I've always been a huge fan too and as I was losing BSC interest, I was updating my MJ collection for years) and mentions him or the moonwalk in a lot of books.
She likes the 50's and I would not be surprised if Blueberry Hill in Stacey's Book was inspired by the classic song. I remember finding a 50's hits CD in my dad's collection shortly after I bought Stacey's book and laughed cause I thought of the book. Even when Stacey thought of Mary Anne bringing up Chubby Checker in Stacey's Mistake, I thought of her love for the 50's
Definitely inspired by Nancy Drew in the mysteries and some of the non mysteries. Even though Jessi and the Jewel Thieves was not a case after all, it's almost like it was a parody of a Nancy Drew mystery.
another 90's reference I caught was Jessi buying Becca a troll doll from NYC in Jessi and the Jewel Thieves
Dress tops and tie dye were in in the early 90's and referenced well, along with lace leggings, it reminded me of stuff worn in Full House
I don't know if math was her favourite subject or what, but she always likes to write about Stacey in her math classes at the intro of books and I was hoping for a book all about her math so I read Stacey and the Math Whiz a few years after it came out cause I found out about it (stopped reading/collecting in 1996). I'm sure English was a favourite too cause she would write about Mallory in different English classes.
I think Ann loved The Nutcracker. She referenced Jessi dancing to it in New Jersey I think (Becca had called out her name during the performance) , Kristy, Mary Anne and Claudia were preparing for it at the Y in Mary Anne's book, Claire and Margo Pike were dancing to it for Mean Old Mallory, Karen compared the Karen's Surprise play to The Nutcracker and so forth.
I wonder if Ann was a lot like Charlotte Johanssen as a kid, the way she was shy and acting funny before telling Stacey about being nervous about her piano recital in Stacey vs. the BSC, and experimenting with makeup cause she liked a boy LOL
Maybe she had a favourite candy like Ring Dings or Milk Duds cause I noticed Claudia keeps having the same ones
Maybe she liked charm bracelets cause they would come up in some books like Claudia and the Recipe of Danger, Baby Sitters on Board and Karen's Doll.
I wonder what her inspiration was behind the "outer space" dentist office in Karen's Toothache and Claudia's book, it sounded so awesome!
Oh I'm sure Ann loved pizza, they are always talking about being out for pizza and talking about the toppings and cheese, making me hungry, she sure loved her pizza and ice cream! And hated anchovies with a passion!
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,251
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Post by oldhickory on Apr 13, 2010 0:16:14 GMT -5
i don't read the LS books so i don't know if it specifies, but maybe karen and claudia went to the same dentist.
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Apr 13, 2010 13:33:19 GMT -5
yeah she did
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Post by candykane on Apr 16, 2010 10:46:05 GMT -5
I think I read on Ann's facebook that she hates cooking because she's not very good at it. Maybe that's why she likes to write about food; she can write about things that sound tasty and there's no way she can botch that up. I never thought about how much she writes about food until supprazz mentioned it.
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Jan 20, 2011 15:59:48 GMT -5
yeah it's a psychological void she is trying to fill haha I'm too lazy to scroll but I have more She likes California a lot cause she keeps writing about Dawn and the Sitters going there, she must have made Dawn move there just so she could keep doing it. The more I heard about the sitters there, during the first move, I knew what was coming : A California series! I wonder if 2pac's California Love and Katy Perry's California Girls and the Beach Boys California Girls are on her playlist Add Hotel California to that!
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Post by wenonah4th on Feb 9, 2011 17:47:35 GMT -5
you know what there *isn't* an obsession about is a particular comic strip. With as much mention as there is of I Love Lucy, you'd think Peanuts or something would get mentioned!
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Post by wenonah4th on Feb 25, 2011 14:29:24 GMT -5
She has a thing about *A Tree Grows In Brooklyn*, which I frankly wouldn't allow a child under 14 to read!
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Post by greer on Feb 26, 2011 6:55:48 GMT -5
She has a thing about *A Tree Grows In Brooklyn*, which I frankly wouldn't allow a child under 14 to read! Good thing you're not sending your kids to my middle school, where it was required reading.
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Post by peppermintraymaker on Feb 26, 2011 10:31:36 GMT -5
^There definitely is a thing about "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Didn't some of the characters in her Main Street series read that book, too?
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Feb 26, 2011 11:37:22 GMT -5
I loved A Tree Grows In Brooklyn but roll my eyes now at the mention of eight-year-old Charlotte Johanssen reading it.
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Post by wenonah4th on Feb 26, 2011 13:57:34 GMT -5
Better that than some of the other trash assigned in schools lately!
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Post by morbiddadestiny on May 30, 2012 3:15:51 GMT -5
some of these are more her favorite tropes than pop culture obsessions, but here goes:
-the name "janet" for any token mean girl (the truth about stacey and poor mallory). i have a feeling there's someone somewhere named janet that ann didn't like very much. -blended brady bunchesque families -big families with kids only a year apart despite the fact that this would be EXHAUSTING for a woman and would take a huge toll on her body. i remember declaring that i wanted 11 kids after reading ten kids no pets/eleven kids, one summer and my mom was like "yeah have fun with that" -people hiding animals from parents -people finding secret rooms or diaries -hayley mills -disney world -secret admirers -doing "odd jobs" to save up for something -pierced ears
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Post by sparklymouse on May 30, 2012 17:16:52 GMT -5
My brother has done some family tree work recently and seeing my dad's info in writing has made me go "...huh." He's one of eight kids. The first two are 11 months apart and the third one is 17 months apart from the second one. There are crazy women out there!
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