Who's That Girl? Wouldn't You Like to Know.

I watched way too much MTV as a kid. The TV was in the basement, and I'd sit there and watch for hours on end. I don't regret it all. Back then, MTV played videos, and they were awesome. I have fond memories of making "video mixtapes" with my favorite songs on them, so I could watch, say, that Faith No More video with the fish flopping around. Or "Into the Great Wide Open" or "Don't Cry." I loved it. My family got cable in 1987, right in the peak Adam Curry era. Do you ever read or see something you were obsessed with as a child, and haven't seen since then--and it's like a trap door inside of your brain opens up. A mental wormhole immediately transporting you to childhood? No? Just me?

Anyway, during a recent fruitless afternoon of youtubing, I stumbled across Madonna's video for "Who's That Girl" once again. I remember it vividly, mostly because of two things: Madonna's weird/awesome Sam Ronson-esque outfit and the video's complete lack of narrative logic. Even as a 7 year-old, I remember thinking that this was kind of a weird hodge-podge. The video is set on what appears to be the patio of a cheesy Italian restaurant, complete with a magical fountain playing a running loop of film clips and an in-house fortune teller. Take a look for yourself. Please appreciate Madonna's menswear-over-bike-shorts-and-bustier, and of course her short dark greasy hair. Are we supposed to think she is in disguise? And no late 80s Madonna video would be complete without an adolescent boy to dance with. This does not disappoint.