if it aint broke, leave it alone

If anyone else listens to as much ridiculous radio-hit music as I had to at the skating rink the past couple weeks, you might have noticed a pattern: no one has an original idea. Songs are featuring recognizable pieces from older songs, and 99 percent of the time it sounds terrible. Take, for example, Flo Rida's "Right Round." It features a chorus that plays off the '80s classic "You spin me round", except his version includes the phrase "when you go down" (pretty self explanatory) and Kesha from "The Hills" screeching part of the lyrics. Gross. Countless other examples are bombarding the radio waves, from Kristinia DeBarge to Jay-Z.

But my tolerance for re-makes ended when I saw an ad for ABC Family's new series "10 things I hate about you." And when I say new, I mean completely ripped off. The show uses the same graphic title, the same characters and plot line, and even includes a girl band remake of the song "I want you to want me," a staple of the original movie. It's one thing to subject the tween crowd to another summer of dead end dramas based on fictitous high school experiences. It's a whole other level to base that dead end drama on one of the classic chick flicks of the '90s.

This movie is a staple of my DVD collection, and one of my favorite performances from Julia Stiles (Heath Ledger holds his own, too.) And even though the movie itself is a remake (it's based loosely on Taming of the Shrew), I still find myself cringing every time I see the ads for it.

So if any of you have loved ones ages 8-14, make them watch the first movie before they attempt the TV bastardization. Oh, and get them to stop listening to Flo Rida unless he's talking about the boots with the fur.