Last night when I should have been going to sleep (since I wasn’t able to go and see The English Beat play in my neighborhood), I got hooked into a miniseries on Netflix based on the critically acclaimed novel, “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith.

31 Days Project

The book that I didn’t read.             Photo: Wolf Gang

I wish I could say I was embarrassed that I watched nearly all of the 4 hour series (I’m not) but I am a bit embarrassed that I actually tried to read this book sometime ago and just couldn’t get through it.

I do enjoy reading but (along with so many other women that I know) since I’ve become a parent, I definitely feel that I’ve lost the attention span for reading.  I consider myself an intelligent person and admitting that freely makes me feel like an idiot but I can’t deny it.   However, that’s for another post at another time.

However, using Netflix as my Cliffnotes, I found “White Teeth”(a 2003 Masterpiece Theatre endeavor – link here) very enjoyable and I’d highly recommend watching it.  The soundtrack (information here) with songs from the 70’s-90’s was truly excellent.

One of the featured tracks of the series was “Come Up and See Me (Make Me Smile)” by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.  Hearing that song reminded me that Duran Duran did a fantastic cover of it (it was the B-side of “The Reflex”) and I actually stopped the movie and looked for a YouTube video of the song.

The video brought me back to being the 12 year old in LOVE with Simon Le Bon.  Come on, look how gorgeous Simon is in this video.  Good god, it is hard to admit it was 30 years ago but you can see that it was that long ago when you realize that Simon, John, Roger, Andy and Nick all look so young.

I can’t believe how swiftly I was transported in the few minutes of this clip.  I actually heard my 12 year-old voice say “and Simon’s wearing the Tiger Baby necklace” in my head when I saw it around his neck.  Watch this video and you know it was the 80’s by the clothes alone but you can also see (and almost feel) that this was the beginning of the hey-day for the Fab Five known as Duran Duran.

I can’t thank you enough Masterpiece Theatre for licensing “White Teeth” to Netflix.  Not only did my short-attentioned spanned self get an evening’s worth of entertainment last night but I raised my intellectual profile (by watching a Masterpiece Theatre creation of my own volition; Downton Abbey aside) AND got an unexpected reminder of why Duran Duran are so special to me 30 plus years later.