John Hughes, home but not alone!

As recently  as yesterday, on CNN, we could still see a news report about the lone tenant in Ft Myers 32-story condo apartments.

The report was entitled: “Home Alone”, and once again, John Hughes’ movie title resonates in each of us.

So were his string of successes in the 80’s, focusing on teens growing up in confusion.

Heck! Adults were growing old in confusion as well during that decade (if you felt disgusted with the 70’s Me Decade, are you supposed to join the Moral Majority in Lynchburg, VA as the black/white choice?).

During that time, we also witnessed a residue from the Vietnam War: Boat People. They followed a wave of refugees from Haiti to be drifted to American shores, except the Boat People ended up in Nordic countries, Europe, and N America, including Canada. I spent two years of my life helping out, so I know this time period well.

Many stayed behind for years until two years ago when they finally got to the US, utterly confused as to why their “dream country” seeks to outsource IT work back to Vietnam where they tried to escape from in the early 80’s (Rip Van Winkle).

Back to Home Alone. John Hughes brought a healthy aspect to comedy, borderline silly ( Long Duk Dong”s line : “what automobile?” in Sixteen Candle). Quintessentially American comedy, skirting the Long Island sensibilities (unlike Miss March, where the Hip Hop star’s penis which was made out of two straws were shown in front of the Playboy mansion).

I guess we won’t be seeing any more of Home Alone franchise. The Lone Tenant in Ft Myers would make a great follow-up to the genre. It’s quite eerie when the only sound in the building is the computer-generated voice announcing “going up” in the elevator. At the very least, they should try to play some elevator music, so you can tell you are finally old (senior rite of passage) when your favorite piece is on, for in that setting, the only motion is vertical:  going up against gravity, or going down, the path of least resistance.

The lone tenant is home alone, but John Hughes, the film director, is home but not alone. I believe in Reunion, in Happy Ending . In my movie, they may wreck the elevator, and ask “what elevator?” Make sure it’s in drunken accent.